Innholdsfortegnelse for 15.5 i Good Organic Gardening

Bees are a frequent topic for us. Not long ago, I wrote about the devastating impact on our local area when the varroa mite first arrived in the Port of Newcastle and authorities decided to kill off all the honeybees in a hopeless attempt to control the spread. It was heart breaking. I’ve also mentioned how the native ground-nesting bees had some particularly difficult La Niña summers when it rained so much and so constantly that the ground never properly dried out. The teddy bear bees were actually coming inside the house. We’ve also run a few how to features on creating bee hotels, or bee B&Bs as we like to call them, but in this issue we have a different and exciting kind of ground-nesting bee home for you…

When annual coriander (Coriander sativum) stops its leafy growth and bolts to seed as conditions warm up, that’s when this coriander substitute steps in to fill a flavour gap. Although sawtooth coriander is from a different genus and doesn’t look like coriander, it has the coriander flavour and tolerates warm conditions. Sawtooth or perennial coriander is a thistle-like biennial with long, serrated leaves. Like coriander, it’s grown from seed but, unlike its namesake, it isn’t prone to bolting. If its genus Eryngium sounds familiar, that’s because of the popular ornamental garden perennial known as sea holly (E. maritimum), which has spiky blue thistlelike flowers and stiff, grey-green but inedible leaves. Another name for sawtooth coriander, derived from its native Caribbean, is culantro — not to be confused with cilantro, the…

JANUARY 2025 Mid-summer is a time of high productivity but the heat can be very harsh. Protect your plants with some shade and keep the watering consistent if the weather is dry. FEBRUARY 2025 This month you can start thinking about sowing some cooler-season crops, but you may need to keep them under cover until it’s time to plant them out in the garden. New moon First quarter Full moon Last quarter 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…

With their fresh, grassy and slightly salty taste, warrigal greens are often considered the bush tucker alternative to English spinach. Unlike English spinach, though, the Australian and New Zealand native groundcover has succulent, fleshy green leaves with high oxalic acid content, so they must be cooked before eating. It also differs from traditional spinach in that it loves the heat of summer, making it a handy leafy crop to grow in the warmer months. Warrigal greens can be grown easily from seeds or cuttings in all regions of Australia (see box, opposite page). WARRIGAL GREENS NEED A FULL-SUN TO PART-SHADE SPOT WITH A FREE-DRAINING SOIL. GROWING AND CARE Tetragonia is frost tender, so consider growing it in pots that can be moved for protection — or grow it as an…

The pepper we crack on our dinners generally comes from the other side of the world — but did you know there’s a native alternative? Introducing mountain pepper, sometimes called pepperberry, an evergreen shrub endemic to the dense, cool-temperate bushland and temperate rainforests of southeastern Australia. Both the leaves and berries are edible and they’ve been used for thousands of years in Aboriginal cuisine for their flavour and medicinal properties. Traditionally, both leaves and fruit were crushed into a paste with water and used to treat infected gums and toothaches. The berries have a spicy warmth and fruity flavour that’s a mix of Sichuan pepper, plum and cloves while the leaves are cinnamon scented with a hot peppery taste. These flavours work well with both sweet and savoury dishes including…

Grow a thriving patch of fresh produce in your garden this season using Diggers vegie squares If you think you don’t have enough space to grow a bounty of edible crops, think again! It’s amazing what can be grown in the smallest of spaces with a bit of preparation, expert advice and the right tools. Download our handy chart to discover the secrets of vegie squares and learn how to turn tiny spaces into thriving sources of fresh, nutritious food with Diggers. Download here…

METHANE’S UP AND IT’S DOWN TO US Methane emissions from human activities have increased by 20 per cent in the past two decades, a new report found. And it’s not just the cows that are to blame. The Global Methane Budget 2024 was produced by international research partners — including the CSIRO — as part of the Global Carbon Project. It covers 17 natural and anthropogenic (human-induced) sources and shows that methane has increased by 61 million metric tonnes per year. One of three core greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, methane lasts in the atmosphere for just a few decades — a briefer period than its rivals, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — but its short-term global-warming potential is highest as it holds more heat. CSIRO researcher Dr…

When lockdown happened a few years ago, Reeda and Brad Close, like many other city dwellers, found themselves considering a tree change. “When 2020 hit it made us reconsider a lot of things,” Reeda says. “One big one was food security, so we started to learn about growing food. “We started at our old place with a few raised beds and dreamed of creating our own food forest. In the process of doing this we stopped and thought, ‘Is this place really our forever home?’” As it turned out, the answer was no and the Closes soon made the move to five acres in Brisbane’s outer west, surrounded by bush and a beautiful mountain range. Since then they’ve been on the steepest of learning curves. “Neither of us had any…

Are microgreens just a trendy fad or do they provide real nutrition? Certainly, they are a convenient and easy way to grow your own greens as they don’t need a garden or even an outdoor growing space. If you are new to microgreens, the term covers crops harvested from sprouted seeds and, yes, they do pack a nutritional punch and form part of a healthy diet. The type of nutrients that can be absorbed through eating microgreens varies with the type of plant being grown but all are high in phytochemicals, which have good health benefits. Microgreens are also low in calories and have a low GI. Plus, they make a pretty garnish on a dish or sandwich. Among the edible plants grown as microgreens are cereals, vegetables and herbs.…

Perhaps the hardest thing about organic gardening is finding sustainable methods of pest control — solutions that won’t hurt beneficial bugs, household pets or wildlife, disrupt the garden’s ecosystem or degrade your soil. More than anyone, organic growers are aware of the dangers of chemical pesticides, which leave harmful residues and cause lasting ecological damage. Not only that, they attack all insects indiscriminately, whether pollinators or helpful predator species. In short order, the targeted pest develops immunity, requiring everstronger applications of toxic chemicals. Even worse, the resistance it develops is passed on to future generations. Working with nature rather than against it is always the best solution. And there’s possibly no approach more harmonious than enlisting the power of natural predators such as beneficial nematodes. NEMA … WHAT? Among the…

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES • Before the dog days of February get here, it should still be cool enough in southern regions to put in some herbs such as basil, dill, parsely, sage and watercress. Coriander, however, will likely go straight to seed. See page 16 for the more heat-tolerant alternative, sawtooth coriander.. • With an eye to warming conditions, consider planting leeks, lettuce, spring onions and zucchini. In temperate zones, add beans, cucumber and sweet corn to the list. • Think about your pollinators and plant some marigolds, nasturtiums, petunias and sunflowers. They look great, too. • Now’s the time to look at the prospect of heat stress later in summer: bring out the shade screens, which will also shelter crops from hot winds. In the event of heatwave,…

REEF COMES TO GRIEF It barely makes the news these days but, last summer, at least 97 per cent of colourful corals in the Great Barrier Reef’s north turned to white skeletons. The extent of this mass bleaching event around Lizard Island has largely been kept from the public. Researchers analysed long-lived corals in and around the reef that keep a record of temperatures hidden in their skeletons and matched them to modern observations. Global heating directly related to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels drove the 2024 event, the fifth such event in the past eight years. Sea surface temperatures in 2024 were extreme and the hottest they’ve been in the Coral Sea for more than 400 years. The research, published in the journal Nature, gave a stark warning:…

One of Patricia Millman’s earliest memories is helping her mother out in the family garden in the southern Perth suburb of Applecross. At least, she thought she was being helpful. She pulled what she thought were weeds but were actually freshly planted petunias. Her mum never reprimanded her but was just pleased to see her in the garden with her. She remembers catching bobtail lizards and keeping them in a shoebox till her father made her return them to the bush. Patricia’s mother, a townie, was a keen vegie grower; her father, a bushie, grew fruit. On their quarter-acre block, they had fruit trees and grapevines and kept chickens so there was always plenty of eggs, which Patricia disliked and smothered in tomato sauce. Eggs aside, having grown up eating…

Although we’re in the midst of harvesting tomatoes, there’s plenty of time left to grow a crop of cherry tomatoes. They can be started from seed or bought as seedlings from your garden centre or hardware store and planted now. The vines keep producing fruit right through autumn. Indeed, last year, despite a cold winter, I was still harvesting cherry tomatoes in June and July. In tropical and subtropical climates, grow cherry tomatoes in preference to ordinary tomatoes in the hottest, most humid months of the year. Tomatoes are among the most popular and rewarding crops for summer gardens but they can be tricky to grow and are often slow to ripen. If you want a trouble-free yet tasty tomato, grow cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are highly productive. While each…

You may have heard that chocolate prices are skyrocketing and this is down to many factors including climate change, labour costs and the age of the trees producing the beans. Chocolate is obtained from the seeds of the cacao tree, a tropical plant grown commercially in Côte d’Ivoire (the largest producer), Ghana, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Brazil. While nothing can really replace chocolate, there are several other plants that have captured the taste or smell of chocolate and are far easier to grow in gardens than cacao. Growing one or more may help future-proof your chocolate addiction if real chocolate becomes unobtainable or unaffordable. CHOCOLATE PUDDING TREE Black sapote (Diospyros digyna) is known by the common name of chocolate pudding tree as its soft, round fruit does taste just like…

You don’t know your fowls well until you observe their relationship with food. In general they’re surprisingly fussy and often have strong likes or dislikes. Some are very greedy and others motivated to work the system, waylaying owners at the gate in expectation of a treat. Then there are the bullies that like to deny low-ranking hens access to feeders. Fussy fowls flick out grains and pellets they don’t like, causing wastage. At my place, a few gourmet eaters spend their outdoor time raiding the contents of feeders in other pens. It’s all about resource management, a priority that dates back to ancestral time. With fowls, feed and their gizzard go hand in hand. This sizable grinding organ is the result of centuries of ingesting grains and seeds, chitin and…

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES • Summer heat is still a thing, so keep your lettuce — all new plantings, in fact — under shadecloth and hold off on herbs for now, though you could try basil and lemongrass in temperate climes or parsley and watercress in cooler regions. • Best to wait till the end of the month before putting in the likes of Asian greens, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, silverbeet and spring onions. Try garlic when nights start to get cooler. • While it’s still hot, dry or windy, edibles need daily watering. Leafy crops may bolt to flower and seed if they dry out while tomatoes can develop blossom end rot. Liquid feed growing leafy greens once a week with organic plant food. Also feed any upcoming seedlings planted…

TOUGH NEW SPRINKLER Bringing you Wobble-Tee Sprinkler’s latest product, the RolaRain Sprinkler. Why would we make a newer model when the Wobble-Tee has been so popular and successful? Well, the Wobble-Tee Sprinkler was designed as a domestic sprinkler to be used on the lawn in your backyard, but it has been utilised in so many other situations that are outside the original design concept. So, simply, we have made a tougher new design that is more suited to farming applications, sporting fields and industrial use. The wheels allow the central part of the sprinkler base and fittings to rise off the ground slightly when being pulled along, stopping the sprinkler base scuffing the grass surface and reducing wear on the hose and sprinkler fittings from rubbing against the ground. For…