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

November 18, 2011 at 2:06 pm (Container gardens, Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems)
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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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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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Fear of a black plant: Getting started

January 4, 2011 at 11:51 am (Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems, Seed Saving)
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One of the most common things I hear from non-gardeners is that they have a “black thumb”. What they mean usually, is they tried to grow a plant once, and it died, so they gave up. If the first gardeners did the same, we’d still be foraging for food in the forest somewhere. I think gardening, like cooking, should be a natural part of any modern person’s skill set, because the principles are so basic. If someone can keep a cat or dog, they can grow plants, it’s that simple.

Just like every living thing, plants need three basic things: Water, food and shelter. In addition, plants need light, vegies about 6-8 hours a day, and the vast majority of plants grow in a specific temperature range, about 10-30 degrees Celsius. They may survive outside that range, but they will not grow as efficiently. Water is probably where most disasters happen, and it’s mostly due to forgetting to water them. Plants may not need watering every day, but it’s probably worth checking them that often just be sure. Plants use more water on hot days, and when it’s windy, and less when it’s cold.

I forgot to water these Cossack Pineapples, and it almost killed them, but you can see some regrowth at the base, and they have at least produced a bunch of fruit, which is full of seeds to try again!

If you can see them visibly wilting, it’s obvious they need a drink, but it’s usually best not to let them get to that stage, as they do go into a kind of shock if they get too stressed. The easiest way to check is to stick your finger into the soil or potting mix and see if it’s damp. If it’s dry, apply water. I find it easier to have a built in watering system, even for containers, and it makes it as easy as turning on a tap. Plants usually do better if they’re in the ground with a longer watering infrequently, which encourages roots to grow deep in search of water, while frequent short watering encourages shallow roots.

Food for plants is not the same as for animals. They actually make their own chemical energy from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. We call that sugar, and most other life on earth depends on plants for energy. But plants do need other nutrients to build their physical structure. Things like animal manures contain most of the nutrients plants need, though they can tend to smell for a couple of days after applying, but there’s much less likelihood of over-fertilising, which can burn the plants. Commercially available fertilisers will have application rates on the packaging, and as potency can vary greatly in unlabelled manures, some caution may be necessary when spreading, especially with poultry manures, which tend to be a bit stronger than cow, sheep or horse sources.

Even professionals get it wrong sometimes. It's too late for these Tomatoes. Good thing I grew more than I needed. And yes, I have seeds left over, too.

And as far as shelter goes, in the case of plants, that generally means protection. Plants can’t run away from their predators, so they need looking after by us if we want to eat them instead of being feasted on by slugs and snails and insects. How you choose to control the pests is entirely up to personal choice, but for the most part, some form of snail control will be needed, especially after rain, and a reasonably regular inspection and spray for other insects as required. A Pyrethrum based will knock off most pests, and is relatively non toxic to us, naturally sourced as it is from a daisy, though it will kill most insects, even the beneficial ones like ladybirds.

Really, what I am trying to get across is that growing pants is not really a lot of work. The plants have much more of a vested interest in their own survival than us, and do most of the work. We just have to keep an eye on them and give them a helping hand once in a while. Just like any skill, we get better with practice, and need to take every plant death or failure as an instructional learning experience. Even the oldest gardeners mess it up from time to time, but the cost of a pack of seeds is so inexpensive, it’s easy enough to just have another go. Go on, get back on the horse, Black thumbs of the world, and give it another try!

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Local and/or General

December 24, 2010 at 3:11 pm (Australian Natives, Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems, Science)
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Oh dear, where did this year go? Where did this month go? I thought I should put something up today as Consumas day is fast approaching, quickly to be followed by the end of the year. This may be my last chance to get my stats up for the year! Only kidding, there are a few things that have been on my mind lately, so I thought I would put them in one big post and get them all out there.

The main thing I want to talk about is “Native Plants”. I have had many people tell me “I have no room for vegies in my garden, I only grow natives”. There are a number of reasons for this, native plants often have a lower water requirement than their thirsty exotic cousins, and may be lower maintenance in general. They also have particular value in preventing erosion on steep sites, and along rivers and creeks, where other plants may not be established, and access is limited. They can provide habitat and food for native birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects, all of which may be predators of garden pests. But many of them tend to suppress the growth of other plants growing underneath or around them, and there are other issues with including them in a mixed garden. But what do people mean when they talk about gardening with  “Natives” in Australia?

This Eucalypt was planted too close to this block of flats, and is really too big for the garden it's in. Note that it has already lost several large branches.

Australia was isolated from the rest of the world for millions of years, resulting in a hugely different ecology than that which may be found elsewhere, especially that of the Northern Hemisphere. Australia avoided the glacial coverage of the last Ice Ages which affected most of Europe and North America, and so the ecosystems here are much older than theirs. Lack of competition from more recently evolved species means that plants and animals survived here that are not present anywhere else in the world.

Take, for example, the monotremes. Echidnas and platypus are the last remnants of a transitional phase between reptiles and mammals. Their young hatch from eggs, yet they have fur, and the mothers feed them with milk. The rest of the marsupials are also unknown in the rest of the world. They have been replaced by placental mammals for the most part, who carry their young for much longer rather than having them develop in a pouch. The plants are equally as “unusual”, certainly when viewed, as they were, from a European scientific perspective by white colonists.

The Australian vegetation often relies on fire for its survival. The fire cycle varies throughout the country, but is present in most areas, except, notably, rainforests. The main difference between regions is the period between fires, which to a great degree influences what kind of vegetation cover is present. The longer the gap between fires, the larger the trees tend to be, and the more closed their canopy. The Eucalypts are often the tallest, most dominant species in fire dependent systems, and they are also among the most flammable, the oils in their leaves being especially liable to burn. In other areas, Melaleucas or Tea Trees may dominate, and they also produce flammable oils. This feature alone makes them not generally undesirable for planting near houses, not to mention their often excessive size at maturity.

But lets look more closely at what “native” really means. In Australia there are estimated to be over 15,000 endemic plant species. They grow in range of conditions from tropical to sub-Antarctic, from coastal areas to mountain tops, on soils ranging from sand to the heaviest clay, and every combination of these. A plant indigenous to the Swan River in Perth is as far from home in Cooma, New South Wales as a Welshman in Siberia. Planting of Australian plants outside their native range can also disrupt migration patterns of birds, in particular. Certain bird species feed on nectar for one part of the year, and migrate to other areas when the nectar runs out to feed on insects and other protein rich food sources. If nectar is available all year, the birds do not migrate, and their health or that of their offspring may be affected. So native doesn’t tell us all that much. Plants that were originally found in a particular area prior to European settlement should be referred to as “Local Indigenous” plants.

Local indigenous plants are the plants that are unarguably best adapted to the area in which they were originally found. But things change. The soil, in particular, will be unlikely to have remained unaltered by the European influence over the last 200 years. Most residential areas have been developed on what was once farmland, meaning the soil is disturbed physically, due to cultivation, and chemically, as fertilisers and additives would have been added to increase productivity. The pH and salinity levels may also have changed. In short, putting local indigenous plants back in the same place may not be to their advantage under such conditions.

There is an argument for providing habitat for native fauna, though anyone who has tried to grow food when there are possums around will know that our food is just as tasty to them as it is to us. Another major issue is fragmentation. Small, isolated patches of native vegetation are difficult to maintain, and provide little habitat individually for the animals, birds and insects they may attract. The actual attraction itself may be dangerous for animals, encouraging them to cross roads, for example, in order to migrate from one patch to the next. Moving from one yard to another will also place them in the vicinity of domestic dogs and cats, who are probably not well versed in conservation issues, and could see small animals and birds as play things, or as threats. Large, continuous patches of vegetation are best for conservation purposes, where animals can migrate freely throughout the range.

Swamp paperbark is often used as a street tree, its natural tolerance of low oxygen levels in the root zone make it ideal for growing in heavily paved or high traffic areas.

Lastly, I can’t help but think about the unseen impact of purely aesthetic gardens in towns and cities. It basically means that all the requirements of the settlements must come from somewhere else. Rural areas are cleared, and the local environment around productive farm land is damaged by the processes. Not taking responsibility for needs in the same location as we live means just displacing the loss of indigenous vegetation elsewhere. It is very much a case of  “Out of sight, our of mind” in that we lower the aesthetic and conservation values of the places our food comes from, while surrounding ourselves with whatever attractive plants we prefer. Some Australian plants have specific uses in cities and towns, like the Swamp Paperbark (Melaleuca ericifolia) as a street tree. But few have been selected or bred specifically for food to the extent that most exotic agricultural and horticultural crops have.

The way I look at it, people should have the plants they need, mostly food plants, close to where they live. I don’t believe productive gardens need necessarily be unattractive. Personally I can think of few more delightful ideas than lounging in a garden full of food in any season throughout the year. If we move away from the strict rows and spacing that are taught as the “proper” way to grow, this idea is easier to imagine. For the most part, the arrangement of plants in straight rows a certain distance apart from each other is of benefit to large scale operations, for planting, spraying and harvesting often using machinery. On a small scale, such limitations are reduced or removed. Sure, if you plant four Tomatoes close together, each plant produces less tomatoes, or smaller tomatoes. But what household needs more than a few tomatoes a day? And the more individual plants you have in an area, the more chance of staving of disease. Even on a small backyard scale, genetic diversity makes for a more robust system.

If you really want to plant natives, make sure they are the species that actually grew originally in your area. Make sure the seed was collected from as near as possible to the site where they are to grow. And unless there is some major issue with the site, such as soil toxicity, try growing some of your own food as well, so there’s less pressure on places you may never even visit. Hopefully there’s a few points to ponder over the Festive break. My best wishes to all readers for the new year, and make a resolution to get stuck into that garden!

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The postman sometimes rings twice

July 19, 2010 at 3:38 pm (Featured plants, Gardening - Basics, Planting calendar)
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I was awoken early this morning by the Parcel Post guy knocking at my door. He had two parcels for me, none of which have anything to do with gardening. Then just as I was preparing to make coffee and wake up, and possibly get out of my dressing gown and into actual clothes, there was another knock. Strange, I thought, I hadn’t expected anything more this week. He handed over the post pack and, curious, I took it into my kitchen to open it.

It was from New Gippsland Seeds & Bulbs, a delivery of Sweet Purple Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) crowns. I had ordered these on line some time ago, but they were out of stock, so I opted to wait, and of course, forgot all about them until this morning. Asparagus crowns don’t look like much, a spindly collection of white roots. But from this unpromising base come delicious spears of green (or in this case purple) goodness come spring time. The spears, if left to grow, develop into tall, feathery leafed plants that bear little resemblance to what we serve as a vegetable, and a lot like the closely related Asparagus Fern (Asparagus aethiopicus) , which is not a fern at all, inedible, and can be a serious weed problem in bushland. Talk about the black sheep of the family.

Sweet Purple Asparagus crowns: these ugly critters are beginning of something beautiful

The plants I got are only a year old, so I will have to forgo the pleasure of eating them this year, in order to give them a season to build up some energy. Each year, the crowns need to store enough energy to produce the next year’s crop of spears. So in the first year after planting, it’s best to leave them to stockpile a little before harvesting. I’m going to put these into large pots, as I am in a rental property, and would like to keep them, should I have to move. At this point the containers are also housing a Gooseberry, A Black and a Red Currant, but I am sure their new neighbours won’t disturb them too much.

Ideally, crowns should be spaced 30 – 40cm apart, though they naturally reproduce by division, and end up a lot more crowded than that while remaining productive. As I mentioned, mine are in containers at the moment, and while I am just guesstimating, I think one crown per 30 cm pot would be fine, and because of the extra depth, you could get two into a 50cm pot. These are large pots, by the way, and in general I think for container gardening, bigger is better. You should get anywhere between five and ten spears per plant, and they will definitely all come at once between September and December. Asparagus is massively seasonal, which is reflected in the price paid at the grocer, which means when it’s growing in your garden, it will be cheapest at the shops, so if you develop an addiction, you should be able to afford the habit for a time. Just be warned the shop bought stuff will probably pale in comparison to the home grown, flavour-wise.

They need to go in pretty deep, about 20cm or so below the surface, but only covered initially with about 5cm of soil or mulch until they start growing, then fill in as they get taller, taking care not to cover the tips. The plants need a well fertilised, well mulched bed to do well, but appear to be pretty tough when it comes to surviving in all kinds of soil, except really heavy clay. They can definitely be left alone to do their own thing in the same place for years. You can lift them every few years to divide up the crowns and share them around, though. Once again I have chosen something that’s not commonly available in the shops, this time the purple colour of the spears sets the plant apart. I’ll be sure to update you all when they start appearing in spring.

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You say you want green revolution, well, you know

June 22, 2010 at 4:48 pm (Agriculture, Pests and problems, Science)
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…we all want to save the world. Though it appears according to some research that the so-called ‘Green revolution’ of the twentieth century has already done just that. According to some analyses, the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and scientifically derived crop seeds has prevented a disaster which would have caused widespread famine, starvation and disease. Possibly.

By limiting the amount of land required to produce food, the scientific approach to agriculture adopted in the last 50-100 years has prevented the clearing of billions of acres of natural vegetation to feed the world’s population. Billions of acres, by the way, means an area larger than the total land mass of Australia. That much natural vegetation has been saved, potentially, by modern agriculture. Using precise amounts of fertiliser to improve crop yields, combined with scientifically developed, highly-productive, hybrid crop varieties and chemical pesticides and herbicides to reduce losses have meant more food from the same amount of space. That means, despite a massive increase in population over the last hundred years, the amount of land to feed the hungry has stayed about the same.

This 1963 book urged a generation to get on board with the already hugely successful "Green Revolution" in order to feed the world

Sure, it’s not an ideal system, and personally, I think the broadscale model of agriculture is hugely flawed. Rather than mimic natural systems to maximise diversity and productivity, modern agriculture seeks to alter environments to perfect them for single species, either plants or animals. The lack of diversity within the few species we do cultivate is a huge danger, as the genetic variation within farms is so small that a single virus outbreak, or fungal infestation can wipe out entire populations of stock and decimate whole crops.

But modern agriculture is often unfairly demonised in the debate about sustainability. As I have said before, organically grown produce has higher requirements for water, and more importantly for manual labour. It is usually less productive per acre than “conventional” farming, and there is an issue of what to use as fertiliser. It’s true that chemical fertilisers are produced by using fossil fuels as an energy source, and therefore produce a degree of pollution as a result. But organic fertilisers, for the most part manures, necessarily require huge amounts of energy to produce. They are simply a by product of animal metabolism, and as such require the keeping of huge numbers of animals from which to harvest the fertiliser. Not to mention transport of said product, a much more energy intensive process with manure than with dried, powdered chemical fertilisers. Manures contain much lower concentrations per weight and volume than chemical fertilisers, the majority being bulky organic matter, in various forms of carbon, mostly cellulose.

In fact, if all the worlds’ farms were to suddenly convert to organic agriculture, there would be a massive gap between available organic fertiliser and the amount of land requiring it. And it may be that organic farming on such large scales as conventional broadacre farming is not even the right way to apply such methods. In reality some kind of synthesis between the two philosophies is required, and that in itself is a huge gulf to bridge. There is huge scope for improvement in agriculture the world over, but just once in a while, let’s give thanks that we can afford our literal bread and butter. Give thanks, if only grudgingly, to modern scientific agriculture, who has given so much to so many. And then let’s work together to improve things for everyone.

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Get your fix: Bare root (look like sticks)

June 15, 2010 at 12:44 pm (Fruit trees, Gardening - Basics)
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“What the hell, Garden Doctor! I’m not going out in the garden now, it’s bloody freezing!” I hear you shout. But I have to say, this is one of the best times of year to get out in the garden and observe, analyse, plan and re-organise. Also, on a technical note, despite how cold your fingers are, six degrees is not technically freezing. Though people hate when you say things like that, and quite happily lock you in the yard for it.

While all the leaves have dropped, and growth has slowed to a snail’s pace (meaning the slimy blighters can eat your plants as fast as they grow) it is the best time to see how your plans have come to fruition, or failed dismally. It is also the time to figure out ways to improve your chances for next season, which will be here before you know it. In less than a week, the days will start to get longer, and signs of spring will appear in the next month, like cherry blossoms and flowering bulbs.

But for now, think about moving things around, the shock of transplanting is greatly reduced on perennials at this time of year, as their metabolism is so slow. Things may seem dead, but they are still ticking over, just incredibly slowly. One of the most obvious dormancy mechanisms is the loss of leaves. Deciduous trees, those that only grow leaves in the warmer months, are currently dormant, and look like bare sticks. This is when they are best moved and planted, and nurseries at the moment are full of bare rooted stock, including the majority of fruit trees. Apples, Cherries, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Apricots, Quinces as well as Almonds, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Pecans are all cheaply available right now, and ready to be planted. You will also find things like bramble berries (Raspberries, Blackberries, Loganberries etc), Currants (Red & Black), Gooseberries and Grapes.

Bare rooted bramble berries being stored in sawdust ready for sale, bare rooted fruit trees are visible behind them, already bagged in sawdust and green plastic

Bare rooted plants are sold without a pot, they are just dug up and “heeled in”, usually under sawdust to stop the roots drying out, which is a danger even in this dormant state. It means plants are available much more cheaply, as they can be bundled together and transported much less labour and lower cost than potted plants. I picked up three fruit trees over the weekend for $25, which is less than the price of a single containerised tree. When considering what to plant, it is worth considering what you like. There’s no point growing what you don’t eat, and it may be worth considering that commercial varieties, like Jonathan Apples, may be cheaper to buy, and it could be worth looking for something a bit more unusual. Pollination also needs to be considered, as some fruit trees require more than one variety in close proximity to get a good crop of fruit, though there are self pollinating varieties of almost everything – just check the label.

It’s best when buying bare rooted plants to have the ground prepared for planting straight away, or alternatively, you can heel them in to keep their roots moist in sawdust or potting mix, or in a quickly dug hole straight in the soil. A planting hole should be as deep as the roots of the tree to be planted, though digging a little deeper and covering the bottom of the hole with compost or composted manure, and a handful of blood & bone will give the plant a real boost when it shoots away in spring. You should be able to see the level of the soil from when the tree was dug up, it will be a darker mark toward the base of the trunk. But really, as long as the graft union is above the soil, the tree will do okay. Most fruit trees are bud-grafted with named varieties to ensure they produce the kind of fruit we want to grow, as seedling fruit is pretty variable.

Comparison of Apricot (left) and Apple. The graft union on the apple is almost invisible, though the rootstock and scion are slightly different colours. Note that on the Apple, roots indicate the soil level, while the colour of the trunk is the indicator on the Apricot

Another important thing is to prune the branches either before or immediately after planting. This is because the roots have been usually quite severely pruned in digging up the tree and for transport, and too large a canopy will cause stress if there are not sufficient roots to support it. Check the roots for any large broken roots and prune them using secateurs, as a smaller, smooth cut reduces the risk of infection by bacteria or fungi compared to an uneven, broken wound. Most fruit trees are pruned to an open vase shape to allow light to get into the middle of the tree and make picking and spraying easier. Choose four or five good sturdy branches growing out from the main trunk and cut them back about a third, to an outward facing bud, so they don’t grow in to the middle of the tree. Remove all the other smaller branches, and remove any central branch, or branches growing toward the middle.

From left: Storey Apricot; Cox Orange Pippin Apple; Million Dollar Peach. In the upper image there are too many branches left to be supported by the greatly reduced root system. The lower image show the same trees after pruning. These trees are pruned flat to train against a fence. More usually, they would be pruned to a vase shape

As far as pruning goes, that should be enough for now, as different trees require slightly different approaches to pruning, depending on what kind of wood they will fruit on. You can also try espalier, which involves training a plant to grow along a fence or other support. This is a bit more complex, and probably requires another post entirely, though it is a great option for small spaces. I am planting my trees in containers, as I want to espalier them along a fence, and I have not much in the way of soil. There are dwarf fruit trees, including Peaches, Nectarines, and Apples, which are perfect for containers, and will happily remain in them for their entire lifetime.

Filling in the hole, if you have sandy soil, leave a slight depression around the base of the tree. On heavier clay soils, the tree should be planted slightly higher than surrounding soil, and slightly mounded to aid drainage. Newly planted trees are best not staked, as this tends to weaken trunks, and roots. If support is needed, it’s best to lay stakes across the ground above the roots and peg them down, or if staking is absolutely unavoidable, stake trees on at least two sides, and only loosely tie the tree so it doesn’t fall over. As soon as root growth starts up, it should be removed.

Water them in, and cross your fingers, you should be rewarded in spring with a burst of flowers or leaves, depending what you’ve planted, and maybe even a couple of fruit later on, if you’re lucky!

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Planting List: June

June 1, 2010 at 3:17 pm (Gardening - Basics, Planting calendar)
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I know it seems a little bleak in the garden at the moment. Not much is growing, and with the shorter days, the survivors don’t grow much. But rest assured, in three weeks we will pass the shortest day of the year in our great southern land, the days will get longer, and the garden will literally and figuratively spring back to life. But only if we prepare it now!

This month is the start of planning for next summer, and you will notice that as well as a larger list of seeds to plant this month, there is also the added interest of planting a whole range of perennial plants, like Asparagus, and even fruit tress. At this time of year, most deciduous trees have lost their leaves, and are dormant. This makes it the best time to move them around and replant them, and they are also cheaper to buy in their “bare root” state than in pots. I will post in some detail about this subject separately.

Also it’s time to think about what you might like to have on the go when spring arrives. It’s time to start propagating summer crops that take a long time to mature, such as Tomatoes and Capsicums. Getting them going now in a protected spot, like a kitchen window sill, will give them a head start when spring defrosts the ground in a couple of months time. That will give them a huge advantage, and bring lots to harvest before the serious heat of summer hits us. Starting these now is okay, as the potato family are fine with being held in check for a while, unlike some plants, like the pumpkins.

Is your garden looking a little empty and dead like my neighbour's? Well, at least there's plenty of space for all this month's plants.

I will detail in other posts things I’ve mentioned in this one, but for now, here’s the list!

Seeds (direct into the garden)

  • Broad beans (Vicia faba)
  • Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)
  • Chinese broccoli (Brassica rapa)
  • Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
  • Cress (Lepidium sativum)
  • Endives (Chicorium endivia)
  • Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea)
  • Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)
  • Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Winter varieties
  • Onions (Allium cepa)
  • Peas – dwarf (Pisum sativum)
  • Radish (Raphanus sativus)

Seedlings/plants

  • All the above listed plants
  • Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) crowns
  • Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) root sections
  • Horseradish (Amoracia rusticana) root sections
  • Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) crowns
  • Multiplier Onions (Allium cepa var.  aggregatum) bulbs
  • French Shallots (eschalots) (Allium oschaninii) bulbs
  • Strawberry (Fragarium x ananassa) crowns
  • Globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus) offshoots (slips)
  • Bare rooted fruit & nut trees
  • Deciduous berry & bramble fruits

Under glass

Now… to the nursery!

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You spin me right round, baby, right round

March 5, 2010 at 2:42 pm (Gardening - Basics, Pests and problems)
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Okay, now I have that 80s dance floor classic stuck in your head, I am going to talk about crop rotation. Tenuous link, I suppose, but it’s Friday, and I am going to stand in the rain in a field for three days watching bands play, and it was the best I could do at short notice. So, what is crop rotation, and why am I talking about it?

Crop rotation is the practice in gardening (and farming) of changing the kind of plant in a garden bed, or in a field, from season to season. This is done in order to reduce the build up of pests and diseases of any particular crop, and reduce reliance on chemical pesticides. In operations where the same thing is grown in soil repeatedly, such as greenhouse grown tomatoes in soil, huge amounts of fungicides, and other chemical pesticides must be applied to the plants and the soil to prevent them from succumbing to disease.

Another reason is that different crops have varying requirements for nutrients. Some crops feed heavily, such as tomatoes, some are more able to use higher amounts of individual nutrients, such as Nitrogen for leafy crops like Silverbeet and the cabbage family. Still other crops have adverse reactions to high levels of certain nutrients, for example, carrots can tend to become forked if Nitrogen is too freely available. And still other crops may have a net benefit for the soil, such as legumes leaving behind nitrogen, fixed by bacteria in their roots.

Generally speaking, plants are divided into four groups, and rotated through garden beds or sections of garden in the same order over the course of growing seasons. The most commonly used groups are as follows:

1. Brassicas

This group includes all the Cabbage family, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, and the Asian Cabbages, as well as Kohl Rabi, Turnips and Swedes. Rocket, or Arugula is also in this group.

2. Bee plants

This group contains Parsnips, Carrots, Coriander, Parsley, Dill and Fennel, amongst other thinsg. These plants attract bees and beneficial insects to the garden and belong to the Apiaceae family. Also included in this group are Beetroot, Spinach and Silverbeet for variety, though they are now found in the Amaranthaceae family, and do not attract insects as they are wind pollinated.

Almost time for these Tomatoes to go. I'm thinking Broad Beans...

3. Solanaceae

The Potato group includes spuds, Tomatoes, Capsicums, Chillies, Eggplant, Cape Gooseberries and Tomatilloes. All these are in the same family, and share common diseases. We will also include Lettuces and Endives in this group, and the Onion family.

4. Climbers

This last group contains the Peas and Beans, as well as the Cucurbits, though not all of them, such as Zucchini, are climbers, it is easier to keep them in the same group.

Each time a crop is pulled up, it should be replaced by plants selected from the next appropriate group. This will obviously vary according to season, for example, a bed that contained Tomatoes over the summer would not be planted out with Beans or Cucumbers in Autumn, but Peas or Broad beans would be ideal. Ideally you would have separate garden beds, and rotate through the list as ordered above, but realistically for many people, it won’t be that easy. The same system could be successfully applied to plants in containers, too, which reminds me I have been meaning to post about container gardens for a while, now.

Crop rotation is probably a bit less important these days, certainly on commercial scales, but in the home garden, every little bit helps. So, really, just do your best, but don’t be too panicked if you want to squeeze an extra Broccoli in near where one has been recently. I think the best idea is just mix it up, as always, but do try to keep track of where things have gone before, as, especially with things like the Solanaceae, there is a real risk of disease building up in the soil, and that can mean a swift death to your plants.


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The Basil brush up

February 4, 2010 at 2:28 pm (Featured plants, Recipes)
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Having taken the top position in the Garden Doctor poll, I thought I should write a little post about Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum). Though it is the most commonly grown species of basil, it is not alone in its genus for culinary herbs. There is also Sacred or Holy Basil (O. tenuiflorum), Greek Basil (O. obovatum) and a perennial species (O. americanum) along with a number of hybrids and varieties of Sweet Basil. Most are edible, and used in various cuisine around the world from South East Asia to the Americas and all over Europe. Some are used for their supposed medicinal properties, especially in the Ayurvedic tradition, and also may have ceremonial associations.

The Sweet Basil we most commonly encounter is, along with its cousins, a member of the Mint family (Lamiaceae), which is easily deduced from the square stems of the plants. It is an annual, and is grown for its pungent foliage, which is reminiscent of aniseed in flavour. It is commonly grown until it flowers before harvest, as the aromatic oils are at their peak during this period. While it may be tempting to allow the plant to grow back after cutting, I personally think it best to remove the plants and start another crop in their place. If you have, as I consistently advise, planted successive crops a couple of weeks apart throughout the growing season, you should have no shortage of Basil.

Basil will not tolerate frost, and storing cut Basil in the fridge is a surefire way to test its dislike of the cold. I find it best to treat the stems as cut flowers if they are not to be used immediately, and stick them in a jug of water until you want them. But the soft leaves will not last long, and I have included a couple of recipes for pesto (including a vegan version for non-dairy fans) which will allow for longer term storage of the herb. It can also be dried for use in the cooler months, however there is a significant loss of flavour over time. To dry the herb either hang whole stems upside down or place individual leaves in a cloth or paper bag and keep in a cool dry place. When the leaves are crispy to touch, store them in an air tight container in a cool dark place until required.

Cultivation of Sweet basil is relatively easy as long as you follow these simple rules:

  1. Keep away the snails, they love the stuff
  2. Keep them well watered, they will not tolerate drought
  3. Feed fortnightly with liquid fertiliser, they are very hungry oh, and
  4. Keep sowing every couple of weeks for a continuous supply

Basil can be easily grown from seed where they are to grow, and germination will occur after a week, when the distinctive cotyledons will appear. Some gourmet restaurant serve these alone as garnish, and you could easily do so, if you are very hungry, but the plants will not recover after removing the “seed leaves”. Punnets of seedlings are usually pretty cheap, I tend toward the “massed sowing” punnets, which have about fifty or more seedlings each,  rather than the advanced plants some nurseries sell, just for value.

I sowed some seed in to a small planter box, 20 cm x 60 cm. This was to allow better flexibility, as I can move the box around to avoid really hot days, as well as putting it close to the kitchen when it’s ready for picking. I have done the same this year with a mesclun mix of salad leaves, and Rocket (Eruca sativa).

Basil planter before harvest

I have been getting by just eating the thinnings, as the plants are growing so close together, a meal’s harvest barely makes a hole in the coverage, as you can see:

After harvest. The gaps will be gone in a couple of days

So, basil is really easy to grow. Full sun, lots of water, fed regularly, and you should have enough pesto to feed la familia. Buon appetito.

Vegan Pesto (dairy free)

Ingredients:

  • 1 large bunch of basil (about 3 cups, loosely packed)
  • 2-3 large cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup raw pine nuts
  • 3/4 – 1 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Preparation:

Place all ingredients except the olive oil and nutritional yeast into a food processor. Process to a finely ground consistency. Add olive oil and process again, until smooth and creamy. If desired, add nutritional yeast and process again until creamy. Serve immediately/store in fridge for up to 5 days/freeze up to 6 months.

Pesto Alla Genovese

Ingredients

  • 250-500g basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup flat Parsley leaves
  • 100g pine kernels
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp granular sea salt
  • 50g freshly grated Parmesan
  • 50g freshly grated Pecorino/Romano
  • 100-200ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Wash & dry basil. Heat fry pan on medium heat and toast the pine kernels 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
  2. If using a mortar, pound garlic & salt to soft mush.
  3. Pound in pine nuts & work in the basil leaves, 2-3 at a time, with a circular movement of the pestle, until all is reduced to a silky paste (Can freeze at this point for up to 6 months)
  4. Work in cheeses, then beat in olive oil with wooden spoon until you have a thick, dense sauce. Add more or less oil depending on the texture you like

OR

  1. If you’re using a processor, drop all the ingredients in the same order and process until smooth
  2. To store the pesto, pour into a jar, float a layer of olive oil on top, cover and refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze at this point for a month or two at most. Ice cube trays are good for small portions to add to cooking.

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