I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden

November 18, 2011 at 2:06 pm (Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems, Container gardens)
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The following post is adapted from a workshop given at the Green Renters Expo in association with the City of Yarra, May 17th, 2011

I was challenged by my friends at Green Renters to put together a short talk about food gardening for people with limited access to an established garden. Trying to squeeze in as much as possible into such a short presentation (I really only had about half an hour) was pretty difficult, so I had to pare down the volumes of information about growing plants to the bare bones. This is what i came up with.

Gardening without a garden

Getting by with what you’ve got

Not everyone has a garden, and in the past, only the extremely wealthy could afford lavish gardens. Landed gentry had teams of gardeners on their estates tending to exotic plants collected from all around the world. As the middle class grew, smaller versions of these elaborate status symbols replaced the purely utilitarian vegie plots and orchards in suburban private gardens, and even in government owned properties. Status is fine, if you actually can afford it as the old fashioned lords could: they had their own productive land as well as the extensive show gardens. The average person does not have that luxury. In some cases, a patch of soil is not even available for any kind of garden.

The front yard of a nearby neighbour, every year it's full of vegies.

So, where can we put a garden? As one version of things goes, before all else: Let there be light! A successful, productive garden needs at least 6 hours a day of direct sunlight. There are plants that can grow in less light, but as our focus is on food for people, the less light there is, the fewer meals you will get from the space. Light is essential for plant growth, plants take energy fromsunlight and convert it into chemical energy which we can eat. The light should be preferably in the morning, as the afternoon sun is generally hotter, and will tend to stress the plants a bit more, but in the end, any light is good, as long as there’s enough of it.

If a garden bed already exists, choose it to start with. It’s easier to dig out old plants you dan’t want, and replace them than start a whole new garden. Sometimes, anyway. There are problems, especially with established woody plants, which can cause problems, but in most cases, an existing garden is a good place to begin. The next best place is a lawn area. Lawns require a lot of sun, so a healthy patch is a good indication that there is enough light and water to grow most other plants, including food!

But what if there’s no soil at all? Any open space can be used as a growing area. In the inner cities, large areas have been paved, conreted or covered with hard surfacing like asphalt to reduce maintenance. These places are perfect, if they get enough sun, we just have to consider options for growing in containers, which I will come back to. In actual fact, the ground may not be the only place to put containers, and anywhere there is close-to-level space, such as balconies, roof tops, or even stairways can be considered, taking safety and access into account, of course.

Containers don't have to be "plant pots"

Another thing to consider is access to water. Is there a tap nearby the area you are going to use? It makes it so much easier to keep things going if you aren’t having to lug heavy watering cans up and down stairs or hoist them on to roofs to alleviate the thirst of your garden, and they are thirsty. In summer you may have to water every other day, in containers, maybe every day. There are automated ways of doing this, but a hose and trigger spray nozzle are the easiest.

There are other advantages of inner city gardens such as a potential lack of frost, due to being off the ground, or surrounding bricks and paving keeping things war at night. There are also often lower populations of weeds and pests, due to the absence of other gardens nearby for them to migrate from.

What can you grow? Anything you like, really, the number of plants that can be grown are limited by climate, but in any location, there are hundreds of species of plant that can be grown productively. the first thing to consider is what do you like to eat? There’s not much point growing things that you don’t like, it takes just as much work to grow them, but you don’t get anything out of it. Everything is seasonal, too. Some things will grow all year, but most plants have an optimum time of year in a particular area. This usually means they are in season when they are also cheapest in the shops, so find unusual or expensive things, or things that don’t transport well for starters. Soft fruits, fresh herbs, tomatoes and salad vegies are my first thoughts, but it’s really up to you.

You can grow whatever you want in your space

So how can we grow a garden without garden beds? The first option is raised beds. These can work on lawns, if you don’t want to dig them up, but they can work on concrete or other paved surfaces, they behave just like large containers. Basically, you build a wall around the area you want to use, and fill it with “soil”, but I will come back to this. Of course you can use plant pots, or any other kind of container, polystyrene fruit boxes are easily obtained, usually for nothing, from local grocers, or markets (if you can find one). But really, you can use anything as a container, with a few important provisions.

Firstly, it has to hold “soil”, and I keep using scare quotes, because bringing in actual soil from somewhere else is expensive, and basically unsustainable in most cases, but we can work around that. Cheap potting mix is a good option. Supermarkets and big variety stores have potting mix for less than $5/25 litres. The one thing to note is the Australian Standrad logo. There are two standards for potting mix, Regular, which does not have to contain any fertiliser, and Premium, which contains enough for a few months. The standard means you are sure the mix contains no toxic chemicals, retains water and nutrients, drains okay, allows air down to the plant roots: all the things you need from a potting mix. The container itself must also have holes at the bottom to allow water to drain away, or roots become waterlogged.

Logo for the Australian standard (regular grade) potting mix. Premium grade is the same in red.

You need to fill up the container almost to the top, but not quite, as there needs to be some space, a “reservoir” for water to collect so it can filter into the potting mix. Don’t squash it down too much, either, it will settle when it’s watered in., and too much pressure will squash out all the air spaces in the mix, and suffocate your plants.

But where do we get our plants? If you’re buying plants, seeds are the cheapest way to do it. You’ll get more plants than you know what to do with from most packets of seeds. It’s best to buy things that are “open pollinated” if you can find them, which means you will be able to save this year’s seeds again for next year. But there are plenty of other ways to get plants. Division is one way, there are a lot of plants, like Mint and Oregano, and Thyme, where you can just dig a little bit of the plant from an existing one, and plant it where you want it to grow. A bit more complicated it taking cuttings, where you cut a small stem from an established plant, strip most of the lower leaves off and stick it in some potting mix. Eventually, if the cuttings are kept moist, and out of direct sun in a warm spot, like the top of the fridge, new roots will grow from the base, and you can plant the cuttings out. Rosemary and Sage work well this way.

Not too little, not too much, this Apple seedling finds things just right. Maybe I'll call it Goldilocks.

Fertiliser = Plant Food. Plants produce their own energy, but they need certain elements to build the machinery to do it. These come from the nutrients found in fertilisers. The most important are Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium, or “NPK” in their chemical symbols. These can be found in both synthetic chemical fertilisers, or in organic fertilisers. Chemical fertilisers are easy to apply in small amounts to deliver large doses of appropriate nutrients, while organic fertilisers, mostly animal manures, require much larger quantities to be applied for the same result. For this reason, along with the issue of odour, some people choose to use chemical fertilisers. It’s a personal decision, really, it makes little difference to the plants, though organic fertilisers increase soil organic matter and microbial activity, which is a good thing, while chemical fertilisers are much easier to overdose on and produce undesirable effects.

Pests and Diseases are often the cause of much discouragement. Grubs and slugs and bugs can eat away plants literally overnight, but there are simple solutions. Firstly, the best defence is healthy plants, healthy plants seem to be attacked less by pest and disease, so keep them growing strong. Growing many different plants together, mixed up rather than in neat rows, seems to confuse any critters looking for a free feed. Lastly, there are plenty of low toxicity sprays that will knock back the baddies. Just remember they will also knock out any beneficial bugs as well, like ladybugs and hoverflies.

Grow as many different plants as you can in the space you've got, it helps confuse the pests, keep out weeds, and produce more food!

Weeds take up empty space in the garden. If you have weeds, it means you could have more plants you like. Pulling weeds makes more weeds! By ripping them out, you are bringing more weed seeds to the surface, and allowing more sunlight to warm the soil, and more water to germinate more seeds. Mulch reduces weeding and watering, by shielding the soil from the sun, evaporation is reduced, so more water stays in the soil for plant roots. Organic mulches provide some nutrients as they break down, but very woody mulches can use up some nitrogen if you are not careful. Any mulch is better than nothing, even stones or plastic could help stop weeds and hang on to water.

Many plants produce more when harvested, like beans, peas, salad greens, even broccoli, so keep picking! Keep sowing seeds, too, on a regular basis, so plants can be replaced when they are slowing down. Most of all, keep trying, take notes so you can look back on what works and what doesn’t, and don’t get discouraged. No one is good at something the first time they try. Remember learning to cook?

The golden garden rules

  • Light
  • Water
  • Healthy roots = healthy shoots
  • Mulch
  • Plant what you like
  • Keep planting
  • Keep picking
  • Learn from mistakes
  • Have fun!

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Growing the seeds of stuff

October 31, 2011 at 11:53 am (Agriculture, Community gardening, Featured plants, Fruit trees, Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems, Seed Saving)
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So much of what is written about growing food is based on commercial information. The methods of broadscale monocultures are scaled down to home gardens, based on the experience and research of commercial food production. But this may not be the best way to go about growing things in a local home garden.

Fruit trees are a good example of what I mean. In commercial orchards, trees are grown and maintained in a very uniform way. The aim is to get a large quantity of uniform fruit for market, ripening at the same time on multiple trees in plantations of dozens or hundreds of trees. The spraying, pruning, picking and processing of the fruit is streamlined to reduce costs to the grower. The trees all grow genetically identical fruit on selected rootstocks to reduce pest and disease problems. Such problems are concentrated by growing only one kind of plant in such mass plantings as orchards.

These problems for the most part do not apply to home growers. Further, the predictability of known varieties, those which are sold in bulk by supermarkets and grocers, are of benefit to mass production, allowing growers to systematically produce crops at set times of year. The existence of such monocultures are the main cause of chemical pesticide use in agriculture and horticulture. Large scale operations require mechanised simple solutions for economic reasons.

A bit less than a week's worth of seeds from my house, that's dozens of plants, right there.

When European settlers first arrived in Australia, they were forced to select and breed new varieties of plants and animals for the new conditions here. The climate, seasons and soils were so alien to their experience that varieties from “home” were not as predictable or productive as they were used to. Now faced with changes to climate, including temperature and weather patterns, we must begin to select new varieties that can cope with altered conditions.

Luckily for us, nature has a means of doing so quite easily: seeds. Every seed contains a variation on the genetics of it’s parent plant. Sexual reproduction in plants allows them to adapt to new environments and survive, and there is no reason home gardeners can’t take advantage of that natural adaptability. But the only way to do that is by letting those seeds grow. Existing plants can’t adapt to changed conditions in the same way their offsrping may be able to.

Many fruits we eat contain seeds, and there is no reason a home gardener can’t plant those seeds and grow new varieties of fruit which are unknown in the world. The vegetatively reproduced commercial varieties are well known to us for reasons of consumer preference, but mostly for shelf life, transportability, and ease of production by large scale growers. The price of fruit at market is influenced by season, but also by costs to the producers. Home gardeners, by having only one or two of a particular kind of fruit tree can avoid the broad scale pest and disease problems of the commercial growers, and by growing seedlings, could find new varieties with resistance to pests, diseases, or changed climatic conditions, such as lower water availability or reduced chilling periods.

Planting the seeds of the apples we eat, for example, will produce seedling apple trees. If we plant those seedlings in the ground, we find which are best suited to our actual soils and other conditions. The ones that thrive are evidently more suited to our specific location. Leaving them to mature and produce fruit will give us further information about their suitability for particular areas and seasons, and good record keeping will allow us to share that information with others. Finally, when the fruit appears, and admittedly this may be five or more years after planting seeds, we can pick it, and taste it, and decide whether it is an improvement on what we get in the supermarket.

In the vast majority of cases, if the fruit is not to our taste, or without some particular use, it can often be grafted with something more to our liking. The chances of it being radically different from the fruit we first took seeds from is very small, because of the way fruit is grown. The plants that pollinated the apple we bought are virtually identical, so the gene pool is quite small. But other features, such as disease tolerance, could make it a superior plant, even if the taste is exactly the same. But there is a chance it could taste better, be sweeter, have bigger fruit, ripen earlier or later, or any number of slight variations which may be improvements on the original. And no matter what, you get to name the new variety whatever you wish, as every seedling is a new variety, no matter how similar to it’s parents.

WARNING: May contain cases of nuts: I bought these for $10 from the local market, that's almost two hundred potential nut trees from a 1KG bag. To be precise, it's 129 Almonds, 23 Brazil nuts, 25 Hazelnuts, 15 Macadamias and 7 Walnuts. No prize for guessing what's the cheapest nut per kilo.

In the case of nuts, one of the major concerns for growers is uniformity of size, and that is one of the main reasons they grow selected varieties, so they know their harvest will be uniform. This carries over to processors, who often have machinery for shelling specific sizes. If the nuts aren’t the right siz, they won’t buy them. Most of the nuts in their shells on the retail market are “non uniform” for this reason. But if you’re going to sit around at Christmas with a nutcracker opening them by hand, what difference does it make to you?

There are restrictions as far as what will grow where. But when growing seedlings for basically no outlay, you can try whatever you want. Avocadoes and Macadamias grow quite happily in Melbourne, for example, but as far as I know, Brazil Nuts do not. There is no reason not to plant a few and see what happens, though. Sure, the frost might get to them, but then again, you may grow the first frost tolerant Brazil nut in the world. If it can be done, it won’t happen by sticking with the known varieties, that’s for sure, it needs seed-generated biodiversity for changes to happen, and those changes might be needed quite soon.

I’ve mentioned before that some of the most popular varieties, for example Granny Smith Apples, began as chance seedlings. If everyone with a garden grew a few seedling fruit trees, imagine how much genetic diversity would be cultivated in a single suburb, not to mention how much food could be produced. Sure, the tree you grow may not be your favourite orange, or pear, the walnuts your tree produces may be smaller than those in the shops, the mandarins might be seedier than you’d prefer, but surely it’s better than no food at all? And if it costs nothing, there’s nothing to lose.

So, keep your seeds in a paper bag, maybe even in the fridge, then plant them out in spring. Except Avocadoes which can go in any time, really, though they may not grow until the weather is warm. Give it a go. Even if you don’t have space for a Walnut tree, you could always sneak it in to the nature strip somewhere.

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The way things are goin’, they’re gonna crucifer me

July 27, 2011 at 12:18 pm (Featured plants, Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems, Planting calendar, Seed Saving)
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Someone asked me the other day if they could eat Broccolini leaves. They wanted to use them in a recipe, some kind of quiche-like tart which called for Kale to add some greenery. The answer was “Of course you can, they are the same thing”. Because ultimately, they are the same plant species. In south-western Europe, sometime in prehistory, people began to eat a plant now known as Brassica oleracea, a tough plant, tolerant of limestone soils and salt laden winds, which stores water in its fleshy leaves to cope with its harsh native habitat. The plant is a good source of vitamins, including vitamin C, and minerals, containing the highest levels of calcium among vegetable sources. The plant used to belong to the family Cruciferae, so called because of the cross-shaped flowers they all possess. The family name was changed relatively recently to Brassicaceae, and includes many edible plants, including Mustard, Turnips & Swedes, and Radishes, to name a few obvious examples.

A browse through the bounty of the Brassicaceae family, Choi Sum, Cauliflower and Daikon radish

But most surprising to me is the variety of “different” vegetables that are all contained within the species B. oleracea. The list includes many favourite, and commonly grown vegies, at least one of which most people would eat weekly, if not daily. Things like Kale, Collard Greens, Borecole, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, the misinterpreted Kohl Rabi, and the unfairly maligned Brussels Sprouts all spring from the same source. You can track the origin through their names, which mostly contain a variant of “Cole”. This also gives us the name of the ubiquitous coleslaw, derived from the name for cabbage salad: No cole, no coleslaw. Let me elaborate further by discussing each in detail.

Kale, Collards and Borecole

These plants are probably the most closely related to the original wild species, and are grown for their leaves. They are collectively grouped as B. oleracea var. Acephala, the varietal name indicating they have no head, as a cabbage does. Borecole comes from a  Dutch name, Boerenkool, meaning peasant’s cabbage, but genetically these plants are very closely related. This biennial plant (meaning it flowers in its second year of growth) is resistant to frost, and can grow to nearly two metres if left alone.

The currently fashionable Cavallo Nero is really just a variety of Kale. Once regarded as peasant food, now a gourmet vegetable. Some peasant labour is clearly needed in this community garden plot at the Collingwood Children's Farm.

The appearance of some varieties is quite ornamental, and they can easily be hidden amongst flowers in a more ornamental garden, though I am not sure who can justify the time, water, space and effort to grow plants purely for appearance. Some Kales are grown purely for ornamental purposes, and can be found more often in the florist than the greengrocer’s. They have frilly, feathered, brightly coloured purple and white leaves – almost forming Cabbage-like heads in some cases. These are still edible, though the flavour is not great. I suppose like most things, it depends how hungry you are.

One of the most common colour variations in Kale varieties, as well as the other Brassicas, is a purple hue, like this Purple Kale. It usually changes to a blueish colour when cooked.

Kale can be grown pretty much any time of year, and harvested throughout its life cycle. The plants will love a high nitrogen supply, and will probably do better if some liquid fertiliser is applied as they grow. Just remember that the leaves give the plant energy, so if you take them all, recovery will probably be slow, and you may shock the plant into flowering. But you can always cut back the flower heads and keep on gutsing the leaves.

Cabbage

The name Cabbage is possibly a corruption of the Latin for head, caput, referring to the growth of a large ball of leaves in the centre of the plant. This head has been selected over centuries, and is an important food in many parts of the world. In fact, despite being relatively low in energy content, they are high in vitamins and minerals, and remain one of the most grown vegetables. Highest production annually is in China, followed somewhat unsurprisingly by India then the Russian Federation. I have to admit the true Cabbages are among my least favourite of the species. I rarely buy them except with specific recipes in mind, while others I grow all the time or buy routinely, when in season.

The humble Cabbage, growing at the Collingwood Childrens' Farm community garden

There are a huge number of cultivated varieties of cabbage, in numerous shapes, colours and textures, but these are not to be confused with the Asian Cabbages which have often been bred from the related Turnip, or from Mustard. European Cabbages are commonly pickled, such as in sauerkraut, as well as being eaten fresh or cooked in a huge variety of dishes. There are varieties that may be grown all year round, and cut plants will often resprout smaller heads after the main head is removed. The most commonly eaten part is the tightly bound “head” of young, immature leaves, which make the plants compact compared with their close relatives. If left until their second year, a flower stalk will burst through the head, which by this time will be less than palatable, but still technically edible.

Keep sowing a few at a time to avoid a harvest season glut.

Cabbages grow in most places, they will tolerate frost, and grow best at cooler times of year. They like fertile soil in full sun, with plenty of compost and organic fertiliser. They may bolt in hot weather, so harvest as soon as they ready, and plant successively for a continuous supply. This applies to all the Brassicas mentioned here. A few every week is better than a dozen at once come harvest time.  They are ready to harvest in 7-14 weeks depending on the variety.

Broccoli

Broccoli, or more specifically B. oleracea var. Italica has been selected, initially in Italy about two thousand years ago, for the flowering stems of the plant. There are numerous varieties, as one would expect, the most common producing large branching flower heads that look like little trees. This similarity may make it easier to get little people to consume this vegetable, and is worth a try if you have trouble in that department. Sing the Lumberjack song while you eat, if it helps. The generally bluish plants are best grown through the winter as hot weather can make them bolt to seed. They will flower eventually if the heads are not harvested, though again most of the plant is edible anyway, including the flowering stems. They will handle frost, and to get the largest possible heads should be planted 40 – 60cm apart, though closer plants will produce smaller heads.

Broccoli can produce very large heads, like this 40cm monster at the Collingwood Children's Farm gardens. Closer planting means smaller heads, which is more useful for smaller households.

It is thought by some to be a cross between heading Cabbage and the Cauliflower, originally, and has been known in Southern Europe since before the Medicis, who took the plant from Italy to France in the 1500s. By the early 1600s it had made its way to England, and it was planted at Norfolk island as early as 1788, making it among the first vegetables from Europe to be grown in the colonies. There are Green and Purple Sprouting Calabrese varieties, which give a continuous supply of shoots after the main harvest, and there are Perennial varieties which can be kept going for months at a time by continuous harvesting of the side shoots.

Broccoflower like this example at the Queen Victoria Market, is an actual cross between Broccoli and Cauliflower, and has the same growing preferences as Broccoli.

Broccoli is probably my personal favourite of this species, and in the garden, they are not only easy to grow, but many varities produce side shoots after the main “head” is removed, providing ongoing broccoli feasts. Most people are aware the stalks are edible, though the larger they are, the tougher they get. I still use the thick main stalks in the kitchen, peeling away the fibrous outer layers of skin and chopping up the softer insides to use in soups and stews. I have even chopped and then frozen the stalks if I didn’t need them straight away. Delicious.

There's some debate about whether the fractal-patterned Romanesco Broccoli is a Cauliflower or a Broccoli, but it can be treated as either.

The vegetable known as Broccolini, Brocoletti or Baby Broccoli is generally the side shoots, developed after the main head is harvested, though some varieties of Broccoli have been selected specifically to provide these smaller shoots.

Cauliflower

The curds of the Cauliflower are the most eaten part of the plant, they grow much the same as for Cabbages, but tolerate less heat and frost. Heat particularly will break up the compact heads and induce flowering quickly, though of course they are still edible beyond this point. Again, a continuous planting will result in a  continuous supply at harvest. Despite being known in ancient times in the Middle East and North Africa, the Cauliflower didn’t make it to England until the 18th century. Though they were well known in Australia by the early 19th century. There are white, green and purple headed varieties available, so you can be creative with their planting, and they mature in 12-20 weeks, again doing best through the cooler part of the year.

Call me old fashioned, but sometimes I crave Cauliflower in Cheese sauce. Pakora are pretty good, too.

Kohl Rabi

Something of an oddity, the Kohl Rabi is sometimes known as the Turnip Rooted Cabbage, due to the swollen base of the plant. It is in fact the stem that swell, rather than the root, but the Kohl Rabi is treated as a root vegetable nonetheless. It is grown in cooler climates from Spring to Autumn, opposite seasons in warm places. But as it’s mid-winter here, it’s the only type of B. oleracea I could find neither growing nor in the market. The varietal name Gongylodes refers specifically to the “Cabbage Turnip”, if the common name is translated from the original German. Plants must be grown quickly to avoid the swollen stems becoming tough. Several purple tinged varieties are available, but only the skin is pigmented, the edible flesh inside the stem is white or yellowish. The vegetable has a mild cabbage flavour, not unlike Broccoli stems or cauliflower, and is commonly used in stews and soups similar to Turnips, though in North Africa and other places the leaves are commonly eaten also. These cultivars have only been known for a bit over five hundred years.

Brussels Sprouts

Possibly the most hated of Cabbages, the Brussels Sprout has a bad reputation especially among children. I say GOOD, that leaves more for me. The Brussels Sprout, or Choux de Bruxelles, was developed some time before the 13th century when the first records appear in Belgian market records. It didn’t make much headway in the English speaking world until a few centuries later later, and probably arrived in Australia late in the 19th century, but remaining obscure until after the Second World War. The plants do best in a cold climate, so are not really suited north of Sydney or along the coast, but are quite happy in Victoria and Tasmania. They were often included in traditional English Christmas dinners, mainly because they, along with Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum) are one of the few things left standing in the garden at that time of year. Many gardeners will insist that a good frost (or a snowfall) will improve their flavour, but in the cities of Australia, that occurrence is increasingly unlikely. They are planted in late Summer or Autumn, and harvested 12 – 20 weeks later, depending on the variety and the season. The plants need a fair amount of space, and grow quite tall, the sprouts themselves forming along the leaf axils, and may need staking especially in shallow or loose soils. Some popular old varieties to look for are Long Island Improved, an old standard non-hybrid variety, and Ruby Red, which as the name suggests will add some colour to the already interesting looking plants.

Not all that popular among inner city growers, probably because they take up a lot of space for a relatively long time. People still want to eat them, though, Brussels Sprouts for sale at the Richmond market with Broccolini

A particular pest: The Cabbage White Butterfly

I’ve already written about the major pest of this species, the prolific and devastating Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae). They can wipe out a crop of Brassicas in a couple of days, especially when young, and seem to be more of an issue than the other big garden pest snails and slugs.

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I started a choke, that started the whole world laughing

July 5, 2011 at 3:27 pm (Featured plants, Planting calendar)
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Everyone knows what Artichokes look like, right? Of course. They come in a jar marinated in oil and vinegar and garlic. If you look at my planting calendar you will see that in many parts of the country it’s the time of year for planting Artichokes, it’s also time to plant a couple of other things, which are known as Artichokes, but are quite different in almost every way.

Globe Artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) are what we call the Artichokes known to us from Mediterranean cuisine. They are the flower buds of a perennial thistle, originally native to Southern Europe. They are easy to grow in most parts of Australia, though they may be susceptible to cold in some areas without protection during winter. The plants are attractive, and are sometimes incorporated in ornamental gardens just for their impressive spiny foliage and silvery appearance. But to be honest, they take up a huge amount of space, and produce a very meagre return, once a year. Basically, if you are have limited space, I’d give them a miss.

The single sad leaf of my Globe Artichoke. When it gets bigger, I will be forced to make a decision about whether it's worth the space.

I would not say the same of the terribly named Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus). I say terribly named, because neither part of that name is accurate. It is not from Jerusalem, and is almost exactly unlike an Artichoke. This relative of the Sunflower is originally from North America, where it can still be found growing wild throughout the warmer states like California. Though botanically it is in the same family as the true Artichoke, the daisy family (Asteraceae) the relationship is distant. The edible part of this plant is the tubers, which form in tight clumps around the base of the plants, and can be dug up in winter. While they are difficult to peel because of their knobbly shape, they are relatively flavourless, the starch-like texture being reminiscent of potatoes, and they can be used in much the same way.

In fact it is not starch, but inulin that is stored in the tubers, which is only partially digestible by the human digestive system, and is suitable for diabetic diets. It may also cause bloating and gas in some people, due to this lack of digestion. There is some interest in the crop being used to create ethanol fuel, too. Apparently, early Italian settlers in the US called the plant “Girasole”, which probably became corrupted to Jerusalem over time, and the flavour has been compared to Artichoke by more than one taster. Many people are trying to popularise the names “Sunchoke” and “Sunroot” as alternative names, to avoid confusion. The plants grow easily, and can be left in place without much trouble, though tuber size and quality does decline with time. Try planting them with a perennial climber, like a Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus) to maximise the vertical productivity, the tall Sunflower-like plants provide sturdy support, and provide much needed shade in summer.

Assorted shapes and sizes of Jerusalem Artichoke tubers, ready for planting. The green patches on these are not toxic like those on Potatoes.

The third plant I wanted to mention is the Chinese Artichoke (Stachys affinis). Presumably this picked up the Artichoke moniker because of the tubers it produces being compared to the Jerusalem Artichoke, though it’s a tenuous comparison. This plant is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), and closely related to the common ornamental Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina). The crunchy tubers are commonly used in China and Japan, less so elsewhere. The leaves may be eaten, but usually only in emergencies. Again this plant can be pretty much left alone, and it’s unlikely every tuber will be found at harvest, so it will most likely spring up on its own year after year. I grew mine in a pot, so I could easily find them when the plant top died back.

A heap of tubers from one Chinese Artichoke plant. They are being stored in moist coco-peat to prevent them drying out.

Anyway, it’s the right time to plant any of these three plants, but as I said, unless you have heaps of space, I would avoid the Globe Artichokes, and possibly stick to the other two. But I do like perennials that don’t need replanting every year, it’s so much easier that way.

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It’s not easy being green

June 14, 2011 at 1:34 pm (Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems)
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I was hanging out my washing the other day, and when I finished, I found a little visitor had jumped into the empty washing basket. I’d have probably missed him otherwise, but as he was essentially trapped, I whipped out my phone and took a picture of the little critter. You can see his picture below, and by my guess, he had blown or fallen down from the gigantic LabLab Bean I have growing over the laundry.

Everyone meet the imaginatively named Green Vegetable Bug. GVB, this is everyone.

This little guy is a Green Vegetable Bug (Nazara viridula) and is a common pest of pulses. This includes beans, peas, lentils, soybeans and pretty much everything vaguely related to beans except for Chickpeas (Cicer arietinum). These guys are actual bugs, which if you were an entomologist would mean something useful in describing their life cycle. Let’s just say for now, all bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. GVBs hatch from yellowish egg clusters, and grow in stages, called instars, until they are full sized adults. The young look more or less the same as the grown-ups, except for the colouration.

The thing that really sucks about these guys is they really do suck. They use their piercing mouthparts to poke into almost developed beans in their pods, and suck all the goodness out. That means less for us to eat, or at the very least, sad looking, mis-shapen beans or peas. In really bad infestations, there may be up to 20 bugs per square metre, which means a lot of damaged beans. They can also attack flowers and early pods, too, reducing yields even further, and may suck sap from other plants including corn, sunflowers and tomatoes. They are also becoming a problem in commercial cotton crops, and with the the amount of pesticides already used on that crop, they may be developing resistance to chemical sprays.  They don’t like being disturbed, and will actually spray a stinky substance that can stain your skin or clothing. Little skunks.

They can be controlled with chemical sprays, though they can be pretty toxic. They are relatively easy to catch and kill by hand, if you can see them first, but wear gloves to avoid being stinkified. There are two parasitic wasps that will help keep their numbers down, one which destroys their eggs (Trissolcus basalis) and another which attacks the adult bugs (Trichopoda giacomellii). You can search for suppliers on the internet, and most companies will mail the appropriate predator along with instructions. The thing to remember is to avoid other pesticides that could harm the good guys once they are released.

I am sure you will see them around once you start looking, but possibly not so much in the colder months. I think mine was looking for somewhere warm to hide.

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The Garden Doctor is on “the social network”

May 27, 2011 at 1:42 pm (Shameless Self Promotion)

Yes, you can find me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TheGardenDoctor if you like that sort of thing.

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When the river runs dry

May 27, 2011 at 1:24 pm (Agriculture, Australian Natives, Science)
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I have mentioned before that even if every bit of an average urban garden was planted with food, it would still not produce enough food to sustain a family. Things like staples, the carbohydrates we eat in larger quantities as the bulk of most peoples’ diet, are required in volumes unreasonable to produce on a “quarter acre block”. And so it means we rely on the rural farming communities to provide us with bread and pasta and rice.

When looking at agriculture in Australia, we are really talking about the Murray Darling Basin. This catchment stretches all the way down the east coast of Australia, from southern Queensland, through New South Wales and Victoria and into South Australia. It contains the majority of Australia’s farming activity, and produces a massive proportion of all crops, cereals, vegetables and fruit, including about 40% of the total dryland crops in the country. Dryland crops are those which are grown using only natural rainfall as irrigation. This distinguishes them from irrigated crops, grown using diverted or stored water from surface run-off or waterways. Many cereal crops, such as Wheat (Triticum spp.), Oats (Avena sativa) and Barley (Hordeum vulgare), are dryland crops. Rice (Oryza sativa) is irrigated using water predominantly from the Murumbidgee river, and is a prime example of what sorts of issues arise from this kind of farming.

The Murray Darling Basin is a huge catchment area stretching from Queensland to South Australia

Rice farming started in the 1920′s in Australia, but massively expanded in the latter part of the 20th century partly due to increased domestic demand, but more so the potential exports to growing economies in South East Asia. Almost all the rice grown in Australia is produced in the Murray Darling Basin, so close to 100% it’s barely worth considering the competition. All of this Rice is grown using flood irrigation during the hot growing season (October to March in the Riverina) with water diverted from the inland river system. While farmers have been reducing their water use over the past few years, and increasing yields, they sill use more water than any other cereal producers in Australia. The main purpose of the flooding is to reduce weed competition, and varieties have been selected over the years to produce best under these conditions. The flooding itself causing low oxygen conditions in irrigated soils, resulting in anaerobic decomposition of organic matter in the soil, and a resulting increase in methane production by soil microbes.

Water used through the growing season seeps into the water table, which is known as deep drainage. While this may not appear to be a big deal, we are talking about 1643 gigalitres (GL) of water, the equivalent of one and a half times the capacity of the Thompson dam (Victoria’s largest water storage). Considering the Thompson is less than half full at present, and rice growers use this much water every year, it may start to ring alarm bells. Deep drainage causes artesian water tables to rise, that is, the increased volume of water underground begins to approach the surface. Due to dissolved salts in the artesian water, (which can be tasted in bore water), the soil salinity in areas with rising water tables may become too high for plant roots to tolerate. Eventually soil salinity can approach levels too high for any plant growth, and once useful farming land is lost. This salinity is similar to dryland salinity, which occurs in non irrigated areas, but is caused by clearing of deep rooted, high water use vegetation resulting in more drainage of rainfall into the water table. Salinity in all its forms is a major threat to agriculture in Australia, both in the Murray Darling and elsewhere.

But we need food! That is reasonable conclusion, against which it is difficult to argue. But it should be noted that only 5-10% of rice produced in Australia is consumed here. The vast majority is for export, in other words, it is on behalf of local hungry pockets that the irrigators really lobby, not local stomachs. Okay, so 40 million people eat Australian rice every day. This is good, we are actually helping alleviate world hunger. But economic forces are at work here, not altruistic ones. People don’t starve for the most part because of a lack of food sources, but because of a lack of access to those sources, which in the modern world means a lack of money. Nobody is giving this stuff away, and at present the rice harvest in Australia is worth over $200 million annually. Sure this is nothing compared to the beef export market at over $3 billion, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, a lot of that is grown on land that is literally unsuitable for any other kind of farming. Sure, maybe we should just let it go, but it’s a different set of arguments to be had. We are, as it has been pointed out, very good at growing rice in Australia, our yields are about double what the average is in the rest of the world. But if we are genuinely concerned for the rest of the people reliant on rice as a food source, we should be exporting our knowledge to them, not just selling them our rice.

Most of the rice grown in Australia are 'Japonica' varieties, which have short grains like Arborio rice, rather than long grain 'Indica' like Basmati rice

Currently, the situation in the Murray Darling basin is precarious. Irrigated crops draw water from the river systems, and either release it back, polluted with fertiliser, pesticides, or just plain salt, or it soaks down into the water table to cause problems elsewhere. All that flows off the irrigated land, and non-irrigated properties for that matter, ends up back in the river system. This in turn flows into wetlands and estuarine systems and into the sea, where it affects all of the associated ecosystems along the way, by polluting and generally decreasing the quality and quantity of water available for the natural environment. This is greatly discounting the amount of water that doesn’t flow off, due to actually being used by the crops and livestock, and exported from the region and from the country as produce. The nature of salinity means it takes a long time for symptoms to appear, and possibly even longer to reverse them, which is yet another layer of difficulty for the region on which we are so reliant. The federal government set up the Murray Darling Basin Authority to investigate these issues, and soon they are to deliver a plan which was to balance environmental and economic concerns. The Basin supports more of Australia’s agricultural economy than anywhere else in the country, but the rivers that flow through it are vital for the survival of some of our most important natural environments.

It seems as though the Authority has been swung in favour of the economic outcomes, though. After promising to buy back “water rights” from farmers to allow more water to continue down the rivers without being diverted, a recent announcement has reduced the original flow volumes by up to 30%. The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists have resigned from advising the Authority, as they have not been allowed access to the “great new science” that has prompted this back pedalling. If ever there was a situation that needed qualified, objective study, it is a situation like this one, where personal gain and conflicts of interest are inherent in the problems. Political group GetUp! have been organising a petition to encourage the Authority to release their “new science” for public scrutiny.

To be honest, I don’t believe there is such a possibility as “environmental flow” when it comes to a scale like this. No matter how much water flows down a river, the organisms that depend on it will be selected by natural processes to survive those conditions. If it’s a lot of water, species will be selected for wet conditions, if it’s less, species will be selected for dry conditions, and if it’s somewhere in between, then the median will select. There is no way humans can predict an “ideal amount” of water to provide, except to maintain an ecosystem in the state they have observed it. This is not natural. It is conservative, but it is not conservation. It is management, pure and simple. There is no way human beings can avoid having an impact on the development of the natural world, especially as it exists downstream from us. The idea of “minimum flows” is a ridiculous misunderstanding of what “natural” means in the first place, as the only truly natural solution would be to remove all reliance on diverted water. That probably includes all the farm dams as well, and water tanks, and drinking water reservoirs, and fish ponds and swimming pools for that matter.

But this is unlikely to happen. One thing is for certain is that there can be no “maximum” flow through the river systems, and the minimum needs to be as high as possible to enable anything approaching a natural amount of water reaching the wetlands and the estuaries. This means any reduction of a minimum flow must be greeted with skepticism, especially where the group who is in favour of such a reduction has so much to gain from it economically, and potentially so much political influence over the government charged with making the decisions.

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Green-age wasteland

May 19, 2011 at 11:09 am (Container gardens, Featured plants, Fruit trees, Gardening - Basics, Seed Saving)
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A lot of people probably don’t realise, or at least don’t stop to consider, that when they buy fresh fruit and vegetables, they are often buying the means to generate more fresh fruit and vegetables. Every time you spit out pips of any fruit you eat, you are probably throwing away the means to grow whatever fruit is your fancy. Of course, most commercial fruit comes from carefully selected varieties, nursery propagated by grafting a well known variety on to disease resistant rootstock to grow in a large plantation which will produce uniform fruit of consistent quality under well known conditions at a predictable time of year. Any seed grown from such fruit will not be exactly the same, due to the wonders of sexual reproduction, and resulting natural genetic recombination. But then, why does that matter?

If you want a well known variety of fruit, and you can grow it in your garden, chances are it will be cheapest in the shops when your tree is laden with fruit. That’s how the market works. But if you have a tree in your garden that has different fruit to any other tree in the world, which is quite conceivable, then nobody else will have it for sale. Sure, it won’t be much different; after all, if you save a seed from an orchard grown fruit which was surrounded by genetically identical trees when it flowered, the gene pool is  small to begin with. But every now and then, random recombination combined with natural variation means something new and unusual will spring forth. It may have a different flavour, or colour, or more disease resistance, or better nutritional content, or prettier flowers, or larger fruit, or any other possible variation. The world renowned Granny Smith apple, for example, came from a seedling out of a compost heap in country New South Wales. And if you do get something worth spreading around, you obviously have the right to immortalise yourself, though I don’t think Maria Anne Smith referred to herself as “Granny”.

Some sorely neglected Citrus seedlings. You know how mechanics' cars are always falling apart?

Some fruit produce seeds that are poly-embryonic, meaning they are capable of growing more than one plant from each seed. In the case of Citrus species, one of the embryos is asexual, meaning it’s a clone of the parent plant, along with one or two “normal” embryos. I used to peel the seed coat off citrus pips and stick them in my mum’s indoor plants. They usually grew, but I never took it further than germinating them as a kid. There’s no way of knowing which of the seedlings is the clone, obviously, until they fruit, or you have a genetics lab handy. And seedling trees take longer to fruit than grafted, nursery propagated fruit trees, possibly up to seven years, as compared to two or three. But seedlings are free, and if after a few years waiting the fruit turns out to be not to your liking, you can always graft on something you do like. Even commercial trees have this done as consumer tastes change.

Sprouting Garlic cloves, ready for planting (pic courtesy of shonky photo, inc.)

Okay, so fruits are all good, but what about vegetables? In some cases, they are fruit anyway. Tomato, Pumpkin, Melon, Capsicum and Chilli seeds are easy to identify for example, and Eggplant too, though the seeds are a little harder to extract. But often we actually buy whole or almost whole plants. The onion family is the best example of this. Onion and garlic bulbs are basically dormant plants. Each individual clove of garlic is capable of producing a whole bulb of garlic if you stick it back in the ground. Just look for clove that are already starting to push out a leaf, and bury them pointy end up, just below the soil surface. Onions will regrow if planted, though not as deeply, and they usually just flower, which gives you a seed supply at least. Onions that have divided into separate bulbs may be able to become multiplier onions, this is where Shallots originally came from.

Look ma! Growing Garlic!

Leeks are also a whole plant, though they are usually trimmed of excess leaves and roots before they arrive at the market. But you can use the leek as normal in the kitchen, and then replant just the base, which will re-grow. Again, you may only end up with a flowering stalk, but they do look attractive, like pink pom-poms, and again, you will be able to collect plenty of seeds. Pretty much anything that comes with a root attached, for example bunched herbs, can be replanted and grown again, though the shock of harvest and transport may mean they simply flower quickly and produce seeds. But you may get some foliage, which is what you want from herbs, and at the very least you will get seeds.

Three leeks and a celery. Not pictured: Ted Danson

Whole bunches of celery can also be a source of planting material. I usually pull off the large outside stalks of celery until the pale, tiny leave in the centre are all that’s left attached to the base of the plant. That base can be planted either in the garden or in a pot, and will grow new leaves and roots, which may either be harvested, or left to produce seed for next year.

The pale, sickly looking celery heart. This was indeed a dark day for flash-free photography. Happily, the celery made a miraculous recovery (see above)

These are just a few examples of how your grocery basket can be a way of filling up your food garden as well as your fridge. If something looks like it will grow, give it a try, you never know your luck. I am currently eyeing a pineapple top in my compost bin. I will get back to you…

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Weeds don’t need no propagation

May 12, 2011 at 1:11 pm (Featured plants, Pests and problems, Problem weeds)
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When most people think of weeding the garden, they probably think about kneeling down and digging or pulling out the  grass and the various seedlings that have popped up in unwanted places between the plants they want to keep. The most useful working definition of a weed is a plant out of place. And it is worth removing them, as they rob nutrients and water from our crops, making them slower growing. Weeds can act as a harbour for pests and diseases, too.

But take a moment to look up, once in a while, and be aware that weeds are not just little plants to be pulled out. Most weeds are successful because they require little help in spreading themselves to new locations, and establishing themselves once they have a foothold. A walk down any suburban street will reveal gardens full of weeds, some of them quite large. In rental properties, it’s often referred to as an established garden, and while the description is technically correct, just because a garden is full of large plants does not mean anyone planned it that way.

Some impressively sized woody weeds in a garden. Sweet Pittosporum on the left, Cotoneaster on the right

Bear in mind, if a tree is capable of growing in a particular location, with no real care or maintenance, chances are something useful could take its place and be productive. Sure, in rental properties it may not be so easy, but it’s good to familiarise ourselves with what plants are weeds. Chances are, if the garden is full of weeds, nobody is really taking much notice, and you could remove and replace them without anyone batting an eyelid.

The photos here are all from the same property in Melbourne’s Northern suburbs. The three plants shown are among the most common woody weeds, but obviously they are not the only undesirables. Cotoneaster (pronounced Kuh-toe-knee-astuh) is a freely hybridising exotic species that is spread by birds, who feast on the bright red berries. Some varieties are grown for ornamental reasons, and the plants are attractive, but they are most definitely out of place, and can harbour pests and diseases of related plants, like Apples (Malus domestica) for example. It should also be pointed out that if one of these is surviving, an Apple tree would also have no trouble. Unlike the dense evergreen Cotoneaster, deciduous fruit trees will let in light in the winter, and provide shade in summer, so other plants can be grown beneath.

Cotoneaster is so common, it will be familiar to most people

The Mirror Bush (Coprosma repens) is another common weed, which many people leave alone for its shiny foliage, and quick growth. Originally from across the Tasman, this New Zealander has made itself at home in Australian conditions, and is highly invasive of native vegetation on pretty much any soil type. It seeds prolifically, and even after removal, seedlings may continue to appear for years. Again, it could easily be replaced with something useful, deciduous plants having the advantages mentioned earlier, but there are evergreen alternatives, like Citrusfruits, which would be a perfect replacement.

Mirror Bush is another often spotted urban dweller, but also highly invasive in bushland

The final rogue in the gallery today is a local. Sweet Pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum) is native to the wet rainforests of Gippsland, but has broken fee and can now be found in gardens and disturbed locations all over the country. Again, this is spread by birds, and can grow into quite a large tree, relatively quickly. There is one in my mum’s garden I have been trying to get her to remove for years, though it does grant some privacy from the neighbours. It will invade bushland, displacing local species, and in urban settings can make quite a mess with its sticky fruits dropping on the ground.

The distinctive berries of the Sweet Pittosporum, a local kid gone bad.

These three plants, and many like them, are simply overgrown weeds. They take up valuable garden space, produce little of value, and are effectively markers showing where something you actually want could be growing. The chances anyone planted them on purpose are virtually zero, no matter how established they appear, and if that is the case, get rid of them and put in something good instead. The easiest way to get rid of a large tree is cut the top off through the main trunk, then paint the stump with undiluted glyphosate, the safest weed killer there is. It will be absorbed and kill the roots, so the tree won’t sprout back. Keep an eye out for further seedlings, though, as there will be a seed bank in the soil, waiting for the warmth and light you let in.

As for replacement trees, you can pick up bare rooted trees for $15 to $30 in the right season, which we are approaching. But if you want to curb your spending, there’s no reason you can’t grow things from seed. Remember that a grafted tree of a named variety from a nursery will fruit a year or so after planting, while a seedling may take five or more years to produce anything. Of course, whatever it may produce will be slightly different to anything you’re used to, but you do get to name the variety if it’s any good!

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Wade in the water

April 29, 2011 at 1:26 pm (Container gardens, Featured plants, Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems, Water Gardens)
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I have often commented that one of the major reasons, if not the single biggest reason, for failure in growing plants is forgetting to water them. There are ways around it, putting in irrigation systems, for example, or having timely reminders from people like me. But ultimately, if plants don’t get water, they don’t grow, but equally, if they get too much water, many plants will die of waterlogged roots.

Of course there are plants quite at home completely submerged in water. Plants originally developed in the oceans of the world, where they had no concern about water supplies, and had a completely different set of problems. Most of the useful water plants you might wish to grow are actually land plants that appear to have re-adapted to the aquatic lifestyle, but they all tolerate, and even thrive, sitting in a body of water.

One of my favourites is Vietnamese or Hot Mint (Persicaria odorata) which I have been growing for years. I originally started growing from a stem I took home wrapped in a moistened serviette from a Vietnamese restaurant. It’s still going, and I have divided and given out dozens of plants from that original stem. But I learnt the trick to keeping it alive is to have its pot sitting in water all the time. I first kept it in pot, in a bucket, then graduated to a “pond” which is actually an old deep shower base I found on the side of the road.

The shower-base-pond in my backyard. Vietnamese Mint and Kang Kong are at the back, Taro and Fool's Watercress toward the front. That's Lemongrass on the edge in a pot.

I have grown other things in my shower pond, including Water Chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis), which I had planted in a large, flat basket so they could be lifted out easily for harvest. At the moment I have Kang Kong (Ipomoea aquatica) a relative of the Morning Glory Vine, which is used for its abundant leaves, Taro (Colocasia esculenta) which is grown for its tubers, stems and leaves, and so-called Fool’s Watercress (Apium nodiflorum) which is a kind of perennial edible plant closely related to Celery (A. graveolens).

I have also thrown in Duckweed (Lemna minor) and the native water fern Azolla (Azolla pinnata) which help soak up excess nutrients in the water, as well as shade it. They float on the surface, grow really fast, and can be scooped out and used as mulch in other parts of the garden to keep the nutrients cycling. The only real drawback in having standing water is that you will attract mosquitoes to your garden, and they will lay eggs in the water, and while I don’t personally seem to get bitten much, it’s not the most pleasant of things if you wish to spend time out there.

Some people recommend putting oil or kerosene on your pond to counter the little wrigglers. I would never use anything like that, especially when growing food plants in the pond. The best thing to do is get a couple of fish who will eat he larvae. Goldfish are not that great, but better than nothing, ask a local aquarium what they suggest, it will depend on where you live. Also, they tend to like stagnant water, so a little fountain or waterfall pump might just do the trick, a solar powered one would be ideal.

While it may be starting to cool down, it might be worth thinking about planning for the spring time, and certainly while plans are dormant is the best time to set them up for next year. And don’t think the plants I have mentioned are the only options, there are a heap more plants that will grow in a small pond, and anything that can hold water is a suitable container. I just pot the plants in ordinary potting mix (regular grade Australian Standard, of course) and plonk them in the water. Simple as that!

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