Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue #11.3 - 2020 i Good Organic Gardening

There was at least one day during the lockdown that broke the pattern of indistinguishable days, and that was the afternoon we watched not one but three wedge-tailed eagles soaring above our property. Two, possibly a breeding pair, rode the thermals at about 200 metres while the third stayed far above them, so high it looked no larger than the swallows that whiz around under the eaves. On this particular day, those tiny birds were nowhere to be seen (or heard) — wisely maintaining social distance while the trio of regal raptors hovered and swooped above. The birds’ joyous freedom sure beat the conditions for us humans during the lockdown, although Jo Immig found reasons to be cheerful about it: a newly quiet deindustrialised environment; a decrease in air and…

Lemon verbena is supposed to be a shrub but the veteran plant in my garden is a small, gnarled tree. The cats climb up and down it as they head over the side fence and into the paddock beyond. It’s amazing it ever became a tree as, by growing higher than the fence, it has exposed itself to icy Antarctic blasts from the south. To survive the worst of the cold it goes into a deep sulk through winter, only grudgingly regrowing its leaves just before Christmas. In autumn, just as the weather is retreating into winter, it hits full growth and is smothered in flowers as it enjoys its brief time in the sun. The foliage has a lovely lemony scent so brushing against it in the garden is…

Beetroot label Common name: Beetroot, table beet Botanical name: Beta vulgaris Family: Chenopodiaceae (spinach family) Requires: Sun, well-drained soil free of lumps Best climate: All Habit: Annual Propagation: Seed, seedling Difficulty: Easy Beautiful beets are ancient vegies dating back to the ancient Greeks, who commonly used them as religious offerings and the leaves as wound dressings. But it’s said to be the French who, in the 16th century, discovered the nutty, sweet flavour achieved by roasting dark, plump beetroot. Although we adore them for their blood-red colour — and will happily put up with our hands and chopping boards looking like a crime scene after prepping them — beetroot can also be found in white, golden yellow and even candy cane hues. But it’s the versatility of this veg that I…

Picture a disused block of land just northwest of Brisbane and a man with a vision; a group of people with permaculture and sustainability farming in mind; and, at the very heart of it all, community. This is now Millen Farm, a not-for-profit set up six years ago in Samford Valley. In the language of the local Toorbul tribe, Millen translates as “place of feasting”. The farm is set on 5000m2 of leased land within the Samford commons, an old CSIRO site that hadn’t been operational since the mid-1980s. “The land is owned by our local council and they have been extremely supportive of the project,” says Arran Heideman, the founding farmer. “The vision of the farm is to be a catalyst for an expanding local food system in the…

Smarties!” I’ve heard kids shriek with delight as they open the pods of scarlet runner beans — and though they definitely don’t taste like chocolate, if you’ve never grown magically colourful scarlet runner beans, you’re missing out. Through spring and summer, scarlet red flowers appear on a tall and vigorous vine that produces green bean pods. Delicious cooked when still small — just as you would any other green bean — the pods can even be eaten raw. Once the beans have started to develop seeds inside the pods and become fibrous, they can no longer be eaten raw, but that’s fine in my book because the next stage is the most exciting. As the pods grow bigger, the seeds inside swell and transform into the most incredible hot pink…

If you’ve ever been to a Chinese restaurant and had space for dessert, you’ve probably eaten lychees with ice-cream. Those lychees are peeled and canned and, while they are sweet and tasty, they have nothing on fresh lychees, which come in knobbly, pink-red skins. Look out for these odd-looking fruits, which are becoming more available in greengrocers and even in your local supermarket as more growers get established in the market. The fresh fruit is fragrant and cool and refreshing to eat. It has a very high water content and is also rich in vitamin C. To eat a fresh lychee, peel away the skin to reveal the glistening translucent white, slightly slippery flesh which in turn holds a large shiny brown stone. THE EVERGREEN TREES REACH AROUND 15M IN…

It’s said that we don’t grow as people when things are easy; we grow when we face challenges. If that’s the case, gardening is full of opportunities for personal growth. Very few garden projects start with the proverbial blank canvas of bare ground that has good soil, sun and placement. Whether modifying existing gardens or building new ones, what we have to work with is often less than ideal. There may be buildings, trees and even pre-existing garden beds to contend with. The land may be steeply sloped or facing in an unfavourable direction. Areas may be windswept, prone to waterlogging or heavily shaded. The soil may be depleted, nonexistent or infested with weeds. It’s not uncommon to encounter various challenges when gardening, but that shouldn’t be a hindrance. To…

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES • October is a top month for planting out all potted plants as well as starting seeds or seedlings of summer crops.• Summer crops to plant now include beans, corn, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, tomato and zucchini. In areas that experience late frost, hold off planting out frost-sensitive vegies such as tomato and cucumber.• When sowing or planting, allow plenty of room for each plant to reach its optimum spread. Avoiding overcrowding helps reduce diseases and makes plants easier to manage, so follow recommended spacing.• As well as getting spacing right, train sprawling crops to reduce problems. Tie tomato stems to tall stakes or a trellis and trim excess branching.• Also train climbing beans and cucumbers on a tepee or trellis. Use soft ties to avoid damage…

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JO IMMIG Jo is an environmental scientist, photographer and writer. She has worked in the environment movement for decades and is co-ordinator of the National Toxics Network, an organisation dedicated to creating a toxic-free future. She has written many articles for magazines and is the author of two books: Toxic Playground and Safer Solutions. EVERYBODY STARTED GARDENING One of the most heartening responses to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown was the surge in the number of people having a go at growing food. As with the Dig for Victory movements during world wars, people took to their gardens and planted like crazy. For some it was their first foray while others took the opportunity to revive neglected existing gardens. Whether it was driven by fear of a lack of food or…

Yes, there really is a special corn for making popcorn. You can buy the seeds to grow in your own garden or just head to the cinema and buy a tub to crunch while you watch the big screen. Chances are that the popcorn you buy at the movies has been grown right here in Australia. A grower near Dubbo can’t keep up with demand. The popcorn he and other Central New South Wales growers produce is processed in Forbes and distributed to cinemas as well as being sold in supermarkets. When you compare popcorn with ordinary sweet corn, the cobs are smaller (around 18–20cm long) and left to dry on the plant before they are harvested — unlike sweet corn, which is harvested while it has a high sugar…

Turmeric label Common name: Turmeric Botanical name: Curcuma longa Family: Zingiberaceae (ginger family) Aspect & soil: Full sun to part shade; well-drained soil Best climate: Tropical, subtropical, temperate Habit: Perennial flowering herbaceous plant Propagation: Rhizomes Difficulty: Easy Like its cousin, ginger, turmeric is a flowering plant that produces a root or rhizome crucial to Asian cuisine. While its deep golden-yellow powder form has also been used as a fabric dye, turmeric has been prized for centuries for the peppery, mustardy flavour it imparts to spicy dishes. But it may have other uses as well. Turmeric, like ginger, has significant anti-inflammatory properties and a long history of use in Asia and India for arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. Its main constituent, curcumin, has shown anti-cancer promise. It has also been shown to…

Rosie Bright and Mark Moody spent two years looking for the right house before they found a 761m2 block six years ago. Located in the hilly Geelong suburb of Belmont, the property had a few trees, some established garden beds and three derelict greenhouse sheds, which they demolished and replaced with more beds. The pair were after a place where they could grow their own food and be close to work and beaches. With no children of their own, they wanted to be part of a community. They both enjoy cycling along the Barwon River. “The house was big and open with plenty of space,” says Mark, “and every window looks out onto the garden.” Rosie enjoys reading, cooking, swimming at the beach, cycling and gardening. A former Sydneysider, she…

Rocket label Common name: Rocket, arugula Botanical name: Eruca sativa Family: Brassicaceae Aspect & soil: Sun; well-drained soil Best climate: All Habit: Annual salad vegetable Propagation: Seed, seedling Difficulty: Easy Rocket is one of those enthusiastic plants that you may only have to plant once. It then self-seeds, often abandoning the vegie patch and appearing in cracks in paving or at the edge of the path. With its rapid growth, rocket really does live up to its common name, which echoes the Italian ruchetta or rucola, from the Latin eruca. But it has many other names, including roquette and arugula, an Italian dialect word used in North America. A Mediterranean native grown around the world, rocket is familiar everywhere, often included in supermarket salad mixes. The peppery leaves of this fast-growing…

Pumpkin label Common name: Pumpkin, winter squash Botanical name: Cucurbita maxima Family: Cucurbitaceae Aspect & soil: Sun; deep, moist, fertile soil Best climate: All, but in cold areas wait for warmer weather Habit: Annual vine Propagation: Seed, seedling Difficulty: Easy Pumpkins are traditionally associated with Halloween celebrations. Called jack-o’-lanterns, they are hollowed out and their orange skins carved into scary faces lit with candles from inside. The pumpkins used for carving are large, soft-skinned varieties that don’t make good eating and are mainly grown for stock feed. Traditional Australian pumpkins are thick-skinned and not suited to carving or hollowing out. In most parts of Australia, Halloween — the last day of October — is the ideal time to plant pumpkins although they can be sown from spring to early summer and…

A seed is arrested life in waiting, so to speak. It’s part of the magic of nature that so much genetic detail is held within the tiniest of vessels on Earth. From the tallest trees like the sequoia redwoods of California to the minute realm of the tiniest of orchids in Ecuador, seeds hold the genetic code for the vast majority of our plant life. For millennia, plants have successfully reproduced via seed dispersal. And seeds have adapted so well to their various climatic zones, habitats, soils, weather and seasonal upheavals, predation and more. Seeds in their various forms have many cunning ways to get distributed throughout the environment. The various shapes, sizes and features of the seeds on our planet are truly amazing, from propeller-shaped to prickled, huge, hairy,…

The horrific fire season we endured last spring and summer has changed forever the way we relate to our gardens and landscape. A friend even said the Blue Mountains blaze that burned her garden and almost claimed her house and street now makes her look at native vegetation with a fear from which she may never recover. Innocence was also shattered in the NSW Northern Rivers where I live. We’ve always been less concerned about bushfires because of the belief that rainforests don’t burn. All that changed last summer when iconic rainforest in the Nightcap National Park burned as a result of lightning strike. It wasn’t a raging canopy fire as in a eucalyptus forest but a smouldering fire that crawled over vast distances, choking the region in thick smoke…

Images and text from Japanese Food Made Easy by Aya Nishimura, photography by Lisa Linder. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99. Make delicious Japanese food at home using healthy ingredients and straightforward methods. Favourite classics include ramen, gyoza, teriyaki, tonkatsu and sushi. SAKE-STEAMED CLAMS This is a wonderful dish that can be made with very little effort if you are short on time. However, it’s important to prepare the clams properly to remove all grit and sand. Serves 4 INGREDIENTS • 30g sea salt• 4 cups cold water• 1kg clams• 30g fresh ginger, peeled & cut into thin matchsticks• 8 spring onions, cut into 5cm pieces & sliced into long thin strips• 150mL sake MEHTOD 1. To remove the grit from the clams, mix 4 cups of cold water with the sea salt in…

After years of devastatingly hot summers and drought, I had to let my food garden go. We’re on tank water and simply couldn’t keep the moisture up. Beds dried out and unwanted plants I’d spent countless hours weeding over the years finally took over. The fence collapsed under the weight of weedy vines and rotted. I knew it wasn’t going to be easily retrieved. The demise of the food garden was sad and coincided with losing both my parents within a couple of years of each other. In deep grief, I ran out of puff and enthusiasm for gardening. I made that first food garden over 18 years ago when we moved from Sydney to our five-acre property, Forest of Friends, in NSW’s Northern Rivers. I started out with lots…

SEPTEMBER 2020 Spring is the season everyone loves, gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It seems like the whole world is coming to life with new growth and profusions of flowers. OCTOBER 2020 It’s high spring and everything is growing its socks off. Regular feeding, consistent watering and staggered plantings are the keys to a good harvest. When the moon is waxing from new moon to full moon, it is increasing light and drawing sap flow upwards. During the waning from full moon back to new moon, light decreases and sap is drawn downwards. This movement of sap flow has an influence on how well new plants will grow. There are four phases, each lasting seven to eight days. Sowing, planting and taking cuttings should not be done in the 12 hours…

Records suggest olive trees were cultivated around 5000 years ago in Syria, which makes them one of the oldest tree crops in the world. The branches of this ancient tree were offered as a peace sign, Olympic victors were crowned with a wreath of its leaves and the golden oil made from its fruit was rubbed on gladiators’ aching muscles. Olive trees thrive in regions of the world with Mediterranean-style climates: cool winters and hot dry summers with low humidity. They are grown in home gardens today for their ornamental beauty as well as for the fruit and oil. GROWING AND CARE Plant your olive tree in a full-sun spot so that it gets at least six hours of direct sunlight daily. The biggest killer of olive trees is wet…

There is often one bird in the flock that doesn’t toe the line. Frequently it’s the rooster showing off how brave he is, but right now I’ve got some egg eaters. A few weeks back it was a turkey hen that wanted to sleep in the trees at night. Whatever the species you keep, some behavioural problems are bound to crop up. CRANKY MALES Nothing shocks like a sudden wham from a rooster or gobbler. Some males become edgy and territorial in spring; others simply develop attitude. Aggressive males should be despatched. They shouldn’t be bred from as you don’t want this trait passed on and from a safety viewpoint it’s poor form to sell or give them away. The big risk is cellulitis if pointed spurs puncture your skin,…

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES • New shoots will be appearing on bare branches and poking through soil. The sight of the first asparagus shoots is an exciting moment each spring. Harvest daily as the spears quickly become tall, woody and inedible. Use a sharp knife to cut below soil level.• Not so welcome are weed seedlings; these need regular hoeing. Use mulch to deter weeds around vegies.• Sow summer crops such as chilli, capsicum, tomato, eggplant, beans, cucumber, pumpkin, squash and zucchini. Also plant lettuce and herbs.• Potatoes, beetroot and carrot can be planted in all areas. Use certified disease-free seed potatoes (tubers).• In areas that are still cold and frost is likely, hold off on warm-season crops. Instead sow broad beans, broccoli, English spinach and rocket.• Where space is…

Flowers are essentially reproductive organs that evolved with the sole purpose of attracting pollinators and possibly repelling undesirables. There are 28,000 species of orchids alone, so it’s not surprising — yet still a source of wonder — that, across the millennia, plants have assumed myriad shapes and forms, some of which resemble animals, birds and all kinds of other mythical and natural beings. Here are some of nature’s more extraordinary doppelgängers. OFF THE PLANET Happy alien (Calceolaria uniflora) Also designated C. darwinii or Darwin’s slipper, this tiny (10cm) member of the slipperwort family was discovered in Tierra del Fuego by Charles Darwin during his famous voyage. PUCKER UP Hooker’s lips (Psychotria elata) Another South American native, hot lips — known less politely as labios de puta — is a tropical tree that rocks vividly…

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