Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue#7.4 - 2016 i Good Organic Gardening

Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is best known as a chocolate substitute. The 30cm, curved, dark-brown pods have a chocolatey flavour when they are ground into a cocoa-like powder. The seeds are removed from the pod before it’s ground up. Carob pods can also be eaten fresh (but don’t eat the seeds). Just because this tree is a substitute for something as universally loved as chocolate doesn’t mean it isn’t a first-class tree with lots to off er. Carobs grow into large, spreading shade trees that can reach 8m across. The trees are long-lived and drought-tolerant. They are useful in large gardens, paddocks or as street trees, especially in dry or arid areas. The leathery foliage is also useful for fodder when other feed is scarce. The pods, too, can be given…

In southern Italy, on the beautiful western coast nestles the small seaside village of Acciaroli. Of its 2000-odd residents, 300 have reached the great age of 100. If that doesn’t impress you enough, it’s estimated that about 20 per cent of those centenarians have actually achieved the age of 110. In addition, the incidence of heart disease and Alzheimer’s is comparatively very low in Acciaroli. The village is now the subject of ongoing study to determine what it is about its people’s genetics and/or lifestyle that has caused this. What is known already is that many of them smoke and spend a large part of their day drinking coff ee until it’s wine o’clock, when they switch to alcohol. Many are overweight but you rarely see them exercising (intentionally). On…

Since moving to his six-and-a-half-acre (two-and-a-half-hectare) property 15 years ago, Sean Morrow and his wife and daughter have transformed it from a mostly grass-covered, empty block into a haven for wildlife. As a landscape and permaculture designer, Sean is able to envision what the place will look like years down the track and is constantly creating ever more gardens and habitats for wildlife to achieve his vision. Sean has been a passionate gardener since he was eight, gardening and weeding for his neighbours as a child. He has always had a fondness for nature and its wildlife, especially lizards and frogs. He looked all over Australia to find the perfect place to establish productive gardens and a fruit and bush tucker orchard for his family; one that would also attract,…

Ripe garden-grown honeydew melons are as sweet and delicious as their name suggests, with thin white rind and gorgeous green flesh that adds colour and variety to fruit salads, cheese platters, smoothies and summer cocktails. Growing: Honeydew melons grow on an annual vine that flourishes in warm soils. They enjoy a sunny spot, with rich well-drained soil, so dig in plenty of compost before planting. They like a soil pH somewhere in the range of 6.5 to 7.5 so if your soil is too acidic, add lime before planting. Honeydew melons need a long, warm growing season and can be slow to take off when the soil temperature is low. Seed can be sown direct into warm soil in spring and summer for a summer and autumn harvest. Planting is…

Depending on your climatic zone, in the summer months, you may experience long periods of drought accompanied by scorching temperatures, or you could see heavy rainfall with high temperatures and humidity. Both high humidity and strong, radiant heat from the sun can damage plants and make them vulnerable, especially those you may be trying to establish. Most softer-leafed edibles will be grateful for some protection from the midday sun’s rays. In my experience, even summer-loving crops such as pumpkins, cucumbers and melons can have their leaves scorched beyond recovery. However, most of the edibles we like to grow do need a sunny location for healthy growth and to come to fruition. If you think planting your crops in a shady spot will resolve all the summer heat problems, you’ll soon…

In this fast-paced world of instant information and portable gadgets, how do you capture a new generation of hands-in-the-earth gardeners? This is a question that might just be answered by The Gardenettes, a new 100 per cent online gardening and cooking show designed to inspire people with an on-the-go lifestyle to take some time out to smell the tomatoes — and cook them as well! The girls’ retro style and ’40s hair give the show a feeling of nostalgia and you can be guaranteed of lots of Nan-approved gardening tips and simple home-style recipes that can be whipped up in a jiff y. But the plants, products and advice featured are on trend and up to the minute. The stories are short and sharp, with plenty of inspiring projects and…

Gourds are squash-like vegetables but they’re not grown to be eaten. Although you can eat them when they’re small, as they grow and mature, they become bitter. Rather than being grown as an edible vegetable, the long, hard fruit is grown to be used. Gourds are fashioned into utensils such as bowls, decorated or carved as ornaments, and even turned into musical instruments such as drums, maracas and rattles. Gourds are native to Asia and Africa and have been used as objects for more than 10,000 years. The gourd also spread to America where it has been grown and used for millennia. PROPAGATION AND GROWING Gourds are started from seed planted during spring and grown through summer and autumn. The vine grows quickly and uses its green tendrils to climb…

Zucchini are generous plants to have in the summer garden, with their abundance of glossy fruit. They are easy to grow and such good croppers that during harvest time you can be out in the vegie patch picking zucchinis, not only for your own use but for friends and family as well. With fruit in such abundance, it’s nice to know they are surprisingly versatile in the kitchen, used to make everything from classic zucchini bread to muff ins, pastas and frittatas — even sweet zucchini cake. The bright-yellow flowers can also be stuff ed with exotic ingredients such as olives, anchovies, basil and ricotta, then battered and fried. And what a choice of proven varieties. Zucchini ‘Black Beauty’ has been a summer staple in the vegie garden since the…

Is a gardener born or made? In the case of Frank and Anita Vella, from Wallington, Victoria, you could say it’s a bit of both. Wallington is a rural township on the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong, the sort of place where the local school runs an annual strawberry fair. For 150 years, Bellarine Shire has been a patchwork of farms and market gardens, thanks to waves of immigrants. Frank himself arrived in Australia from Malta in 1963; his father, John, had a farm in Rockbank in outer Melbourne. “Frank has always loved gardening,” says Anita. “He was brought up with vegetables, chooks, rabbits and canaries.” Frank loves goat’s milk, especially when his mother, Mary, used to make gbejniet, a Maltese cheese that’s a bit like ricotta. “It goes into a…

If you’ve never eaten a tamarillo, you’re really missing out on a special treat. The pulp is rather tangy and tastes a bit like a cross between a tomato and passionfruit, so it’s a unique fruit that’s as at home in a savoury dish as it is in a sweet one. Not surprisingly, tamarillo is closely related to the tomato, potato, eggplant and capsicum and, like the tomato, boasts a high vitamin C content. In fact, it’s from the same family (Solanaceae) and you’ll often hear it called the tree tomato. The tamarillo grows as an evergreen shrub to around 3m tall with attractive big heart-shaped leaves and pretty red new foliage. It displays soft pink flowers through spring and summer, followed by a crop of glossy red, amber or…

Insects are some of the most abundant creatures on Earth and they all play an important role within our ecosystems. Organic gardeners and farmers are able to put aside an aversion to insects that we all seem to have, probably because of the few bothersome or aggressive ones, and understand that in nature, there is always a balance. Organic gardening techniques, whereby the use of synthetic chemicals is eschewed and soil and plant health are maintained by the addition of organic matter, will see balance created and, hopefully, very few severe unmanageable pest and disease outbreaks. In our last issue, we looked at beneficial bugs that wage war on some of the baddies whose populations can get out of hand from time to time. Here, we profile a few more…

VEGETABLES COOL & TEMPERATE By late spring, soils are warming and seeds are germinating, especially in the vegie patch. In warmer zones, early plantings of tomatoes may already be flowering and forming fruit for a Christmas harvest. In cooler zones, if all threat of frost has passed, it’s safe to plant out summer crops such as tomato, capsicum, eggplant, cucumber and zucchini. Continue to shelter these new plantings from any late cold weather. Corn, too, can be planted now, sowing seeds or planting seedlings in blocks to aid pollination, as corn is wind-pollinated. Position corn to shelter smaller vegetables from hot summer winds. Also plant herbs in the garden or in containers. Liquid feed leafy crops every seven to 10 days for strong growth and keep plants well watered, especially…

The history of the capsicum — that summer garden star of salads and ratatouille, second only to the tomato — is one of confusion, not least because, like its nightshade cousin tomato, the capsicum is botanically a fruit but in the kitchen is regarded as a vegetable. Capsicum annuum, known down under and on the Indian subcontinent by its botanical name (from the Latin capsa or box, in reference to its shape), is called a pepper almost everywhere else — and therein lies even more confusion. When Christopher Columbus introduced this New World delight to Europe in 1493, any pungent condiment was called “pepper”, including of course Piper nigrum, also known as the peppercorn, which had already found its way west via the Spice Routes. Here’s where it gets interesting.…

In the lush, leafy Sunshine Coast Hinterland is a charming country garden that’s a pure delight to the senses. Strolling around the beautiful gardens, everywhere you look there’s something wonderful to discover: sweet, fragrant roses, rows of strappy agapanthus, mature exotic trees, tactile earthy timber bails that tell a story of a bygone era, and sweeping park-like gardens with archways that frame majestic mountain views. Owners Steve and Ann Robertson bought a 10-acre (four-hectare) parcel of an old dairy farm 34 years ago, after the magical mountain views sealed the deal for the couple from Townsville in North Queensland. “We had to wade through knee-high kikuyu grass to view the property, but we knew right away it was for us,” says Ann. A BLANK CANVAS The sprawling rural block was…

Meeting young farmer Joel Orchard was one of those exciting moments in life when you realise you’re looking into the eyes of someone who will actually make the world a better place. Standing among the tulsi basil, alive with bees, words tumble enthusiastically out of his mouth about the future of farming and the role young farmers can play given half a chance. And he grows bursting-with-goodness food, too! Originally from Warrnambool, Victoria, Joel was raised growing backyard vegetables surrounded by rich dairy country. He then headed to Melbourne to study science and got involved in the urban food movement. After a crippling drought in country Victoria, he set his sights on the NSW Northern Rivers where he lives today, drawn by its incredibly rich farmland, which he describes as…

VEGETABLES COOL & TEMPERATE Develop the habit of inspecting the vegie garden once or twice a day through summer. Look for pests and weeds that need control and crops that are ready to harvest. Take the hose or watering can to give plants a drink. If a hot day is forecast, water plants early in the morning and, if it’s going to get really hot, cover new plants and leafy crops with some sort of shade as protection against the heat. Move containers into a sheltered position. Young and leaf crops become stressed in the heat and fruit and leaves are at a high risk of burning. A piece of shadecloth spread over plants can help crops survive a hot day without loss. Remove the cover at night. New plantings…

HOME IN THE GRANGE Sproutwell’s Grange Series is Australia’s first proven commercial-grade greenhouse (in the market for three years) and is widely used in both residential and commercial agricultural industries. Over the past three years, Sproutwell has provided hundreds of Granges across Australia and New Zealand and it’s without a doubt the most sought-after greenhouse on the market today due to its supreme strength and durability. Sproutwell’s Easy Aluminium Connectors and Smart Slide-in Assembly System have been designed to reduce the assembly time by up to 70 per cent compared to other greenhouse structures (uses 300-plus fewer nuts and bolts than the traditionalstyle greenhouse). Complete with 10mm polycarbonate panels, it’s hands-down one of the strongest greenhouses available. The entire range is perfect for those wanting to erect a larger greenhouse…