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1Bikebear Premier message
Looking forward to this group kicking off.
I have lots of horticultural texts 1840 to present to add, hope that scanner will save me lots of typing when it arrives.
Have a Horticultural background and a 1/2 acre town garden so hope that I maybe able to help with some questions. Southern Tablelands (of NSW) not always applicable to Perth but as group grows other will be able to fill gapes with there local knowledge.
I have lots of horticultural texts 1840 to present to add, hope that scanner will save me lots of typing when it arrives.
Have a Horticultural background and a 1/2 acre town garden so hope that I maybe able to help with some questions. Southern Tablelands (of NSW) not always applicable to Perth but as group grows other will be able to fill gapes with there local knowledge.
2Sue45188
Thanks, Colin.
We have two librarians amongst our gardeners - one of them recommended this group. I'm hoping they will join up soon, and we can nurture this group into life!
Our garden is in it's first season, so there is lots to do out in the dirt, but perhaps as the hot weather pushes us indoors more...
It's great to meet you!
We have two librarians amongst our gardeners - one of them recommended this group. I'm hoping they will join up soon, and we can nurture this group into life!
Our garden is in it's first season, so there is lots to do out in the dirt, but perhaps as the hot weather pushes us indoors more...
It's great to meet you!
3Bikebear
Hi Sue,
Thank you for your welcome message was beginning to think that things were never going to happen here.
I hope that others join soon.
Hot or Cold, both see me at the computer.
I'm still slowly building my catalog, will be a slow task at this rate :-)
The lack of water is the biggest consideration in my gardening activities at the moment.
Yes young gardens need lots of work.
Happy Gardening and best wishes for a Great 2008,
Colin.
Thank you for your welcome message was beginning to think that things were never going to happen here.
I hope that others join soon.
Hot or Cold, both see me at the computer.
I'm still slowly building my catalog, will be a slow task at this rate :-)
The lack of water is the biggest consideration in my gardening activities at the moment.
Yes young gardens need lots of work.
Happy Gardening and best wishes for a Great 2008,
Colin.
4infoaddict
Apologies for the delay on replying here! I'm a random librarian AND I'm based nearish bikebear, being 30mins south of Goulburn (NSW). Apparently we, too, are counted as "southern tablelands", although it doesn't quite feel right. Anyway ...
I'm the second summer of my current garden but only the first with significant plantings I'm trying to nurture through the hot dry summer, and I'm not so sure I'm doing all that well. Because I also work 9-5, commuting to Canberra, time and energy is a constant issue; even more so than water, which we're actually ok for right at the moment *touchwood*. In particular, I always forget to fertilise enough as plants are growing, which means my tomatoes are always a little touch'n'go ...
I'm also hugely into native produce and you'd think they'd do better in this sort of climate, wouldn't you? HAH. My new plantings of midyimberries, warrigal greens, native mint, and other plants are hanging on even more marginally than the Mediterranean kitchen garden plants.
Oh well ... it's all a learning curve, isn't it??
I'm the second summer of my current garden but only the first with significant plantings I'm trying to nurture through the hot dry summer, and I'm not so sure I'm doing all that well. Because I also work 9-5, commuting to Canberra, time and energy is a constant issue; even more so than water, which we're actually ok for right at the moment *touchwood*. In particular, I always forget to fertilise enough as plants are growing, which means my tomatoes are always a little touch'n'go ...
I'm also hugely into native produce and you'd think they'd do better in this sort of climate, wouldn't you? HAH. My new plantings of midyimberries, warrigal greens, native mint, and other plants are hanging on even more marginally than the Mediterranean kitchen garden plants.
Oh well ... it's all a learning curve, isn't it??
5Bikebear
This summer has been much kinder as far as water in Goulburn.
Keeping up the fertilizer to vegies is always difficult, to much and all you get is growth, to little and well not sufficient growth to get a good yield as your tomatoes are demonstrating to you.
There is so much to learn about our own Australian plants as far as using then for food plants, I have grown 'warrigal greens' Tetragonia sp. for over 15 years in Goulburn and have found with a little supplementary watering it produces quite well. I thought that I had lost it after having to abandon my vegie patch due to drought but one plant has come up this year following the good rains we had, I hope that it will set lots of seed. I believe that it will also grow from cuttings so if you get a good selection going you could try keeping it by doing cuttings, could also be a good way to over-winter plants.
Learning curve, sounds like life.
Happy Gardening.
Keeping up the fertilizer to vegies is always difficult, to much and all you get is growth, to little and well not sufficient growth to get a good yield as your tomatoes are demonstrating to you.
There is so much to learn about our own Australian plants as far as using then for food plants, I have grown 'warrigal greens' Tetragonia sp. for over 15 years in Goulburn and have found with a little supplementary watering it produces quite well. I thought that I had lost it after having to abandon my vegie patch due to drought but one plant has come up this year following the good rains we had, I hope that it will set lots of seed. I believe that it will also grow from cuttings so if you get a good selection going you could try keeping it by doing cuttings, could also be a good way to over-winter plants.
Learning curve, sounds like life.
Happy Gardening.
6infoaddict
Warrigal greens are unkillable - I already know this. My current population is based around originals sourced from Sydney's beaches (with the permission of the appropriate council, I might add!), and the seeds seem to remain viable for an astonishingly long time, through frost and travel and dryness and flood.
They self-seed like nobody's business, and my mother (a very experienced gardener) is currently trialling some cuttings for me. She's also got a couple of seedlings; they're doing nicely, apparently, and the cuttings aren't dying, but neither are they putting out roots, so we'll see.
The stems are so fleshy that I wasn't sure how well they would take to cuttings.
The batches I've got are starting to seed up so I'll never be without tetragon (which is apparently what the French call it, and I like the name) again. Am going to start selling it at the local Bungendore deli as soon as they've recovered from the last couple of weeks of heat!!
Also bought some fertiliser to drop around in this sudden patch of cool damp weather. Also mulching again. Am not a complete fan of mulch because if it gets too dry, it becomes hydrophobic and prevents water getting to plants, rather than aiding in water retention (I have chooks scratching around 6-year-old mulch for that very reason!), but this dry heat is just killing everything.
If you're into bushfoods, there's another forum online you might like to visit - bushfood.net. Non-commercial, just a bunch of interested people, but it's getting some good networks going in the industry.
They self-seed like nobody's business, and my mother (a very experienced gardener) is currently trialling some cuttings for me. She's also got a couple of seedlings; they're doing nicely, apparently, and the cuttings aren't dying, but neither are they putting out roots, so we'll see.
The stems are so fleshy that I wasn't sure how well they would take to cuttings.
The batches I've got are starting to seed up so I'll never be without tetragon (which is apparently what the French call it, and I like the name) again. Am going to start selling it at the local Bungendore deli as soon as they've recovered from the last couple of weeks of heat!!
Also bought some fertiliser to drop around in this sudden patch of cool damp weather. Also mulching again. Am not a complete fan of mulch because if it gets too dry, it becomes hydrophobic and prevents water getting to plants, rather than aiding in water retention (I have chooks scratching around 6-year-old mulch for that very reason!), but this dry heat is just killing everything.
If you're into bushfoods, there's another forum online you might like to visit - bushfood.net. Non-commercial, just a bunch of interested people, but it's getting some good networks going in the industry.
7Bikebear
Hope that your Mum gets the tetragon to strike.
Hope that you do well selling it in Bungendore.
Mulch is a mixed bag I feel that it's great for short term moisture retention but suspect that long term use leads to shallow rooting, it also takes a lot of nitrogen as it decomposes admittedly it is released as the process gets well progressed but some (wood chip) can take a long time to break down. The 'shin' as you have noted can do more harm than good. The chooks are great as thy turn the mulch and add nitrogen as thy go about there activity and eat bugs, with eggs as a by-product been a valuable cash earner or for batter.
Many orchards in the past had free range chooks both to weed and fertilize, thy can be a bit aggressive with there digging for a veggie patch.
Thank you for the info on other sites.
Hope that you do well selling it in Bungendore.
Mulch is a mixed bag I feel that it's great for short term moisture retention but suspect that long term use leads to shallow rooting, it also takes a lot of nitrogen as it decomposes admittedly it is released as the process gets well progressed but some (wood chip) can take a long time to break down. The 'shin' as you have noted can do more harm than good. The chooks are great as thy turn the mulch and add nitrogen as thy go about there activity and eat bugs, with eggs as a by-product been a valuable cash earner or for batter.
Many orchards in the past had free range chooks both to weed and fertilize, thy can be a bit aggressive with there digging for a veggie patch.
Thank you for the info on other sites.
8infoaddict
I am now selling the greens!! I provided 10 bunches of greens last week!! I'm very excited :)
And the chooks have proved their worth with the mulch - I've got seven chooks now and the job they're doing is nothing short of fantastic. Instead of dry, dusty clumps, I've got something that resembles chunky soil, into which water actually penetrates, rather than beading up.
When the veggie gardens finish for the season, the chooks will get let loose on them and can turn the mulch currently on them over and in, which should prevent the soil itself getting too compacted; I'll then dump a load of manure on top and seed with "green manure" for the winter or the winter brassicas and green veg. I'd love to leave some beds fallow for the winter but I don't have _quite_ enough to do that; maybe on one if I can create a new raised no-dig bed. I've got two raised beds made from old watertanks layered with no-dig sandwiching and the tomatoes from them beat the pants off the tomatoes from any of the other gardens :)
It's all getting there, gradually ... :)
And the chooks have proved their worth with the mulch - I've got seven chooks now and the job they're doing is nothing short of fantastic. Instead of dry, dusty clumps, I've got something that resembles chunky soil, into which water actually penetrates, rather than beading up.
When the veggie gardens finish for the season, the chooks will get let loose on them and can turn the mulch currently on them over and in, which should prevent the soil itself getting too compacted; I'll then dump a load of manure on top and seed with "green manure" for the winter or the winter brassicas and green veg. I'd love to leave some beds fallow for the winter but I don't have _quite_ enough to do that; maybe on one if I can create a new raised no-dig bed. I've got two raised beds made from old watertanks layered with no-dig sandwiching and the tomatoes from them beat the pants off the tomatoes from any of the other gardens :)
It's all getting there, gradually ... :)
9Bikebear
Great to hear that your garden has taken off with the rain and the chooks are doing such a good job for you.
Hope that Bungendore is enjoying your produce.
I have had good results using Esther Deans no dig garden idea, very shallow top soil here so it made the difference between having a veg garden or not.
Hope that Bungendore is enjoying your produce.
I have had good results using Esther Deans no dig garden idea, very shallow top soil here so it made the difference between having a veg garden or not.
10infoaddict
We don't have topsoil at all on the whole ... straight down into the clay. Sigh.
Still, clay has its advantages - it retains moisture rather than letting it drain away, like sandy soils do. Apparently. If one can dig into it in the first place ...
Still, clay has its advantages - it retains moisture rather than letting it drain away, like sandy soils do. Apparently. If one can dig into it in the first place ...
11Bikebear
A difficult task but if one can add a little OM each year the digging supposedly get easier year by year.
Yes clay holds more moisture but the plants have more difficulty extracting it also.
Yes clay holds more moisture but the plants have more difficulty extracting it also.
12infoaddict
Yeah ... if I can just start now, in 10 years' time I might have something I can just plant into, rather than spending two weekends creating in the first place ... it's the "work before I can do the stuff I want to do" that's getting me down a tad right now.
I think I need to get a bundle of people around to help. One person trying to do everything at one time is the _real_ downer ... progress is just too hard to see!!
I think I need to get a bundle of people around to help. One person trying to do everything at one time is the _real_ downer ... progress is just too hard to see!!
13Bikebear
Been a solo gardener can be very challenging at times, just not sufficient time to do all the jobs by oneself.
15GoodHeartFarm
G'day Colin
Oops, just noticed that.
Great group and discussion.
I used to sell warrigal greens too (but we stopped transporting greens) we're mostly just growing for ourselves.
I use mulch extensively in our maincrop garden. It keeps water in and weeds down. You can use it to clear ground of non-persistant grasses. The slaters and slugs that hide under it eat the weeds. I then pull off the straw in spring to plant into the warmed bed - beats manual hoeing or a rotary hoe (both of which I've used - and both have their problems). I then replace the straw after the plants have got away (some I plant direct into the mulch - depends on the crop).
Keep adding manure and straw - it does wonders for your beds!
I've started a self-sufficiency group - Self-sufficiency Thingers you might like to join too!
Great to meet other gardeners!
Oops, just noticed that.
Great group and discussion.
I used to sell warrigal greens too (but we stopped transporting greens) we're mostly just growing for ourselves.
I use mulch extensively in our maincrop garden. It keeps water in and weeds down. You can use it to clear ground of non-persistant grasses. The slaters and slugs that hide under it eat the weeds. I then pull off the straw in spring to plant into the warmed bed - beats manual hoeing or a rotary hoe (both of which I've used - and both have their problems). I then replace the straw after the plants have got away (some I plant direct into the mulch - depends on the crop).
Keep adding manure and straw - it does wonders for your beds!
I've started a self-sufficiency group - Self-sufficiency Thingers you might like to join too!
Great to meet other gardeners!
16infoaddict
You used to sell greens?? Hang on ... do I know you from somewhere?? :)
17Bikebear
Not a problem, I don't look in groups very often as things seem to move slowley here.
Mulch has lots of good points and IMHO a few not so good, most of the not so good are more involved with permanent plantings.
Hoeing = hard work or good exercise depending on your point of view.
Rotary hoe = not good for soil structure, creates a hard-pan, lots of noise, smelly fumes from exhaust and still hard work.
Like the straw, Lucerne hay, manure approach.
Sounds like you have a good system going.
Thank you for the invitation to join another group but I think I will decline at this stage, need to spend less time here (at computer).
Happy Gardening.
Mulch has lots of good points and IMHO a few not so good, most of the not so good are more involved with permanent plantings.
Hoeing = hard work or good exercise depending on your point of view.
Rotary hoe = not good for soil structure, creates a hard-pan, lots of noise, smelly fumes from exhaust and still hard work.
Like the straw, Lucerne hay, manure approach.
Sounds like you have a good system going.
Thank you for the invitation to join another group but I think I will decline at this stage, need to spend less time here (at computer).
Happy Gardening.
18Bikebear
Hi Beraketa and embport,
Welcome to the group.
Hope that as the group grows there will be some discussion happening here, maybe as winter sets in we will be more inclined to be indoors at our computers than out in the garden.
Colin (aka Bikebear).
Welcome to the group.
Hope that as the group grows there will be some discussion happening here, maybe as winter sets in we will be more inclined to be indoors at our computers than out in the garden.
Colin (aka Bikebear).
19Sue45188
I've been terrible at keeping up, haven't i!
I have found mulch is great - but I leave it to weather for a few weeks before putting on the garden, or it just eats up the nitrogen. The soil beneath remains moist enough so that rain does still penetrate, but then I do use the no-dig garden technique... VERY rich soil!!
Perth has The Worst Soil on the planet, so to grow anything at all requires full-scale supplement. It is much simpler just to plant straight into compost...
I have found mulch is great - but I leave it to weather for a few weeks before putting on the garden, or it just eats up the nitrogen. The soil beneath remains moist enough so that rain does still penetrate, but then I do use the no-dig garden technique... VERY rich soil!!
Perth has The Worst Soil on the planet, so to grow anything at all requires full-scale supplement. It is much simpler just to plant straight into compost...
Devenir membre pour poster.
