Soils Aint Soils

Growing plants can be quite technical if we wish to make it so. There is chemistry, physics and biology to consider if you want to create the absolute best growing environment for your plants. Luckily for us, it isn't super necessary to consider all of these technical details in order to grow the majority of plants successfully. Having said this, sometimes a small amount of knowledge can go a very long way. Perhaps nowhere is an  understanding...

Read More

Growing Blueberries!

Along with figs, this year I am trying my hand at blueberries. I currently have seven varieties, six in containers. Blueberries  Blueberries can be a little trickier than some fruits to grow. They have specific soil and nutrition needs and for decent crops need to be cross pollinated. Blueberries are often advertised as self-fertile, however cross pollination with another blueberry of the same type will greatly increase both yield and berry...

Read More

The Fig Collection

I have always been a great fan of figs. Recently when overseas in France I would visit the market twice a week and proceed to eat two whole punnets of figs, in a single day. It was great. Once picked, figs do not ripen any more, and spoil very quickly. Figs when fully ripe are very soft and difficult to transport in-tact and this means that, sadly, figs are often picked a little too early for market, before they reach the maximum sweetness,...

Read More

New Garlic Bed

Today I planted out my garlic. I bought three varieties, which had all been certified organic; Red Rocambole, Monaro Purple and Italian White. Be Careful Which Garlic You Plant! With garlic, it is important to only plant organic, or Australian Garlic that has not been subjected to fumigation or chemical treatment. In order to destroy any pests that may be imported all garlic is treated with some fairly harsh chemicals, in particular methyl...

Read More

Beetroot

This is the first year I have tried growing beetroot, and it is quite an easy vegetable to grow. I planted from seed, and have found that almost all the seeds will germinate. In Canberra, beetroot can be planted at all but the coldest months of the year directly into the garden. I planted mine into punnets and transplanted out, as the dogs were trampling the young seedlings. After starting off quite slow, the beetroot seemed to take off, and...

Read More

Holy Cucumbers Batman!

Well Friday is traditionally the day I scout around seeing what is ripe in the garden for picking. Today I had a few of veggies available. My zucchini has finally started to slow down after 2 months of huge, and I mean HUGE, fruit. Honestly zucchini is one vegetable I am adapting my approach to next year. The plant itself grows large, and the huge leaves smother anything planted close. The fruit themselves grow exceptionally fast, and produce...

Read More

Peas and Caterpillars!

Peas! On the first weekend of March I planted some peas as an Autumn crop. I originally bought 3 heirloom varieties, Greenfeast, Telephone and SugarAnn. I was very worried after I planted them as the day afterwards began an extended heatwave with temperatures at about 30oC every day. Peas enjoy a cooler temperature for germination, around 23-26oC and so I tucked them up under a bush by the wall of the house that only gets morning sun, and crossed...

Read More

Fig Cutting Update

A few days ago, in my first post, I talked about how I propagated some green fig cuttings using the shoebox method. The cuttings were removed from the shoebox with varying degrees of roots. Here is what they looked like on removal, six days ago. I planted these cuttings into four containers, three into clear plastic party cups, and the one with the most roots into a 1.9L pot as the roots were too high up the stem to fit into the...

Read More

The Canberra Climate

I was thinking tonight that I have jumped straight into this blog without any information about Canberra, where I live, or anything really about me at all. I have been in the ACT for about 6 years now, and moved over here from Western Australia. To the uninitiated, Canberra can be quite the shock at first, especially when that first winter rolls around. Canberra winters have a somewhat unnatural coldness to them. Geographically we are in Australian zones 1 or 2, which is approximately equivalent to zone 8-9 in the United States. Although most...

Read More

Super Silverbeet

I remember years ago as a child, my dad used to grow silverbeet. Often we would go crabbing, and all the leftover shells would go around the base of the silverbeet plants. Every now and again we would get silverbeet with dinner, boiled in salted water, and as unappealing as that sounds I used to enjoy it immensely. It seems a little strange to me now, considering it took me about 20 years to try and grow it myself! Silverbeet is a great vegetable...

Read More