One of my garden mantras should be; When is doubt, sow asian greens. They seem to always reward with a quick crop and are super handy to have ready to pick. I had given up on growing them for summer, considering them a cool season crop, but after a neighbour gave me some fresh pak choi at the height of the warm weather, I reconsidered. There was a bed newly free after a sunflower crop, so I decided to try a few rows. The result has been a bed of…
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Rosellas; a pretty plant that makes great cordial
Yesterday I cut and processed my first lot of rosellas, and my attitude went from skepticism to planning how many rows I will plant next year.
Read MoreTomatillo failure
Tomatillos might not be a good crop for us here. I’ve tried a couple of plantings, and each time they grew well, then we had tomatillo failure as they were completely stripped by beetles and their grubs.
Read MoreGrowing buckwheat as a cover crop
Buckwheat has been a useful crop for me, and I’m sure it will be one of the staples here. I’ve planted a few stands, starting back in Winter, so I’m getting a feel for growing buckwheat in our conditions.
Read MoreCan a fungus be rude?
Here’s a bit of late Summer wildlife from the veggie garden. Demonstrating our innate need to make sense of what we see, mycologists have named this genus of fungi Phallus. It’s doing well on the decomposing grass in my plot down on the Mid-levels, and sends up a fruiting body every week or so. This morning I saw what appeared to be two squid rings sitting on the grass (outside the veggie patch fence), and then realised that they were Phallus fruiting bodies that had been neatly eaten off. I’d…
Read MoreOrchids in trees: Oncidium and Miltonia
Orchids are amazing! Growing up in Perth with hot bone-dry Summers and wet Winters, I would see them as plants for enthusiasts only, and we didn’t see the huge variety that are available now. When you’ve got the right climate though, they flourish in the toughest spots. In a bit of a faith leap, I planted out a set of orchids into trees above the house back in Winter; these two as well as Dendrobiums and a Cymbidium. It was partly to get them off the ground, where rats were prone…
Read MorePineapple sage
Although a great fan of standard sage (Salvia officinalis) and also of the flowering salvias, I didn’t know about pineapple sage (Salvia elegans, for an updated post click here) until I saw a scrawny cutting in the $2 section of a nursery last Spring. Now, I’m really glad I got it. It’s a fine looking plant with added flavour benefits.
Read MoreBiological control?
It’s nice to see that caterpillars sometimes eat the weeds too. This mallow burr is a major weed here, and comes up on any disturbed ground. It gets up to 2 m high and has burrs that stick firmly to any fabric. Fortunately it’s relatively easy to pull, when young, but I was delighted to see some caterpillars helping me with the job. This caterpillar is in my old school colours, too! Green, black and gold, and even the red head fits with the later addition of the red house. Biological control…
Read MoreGreen Gem cucumbers
Cucumbers have become a staple of summer this year. When we were living in the city I would prefer to get the old fashioned thick-skinned kind, rather than lebanese or telegraph, as I think they have better flavour. So my choice from the seed catalogue for Spring was Green Gem cucumbers; an old standard, good for hot climates, and mildew resistant.
Read MoreGreen zebra tomatoes
This is a crop that I’ve been looking forward to very much. Back in Winter when I was sorting through the seed catalogues to see which tomatoes I should get, there was one from the array of choices that I definitely had in mind; green zebra tomatoes to add colour interest to a tomato salad, and as a bonus they were recommended for regions with wet summers. You can see how pretty they are, the fruit are small, about 5 cm round, with green stripes. Fully ripe, the background colour goes…
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