6. Good Organic Gardening - November-December 2016 AvxHome.in

grow naturally, eat fresh, live sustainably
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
MELISSA
KING
HERITAGE
ZUCCHINI
+ FRUITS TO
PLANT NOW
Meet the
glamorous
Gardenettes
CLAIRE BICKLE
MORE BENEFICIAL BUGS
MEGG MILLER
WHEN CHOOKS
WANT TO BE MUMS
Garden
to table
BASIL, CHILLI,
BABY SPINACH,
STRAWBERRY,
CAPSICUM
JENNIFER
STACKHOUSE
CAROB, GOURDS
+ VEGIES TO
PLANT NOW
Vol. 7 No. 4
NOV/DEC 2016
AUS $7.95*
NZ $7.90
(Both incl. GST)
HOW TO
Create a
natural
frog pond
CAN ROSEMARY
HELP YOU LIVE LONGER?
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CONTENTS
18 16
Contents
8 Editor’s Note
A roundup of what’s in our
November/December issue
10 The Grapevine
Jo Immig reports on the Eat
Stockholm Food Forum 2016 and
how food might save the world
— and more
12 What’s Hot
Horticulturist Melissa King
profiles new-release plants to
give your garden a lift
14 & 16 Clever Crops
Jennifer Stackhouse presents
two interesting clever crops:
carob and gourds
18 Plant Profile
Kerry Boyne looks at crunchy,
colourful, captivating capsicums
for summer garden bounty
22 Power Plant
It’s one of the most commonly
used culinary herbs, but does
rosemary have superpowers?
asks Kerry Boyne
24 Family Heirlooms
Zucchini is among the most
productive vegetables in the
summer garden and incredibly
versatile in the kitchen, says
Melissa King
28 Gardening Folk
A bountiful vegie patch and
pretty cottage gardens give a
former dairy farm a new lease
on life, writes Carrol Baker
32 Gardening Folk
Sandra Tuszynska meets a
gardener who loves wildlife so
much he has created 36 frog
ponds on his productive property
36 Gardening Folk
With rich food traditions on both
sides, this gardening couple
would make their forbears proud,
says Jana Holmer
40 Time to Plant
The vegie beds: taro, scarlet
runner beans and celery; the
orchard: tamarillo; the melon patch:
honeydew; and the herb garden:
parsley, by Jennifer Stackhouse
50 Weekend Gardening —
Waterworks
Carrol Baker looks at all the ways
to be waterwise this summer
54 Weekend Gardening —
Shade
Claire Bickle covers the other
hot weather issue: the need for
protection from the hot sun for
some plants
6 | Good Organic Gardening

72
58 Pest Patrol — Good Bugs
Part II
More tiny garden helpers and why
you’d want to encourage them to
visit your patch, by Claire Bickle
62 Gardening Community
Future Feeders is a movement
based in northern NSW that’s
about opportunities for smallscale
farming, writes Jo Immig
66 Online Gardening
The Gardenettes inspire us
by sharing their growing and
cooking knowledge via various
digital platforms
68 The Shed
Sandra Tuszynska offers a howto
guide to building a naturallooking
frog pond in your garden
72 Feathered Friends
As many people think about
breeding chicks at this time,
Megg Miller passes on some
good advice
76 Short Shoots
Innovative and imaginative ideas
for your garden from Erin Starkey
78 Things to Do
Jennifer Stackhouse does a
roundup of what needs doing
in your warm-weather garden
right now
82 Garden to Table
Cooking and preserving five
seasonal edibles, with chef
Joanna Rushton
93 Books
New books for gardeners
and cooks
96 What’s Hot From Our
Advertisers
Our Pick of the Crop of products
and services
66
28
62
Good Organic Gardening | 7

grow naturally, eat fresh, live sustainably
Editor Kerry Boyne
Designer Connie Leung
Contributors Carrol Baker, Claire Bickle,
Jana Holmer, Jo Immig, Melissa King, Megg
Miller, Chris Stafford, Erina Starkey,
Jennifer Stackhouse, Sandra Tuszynska
National Advertising Manager
Miriam Keen
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Email: mkeen@universalmagazines.com.au
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Heather Smith
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Chairman/CEO Prema Perera
Publisher Janice Williams
Chief Financial Officer Vicky Mahadeva
Associate Publisher Emma Perera
Associate Publisher Karen Day
Finance & Administration Manager
James Perera
Circulation Director Mark Darton
Creative Director Kate Podger
Editorial & Production Manager
Anastasia Casey
Marketing & Acquisitions Manager
Chelsea Peters
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Welcome
to the issue
Late spring/early summer has to be the
best time of year in the garden. For me,
anyway. Maybe it’s because I can grow my
favourite things, most especially zucchini.
You can honestly never have too much because
you can use it in so many ways: roasted, in frittatas
and fritters, lending lovely moisture to cakes and
bread, and — my current favourite — as zoodles.
I’m mad for them, especially piled with prawns
cooked with chilli, garlic, lemon and parsley.
Melissa King has the many faces of zucchini
well covered in Family Heirlooms and she also
looks at honeydew melon and tamarillo as fruits
to plant now. Meanwhile, Jennifer Stackhouse
covers celery, scarlet runner bean and taro to
plant in the vegie patch, along with parsley for
the herb garden. Plus, she sings the praises of
Clever Crops, carob and gourd.
Capsicum is another summer essential, so we
take a closer look at this very colourful vegie that’s
such a winner in both cooked dishes and salads.
The other herb garden item we look at this
issue is our Power Plant, rosemary. It’s linked
to a fascinating story of a small Italian seaside
village that will make you want to plant some
immediately, if you haven’t already, and put it
in all your cooking.
And what are we cooking this issue? Jo
Rushton has some easy-to-make recipes
featuring basil, strawberries, chillies, capsicum
and baby spinach that are as wholesome as
they are delicious.
As this is a time when many chook lovers
think about breeding their own, Megg Miller
explains what you need to know to keep mother
and babies healthy and happy, ranging from
how to choose which eggs to let her to sit on,
to looking after new chicks until they can hold
their own — with Mum’s help, of course.
Claire Bickle has more friendly, pretty insects
to showcase — it’s always nicer to talk about
the ones we like rather than those we need
to get rid of — plus she discusses the need
for shade in the summer garden, something
we don’t always give a lot of thought to. Some
plants love that hot sun but a lot really don’t,
so Claire looks at both sides of the ledger.
Speaking of hot sun, water is the other big
issue in summer as both insufficient and too
much can wreak havoc on the vegie garden.
When chooks want to
be mums, page 72
Carrol Baker provides an overview of good
water management for your plants.
It’s not only plants that need water, either. All
the other life of the garden has to drink and some
creatures need to immerse themselves in water,
so Sandra Tuszynska has a step-by-step guide to
building a natural-looking frog pond — not just for
frogs, though. It’s perfect for attracting all kinds of
small wildlife to your backyard.
Our Gardening Folk this issue hail from
Queensland and Victoria, with Sean Morrow
from the Sunshine Coast hinterland installing
36 frog ponds on his property. (Our how-to
pond was built at his place, in fact.) In addition
to the Gardening Folk, Jo Immig introduces us
to a movement, and the people behind it, that’s
all about setting up small-farming opportunities
in northern NSW. The group is called Future
Feeders and, as the name suggests, they have
some great ideas for the future of food growing.
Then there are all the other regular items,
of course: what needs doing in the garden
right now, clever tips to use in your home and
backyard, environmental news plus new-release
plants to consider for your garden. So enjoy the
read and happy gardening until next time.
Kerry
See us on facebook at www.facebook.com/GoodOrganicGardeningMagazine
or contact us via email : infoGOG@universalmagazines.com.au

THE GRAPEVINE | News
the grapevine
Environmental news and updates compiled by Jo Immig
Organic farming
tax credit now law
in Hawaii
In a first for the USA, Hawaiian lawmakers
have introduced a state-funded tax credit for
certified-organic food production designed to
complement existing programs by offsetting
the financial barriers to organic certification.
The new tax credit covers a wide range
of costs associated with organic farming
not covered under existing cost-share
programs and will extend to items such
as equipment, materials and supplies
necessary for organic certification.
During the legislative debate, speakers
recognised the need to support a new
generation of farmers to grow food and jobs
into the future. Speakers noted a vibrant
organic farming system is a vital component
of a healthy, sustainable food future.
centerforfoodsafety.org
innovation across the food industry.
Forum organisers propose the next 15
years will be decisive for people and the
planet. If we are to address the enormous
challenges we face, such as climate change,
we need to muster innovative solutions that
cut across current silos of knowledge and
power. While organisers praise international
agreements and policies already in place,
they cite the lack of action, implementation
and accountability as the missing ingredients
to getting us to where we need to go.
Alessandro Demaio, a participant of
the forum and blogger for the Huffington
Post, summarised some of the key
game-changing ideas that emerged
from EAT Stockholm.
Accept complexity. The world is complex
and interconnected in ways that are beyond
our imagination. We don’t have endless
time to get to grips with the complexities of
everything before we act. This thinking leads
to a paralysis and endless discussions about
complexity. Rather, we need to embrace it and
thrive in a complex environment.
Seek simplicity. It seems ironic but
within the complexity and endless noise of
“super-wicked” problems such as climate
change, focusing on inter-linkages presents
opportunities for converging solutions. Since
things are interconnected, it’s likely there are
common opportunities to address multiple
problems. Simple goals such as “zero waste”,
for instance, encapsulate multiple, complex
challenges, but set the compass in the right
direction and the rest will follow.
Leverage connections. The food system is
a complex network of farmers, processors,
marketers, retailers, transporters and
consumers. An action done in one link of
the chain has effects elsewhere. We need to
work with the whole food system if we are
seeking to fundamentally change it. We are
7.4 billion people on the planet who eat every
day, so our collective impact is big. Similarly,
Can food save the
world?
This was the question on everybody’s lips at
the EAT Stockholm Food Forum 2016, the
third in a series of forums designed to bring
together experts across multiple disciplines to
consider how to shift food systems “towards
sustainability, security and equity within
the boundaries of our planet”. The forum
zeroed in on consumption and production
patterns, cities, accountability, technology and
CanStockPhoto, Johan Lygrell
10 | Good Organic Gardening

News | THE GRAPEVINE
small changes taken up by millions of people
can amplify solutions. Cutting back on meat
consumption, wasting less food and cutting
out single-use plastic bags, if done by enough
people, will have a significant effect.
Finally, it’s time to move from the
contemplative phase into action. Food is our
most powerful narrative, so vote with your
fork. Start today, there’s no time to waste and
you will make a difference. Psst. Pass it on.
eatforum.org
Plants’ fungi and
their ability to slow
climate change
An important piece of scientific research has
quantified what has long been suspected: that
some plants take in extra carbon dioxide levels.
Due to human activities, carbon dioxide
levels in the atmosphere are increasing and
creating a planet-wide greenhouse effect,
stimulating plant growth. Plants are currently
absorbing about 30 per cent of human CO 2
emissions. If the levels of CO 2 keep rising, can
plants keep absorbing it?
Scientists from the Imperial College
London in the UK have revealed the answer
lies in understanding the microscopic fungi
that associate with the roots of a host plant.
According to the findings, plants fall into
two categories: those that take advantage of
ectomycorrhizal fungi, ECM plants, and those
that associate with arbuscular mycorrhizal
fungi, AM plants. ECM plants can take
advantage of the higher carbon dioxide levels,
whereas AM plants cannot because the
fungus affects how much nitrogen a plant can
access from the soil.
Grassland plants typically associate with
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, so have a limited
role in taking up excess carbon dioxide, while
coniferous forest plants typically associate
with ectomycorrhizal fungi and can take up
more carbon dioxide.
The incorporation of mycorrhizae in global
carbon accounting is feasible and will more
accurately project ecosystem responses and
feedbacks to climate change.
science.sciencemag.org/
content/353/6294/72
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Good Organic Gardening | 11

THE SEASONAL GARDEN | With melissa king
WHAT’S HOT RIGHT NOW
Presenting some of the latest and greatest plants that will make
excellent additions to your garden at this time of year
Tomato ‘Genuwine’
The plant: Trying a new variety of tomato is always
irresistible and this one is jam-packed with flavour.
‘Genuwine’ is the perfect cross between two heirloom
favourites: the rich Italian tomato ‘Costoluto Genovese’
and the beautiful pink ‘Brandywine’. The result is a big,
pink-hued tomato with fabulous flavour, high yields, fewer
fruit blemishes and superb disease resistance. A musthave
for the summer vegie patch.
Growing: Plant tomato seedlings in spring or summer for
a bountiful summer and autumn crop. Plants will perform
best in a sunny spot with good drainage, so prepare the
soil first with organic matter and liquid feed regularly
to promote a bumper crop of fruit. Add dolomite lime to
acidic soils before planting. Tomato ‘Genuwine’ grows
152–215cm tall, so stake plants at planting time.
Design: Give ‘Genuwine’ pride of place in the summer
vegie patch and plant it alongside basil, which makes a
great companion both in the garden and on the plate. You
can begin harvesting fruit just 9–11 weeks after planting
as seedlings. The fruit is bursting with flavour and perfect
for fresh summer salads or tasty bruschetta.
oasishorticulture.com.au
Protea ‘Australis
Ruby’
The plant: If you’re looking for a plant
that’s both bird-attracting and beautiful,
this is it! Protea ‘Australis Ruby’ is a real
stunner, with masses of striking darkpink
blooms. It flowers twice a year in
autumn and spring, so you get plenty of
blooms to enjoy in the garden or cut for
attractive indoor displays.
Growing: ‘Australis Ruby’ thrives in
sunny garden beds with well-drained
soil, or grow it in a native potting mix
in colourful containers. Pick flowers
for the vase or dead-head any
fading blooms to keep growth nice
and compact. Give plants a good
dose of slow-release native fertiliser
in spring to promote masses of
colourful blooms.
Design: It grows to just 1.5m tall, so it’s
the perfect choice for decorative pots
on a sunny balcony or as a feature plant
in small gardens. It can also be shaped
into a beautiful flowering hedge.
proteaflora.com.au
12 | Good Organic Gardening

With melissa king | THE SEASONAL GARDEN
Marigold
‘Strawberry Blonde’
The plant: I’ve got a soft spot for
marigolds. Their vibrant blooms always
remind me of summer — and this one
is extra special. ‘Strawberry Blonde’ is
pink and fabulous! The flowers start out
a pretty strawberry-blonde colour and
change from pink to bronze and yellow as
the season progresses, so you get multicoloured
blooms on the one plant.
Growing: Plant ‘Strawberry Blonde’ in a
sunny spot now and you’ll be enjoying
a parade of vibrant blooms in six
to eight weeks. Liquid-feed and
remove spent blooms regularly to
encourage more flowers.
Design: It’s a compact plant
growing to just 20–25cm high
and wide, so it’s perfect for
pots on a sunny patio or massplanted
in garden beds for a
splash of cheery colour.
oasishorticulture.com.au
‘Crimson Red’
‘Red Hot’
‘Pure White’
‘Blush’
Diamonds in the Dark Crepe Myrtles (Lagerstroemia)
The plants: If, like me, you are already
a fan of crepe myrtles, you are going to
love the Diamonds in the Dark series of
Lagerstroemias. Plants in the collection
boast near-black foliage, which provides a
wonderful contrast to vibrant warm-season
flowers. Look out for ‘Crimson Red’, ‘Best
Red’ and ‘Red Hot’ with flaming red blooms,
the gorgeous light-pink ‘Blush’ and ‘Pure
White’ with snow-white flowers that stand
out beautifully against the dark foliage.
Growing: Grow them in full sun with
good soil drainage. Water well for the first
month to help plants establish. Once they
are off and growing, they are remarka bly
dry tolerant. Give plants a boost with
complete organic fertiliser in early spring
and late summer.
Design: Diamonds in the Dark crepe
myrtles grow to just 3m tall, so they
make perfect feature trees for a small
garden or, for maximum impact, try massplanting
them. They also make colourful
flowering hedges. You can even plant
them in big decorative pots to place on
a sunny patio or deck.
diamondsinthedark.com.au
Good Organic Gardening | 13

CLEVER CROP | Carob
Choc imposter
Whether you want this drought-tolerant
tree for the shade it gives or for its
chocolatey pods, it can meet your needs
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is best
known as a chocolate substitute.
The 30cm, curved, dark-brown pods
have a chocolatey flavour when
they are ground into a cocoa-like powder.
The seeds are removed from the pod before
it’s ground up. Carob pods can also be eaten
fresh (but don’t eat the seeds).
Just because this tree is a substitute
for something as universally loved as
chocolate doesn’t mean it isn’t a first-class
tree with lots to offer.
Carobs grow into large, spreading shade
trees that can reach 8m across. The trees
are long-lived and drought-tolerant. They are
useful in large gardens, paddocks or as street
trees, especially in dry or arid areas.
The leathery foliage is also useful for
fodder when other feed is scarce. The
pods, too, can be given to stock as feed.
They aren’t just chocolate flavoured but also
rich in sucrose and proteins. The seeds
What’s in a name?
The carob’s common names of
St John’s bread and locust bread
have been attached to the tree as it
was erroneously considered to be the
“locust” eaten by John the Baptist in
the desert, as mentioned in The Bible.
The name carob is derived from
“carat”, as the seeds, which are highly
uniform in size and weight, were once
used to weigh gold. Each seed weighs
around 2g. A metric carat is 0.2g.
are processed and used as a gum.
Carob comes from the Mediterranean,
where it’s thought to have been cultivated
for more than four millennia. It’s now grown
around the world, particularly in dry climates.
Flowers and fruit
The pods and pea-shaped flowers are
pointers that show this tree is a legume, part
of the large pea family. Carobs have separate
male and female flowers on different trees.
Both are required for pollination and the
production of beans.
Some trees produce both male and female
flowers on one tree and are self-pollinating, but
trees grown from seed may be either male or
female. The variety ‘Clifford’ is a hermaphrodite
with both male and female flowers.
Trees can take eight years to begin to
form flowers and fruit and up to 15 years to
produce a worthwhile crop.
Look for the pale greenish-purple flowers
in clusters on female trees in autumn. The
male flowers are insignificant. Trees are highly
attractive to bees and flies when in flower. As
legumes, they also fix nitrogen in the soil.
Propagation and
availability
If you can locate a carob tree, harvest the
pods in winter to propagate. Carobs can also
be grown from cuttings taken in late summer.
Take cuttings from both male and female trees.
Plant trees in spring. For potted plants, ask
at your local garden centre or look online for
carob trees. Grafted and seedling plants are
available from Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery at
daleysfruit.com.au
Carob label
Common name: Carob, St John’s
bread, locust bean
Botanical name: Ceratonia siliqua
Family: Fabaceae (pea family)
Requires: Full sun
Dislikes: Waterlogging
Suitable for: All areas
Habit: Evergreen tree 8–12m tall
Needs: Dry summers, wet winters
Propagation: Seed, cutting,
potted plants
Difficulty: Easy
The similarity to cocoa is apparent
CanStockPhoto
14 | Good Organic Gardening

CLEVER CROP | Gourd
Oh my gourd
Here’s a way to perhaps
combine craft or interior
decorating with your gardening
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
Gourds are squash-like vegetables
but they’re not grown to be eaten.
Although you can eat them when
they’re small, as they grow and
mature, they become bitter. Rather than
being grown as an edible vegetable, the
long, hard fruit is grown to be used. Gourds
are fashioned into utensils such as bowls,
decorated or carved as ornaments, and even
turned into musical instruments such as
drums, maracas and rattles.
Gourds are native to Asia and Africa and
have been used as objects for more than
10,000 years. The gourd also spread to
America where it has been grown and used
for millennia.
Propagation and
growing
Gourds are started from seed planted during
spring and grown through summer and
autumn. The vine grows quickly and uses its
green tendrils to climb onto a trellis or across
a pergola. For strong growth, plant gourds
in a sunny spot and water them regularly,
especially where summers are hot and dry.
As the summer progresses and the vine
grows, it produces large, white, trumpetshaped
flowers, which then form long, green
Did you know?
The American Gourd Society was
established in 1937. The society
produces The Gourd Magazine
quarterly and runs awards for gourd art.
fruits. As the fruit matures, it changes colour
from green to light green or yellow. The fruits
are picked when they are mature and left to
dry and harden over many months until they
are ready to be used.
To transform the hard-skinned fruit into
a utensil or ornament, the shell is carved,
inscribed, painted or polished. Those who grow
and work with gourds are called “gourders”.
Shapes and varieties
The gourd fruit is highly variable in its mature
shape. Gourds range from club-shaped to
large, swollen bottle shapes. Some gourds
have curved necks known as a “dipper”.
Another favourite shape is the so-called
“birdhouse”, which has a round, swollen form
that when dried with a circular hole cut in one
side can be hung as an ornamental birdhouse.
Availability
Gourd seeds are available from specialist seed
merchants as mixed seed or as varieties that
produce certain decorative shapes. Suppliers
include Australian Seeds (australianseeds.
com), Eden Seeds (edenseeds.com.au) and
The Gourdfather (thegourdfather.com.au).
Musical instruments made from gourds
Other gourds
The common name gourd is also
used for the bitter melon (Momordica
charantia) and luffa (Cucurbita pepo).
Gourd label
Common name: Gourd, calabash
Botanical name: Lagenaria siceraria
Family: Cucurbitaceae (pumpkin family)
Requires: Full sun
Dislikes: Frost, cold
Suitable for: All areas
Habit: Annual climber 3–9m tall
Needs: Climbing support
Propagation: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
CanStockPhoto
16 | Good Organic Gardening

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PLANT PROFILE | Capsicum
CanStockPhoto
18 | Good Organic Gardening

Capsicum | PLANT PROFILE
The
sweeter
pepper
Capsicum, though a close relative of the
fiercer chilli we use in curries, is a mild,
tasty fruit with more tang than sting
The history of the capsicum — that
summer garden star of salads
and ratatouille, second only to
the tomato — is one of confusion,
not least because, like its nightshade cousin
tomato, the capsicum is botanically a fruit but
in the kitchen is regarded as a vegetable.
Capsicum annuum, known down under
and on the Indian subcontinent by its
botanical name (from the Latin capsa or box,
in reference to its shape), is called a pepper
almost everywhere else — and therein lies
even more confusion.
When Christopher Columbus introduced
this New World delight to Europe in 1493,
any pungent condiment was called “pepper”,
including of course Piper nigrum, also known
as the peppercorn, which had already found
its way west via the Spice Routes.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Columbus’s
original intention had been to find an
alternative sea route to Asia and its precious
spices. With the mild, sweet capsicum, he also
brought back the Mexican chilli, an ancient,
fiery relative of the capsicum that was little
enjoyed in Europe but found an enthusiastic
welcome in Asia and North Africa. Now here
was a pepper that out-peppered pepper.
So what the Americans know as bell
pepper or sweet pepper and the Europeans
call pimiento or paprika is in fact the very
un-peppery capsicum, so “cool” it rates
only 0–600 units on the Scoville scale of
heat. Compare these other members of
the Capsicum family: Jalapeño comes in at
3500–10,000, Habanero and Birds Eye reach
an eye-watering 100,000–350,000 and India’s
Naga Jolokia soars northwards of a fearsome
million units.
Varieties
We’re all familiar with green and red
capsicums but the fruit comes in many
colours, from yellow and orange to purple
and even brown. Most capsicums are fat and
bell-shaped — hence the name bell pepper
All in the family
According to the website of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, the Capsicum family
comprises “a bewildering variety of colourful and spicy fruits” with more than 200
common names and possibly several thousand varieties and cultivars: “Nobody
knows exactly how many ... because existing varieties cross-pollinate easily.” While
varieties are classified on their fruit shapes, the website notes, “Capsicum annuum
can be difficult to separate from the cultivated C. chinense (the hottest pepper) and
C. frutescens (Tabasco pepper) and their morphological features can overlap. These
three species share the same ancestral gene pool and are sometimes called the
‘annuum-chinense-frutescens complex’.” The best rule of thumb is: if you can’t stand
the heat, keep them out of the kitchen.
Good Organic Gardening | 19

PLANT PROFILE | Capsicum
— but some, like the green or red bull’s horn
and the tapered ‘Cubanelle’, which varies from
yellow-green to a shocking fuchsia hue, are
elongated and curved.
Generally speaking, the warmer the
colour (and the more mature the fruit),
the sweeter the flavour. To add yet
another note of confusion, sweet, red
capsicums are actually vine-ripened green
peppers, though there is a variety called
‘Permagreen’ which, not surprisingly,
remains green when fully ripe.
‘Sweet Mama’ is a modern variety with a
heavy crop of green, bell-shaped fruit that
turns sweet and red, while ‘Sweet Red’ is a
compact variant for the patio pot. ‘Hungarian
Sweet Yellow’, also known as ‘Sweet Banana’
or ‘Yellow Wax’, has long pods that vary from
lemon-yellow to gold.
Among the heirlooms are the classic
‘Chinese Giant’, with large, red, bell-shaped
fruit, and ‘Purple Beauty’, the colour of
eggplant. ‘White Diamond’ has striking
translucent fruit that ripens to a creamy
yellow, while ‘Gilboa Orange’ and ‘Sweet
Chocolate’ add even more colour to a salad
or stir-fry.
‘Purple Beauty’
White, green and
chocolate capsicums
from Diggers Club
The redder the sweeter
Long varieties include
‘Hungarian Yellow Wax’
Growing
As their Central and South American origins
might suggest, capsicums like it hot. They
are frost-sensitive, so they do best in a cooler
climate when planted in spring. If it’s cold where
you live, the seeds will benefit from hothouse
germination but, in tropical and subtropical
climes, capsicums are true perennials.
Choose a sunny spot, dig in some organic
matter and rotted manure before planting
and perhaps add a bit of dolomite lime, as
capsicums enjoy good levels of calcium. Feed
through the growing season with an organic
fertiliser that has the right balance of nitrogen
for leafy growth and phosphorous and
potassium for roots and fruit.
It’s a good idea to stake seedlings as the
branches of the mature plant can split or snap
with the weight of a ripening crop. For the
same reason, harvest with secateurs rather
than handpicking, which tends to break the
brittle branches.
Nutrition
Capsicums are a rich source of antioxidants
and vitamin C. The levels are even higher in
red peppers, as are the amounts of carotene
and lycopene common to most red, orange
and yellow fruits and vegetables. Though the
jury’s still out on the supposed anti-cancer
benefits of lycopene, both red and green
capsicums are high in para-coumaric acid,
whose antioxidant properties have shown
Generally speaking, the warmer the
colour (and the more mature the fruit),
the sweeter the flavour.
beneficial results in stomach cancer.
Capsicums also contain small amounts
of calcium, phosphorus, iron, thiamine,
riboflavin and niacin.
Choose fruit that is firm, glossy, richly
coloured and heavy for its size. Capsicum
can be used raw in salads, cooked in
ratatouille or sautéed, baked, grilled or
steamed in various other dishes. It can be
ground into powder as paprika, preserved in
oil or vinegar, or milled into a pesto.
The arrival of Columbus in the Americas
might have been bad news for the Aztecs but,
as in the case of the tomato, it’s impossible
to imagine European cuisine — or ours —
without the capsicum.
Capsicum label
Common name: Capsicum, bell
pepper, sweet pepper
Botanical name: Capsicum annuum
Family: Solanaceae
Requires: Warm weather; moist soil
(but not too wet)
Dislikes: Frost or any temperature
extremes
Suitable for: Most vegetable
gardens, pots
Habit: Upright shrub with umbrellalike
fruit clusters
Difficulty: Easy
CanStockPhoto
20 | Good Organic Gardening

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POWER PLANT | Rosemary
wine o’clock, when they switch to alcohol.
Many are overweight but you rarely see them
exercising (intentionally).
On the other side of the ledger, being
Italian, they follow a Mediterranean diet; they
are very active (when not drinking coffee or
wine) in getting about their hilly landscape;
they lead an unstressful, clean-air lifestyle;
and there are two things they eat at almost
every meal: anchovies and rosemary.
The herb of
remembrance
Well known to the ancient Greeks and
Romans for its health benefits and
culinary magic, rosemary is now getting
the attention of modern-day scientists
Words Kerry Boyne
In southern Italy, on the beautiful western
coast nestles the small seaside village of
Acciaroli. Of its 2000-odd residents, 300
have reached the great age of 100. If that
doesn’t impress you enough, it’s estimated that
about 20 per cent of those centenarians have
actually achieved the age of 110. In addition,
the incidence of heart disease and Alzheimer’s
is comparatively very low in Acciaroli.
The village is now the subject of ongoing
study to determine what it is about its
people’s genetics and/or lifestyle that has
caused this. What is known already is that
many of them smoke and spend a large
part of their day drinking coffee until it’s
Health benefits
Scientists have been interested in
Rosmarinus officinalis, a member of the very
large mint family Lamiaceae, for a while and
their interest has paid dividends.
One human study to determine the effect
of the essential oils from rosemary and
lavender on cognitive performance and mood
found that it led to enhanced memory and
significantly better performance in answering
questionnaires. The control group and the
lavender group were also significantly less
alert than the rosemary group — and these
results were just from the fragrance.
Another study using powdered dry leaf
showed a significant beneficial effect on
cognitive function in elderly people while,
conversely, a high dose had an impairing
effect. In other words, the dose closest to
normal consumption through diet was the
beneficial one.
An animal study undertaken in Iran showed
that carnosic acid, one of the main active
ingredients in rosemary, can fight free-radical
damage in the hippocampus region of the brain.
A Japanese study on mice had similar findings.
Other studies have shown rosemary to
have a preventive effect against certain
cancers, including ovarian and breast
cancers as well as leukemia. The Journal
of Food Science reported that rosemary
extract added to beef in the cooking process
A daily dose
Here are a few ways to take some
therapeutic rosemary on a daily basis.
Make rosemary oil: Lightly bruise a
few sprigs to release essential oils and
place in a bottle or jar of olive oil. Seal
and store in a dark place for a couple of
weeks, shaking occasionally. Make sure
the rosemary does not poke above the oil
level. Strain and use with vinegar of your
choice on salads. For a stronger flavour,
replace the herbs after one week with a
new lot. Make rosemary vinegar the same
way, substituting oil with a good whiteor
red-wine vinegar.
Make a rosemary tincture: Chop up your
rosemary and place in a clean, dry jar. Cover
completely with alcohol, seal with a tightfitting
lid and place in a warm sunny spot
to macerate for four to six weeks. Shake
occasionally and add more alcohol if needed
to keep herbs well covered. Strain liquid into
another clean jar with a tight-fitting lid and
store in a cool, dark place. Add a few drops
to teas, water or other drinks.
Make a rosemary tisane: Cover one to
two teaspoons of chopped fresh or dried
rosemary with a cup of boiling water
and allow to infuse for five to 10 minutes
before straining and drinking. To achieve a
more complex flavour, mix in some
lavender, lemon thyme, mint or other
herb of choice. For a stronger brew,
make a decoction by simmering
six to eight tablespoons of the
fresh herb in a saucepan of water
for 30–40 minutes. Cool, allow
to infuse further overnight, then
strain and drink a cup daily.
Caution: Rosemary
may interact with some
pharmaceutical drugs such as
blood thinners, ACE inhibitors,
diuretics and lithium. Consult
your healthcare pr actitioner.
BigStock, CanStockPhoto
22 | Good Organic Gardening

Rosemary | POWER PLANT
reduced the formation of cancer-causing
compounds. There’s a great reason to add it
to as many dishes as you can.
Of course, none of these findings
would surprise herbalists. Rosemary didn’t
randomly get its image as the herb of
remembrance — it earned it by being used
to improve memory for centuries. The
epithet officinalis in its name tells you it had
an established medicinal use in traditional
herbal medicine; indeed, the German
Commission E scientific advisory board
approves it for the treatment of dyspepsia.
It was also once thought to promote hair
growth, boost the immune system and help
with muscle pain. More recently, it has been
identified as one of the diabetes-fighting
culinary herbs along with marjoram and
oregano, plus it may be looked at for potential
to ward off macular degeneration due again
to the carnosic acid content.
Culinary use
If all that isn’t wonderful enough, the flavour
and aroma it can add to meats — particularly
lamb and pork — and fish make it an essential
herb. And that’s most likely the reason the
people of Acciaroli use so much of it.
Ideal for pot growing
A very common use is to put tiny sprigs
of it along with slivers of garlic into small
pockets in a lamb leg or shoulder. Mix finely
chopped rosemary with crushed garlic and
Dijon mustard and smear over the meaty side
of a rack of lamb before roasting. Add some
chopped herb in bread mixes if you bake your
own and use it to make herb butter. Sprinkle
over potatoes before roasting, or make potato
and rosemary pizza.
Growing
As a native of the Mediterranean, rosemary
is pretty hardy, though it doesn’t like to be
too wet. It doesn’t like to dry out, either. A
light spritzing a couple of times a week is
enough. It’s a perennial, so can be placed
anywhere in the garden. It can even make a
good hedge plant but be prepared to have
lots of bees around because they love the
flowers. The prostrate form also makes a
good groundcover.
Choose a dwarf or prostrate variety for
growing in a pot. If you live in a very cold
climate, pot growing is probably best so you can
move it to a sheltered sunny spot with reflected
warmth from a wall or fence in cold winters.
Grow from seed in spring, or cuttings or division
in spring or autumn. Feed in spring or spritz
with a diluted seaweed solution once a week.
Good Organic Gardening | 23

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS | Zucchini
Top
performer
Zucchini are easy to grow, crop abundantly
and are endlessly versatile in the kitchen
Words Melissa King
Zucchini are generous plants to
have in the summer garden,
with their abundance of
glossy fruit. They are easy
to grow and such good croppers that
during harvest time you can be out in
the vegie patch picking zucchinis, not
only for your own use but for friends
and family as well.
With fruit in such abundance, it’s
nice to know they are surprisingly
versatile in the kitchen, used to make
everything from classic zucchini bread
to muffins, pastas and frittatas — even
sweet zucchini cake. The bright-yellow
flowers can also be stuffed with exotic
ingredients such as olives, anchovies,
basil and ricotta, then battered and fried.
And what a choice of proven varieties.
Zucchini ‘Black Beauty’ has been a
summer staple in the vegie garden since
the 1950s, grown for its glossy, darkgreen
fruit with creamy flesh. Harvest
the fruit when it’s roughly 15cm long for
tender, flavoursome zucchini.
Or bring a splash of sunshine to the
garden and plate with Zucchini ‘Golden’.
‘Golden’ zucchini are fast-growing and
prolific, producing a bumper crop of
long, slender fruit in just nine weeks.
They are delicious raw or cooked and
added to ratatouille, salads and stir-fries
for a burst of cheery colour.
The Italian heirloom ‘Costata’ is
another variety that’s quick to harvest,
producing attractive heavily ribbed
fruit just six weeks from sowing, with
up to 25 zucchini per plant. For extra
impact on the plate, try slicing ‘Costata’
zucchinis before serving — the cut,
ribbed slices resemble stars.
You’ll also love Zucchini ‘Cocozelle’,
another heirloom from Italy with long,
light-green fruit with dark-green stripes.
Harvest 50 days from sowing for tender
CanStockPhoto
24 | Good Organic Gardening

Zucchini | FAMILY HEIRLOOMS
Good Organic Gardening | 25

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS | Zucchini
fruit that’s full of flavour or allow them to grow
larger and serve them stuffed with a delicious
combination of rice, minced lamb, gardengrown
tomatoes and herbs.
Plant Zucchini ‘Tromboncino’ in the garden
and you’ll be picking for months on end. The
pretty light-green and cream fruit can grow
up to a metre long, but for best flavour pick
it when it’s around 25cm in length. The vine
is vigorous, too, and best grown up a trellis or
wigwam that allows the fruit to hang down.
If you’re a fan of stuffed zucchini flowers,
keep an eye out for another Italian favourite,
‘Long Florence’ (Zucca Lungo di Firenze).
This variety can take up to four months to
produce a good crop of beautiful ribbed
zucchinis (well worth the wait, though), but
the big brightly coloured flowers are also
perfect for stuffing.
Finally, completing the list of varieties you
might like to grow is Zucchini ‘Grey’, which
has a more tapered shape than other types,
with shiny grey-green skin, firm flesh and a
sweeter flavour.
Growing
Zucchini are tender annuals that can be
sown direct in spring (after the risk of frost
has passed) or in summer. They love to be
grown in a sunny spot with rich, well-drained
soil, so prepare the area first before planting
with plenty of compost and organic matter.
They prefer a pH of around 6–7.5, so add lime
to acid soils if necessary. Plants will benefit
from consistent watering and regular organic
liquid-feeds to promote a bumper crop of
flowers and fruit.
Zucchini are normally pollinated by bees,
so plant blue-flowering beauties such as
catmint, salvia and lavender as companion
plants around your vegie patch and watch the
bees buzz into your garden. Forget-me-nots
and nasturtiums are bee magnets, too, along
with fragrant herbs including thyme, basil,
borage and sage.
‘Golden’ and ‘Black Beauty’
‘Black Beauty’
‘Cocozelle’
‘Long Florence’ have the
biggest flowers for stuffing
‘Tromboncino’
‘Grey’
CanStockPhoto, Nadiatalent CC
26 | Good Organic Gardening

Zucchini | FAMILY HEIRLOOMS
They can get too big very quickly
Harvest
Zucchini are best harvested when they are
roughly 15cm long, when the skin is tender
and the seeds are small. To harvest, cut the
stem about 2–3cm above the fruit using a
sharp knife or pair of secateurs. Avoid the
temptation to pull fruit from the vine because
you can damage the plant.
Oversized zucchini can be tough but still
good for stuffing and baking. The best time to
pick zucchini blossoms is when they have just
started to open. Just bear in mind, if you pick
the flowers, you won’t get the fruit.
... they are surprisingly
versatile in t he kitchen,
used to make everything
from classic zucchini
bread to muffins, pastas
and frittatas — even
sweet zucchini cake.
Moist, delicious zucchini bread
Zucchini label
Common name: Zucchini, courgette
Botanical name: Cucurbita pepo
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Aspect and soil: Sun to light
afternoon shade (warm climates
only); well-drained soil
Best climate: All
Habit: Annual vegetable, 100cm high
and wide
Propagation: Sow seed or plant
seedlings in spring and summer
Difficulty: Easy
Zoodles are the perfect
virtually carb-free ‘pasta’
Good Organic Gardening | 27

GARDENING FOLK | Ann & Steve Robertson
food &
flowers
Once part of a dairy farm, this picturesque property combines
a productive vegie patch with pretty cottage gardens
Words Carrol Baker
Photos Carrol Baker & Steve Robertson
In the lush, leafy Sunshine Coast
Hinterland is a charming country garden
that’s a pure delight to the senses.
Strolling around the beautiful gardens,
everywhere you look there’s something
wonderful to discover: sweet, fragrant roses,
rows of strappy agapanthus, mature exotic
trees, tactile earthy timber bails that tell a
story of a bygone era, and sweeping park-like
gardens with archways that frame majestic
mountain views.
Owners Steve and Ann Robertson bought
a 10-acre (four-hectare) parcel of an old
dairy farm 34 years ago, after the magical
mountain views sealed the deal for the
couple from Townsville in North Queensland.
“We had to wade through knee-high
kikuyu grass to view the property, but we
knew right away it was for us,” says Ann.
A blank canvas
The sprawling rural block was dotted with
coral trees, amid the old bails and yards of
the once thriving dairy farm. With a vision
to create a beautiful liveable space, the
couple quickly rolled up their sleeves and
went to work.
These days, the property has a large
selection of rainforest and exotic trees, four
acres (1.6 hectares) of lush lawns, cottagestyle
gardens and an organic vegie patch.
The resident cows graze on the other six
acres (2.4 hectares) of grassy paddocks.
There are multiple garden beds and
cottage-style gardens with delicate blooms;
a pastel colour palette interspersed with
pops of colour, with roses, camellias and
magnolias also featuring.
Embracing learning
Ann and Steve have a strong love of the land
and nature, and an organic philosophy that
supports all the projects they undertake on
their property. Ann regularly attends various
workshops and is an avid reader, eager to
embrace a holistic, earth-friendly way of
gardening. “We prefer organics because it’s a
healthy and sustainable way to live,” says Ann.
Now retired, the former real estate
salesperson and civil engineering draftsman
have two daughters and three grandchildren,
and love nothing more than working side by
side on their rural patch.
Ann has many fond memories of gardening
with her grandparents, who had a cane
28 | Good Organic Gardening

Ann & Steve Robertson | GARDENING FOLK
The main reason
for opting for raised
beds was the resident
bandicoots that
regularly pilfered
from the existing
patch. Ann adds that
raised beds are also
kinder on the knees —
you don’t have to bend
to harvest or weed.
Raised garden beds can be purchased or you may be able to
source an old water tank and give it a new lease on life
farm in Ayr when she was a child, and she
introduced that love of gardening to Steve,
who is instrumental in the building and
planting for many of the garden projects.
The vegie patch, however, is primarily
Ann’s domain. “I really enjoy my vegie
garden and love finding new seedlings
that have popped up overnight. It’s very
satisfying each day to pick fresh vegetables
for our meals,” she says.
Ann advocates a three-bay
compost heap
Good Organic Gardening | 29

GARDENING FOLK | Ann & Steve Robertson
Round garden beds
The vegetable garden is a series of inground
beds and raised corrugated iron
rounds that are approximately 1.5m in
diameter and 800m high. Two of the round
corrugated garden beds are repurposed
water tanks. Steve filled the rounds twothirds
up with crusher dust (even when
compacted it drains well), added quality
sandy loam soil on top, to around 300mm,
and then dug in compost.
The main reason for opting for raised beds
was the resident bandicoots that regularly
pilfered from the existing patch. Ann adds
that raised beds are also kinder on the knees
— you don’t have to bend to harvest or weed.
Pest control methods include natural
products such as pyrethrum, eco fungicide
and growing flowers nearby to attract
beneficial insects.
A shady difference
Ann and Steve’s vegie garden is distinctive
from many others in that it’s only in full sun
from sunrise until about 2pm. “Our garden
is in part-shade so, in summer, I can work in
shade in the afternoon,” says Ann.
A sense of history remains in
the old cow bails
A garden arch frames a
glorious view of farmland and
the distant mountains
30 | Good Organic Gardening

Ann & Steve Robertson | GARDENING FOLK
A wisteria vine in full bloom brings
colour and life to the garden
Comfrey leaves make a great
tea to give plants a boost
Agapanthus clump well to form
an attractive border
After attending a workshop by
biodynamic gardener Jade Woodhouse,
Ann learned that for vegetable gardening in
Queensland’s climate, you only need six or
so hours of sunlight.
Ann and Steve grow a diverse selection
of vegetables, including salad greens, bitter
leaves and mustard greens, shallots, red onions,
leeks, Asian greens, kale, cauliflower, beans,
snow peas, celery, beetroot, spinach, rhubarb,
asparagus, zucchini, capsicum, various herbs,
comfrey, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet
potatoes, ginger, turmeric and garlic.
To add nutrients to the soil, Ann uses
comfrey tea, worm juice, green manures,
occasional sheep manure and organic fertilisers
containing minerals and beneficial microbes.
Cuppa anyone?
Here’s Ann’s comfrey tea recipe. Comfrey is a
shade-loving, deep-rooted plant that’s rich in
nutrients and high in nitrogen. It will give your
vegetables a real boost.
Fill a bucket with hand-torn or chopped
comfrey leaves and cover with water. Give
it a stir each day and leave to ferment for
two weeks. Dilute the resulting brew 1L to a
bucket of water and pour on plants.
Ann’s tips
Have a knife handy blade-down in the
vegie patch so you can easily take
a snip of what you’d like to harvest
for dinner (a tip passed on by Ann’s
grandfather).
Collect leaves — these can be mown
up and gathered to use in the compost
heap, or use unmown.
Don’t overplant — if you have a small
family, don’t plant whole punnets of
any vegetables at the same time. Swap
seedlings with family and friends or
As well as beds bursting with
blooms there’s also plenty of
open grassland
eat the plants when they are quite
young (works well with leaf crops).
Then you’re left with a manageable
number, giving you some room for
successive crops and a longer period
of productivity.
Use green manures to revitalise beds.
A compost heap is a must — for lawn
clippings, vegie scraps, crop surplus
and leaves. Three bays are ideal to
allow turning of the heaps and addition
of moisture and other organic matter.
Good Organic Gardening | 31

GARDENING FOLK | Sean Morrow
wildlife
warrior
It’s inspiring to meet a homeowner
who encourages fauna of all kinds
to call their garden home
Words & photos Sandra Tuszynska
Since moving to his six-and-a-half-acre
(two-and-a-half-hectare) property
15 years ago, Sean Morrow and his wife
and daughter have transformed it from a
mostly grass-covered, empty block into a haven
for wildlife. As a landscape and permaculture
designer, Sean is able to envision what the
place will look like years down the track and
is constantly creating ever more gardens and
habitats for wildlife to achieve his vision.
Sean has been a passionate gardener since
he was eight, gardening and weeding for his
neighbours as a child. He has always had a
fondness for nature and its wildlife, especially
lizards and frogs. He looked all over Australia to
find the perfect place to establish productive
gardens and a fruit and bush tucker orchard for
his family; one that would also attract, feed and
house an abundance of creatures.
The property in Pomona, Queensland,
adjoins two nature reserves and includes
Six Mile Creek fed by Lake McDonald Dam,
which provides Noosa’s water supply. “Before
we bought the property, I came down to
the creek and saw a platypus in the water,”
remembers Sean. “I knew immediately this
was what I’d been searching for.”
Gardening with
the moon
Sean experiments continually with
biodynamic growing. He stresses the
importance of gardening in harmony with
the moon cycles, especially when it comes
to annual crops. “I always plant fruit and
vegetables in the afternoon, as this is when
the Earth’s energy comes back down into it
and helps the plants become established.
“I plant leafy vegetables when the moon
is in a water sign phase, root vegetables in
the earth signs, fruiting vegetables in the
fire signs and flowering vegetables in the air
signs,” explains Sean.
He has noticed that when a lettuce is
planted during the air phase of the moon,
it bolts really quickly. He also says planting
should occur during the first, second and
third quarters, while the last quarter is a time
for composting weeding, clearing, controlling
of pests etc.
32 | Good Organic Gardening

Sean Morrow | GARDENING FOLK
Broccoli, lettuce, kale and cabbages
Sean makes sweet chilli sauce
from the not-so-hot bell chillies
Japanese parsley
Self-sown perennial coriander
The garden supplies the family
with vegies year round
To create his raised garden beds, Sean
uses soil excavated from his landscaping jobs
and adds cow and chicken manure, blood and
bone, NatraMin and 5IN1. “The animals that
visit our gardens are an essential pest control,
so I value their input,” says Sean.
The quarter-acre (one-tenth-hectare)
garden supplies Sean and his family with all
their needs for leafy vegetables year-round
and a variety of other produce in season.
At the time of writing, there was lettuce,
cauliflower, snow peas, beans, parsley and
other herbs. Two interesting herbs are
sawtooth coriander and Japanese parsley,
both self-seeding.
Sean suggests, “If you want to add nitrogen
to your soil and an abundant protein supply,
grow Madagascar beans. They produce big
pods with purple seeds high in protein. We
make mad bean patties from them.”
Sean has planted several varieties of tropical
and subtropical fruit trees, including jackfruit,
banana, mango, white and black sapote, star
apple, starfruit, three varieties of mulberry, two
varieties of passionfruit, ice-cream bean, carob,
jaboticaba, grumichama, pineapple, mandarin,
orange, lemon, Acerola cherry and macadamia.
He allows his passionfruit to climb up trees, as
this simulates fruit production.
As a keen bushfoods cultivator, Sean is
always learning about new varieties as he adds
them to his garden. Some of the plants include
Davidson’s and Burdekin plums, lime berry,
midyim berry, lemon myrtle and milla milla vine.
In the past 14 years, Sean has planted
a melaleuca forest, a bunya forest, which
will eventually provide bunya nuts, and a
bamboo grove from cuttings, which is now
huge and harvested for construction.
Water is supplied to Sean’s dams from
eight acres (three hectares) of neighbouring
properties, which is then pumped up into tanks
and gravity fed throughout his land. When the
rains come, Sean and his 13-year-old daughter,
Luna, bodyboard across the property.
Sean is mad about seed collection and
cultivation. He always collects seeds from his
trees and grows them in his nursery by the
hundreds, which he then sells or gives away. His
property is full of all kinds of interesting plants,
such as cycads. “As I do landscaping, people
always give me plants or ask me to get rid of
plants for them. I rehome them here,” he says.
Wildlife haven
With a passion for wildlife, Sean is always
creating habitat for various creatures. He
has installed 36 frog ponds in total, most
permanent but some ephemeral, filling up
with water only when it’s raining. “These
ponds attract only certain species of frogs,
Good Organic Gardening | 33

GARDENING FOLK | Sean Morrow
which we can hear only when the ponds have
water in them,” he says.
The frogs provide Sean and his family
with a beautiful orchestra each evening.
“Although we have two dams, there were
hardly any frogs breeding in them when we
first arrived,” says Sean. “Now we have a large
number of different frog species and we see
lizards, snakes and marsupials such as the
antechinus living near and around the ponds.
Frogs and other animals require habitat
around water in order to thrive.”
To create this habitat, Sean builds up the
banks of the dams with rocks and branches,
and leaves piles of mulch for skinks to lay
their eggs in. Perhaps his favourite creature
is the water dragon. “I create ash mounds for
them to breed in,” he says.
Sean happily shares his produce with
birds, bats and possums, which have plenty
of flowers and fruit to feed on as well as
nesting boxes to live in. Sean elaborates,
“When mulberries are in season, we have fig
and cat birds here for 4–6 weeks, depending
on how good the crop is each year; this is
the only time we see them here.” He creates
mounds made of soil and a concrete blend
that excludes cement and covers them with
leaf litter. Pardalotes dig tunnels into these
mounds and lay their eggs to nest in them
over winter.
Sean regularly supplies logs to
the edge of the dam to create
habitat for wildlife
“I came down to
the creek and saw a
platypus in the water.
I knew immediately
this was what I’d
been searching for.”
Luna and Darcy
The eight chooks have a large
enclosure to scratch around in
34 | Good Organic Gardening

Sean Morrow | GARDENING FOLK
Banksia spinulosa supplies nectar to
birds, gliders and small marsupials
and seed to black cockatoos
Sean replanted cycads which
were destined for landfill
Educating the public
Sean shares his knowledge and experience
through workshops and talks on various
topics, including propagation and pruning
for beginners, organic gardening and food
production, and frog pond and wildlife habitat
creation. “I teach people how to breed and
look after tadpoles and other animals to
increase their numbers,” he says.
Sean runs regular pond-building
workshops and talks all over the Sunshine
Coast, at the Nambour Gardening Festival
and, recently, at the Planting Festival, giving
participants the opportunity to learn through
the hands-on building process. Sean was also
featured on the television series Totally Wild,
building a pond with his daughter, Luna.
Turn to page 68 where a step-by-step pondbuilding
process is described in The Shed.
Sean grows ‘Panama Red’ and
‘Panama Gold’ passionfruit
Popcorn cassia, a legume
that smells like popcorn
when you crush the leaves
A baby jackfruit, the world’s
largest fruit
‘Lots of Lemons’ is a prolific
dwarf Meyer
Sean’s gardening tips
Plant your annual vegetables and
herbs according to the moon cycles
for increased plant vigour and yield.
Allow your plants to go to seed. You
can spread this seed around the
garden or let it naturally germinate.
Propagate your own plants (where
possible) from cuttings, seeds, root
division, layering etc.
Attract an abundance of wildlife
into your garden and create a living
ecosystem where pest imbalances
are taken care of by natural elements
within the system.
Observe what is happening in the
garden on a daily, weekly, monthly,
seasonal basis. Take note and act on
these observations.
Good Organic Gardening | 35

GARDENING FOLK | Frank & Anita Vella
Following
tradition
With rich food traditions on both sides, this
gardening couple would make their forbears proud
Words & photos Jana Holmer
Is a gardener born or made? In the case
of Frank and Anita Vella, from Wallington,
Victoria, you could say it’s a bit of both.
Wallington is a rural township on the
Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong, the sort of
place where the local school runs an annual
strawberry fair. For 150 years, Bellarine Shire
has been a patchwork of farms and market
gardens, thanks to waves of immigrants.
Frank himself arrived in Australia from
Malta in 1963; his father, John, had a farm
in Rockbank in outer Melbourne. “Frank has
always loved gardening,” says Anita. “He was
brought up with vegetables, chooks, rabbits
and canaries.”
Frank loves goat’s milk, especially when
his mother, Mary, used to make gbejniet, a
Maltese cheese that’s a bit like ricotta. “It goes
into a basket, water comes up, it dries out.
Add oil and pepper and store in a jar. It’s that
easy to make.”
As for Australian-born Anita, she has fond
memories of her father Colin’s Chinese aunts
in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, near
the airport.
“Auntie Flo and Auntie Mo wore traditional
red Hanfu costumes,” she remembers. “I recall
visiting them as a little girl and I couldn’t
believe my eyes. These two aunts dug up the
entire front and backy ards and replaced our
lovely lawn and flowers with weird-looking
Chinese vegetables. I really don’t know how
they kept their silk gowns so clean.
“They must have planted a complete
Chinese market: mung beans, pak choy,
ginger, luffa, soy beans, water chestnuts and
more. It eventually grew into a jungle and they
were so happy. They were the first people to
grow bok choy in their front yard. No one had
ever heard of it.
“I was so embarrassed. They would chatter
away in Chinese, flailing arms in the air, and
dig and throw and plant. They said, ‘Plants will
tell you where to grow.’ Frank and I follow that
same principle to this day.”
Light-bulb moment
Among the plants that take pride of place on
the couple’s 11-acre (4.5-hectare) property
are fruit trees such as lemon, peach, apricot,
apple, pear, tamarillo and fig. “We’re very
proud of our fig tree,” says Anita. “It has the
largest leaves you’ve ever seen.”
Frank and Anita Vella
36 | Good Organic Gardening

Frank & Anita Vella | GARDENING FOLK
Peach, apple and the giant
fig that fruits twice a year
But the centrepiece has to be the two
raised 5×3m vegetable garden beds, built with
railway sleepers and containing sandy loam.
“Organic material has to be applied with hay
to break down the chook poo,” says Anita.
Despite Wallington’s low rainfall, the garden
is rife with potatoes, tomatoes, zucchinis,
cucumbers, wild pumpkins and — with a
nod to Anita’s great-aunts — bok choy.
Particularly abundant is silverbeet, which
grows year-round, as well as garlic, lemon,
parsley, thyme and sage.
“We also grow a traditional broad bean,
called fazola wiesgha in Maltese,” says Anita.
“Frank’s mother would dry these beans and
mash them to make a traditional dish: bigilla.”
This hummus-style mash originated as a
dish for hard times. Laughs Frank, “My mother
says the beans went to the goats once and
now we eat them as a traditional dish!”
With their traditional backgrounds, it’s not
surprising the pair is committed to organic
methods. Anita had a light-bulb moment years
ago in a Shepparton fruit warehouse where,
she says, “They sprayed white chemical foam
on their fruit and vegetables and it would sit
These two aunts dug up the entire front
and back yards and replaced our lovely
lawn and flowers with weird-looking
Chinese vegetables. I really don’t know how
they kept their silk gowns so clean.
Nothing is wasted here
Good Organic Gardening | 37

GARDENING FOLK | Frank & Anita Vella
there for weeks. It would then get placed in a
chill room for six months; then it would sit in a
truck and be transported to stores.
“It was a real eye-opener for me and
ever since that day, I prefer to grow my own
vegetables. This is why people get allergies
and diseases.”
Among other steps towards sustainability,
says Anita, “We chop our own wood and use
our fireplace. We collect water and recycle
it. Our shower and bath water goes onto the
vegetables. We have a compost bin that we
place leaves in from our trees.”
They don’t employ any pest control,
preferring to use garlic spray and pick bugs
by hand. They compost using kitchen scraps
and pea straw and their fertilisers are, of
course, all natural, including chook and alpaca
poo. Frank also makes his own fertiliser from
bran and mealworms.
They don’t pull weeds, either. Adds Anita,
“We let our weeds grow wild, especially milk
thistles. Frank breaks off the plant to reveal
white sap for his exotic birds to drink. They
go crazy over it.”
A former builder and renovator, Frank is
passionate about breeding chickens as well
as rare birds including Gouldian finches and
Indian silverbills, which he feeds with his
mealworms. He also supplies mealworms to
pet stores by the kilo.
“You can dry-roast mealworms and
refrigerate them,” says Frank. “Roasting
removes the moisture while retaining its
nutritional value and protein.”
No waste
As for what the humans on the property eat,
Anita’s specialty is ghagin il forn (Maltese for
“pasta in the oven”). Similar to macaroni, it’s a
pasta bake with lots of vegetables, mince and
leftovers. She also makes another traditional
Maltese dish, a bread pudding called puddina,
with day-old bread, sultanas and cocoa.
Compost under the tree
Elvis the rooster and his lovely wife
Quail incubation
38 | Good Organic Gardening

Frank & Anita Vella | GARDENING FOLK
Carrots
Frank & Anita’s
top tips
Use mealworms in your sandy soils.
Keep growing vegetables; they’re
great for you.
Grow companion plants such as
roses to attract bees to your vegies.
Don’t ever use weed mat.
Keep your garden tidy.
How to make
gbejniet
Ingredients
• 5L fresh, unhomogenised milk
• 50mL water
• 3 tsp rennet powder
• Salt
Banana tree
Zucchini
Staked
tomatoes
What you need
• Thermometer
• Large pot
• 15 cheese baskets
• Dripping tray for cheese baskets
• Cloth
• Strainer
• Small cup
• Wooden spoon
Frank tending to a beehive
Method
In a large pot, place milk on the stove on
warm heat. Once it reaches 38°C, turn off
heat. Place water and rennet powder in
a small cup, stir quickly and gently stir
into warm milk. Allow to rest for about 3
hours. At around 1½ hours, use a wooden
spoon to lacerate the coagulating milk
and leave for a further 1½ hours. Curds
and whey will separate. After 3 hours,
scoop up curds and fill one basket. Place
it on a dripping stray. Fill the remaining
cheese baskets until all trays are full
to the top with curd. Pour excess whey
that drips on the tray into the baskets.
Sprinkle salt on baskets of curd before
placing them in the fridge overnight.
They give away some of everything they
produce, especially lemons, honey and eggs,
and preserve what’s left. They freeze dozens
of lemons, dry figs on a rack and soak olives
in salt for weeks.
Frank and Anita are particularly zealous
about avoiding waste. “Don’t throw away
onion leaves,” says Anita. “They give colour
and flavour in cooking. And never pull onions
out by the root. Cut the bulb close to the
root and leave the remaining cut bulb in the
ground. The onion will grow again. The same
with spring onions: never uproot!
“And when you buy spring onions and cut
roots off to cook, don’t throw the roots in
the kitchen bin. No! This is a waste. Plant it;
it will grow. See, Frank has many good ideas,
don’t you think?”
Anita also cuts off small tomato shoots and
puts them in water, where they grow roots
and can then be planted.
“Frank went to Bunnings one day and
bought a tomato plant for $20. How can
people afford $20? That’s a lot of money for a
tomato plant. What I do is throw tomato seeds
in the compost and — boom! — you get a lot
of plants. It’s cheap and it’s easy to grow.”
As someone once said, plants will tell
you where to grow. Aunties Flo and Mo
would be proud.
One more thing, Anita says: “Buy lots of
garden magazines. You get a lot of ideas.” We
can’t argue with that.
Good Organic Gardening | 39

TIME TO PLANT | Celery
- in the -
vegie patch
Crunch time
This crisp vegetable is used in
many dishes, especially in Italian
cuisine, and is great for crudités
Did you know?
Celery was found in the tomb of
Tutankhamun, which dates to
1325 BCE, and its leaf decorated
an ancient Roman coin.
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
Frequently dismissed as “rabbit” food
or food to eat to stave off hunger
pangs when you are on a diet, celery
is actually one of the healthiest of all
vegetables. It has lots of vitamins, minerals
and abundant antioxidants and is low GI
but high in fibre. It may also be useful as
an anti-inflammatory.
Celery is very versatile as it can be eaten
raw or cooked. It’s one of those vegetables
that is handy to have in the garden because
it’s the basis for so many recipes from stocks,
sauces and meat dishes to salads. A celery
stick is also a vital garnish for a bloody Mary!
Although it’s sold as a bunch (actually
one plant), it doesn’t need to be harvested
all at once from the garden. Celery can be
used gradually, picking it stick by stick.
Technically, each stick or stalk of celery is a
petiole or leaf base.
Varieties
Varieties to grow for green, crunchy celery
include ‘Green Crunch’, ‘Stringless’ and ‘Tall
Utah’. ‘Dorata D’Asti’ is a variety that has
pale-green stems on a large plant that weighs
up to 1.1kg when mature. It’s well suited to
grow to pick individual stems. ‘Red Stalk’ is an
heirloom variety with red-tinged green stems.
It grows quickly and crops early (in just
12 weeks) and can be prone to bolting. It’s
best grown with blanching as it can be bitter.
A close relative of common celery is
leaf or Chinese celery (Apium graveolens
var. secalinum), which is also known as
“smallage”. It has a looser structure and
thinner stalks than celery but has celery-like
foliage. It can be used instead of celery in
stocks or add the chopped leaves to salads
or other dishes as a garnish.
Planting and
growing
Celery is usually grown from seed planted in
spring and early summer. It can take several
weeks to germinate and is best started in a
punnet with seed-raising mix. The seed needs
to be just lightly covered for best germination
rates. If germination is slow, soak the seed
overnight before sowing.
After three or four weeks, the tiny
seedlings can be transferred into small,
individual pots to grow to a size that’s safe to
transplant into the garden.
Stagger plantings over several weeks to
prolong the harvest through summer and
autumn. In warm to hot areas, it can also be
sown in autumn and grown through winter
or in very late winter or very early spring as a
spring-to-summer crop.
40 | Good Organic Gardening

Celery | TIME TO PLANT
Celeriac
If celery is growing well, without stress, it’s a very
easy crop to grow. Let it dry out and it will become
stringy and bitter. The stems may become hollow.
Chinese celery
CanStockPhoto
Celeriac
Grown for its bulbous root, celeriac is
a variety of celery (Apium graveolens
var. rapaceum). It’s grown much
like celery but, once harvested, the
stems and leaves are discarded.
Use celeriac in soups or grate or
chop finely in a salad. It’s also good
mashed, especially 50/50 with potato.
It needs full sun but afternoon shade is
beneficial in very hot zones. Most important,
though, is regular water — indeed, copious
water is the key to success when growing celery.
Wild celery, which is found growing naturally in
parts of the Mediterranean, grows as a plant of
marshlands, which is why it needs moist, wellwatered
growing conditions in the garden.
Improve the soil before planting by
digging in compost and blood and bone.
Soils that are highly acidic may benefit from
the addition of some lime.
Celery is traditionally planted into a trench.
As the plant grows, soil is hilled up to cover
the stems and exclude light. This process is
known as “blanching” and is done to produce
a sweet, tender stalk. An alternative method
of blanching is to wrap cardboard around the
clump of stems. Older varieties are more likely
to require blanching than modern varieties
such as ‘Green Crunch’.
Transplant seedlings after eight to 10
weeks. They should be spaced about
15–30cm apart to allow room for the plant to
develop and to avoid water stress through
overcrowding. Use closer spacing to enable
the plants to “self” blanch by excluding light
from their neighbour’s stems.
To reduce water loss from the soil and to
keep weeds away, mulch around the plants
with organic mulch spread about 2cm thick.
As well as keeping celery well watered, it
also needs to be kept growing vigorously with
regular applications of organic fertiliser. Apply
a liquid feed every 10–14 days.
If growing celery in a container, select
a 30cm pot and fill it with good-quality,
moisture-retentive potting mix. Liquid-feed
and water well throughout the growing period.
Troubleshooting
If celery is growing well, without stress, it’s
a very easy crop to grow. Let it dry out and
it will become stringy and bitter. The stems
may become hollow. Pests that attack celery
include snails, which may be a problem for
seedlings, and leaf miners. To protect against
snails, check plants regularly and use a snail
trap. Remove leaves that have been attacked
by leaf miner and dispose of them in a sealed
bag in the rubbish bin.
If celery bolts into flower instead of
developing thick stems, it has probably been
dried out or is growing in adverse climate
conditions (for example, high temperatures).
Harvest and storage
Celery takes about 12–16 weeks to harvest
from sowing. It can be cut off at the base or
picked as stalks that are harvested from the
outside inwards. Many cooks discard the leafy
celery tops but these can be used chopped
as a garnish, added to food or used to flavour
both meat and vegetable stocks.
Store celery for up to seven weeks
wrapped in plastic in the fridge or break into
An essential for crudités
stalks and store in a plastic container in the
fridge. Celery, including the tops, can also be
frozen to use later in stock.
Celery that has bolted can be left to
produce seed. Celery seed adds a celery
flavour to food.
Celery label
Common name: Celery
Botanical name: Apium graveolens
Family: Apiaceae (carrot family)
Requires: Full sun
Dislikes: Heat, drying out
Suitable for: Cool to mild conditions
Habit: Leaf vegetable to 60–90cm high
Needs: Regular moisture
Propagation: Seed, seedling
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Good Organic Gardening | 41

TIME TO PLANT | Parsley
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
Parsley is more than a herb to use as a
garnish for mashed potato, it’s a leafy
vegetable that can be used in abundance
to make pesto, tabouli and a host of other
delicious dishes.
There’s always parsley to be found
somewhere in my garden as it self-seeds
readily and grows year-round, even through
the coldest of winters.
Parsley is part of the huge carrot family
and comes originally from the Mediterranean
region. It’s now grown around the world and
most cooks wouldn’t be without fresh parsley.
Left to grow to maturity, the normally leafy
plant produces a tall, thick stalk and heads of
green-yellow flowers. This is your cue to pull
up the plant and replace it with something
else. Don’t remove every parsley plant, though;
leave some to form seed to ensure self-seeding
occurs so there’s always parsley growing.
Flat or curly?
There are two main types of parsley grown
in gardens: curly and flat-leaf, which is also
called Italian or Continental. Many cooks
prefer to use flat-leaf parsley, claiming it
has better flavour and softer texture than
the tougher curly form. Curly-leaf parsley,
however, is more decorative in the garden.
Don’t think of parsley as just a plant for a
herb garden. It makes a dense, bright-green
edging plant, particularly around boldly
coloured summer annuals or beds of lettuce.
Parsley can also be grown in a container in
any sunny spot. As it’s a herb that’s used so
much in the kitchen, have some handy in a
pot close to the kitchen door.
Both Italian and curly parsley are rich in
potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron
along with vitamins A and C and they also
contain antioxidants.
Actually, there is another type of parsley
found in gardens. Although parsley is mainly
grown for its leaves and stalks, one variety
forms a large tuberous root. This is Hamburg
- in the -
herb garden
The great garnish
Probably the first herb most gardeners
would think to plant, parsley is ubiquitous
in food presentation and easy to grow
Parsley label
Common name: Parsley
Botanical name: Petroselinum crispum
Family: Apiaceae (carrot family)
Requires: Rich, well-drained soil
Dislikes: Dry conditions
Suitable for: Herb gardens, vegie garden
Habit: Small biennial branching herb,
30–50cm high
Needs: Regular water
Propagation: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
42 | Good Organic Gardening

Parsley | TIME TO PLANT
parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. tuberosum),
which is not well known or widely grown in
Australia. The edible root resembles parsnip.
It is harvested after the plant matures to
add to soup or to roasts like a parsnip. While
waiting for the root to grow, the leaves can be
harvested just like regular flat-leaf parsley.
Planting and
growing
Parsley grows easily from seed but is also
sold in punnets as seedlings. It does best
in a rich, moisture-retentive soil in a sunny
position. Although it’s usually grown as an
annual that’s planted in spring and harvested
through summer into autumn, parsley can
power on through winter to keep growing into
the following spring.
To keep it growing well, regularly apply an
organic liquid plant food and make sure it
doesn’t want for water. Parsley can be liquidfed
every two to three weeks.
The appearance of a flowering stem
indicates the parsley plant has reached the
end of its life cycle and it’s time to replant.
Water stress may also cause the plant to
begin flowering and winding down. When it
begins to form a flowering stem, the leaves
lose their flavour and looks.
This herb has few pests or diseases but
one that can be annoying, as it disfigures the
leaves, is leaf miner. Leaf miner larvae create
damage as they burrow through leaf tissue,
causing silver trails to form.
The pest is more likely to be noticed in the
flat-leaf forms. To control it, simply pick off
the affected leaves as this removes the pest
along with the damage. Water and fertilise to
encourage new pest-free growth.
Whitefly also attack parsley plants. These
are small, white-winged pests that fly up
from the back of the leaves when they are
disturbed. They are sap-sucking insects that
can be trapped on sticky yellow boards to
reduce their numbers. Water affected plants
extra well to keep them growing strongly
when pest numbers are high.
Any gardener who receives regular
nocturnal visits from possums also knows
that possums love parsley. To beat possums,
either cover pots at night or plant parsley in
clumps throughout the garden in the hope
that some go unnoticed and survive.
More welcome visitors to parsley,
Curly parsley
Parsley can also be grown in a container
in any sunny spot. As it’s a herb that’s
used so much in the kitchen, have some
handy in a pot close to the kitchen door.
Flat-leaf parsley
CanStockPhoto
Hamburg parsley root
particularly when it is in flower, are pollinating
insects including native bees and hoverflies.
The seed heads may also provide food
for small seed-eating birds, including the
goldfinch, which is naturalised in parts of
Victoria and Tasmania.
Harvesting and
storage
Harvest parsley as it’s needed by just picking
or cutting off leafy stalks. Excess can be kept
wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper section
of the refrigerator, standing in water (like a
cut flower) or chopped and frozen in ice-cube
trays. To freeze parsley, place the chopped herb
in an ice-cube tray and fill it with water. Once
the cubes are frozen, store them loose in sealed
bags in the freezer to add to soups, stews or
stock when there’s a dearth of fresh parsley.
Parsley is often plentiful in summer and
there are many recipes that call for lashings of
parsley, including salsa verde, gremolata and
persillade. Parsley sauce is a white sauce with
added parsley that’s often served with fish.
Good Organic Gardening | 43

TIME TO PLANT | Scarlet runner bean
- in the -
vegie patch
Bean there
If you live in a cooler
area, the scarlet runner
could be the bean for you
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
When we moved into our coolclimate
Tasmanian garden
in winter, the ornamental
garden was dormant, but the
large vegetable garden was well stocked
with leftover summer crops. We were able
to harvest potatoes, Brussels sprouts
and silver beet, and collect eggs from the
chook shed. Enough for a meal in itself, but
there was one more ingredient the garden
provided: beans. Four tall bamboo tripods
were hung with dried bean pods filled with
handsome violet and black beans.
The summer’s crop of scarlet runner
beans had been left to dry and we were the
beneficiaries. We’ve enjoyed dried scarlet
runner beans each year since. The beans
grow up during summer, sprouting from
large tubers that remain in the ground,
and I replant seeds each year, sowing one
or two at the base o f each leg of the bean
tripod. Over time, the older beans are less
productive, which is why it’s a smart move to
re-sow some new ones each year.
The vines twine up their supports, soon
reaching the top. By mid-summer, they are
covered with clusters of decorative red
flowers, which form thick, green runner
beans. They could be harvested at this stage
and eaten as green beans, but I prefer to
leave them to swell and dry on the vine then
harvest the pods in autumn and winter.
The vines twine up
their supports, soon
reaching the top. By
mid-summer, they are
covered with clusters of
decorative red flowers,
which form thick,
green runner beans.
The scarlet runner bean is best suited to
areas with cool summers. In warmer climes,
they grow strongly and may flower but may
not form pods and won’t develop a thick,
starchy root. Late sowings may set beans in
autumn in temperate zones but not reliably.
The lush green leaves and scarlet
flowers make this productive vine very
attractive. It can be grown on an arch or
trellis where its flowers can be enjoyed. In
gardens in the United States, the scarlet
runner bean attracts hummingbirds.
44 | Good Organic Gardening

Scarlet runner bean | TIME TO PLANT
CanStockPhoto
Although we have small nectar-eating birds
in the garden here, such as yellow-cheeked
honeyeaters, I’ve not yet seen them feeding
on bean flowers.
Varieties
Scarlet runners are native to elevated parts of
southern Mexico and Central America. There
are several varieties of the bean, which is very
popular in the UK and Europe. ‘Painted Lady’
has red and white bicolour flowers, while
‘Sunset’ has orange flowers. There are also
forms with white pods and beans.
Care and
maintenance
Sow the large beans around 1–2cm deep in
moist soil, placing each seed at the base of
a climbing support. The beans are quick to
germinate in warm soil.
Other than twining wayward beans onto
Scarlet runner
beans label
Common name: Scarlet runner bean,
seven-year bean
Botanical name: Phaseolus coccineus
Family: Fabaceae (pea family)
Requires: Full sun
Dislikes: Heat, humidity
Suitable for: Cool climates
Habit: Perennial vine, 2–3m high
Needs: Climbing support
Propagation: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
their support, they need little extra care.
Give the plants regular water and add more
fertiliser in the form of well-rotted manure,
pelletised chicken manure, blood and bone or
a slow-release organic fertiliser.
Green vegetable bugs can attack the
leaves and pods, but little else appears to
harm these robust vegetables. To control
the bugs, simply squash the black speckled
ladybird-sized juveniles or the larger green
adults, which hide among the leaves.
They have an acrid smell when squashed.
Alternatively, knock them into a tin or bucket
filled with soapy water.
Keep the pods off the ground by training
the stems onto a support. Pods lying on the
ground may rot.
Harvest, storage and
preparation
If the beans are to be eaten green, harvest the
pods while they are small and tender. Large
pods quickly become fibrous. Alternatively,
leave the beans to dry on the vine and pick
the brown pods in autumn. The vines and
pods withstand early frost.
After harvesting the dry beans, remove the
remaining dry growth, which can be cut up
and added to the compost heap.
The pods are easy to shell and each
produces five or six large, shiny, colourful
beans, which store well. Discard any beans
that are soft or mouldy.
The dry beans are best soaked and boiled
before use in a bean casserole or other dish
that uses dry beans. They are delicious
teamed with garlic, tomatoes or pork.
The dried pods are easy to shell
Just as good dried as fresh
Good Organic Gardening | 45

TIME TO PLANT | Taro
- in the -
vegie patch
Taro
Colocasia esculenta
Both ornamental in the garden
and good to eat, taro is a great
alternative to other starchy vegies
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
Gardeners who want to be self-sufficient
and eat as much as possible from their vegie
patch need to think long and hard about
starchy crops — the vegetables that yield
carbohydrates and that make up an important
part of everyday eating.
For most gardeners, potatoes are the
easiest starch crops to grow. In many parts
of the country, it’s possible to grow two
crops each year. Potatoes are relatively
easy to store and can be used in a wide
variety of dishes.
They’re not the only starchy vegetable to
grow, though. Other options include sweet
potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes and yams.
For those living in tropical and subtropical
zones, there are even more options to
investigate. One of these is taro, a traditional
starch crop grown and eaten throughout
Asia and the Pacific region. Its other common
names include dasheen and cocoyam and
it’s thought to be native to India but has now
spread around the globe.
Taro is much more than a starchy root
vegetable. It’s a very handsome plant with
large, green, heart-shaped leaves held on
slender black stems. Plants grow to around
1–1.5m tall. There are ornamental forms of
taro often called elephant’s ears. Some of
the ornamental forms have handsome black
leav es. While these plants are a good-looking
addition to a garden, most don’t produce
edible tubers.
Did you know?
Water drops roll off taro leaves and
have led to a saying in Mauritius, dilo
lor bredsonz or “water off the taro”,
which in English could be translated
as “water off a duck’s back”.
Varieties
Although taro is not a crop that’s commonly
grown in Australian gardens, a number
of named varieties are available. Organic
supplier Green Harvest recommends ‘Bunlong’
(also sold as Purple Spot) for tropical
zones. The flesh of this form of taro is white
with purple flecks. For subtropical and warm
coastal zones, ‘Chinese’ performs well.
Other varieties include pink taro, sold as
‘Talo Niue’, and ‘Alafua Sunrise’. These are
very starchy varieties that come originally
from the Pacific region, including Hawaii,
Samoa and Fiji.
To buy taro, visit local grower markets in
tropical and subtropical areas or order from
online suppliers including Green Harvest
(greenharvest.com.au).
Planting and
growing
Taro can be grown year-round in hot, frostfree
climates, but the ideal planting time in
the tropics and subtropics is at the beginning
of the wet season. In other areas, plant this
crop in late spring as the soil warms and all
CanStockPhoto
46 | Good Organic Gardening

Taro | TIME TO PLANT
threat of frost or a cold snap has passed.
It takes six to 12 months to harvest from
planting, which is why plants can only be
grown successfully in warm zones. In cold or
inland areas with a short warm-season growing
period, taro can be grown in a large (40cm
or larger) container and moved into a warm,
sheltered spot during autumn and winter.
Taro grows in a wide range of soils and
tolerates both well-drained and wet soils. In very
wet areas, plant taro into a raised mound to
reduce waterlogging. Although it tolerates wet
soils and is grown in paddy fields in some parts
of the world, it doesn’t thrive in stagnant water.
It’s best in full sun but grows in part
shade, especially in hot regions. Most
commercial production of taro in Australia
occurs in northern Queensland but crops
are grown south to northern New South
Wales and in inland areas.
To prepare the ground for planting, remove
all weeds. Dig in well-rotted organic matter
before planting, to enrich the soil and improve
its water-holding capacity. Also work in a
high-potash fertiliser, which helps the large,
starchy tubers to develop.
Taro is grown from offshoots taken from an
existing plant or from pieces of tuber. Tubers
can be cut into segments before planting.
Plant the pieces of tuber 5–8cm deep.
Offshoots (also called setts) include several
centimetres of tuber and a leaf shoot. Roots
grow quickly from the base of the shoot once
the offshoot is planted.
They can also be started off in pots and
transplanted into the soil as conditions warm.
To produce a crop of taro, plant it in a
row for ease of maintenance and watering.
Space plants around 60–90cm apart to
allow room for the leafy growth and for the
tubers to mature. Where smaller amounts of
taro are wanted over a longer period, plant
it in small clumps throughout the year to
stagger harvest times.
Taro is much more than a starchy root
vegetable. It’s a very handsome plant with large,
green, heart-shaped leaves held on slender
black stems. Plants grow to around 1–1.5m tall.
Edible leaves?
While waiting for the tubers to grow,
the young leaves and stalks can be
harvested to add to soups and stews.
They should not be eaten uncooked
due to high concentrations of calcium
oxalate, which causes stinging and
discomfort in the mouth and throat.
Taro is a handsome leafy plant grown
for its starchy underground tuber
Taro can also be grown in damp areas such
as beside water features or in areas that may
get periodic inundation.
Ongoing care
Taro has few pests or diseases but doesn’t
tolerate drying out. Keep plants growing
strongly with regular water, particularly over
the dry season, and the occasional addition
of a high-potash fertiliser or top dressing
of aged manure and compost. Plants that
are moisture-stressed show slow growth
and produce smaller, less starchy tubers.
Mulch helps to suppress weeds and retain
soil moisture as well as supplying extra
nutrients to the soil.
Harvesting and
storage
Taro crops need at least six to nine months of
growth and can take longer in cooler zones or
if the plants are moisture-stressed. The tubers
are ready to lift when the foliage begins to
yellow. Tubers can push to the surface.
Mature tubers can reach 1–1.5kg in size and
are usually round or slightly elongated. They
need to be harvested by hand, first disturbing
the soil. Rinse to remove soil before using or
storing taro tubers.
Taro tubers can be left in the ground until
they are needed but, once harvested, they
need to be used in around two to four weeks.
They can be stored wrapped in a plastic bag
in the fridge.
Taro must be cooked before it can be
eaten. This is because it contains crystals of
calcium oxalate, a mouth irritant. As a result,
taro is peeled and cooked by baking, boiling
or steaming. It has a starchy, nutty flavour. It’s
often served mashed or as a casserole and can
also be made into cakes or served as a dessert.
Slices of taro can also be fried as chips.
Taro is fairly sweet, high in carbohydrates and
fibre, and provides a good source of vitamins
and minerals, including vitamins B and E.
Taro label
Common name: Taro
Botanical name: Colocasia esculenta
Family: Araceae (arum family)
Requires: Full sun
Dislikes: Cold
Suitable for: Tropics, subtropics,
warm coastal
Habit: Clumping perennial, to 1–1.5m tall
Needs: Heat, humidity, shade
Propagation: Tuber, offshoots,
potted plants
Difficulty: Easy
Good Organic Gardening | 47

TIME TO PLANT | Honeydew melon
- in the -
melon patch
Honeydew melon
Cucumis melo inodorus
Its pretty green colour and sweet flavour
make this melon a favourite in fruit salads
Words Melissa King
Ripe garden-grown honeydew melons
are as sweet and delicious as their
name suggests, with thin white rind
and gorgeous green flesh that adds
colour and variety to fruit salads, cheese
platters, smoothies and summer cocktails.
Growing: Honeydew melons grow on an
annual vine that flourishes in warm soils. They
enjoy a sunny spot, with rich well-drained soil,
so dig in plenty of compost before planting.
They like a soil pH somewhere in the range of
6.5 to 7.5 so if your soil is too acidic, add lime
before planting.
Honeydew melons need a long, warm
growing season and can be slow to take off
when the soil temperature is low. Seed can
be sown direct into warm soil in spring and
summer for a summer and autumn harvest.
Planting is often done in winter in tropical
areas. In cooler areas, choose a warm spot and
look out for fast-maturing varieties.
Growing tip: Be sure to keep the water up
when the young fruit is developing, then
reduce watering to sweeten the honeydew
flavour before harvest. As the melons start
to mature, try slipping a bit of wood or straw
mulch under the fruit to prevent it rotting
from contact with wet soil.
Saving space: Honeydew melons grow on
vigorous vines that need room to roam but
if you’re looking to save space, they can be
grown on a trellis or vertical supports. Grown
in this manner, vines get better air circulation,
so are less prone to disease. Just be sure to
anchor the supports well so they don’t fall
over with the weight of the fruit, and support
the mature honeydew melons with mesh bags
if you are concerned.
Harvest: Honeydew melons usually mature
15–20 weeks from sowing. Fruit is ready to
pick when the melons pull away easily from
the stem. The fruit will also smell sweet and
ripe. Honeydew melons store well and can be
kept uncut for several months.
Honeydew melons
grow on vigorous vines
that need room to roam
but if you’re looking to
save space, they can
be grown on a trellis or
vertical supports.
CanStockPhoto
48 | Good Organic Gardening

tamarillo | TIME TO PLANT
- in the -
orchard
Tamarillo
Cyphomandra betacea
This South American beauty can be a
revelation if you’ve never tasted it before
Words Melissa King
If you’ve never eaten a tamarillo, you’re really
missing out on a special treat. The pulp is
rather tangy and tastes a bit like a cross
between a tomato and passionfruit, so it’s a
unique fruit that’s as at home in a savoury dish
as it is in a sweet one.
Not surprisingly, tamarillo is closely
related to the tomato, potato, eggplant and
capsicum and, like the tomato, boasts a high
vitamin C content. In fact, it’s from the same
family (Solanaceae) and you’ll often hear it
called the tree tomato.
The tamarillo grows as an evergreen
shrub to around 3m tall with attractive big
heart-shaped leaves and pretty red new
foliage. It displays soft pink flowers through
spring and summer, followed by a crop of
glossy red, amber or yellow egg-shaped
fruit. The pulp of the fruit is the bit you eat
because the skin tastes bitter.
Growing conditions: Tamarillos are native
to Central and South America, so they enjoy
growing in a warm, frost-free area, but you can
grow them in cooler areas if you protect them
and expect that you may get a bit of dieback
through winter. They like full sun and a fertile
well-drained soil, so incorporate plenty of
organic matter into the soil before planting.
Tamarillos are fast-growing plants that
enjoy a consistent supply of water and regular
liquid feeds to sustain growth, flowering and
fruiting. They are also shallow-rooted, so
The pulp can be eaten fresh with a sprinkle of
sugar and a dollop of ice cream, made into jam,
sauces or chutney, or used to add exotic flavour to
fruit salads, pizzas, casseroles and muffins.
mulch plants to help conserve water.
Pruning tip: When plants are young, nip out
the growing tips to promote branching. This
makes it easier to pick the fruit and helps
prevent the tree from falling over or breaking
when it’s laden with a heavy crop. You should
also lightly prune annually after fruiting.
Growing tip: Tamarillo plants have brittle
branches, so it’s wise to protect them from
wind, and stake where necessary.
Harvest: Plants can yield as much as 20kg
of fruit per year. The pulp can be eaten fresh
with a sprinkle of sugar and a dollop of ice
cream, made into jam, sauces or chutney,
or used to add exotic flavour to fruit salads,
pizzas, casseroles and muffins.
Good Organic Gardening | 49

WEEKEND GARDENING | Water wisdom
WATERWORKS
In summer more than any other time,
your garden needs adequate water, but it
can also be exactly when Mother Nature
is unobliging, hence the need to use wisely
50 | Good Organic Gardening

Water wisdom | WEEKEND GARDENING
Words Carrol Baker
Pure H 2
0. For farmers, it’s like liquid
gold. For the city hobby farmer
or backyard gardener, turn on a
tap and it’s there in abundance.
However, that does not make this natural
resource any less valuable.
Healthy gardens need water. It’s arguably
the single-most important factor for plant
survival. There are ways you can make the
most of this finite natural resource so you
can have a thriving organic garden, while still
making every precious drop count.
So how much water do plants need? That,
of course, depends on the plant, where the
plants are positioned in relation to the sun
and wind, and the soil type.
Soil has three types of particles — sand,
silt and clay — and the combinations of these
determine the soil type. If you aren’t sure what
your soil type is, there’s a simple way to work
it out. “Add water, mould it in your hand and if
it crumbles, it’s sandy; if it’s silty, it will form a
ball; and if it’s clay, you can pinch it between
your forefinger and thumb and ribbon it out —
the longer the ribbon, the more clay you have.”
Loam, which is around two parts sand and
silt and one part clay, is the optimum soil type
for healthy plant growth. There’s another way
to test for silt particles, says soil scientist
Jade King … if you’re game. “Rub it gently on
the front of your teeth. If it’s silty, it will feel
silky smooth; if it’s sandy, it will feel gritty,”
says Jade. “Personally, I prefer to rub it on the
back of my nail,” she adds with a laugh.
Go with the flow?
Do you know your H 2
0 flow rate? You can simply
test it by measuring how much water comes out
of the hose in a set time. For example, measure
how much water goes into a bucket in 15
seconds. Multiply the recorded amount by 240
and that equals your hourly flow rate.
CanStockPhoto
The art of hosing
Sprinkler systems can work extremely well if
they are well-designed; if not, they can waste
water. The benefits of a good sprinkler system
include the ability to water deeply over a long
period without you having to stand holding
the hose for a couple of hours. You can turn
on your sprinklers — or have a timer do that
— and do other things while they water the
garden. Deep watering doesn’t have to be
done as often, either.
If you like to hand-hose, make sure you
use a trigger nozzle to restrict the flow.
A strong blast will not penetrate and can
wash soil away from the roots. Water deeply
so the water penetrates. A light spray of water
daily can inadvertently prompt root systems
When hosing,
water deeply
to stay close to the surface of the soil, where
they can be burnt or damaged by the sun.
Move the hose in a slow, sweeping,
sideways motion, walking backwards and
forwards, and enjoy the beauty of your
garden. I remember when I planted my first
garden, the pure joy of seeing each new
seedling spring to life, watching new growth
on plants flourish and witnessing the first
bloom of spring flowers. To water the garden,
Soil water
requirements
Clay needs less than sand, but keep
moist and don’t let it dry out.
Sand needs frequent watering, in small
amounts, to maintain moisture.
Loam can just be watered as needed,
especially silty loam.
Good Organic Gardening | 51

WEEKEND GARDENING | Water wisdom
I’d take a stroll around in the late afternoon,
hose in one hand and the occasional glass of
wine in the other. It was wonderful therapy
after a hard day in the office.
How often and
when to water?
“For plants, it can vary depending on their
individual needs but in summer, water every
day if you have shallow-rooted vegetables;
for shrubs and trees, deep-water every week,”
says Jade. “In winter, knock that back to every
two to three days for vegetables, and a deep
water every month for shrubs and trees.”
Not sure if it’s time to water? To see if the
garden needs moisture, poke your finger
into the soil and if it comes out the colour
of the soil, it still has moisture. Or buy a
device that tells you when water levels need
topping up.
It’s not just how much but also when you
water that counts. Watering at the optimal
time reduces stress on plants, maximises
moisture uptake and uses less water. Watering
in the morning or early evening gives the
droplets of water time to work their way into
the soil before the sun dries them out.
Harvesting water
These days, you don’t need a lot of space to
fit a tank, which is good news with shrinking
house blocks. Slimline tanks can fit into small
spaces, and even a 2000L water tank is
enough to supply a small garden. If you have
no available space outdoors, go under the
house with a bladder tank.
Soil savers
Aside from establishing a watering regime, the
best way to keep moisture in the soil is to add
plenty of organic matter and mulch well to retain
moisture. You can also add soil-wetting agents,
but read labels carefully and use sparingly. Some
aren’t designed for organic gardeners.
Irrigation systems
Many gardening gurus will happily extol the
virtues of irrigation systems and timers. Once
you have established the water needs of your
plants and garden, they make life simpler and
reduce water wastage and time spent watering.
Drip irrigation systems are easy to DIY or, if
budget allows, you can choose pop-up irrigation
systems with multiple lines, computerised soilmoisture
sensors and more.
In small and potted gardens a
watering can is very targeted
Water tanks can be
compact enough to fit at
the side of most houses
Upended bottle
drip feeding
water to plant
Watering tips
Create a moat around a plant so, when
it rains, the water soaks in deeply.
Fill a plastic water bottle with water,
pierce a few holes in the lid, and
upend it near thirsty plants or newly
established shrubs so it drip-feeds
an individual plant.
Soaker systems are a cheap
alternative to drip irrigation systems.
Create natural windbreaks of
hedging plants such as lilly pilly or
clumping bamboo to moderate the
effects of drying.
CanStockPhoto, Kerry Boyne
52 | Good Organic Gardening

Wobble-Tee
Waters a large area up to 15m
diameter, but can be adjusted at
your tap to water smaller areas.
Applies water slowly and evenly
with a consistent droplet size
at pressures from 15 to 40psi.
Will also operate effectively
from as low as 5psi.
Will operate from a town
water supply, pressure pump,
overhead water tank, gravity
fed system, recycled water,
envirocycle system, effluent
re-use, dam, bore or grey water.
No misting on low-medium
pressures.
Average flow rate of 10 LPM.
Add-On-Ability allows you
to operate more than one
sprinkler from the same tap.
WINNER
Smart Approved WaterMark
2012 Product of the Year
PRESSURE P.S.I 5 10 15 20 25 30 40
APPROX DIAMETER
IN METRES
6.2 12 13.8 14.5 14.8 15 16
USAGE L.P.M 4.1 6 7.3 9.1 10 10.7 13
Available from
AGnVET, Bunnings, CRT,
Dahlsens, Elders, Home
Hardware, Hunter Irrigation,
Landmark, Mitre 10, Plants Plus,
Pursehouse Rural, Thrifty-Link,
Total Eden and True Value.
Ideal for small lawn areas
and gardens with a watering
diameter of up to 8 metres.
Low angle of trajectory
reduces wind drift.
Operates on low and high
pressure from 5 to 50psi.
Average flow rate of 4 LPM.
Adjustable angle base for
uneven surfaces.
Purpose shaped base for
roof cooling on work sheds
and bird aviaries.
Pressure regulating discs are
provided for use in areas of
high water pressure.
Add-On-Ability allows you
to operate more than one
sprinkler from the same tap.
Drip irrigation is waterwise
but ensure there are
dippers at each plant
DISC USED DISC DISC
WATERING
DIAMETER
APPROX.
LITRES/MIN
1.5M
TO 3.0M
2.5M
TO 4.0M
1.75MM
DISC
3.5M
TO 5.0M
2.0MM
DISC
4.5M
TO 6.0M
WITHOUT
DISC
EFFECTIVE
UP TO 8M
2.5 3.0 3.5 4.5 6.5
T. 02 4975 3222 | www.wobble-tee.com.au
Good Organic Gardening | 53

WEEKEND GARDENING | Summer shade
THE HEAT IS ON! ...
YOUR VEGIES
The heat of the summer sun can be a real challenge
in the garden, particularly the edible garden
Words Claire Bickle
Depending on your climatic zone, in the
summer months, you may experience long
periods of drought accompanied by scorching
temperatures, or you could see heavy rainfall
with high temperatures and humidity.
Both high humidity and strong, radiant
heat from the sun can damage plants and
make them vulnerable, especially those you
may be trying to establish.
Most softer-leafed edibles will be grateful
for some protection from the midday sun’s
rays. In my experience, even summer-loving
crops such as pumpkins, cucumbers and
melons can have their leaves scorched
beyond recovery.
However, most of the edibles we like to
grow do need a sunny location for healthy
growth and to come to fruition. If you think
planting your crops in a shady spot will
resolve all the summer heat problems, you’ll
soon find that’s not the case. They will stretch
for the sun, be prone to fungal problems and
insect attack and, because of the ambient air
temperature, still bolt to flower.
Common problems
caused by too
much heat
Bolting: This is where plants prematurely
send up flower spikes, flower and then set
seed. High temperatures have this effect
on many edible favourites such as lettuce,
Asian greens, coriander, fennel, dill and
more. A lot of edibles can also become
quite bitter when deprived of adequate
water during dry periods.
Scorching and bleaching: This is where the
tissue of the plant is damaged, which can
then lead to fungal and bacterial problems
and, of course, if hot enough, scorch a plant to
the point of no return.
Failure to form fruit: Sometimes the
flowers of tomatoes, for example, may drop
from heat stress, or fruit development
can suffer. Plus, extreme heat favours
development of more male flowers on some
plants, such as pumpkin.
GettyImages
54 | Good Organic Gardening

Summer shade | WEEKEND GARDENING
Shade options
Shade cloth: This can be used in the creation
of a semi-circular shade tunnel, propped up
and hung over on garden stakes or simply
carefully placed on top of the crops if sudden
extreme weather temperatures are forecast.
You may wish to experiment a bit with which
shade percentage in the various shade cloths
suits your location, but I recommend keeping
it to light shade. I personally think 30–50 per
cent shading is better than 70 per cent.
Other plants as nurse plants: There are many
plants that can act as a windbreak or sun filter
in the garden. Knowing exactly where north is
on your property and the tracking of the sun
during the day means you can strategically
plant certain taller-growing, tougher edibles or
ornamentals to cast shadow and shade onto
softer, more delicate edibles. Some options
include rows of sunflowers, fast-growing
pigeon pea shrubs (Cajanus cajan), beans
such as snake beans growing up a tepee, and
trellises with plants such as passionfruit or
chokos growing on them.
Even underplanting larger vegetables, such
as eggplants or corn, with lettuce, rocket or
squash can be effective. You may need to
experiment — gardening is very much about
trial and error and finding out what works for
you in your climate and location.
Most softer-leafed edibles will be grateful for
some protection from the midday sun’s rays.
Protection from hot sun is
essential for some plants
Jana Holmer
Water stress: A sudden need for water
during heatwave conditions with heavy
loss of moisture through evaporation can
lead to blossom end rot, especially on
tomatoes and capsicums. This blackening
at the bottom of the fruit is due to calcium
deficiency when the plant lacks water.
Higher susceptibility to pest and
disease: Heat- and water-stressed plants
are weakened and more prone to disease
issues and attack by pests.
As you can see, inadequate protection
from intense rays, especially coupled with
poor nutrition and thirst, will diminish and
even hinder crop productivity, making all your
efforts before this point virtually wasted.
A semi-permanent
shade structure
Good Organic Gardening | 55

WEEKEND GARDENING | Summer shade
Summer protection
tips
Choose site-appropriate plants in the first
place. There are varieties and cultivars of
many species that are specially bred to
cope with particular conditions.
Know plants’ water needs and plant those
with similar needs together so you can
water accordingly.
Improve your soil with organic matter so it
holds moisture within the soil.
Mulch to protect roots from temperature
extremes and to help soil retain moisture
and suppress weed growth. Mulch will
also help prevent erosion and slow heavy
rainfall so it soaks into the soil instead of
running off.
Plant in pots. That way, you can move plants
around according to plant species’ cultural
requirements and the weather conditions.
Create shade and windbreaks with either
living or non-living options.
Install or build a pond. This will help create
a microclimate within a garden and have
a cooling and moisture-creating effect,
especially if prevailing winds and airflow
cross over it. (See The Shed, page 68.)
Use antitranspirants. These products stop
plants from transpiring and losing water
during periods of high temperatures. They
also protect plants from frost and aid in
reducing transplant shock. I am not aware
of any certified-organic options on the
market, though.
Sometimes the flowers of tomatoes, for
example, may drop from heat stress, or fruit
development can suffer.
Establishing new
plants
When trying to establish new plants such
as shrubs and fruiting trees, aim do to so in
the cooler months if possible — spring at
the latest.
If this is not possible, the use of water
wells, water bags, water tubes and even
water bottle spikes are good options for
ensuring regular water during summer.
Inconsistent water during plant
establishment can lead to poor growth
and even death. Drip irrigation is always a
better option and far more effective than
misting irrigation in any situation.
Applications of seaweed and fish
emulsion will not only reduce transplant
shock but also strengthen the plants’
vascular systems and cell walls, making
them more tolerant of weather extremes
and less likely to succumb to pest and
disease attack.
Living shade: a wall of
sunflowers
Underplant corn with plants
that need a little shade
Lemongrass is happy in the heat
Brassicas like kale tolerate
some shade
Summer performers
Plants that cope with intense sun
Looking to Southeast Asian or
Mediterranean crops can be helpful
for knowing what will cope with our
hot summers. It just depends on what
type of summer you have: hot and
humid subtropical–tropical or hot, dry
Mediterranean-type summers. Asian
natives that like our tropical summers
include kang kong, amaranth, snake bean,
New Guinea bean, luffa, Ceylon spinach,
Surinam spinach, Okinawa spinach,
lemongrass, perennial or sawtooth
coriander, taro, cocoyam and rosella.
Capsicum, tomato, eggplant and chilli
love a Mediterranean-style summer, while
pumpkin, melons, cucumbers and sweet
corn also thrive in the heat but, if extremes
are expected, even these warm-season
crops may suffer.
Plants that cope with low water
If you need to ration water, plants that
won’t mind too much include rosemary,
lavender, artichoke, loquat, bay, olive,
persimmon, fig, pomegranate, various nuts,
feijoa (pineapple guava), sage, thyme,
samphire, grapevines, aloe vera, day lily,
dandelion, chicory and nettle.
Plants that cope with a bit of shade
Keep in mind that, although being grown
in a semi-shaded position reduces the
chance of scorching, it’s the ambient
air temperature that causes a lot of the
leafy green vegetables to bolt to flower
and seed. Some edibles that will tolerate
growing in a bit of shade, however, include
broccoli, kale, mustard, rocket, lettuce,
spinach, silver beet, endive and radicchio.
CanStockPhoto, Jana Holmer, Shutterstock
56 | Good Organic Gardening

Summer shade | WEEKEND GARDENING
Leafy greens need some protection
in the tropical heat
Feijoas don’t need a lot of
water in hot weather
Targeted shade
Around 60% of our rubbish in landfills can be composted
Sandra Tuszynska, CanStockPhoto, Shutterstock
CompostingHome.com.au
for all you need to know and products that will help you produce compost.
Good Organic Gardening | 57

PEST PATROL | Beneficial insects
We can’t live without bees
MORE HAPPY HELPERS
There are so many great little critters in our gardens
that we needed a part two of our good bugs round-up
Words Claire Bickle
Insects are some of the most abundant
creatures on Earth and they all play an
important role within our ecosystems.
Organic gardeners and farmers are able
to put aside an aversion to insects that we all
seem to have, probably because of the few
bothersome or aggressive ones, and understand
that in nature, there is always a balance.
Organic gardening techniques, whereby
the use of synthetic chemicals is eschewed
and soil and plant health are maintained
by the addition of organic matter, will see
balance created and, hopefully, very few severe
unmanageable pest and disease outbreaks.
In our last issue, we looked at beneficial
bugs that wage war on some of the baddies
whose populations can get out of hand from
time to time. Here, we profile a few more of
the amazing and vital insects that create
balance and important biodiversity in our
backyards and our environment in general.
Their roles can be as predators, pollinators
and more.
Bees; Order:
Hemiptera
I don’t think I have to tell you about
the benefits of bees but I will anyway.
These magical insects have captured the
imagination of the human race since the
dawn of time and there are some tens of
thousands of species worldwide.
Bees are regarded as very important
pollinators of so many plant species and
without their perpetual efforts, we would
be a rather hungry human race and there
would be limited plant diversity.
The most recognised bee in Australia is the
European honeybee, introduced more than
150 years ago. But did you know that these
imported bee species are becoming feral,
competing with our native bees for habitat
and nectar sources?
In Australia, we have dozens of species of
native bees. Some are solitary and some are
colony forming, but they all play an important
role in pollinating a wide and varied range of
plant species.
Common native bee species
Sugarbag or stingless: It’s becoming quite
common for people to have hives for these
tiny little black bees in backyards.
58 | Good Organic Gardening

Beneficial insects | PEST PATROL
Blue-banded: Around the size of a European
honeybee, this bee has distinctive blue bands
on its abdomen.
Leafcutter: Sometimes the only way you
know these bees are present in your garden
is by the very neat semi-circular bites in your
rose leaves. They take these pieces of leaf
away to create their nests.
Others to look for: Reed, Carpenter and
Teddy Bear.
Bees, of course, like many other insects,
are very sensitive to pesticide exposure. So,
if you want to increase your bee population,
plant more flowers and stop spraying any
toxic pesticides. Even organic pesticides
should only be used as a last resort and only
at times when bees aren’t around, such as
in the late afternoon. Research shows that
the neonicotinoid pesticides are the worst
in affecting bee health and adding to bee
population decline.
Native Leaf Cutter bee
Native Blue Banded bee
(Amegilla spp.)
David Rentz, Sandra Tuszynska, Shutterstock, Claire Bickle
Beetles; Order:
Coleoptera
No word of a lie, there are more species of
beetle on this planet than of any other creature!
And with so many species come the many
varied roles they play within the environment.
From dung beetles to predatory types,
these little fellows reign supreme in our
gardens. The various carnivorous beetle
species are the best at pest removal. And, of
course, there are some beetle species that are
a curse to gardeners, such as the 28-spotted
ladybeetle, the hibiscus beetle and all the
borer beetles whose larvae can wreak havoc
in established tree trunks and branches. The
vast majority, though, are beneficial, with
ladybeetles the most recognised.
There are huge numbers of ground beetle
species, rove beetles and soldier beetles,
and these desirable beetles can be found on
plants and under leaf litter and bark, waiting
for their prey; some will even actively patrol
the garden seeking out their prey.
A lot of beetles tend to be more active
at night so they are protected under the
cover of darkness from larger predators
coming after them.
Encourage beetles to your garden by
leaving leaf litter in place, having good
biodiversity and taking the time to educate
yourself to recognise which are beneficial
species and which are not.
Butterflies; Order:
Lepidoptera
Butterflies truly capture the imagination of
the young and old alike when found fluttering
around in nature or in the garden.
But everyone needs to remember that
butterflies, of course, start off as humble
caterpillars, so killing all the caterpillars
in your garden can greatly reduce your
butterfly numbers.
Butterflies are important pollinators, as
are moths. They happily float about many
a garden, drinking nectar from flowers with
their long probosces. Some species live for up
to six months, others only a few days.
Moths are also classed as pollinators and
they actively seek out nectar in the evening
rather than during the day, attracted by many
white and/or scented flowers.
To attract butterflies to your garden, you
not only need to have a diverse range of
nectar-producing flowers but you also need
to know which host plant suits each species
of butterfly. The caterpillars of each species
are usually very plant-host-specific. A little
research on local butterfly species will soon
have you on the road to knowing what to
plant for your hungry grubs.
Plague Soldier beetle
(Chauliognathus lugubris)
Blue Tiger butterfly
in my garden
Common Australian butterflies
Orchard Swallowtail, Common Crow, Blue
Triangle, Lemon Emigrant, Wanderer, Evening
Brown, Blue Tiger. How many species can you
spot in your garden?
Good Organic Gardening | 59

PEST PATROL | Beneficial insects
Earwigs; Order:
Dermaptera
These little insect species can sometimes
get a bad rap because they can often cause
small amounts of damage on seedlings,
fruit and plants. They redeem themselves,
though, by also causing havoc for a range of
nuisance garden pests such as caterpillars
and sap-sucking insects, and they also feed
on garden waste.
The name earwig has long caused people
to have horrible visions of these small brown
insects crawling into people’s ears, but
this doesn’t happen as they have far more
favoured dark, moist locations in our gardens
to frequent.
Spiders; Order:
Araneae
Most people have an inherent dislike of these
eight-legged arachnids but every gardener
should be grateful for having a certain
number of species in their backyard.
Most spider species are not aggressive
and would rather move on than interact with
us. Common species such as orbs, jumping,
flower, net casters, huntsmen, leaf curlers and
daddy long legs are sometimes hard to find,
as they are busily going about their business
out of view.
Some species are more active at night,
taking advantage of the night-flying insects
by building their webs on dusk, ready for an
evening catch. Other species are more mobile
and ambush their unsuspecting prey by
hiding on plants, logs, leaf litter and so on.
Some spider species can even change
colour to attract their prey, while others
have camouflage tactics to make them
harder to spot by either the prey they are
trying to catch or by even larger predators
such as lizards, birds and wasps trying to
predate on them.
All in all, spiders will consume a vast
number of insects in your garden.
Wasps; Order:
Hymenoptera
There are literally thousands of species
of wasps — in Australia alone, there are
more than 10,000 and most of us nonentomologists
think of them as insects that
sting, even though there are actually only a
few species that have that capacity when
they feel threatened. Many are very beneficial
to have in the garden.
Most wasps are nectar feeders as adults
but as larvae they are voracious meat eaters!
It’s a bug-eat-bug world out there.
Some parasitic wasps will actually lay their
eggs inside living caterpillars, bee and wasp
larvae — even spiders — without the hosts
even being aware that they have become
living incubators. The wasps do this by
paralysing their victims with venom first. The
eggs then eventually hatch and eat the host
from the inside out, finally bursting out once
they have reached adulthood.
There are even parasitic wasp species that
parasitise other parasitic wasp species!
Common wasps in Australian backyards
Ichneumon: This group have very distinctive,
long antennae that they use to seek out
larvae hiding in plant stems, logs and so forth.
They are stingless and can parasitise large
numbers of pest species within the garden.
Lawn grubs are fair game.
Paper: Colony wasps that create paperylooking
nests out of saliva and wood,
they feed their young on partially eaten
caterpillars and insects.
Mud Dauber: These are solitary wasps that
make small egg cases out of water and mud.
They place parasitised spiders and caterpillars
in these mud cases and seal them in.
Cuckoo: These wasps invade other wasps’
and bees’ nests and parasitise their larvae.
Spider: These species paralyse spiders,
parasitise them and then imprison them
inside their egg cases and nests.
Mud Dauber wasp
Australian native earwig
(Labidura truncata), by far
the commonest species
Garden orb weaver spider
(Eriophora sp.)
Donald Hobern, CSIRO
60 | Good Organic Gardening

Beneficial insects | PEST PATROL
Paper wasps
(Polistes humilis)
Parasitic wasp attacking a
spotted alfalfa aphid
Bugs to buy
You may not be aware that you can
purchase beneficial insects to establish
a population in your garden.
• Bugs for Bugs supplies more than 10
species of natural enemies, including
parasitic wasps, ladybirds and more, as
well as baits and traps for controlling
fruit flies. bugsforbugs.com.au
• Ecogrow supplies entomopathogenic
nematodes to control pests such
as lawn army worm and destructive
weevils and beetles. ecogrow.com.au
Biocontrol Specialists
Californicus & TSM (Image by Andrew Manners DAF Qld)
Lacewing Adult (Image by Tony Meredith & Dan Papacek)
Lacewing Larvae (Image by Dan Papacek)
Cryptolaemus (Image by Denis Crawford)
CSIRO
WE SHIP AUSTRALIA WIDE | PHONE: (07) 4165 4663
www.bugsforbugs.com.au
Good Organic Gardening | 61

GARDENING COMMUNITY | future feeders
keeping it
SMALL & DIVERSE
A practical system of food growing, and a vision for how we might grow
the next generation of farmers, is underway in northern NSW
62 | Good Organic Gardening

future feeders | GARDENING COMMUNITY
Opposite: Joel Orchard
Words Jo Immig
Photos Jo Immig & Joel Orchard
Meeting young farmer Joel
Orchard was one of those
exciting moments in life when
you realise you’re looking into
the eyes of someone who will actually make
the world a better place. Standing among
the tulsi basil, alive with bees, words tumble
enthusiastically out of his mouth about the
future of farming and the role young farmers
can play given half a chance. And he grows
bursting-with-goodness food, too!
Originally from Warrnambool, Victoria, Joel
was raised growing backyard vegetables
surrounded by rich dairy country. He then
headed to Melbourne to study science and
got involved in the urban food movement.
After a crippling drought in country Victoria,
he set his sights on the NSW Northern
Rivers where he lives today, drawn by its
incredibly rich farmland, which he describes
as “embarrassingly underutilised”.
Jigsaw farming
Inspired by the movement of young farmers
returning to the land in the USA and other
parts of the world, Joel founded Future
Feeders, a collaborative movement bringing
together young farmers to address the social
sustainability of farming in the face of the
growing global and national problem of an
ageing farmer population and fewer young
people getting into farming.
“We need a complete change in the
dynamic of how young people are going to
access land and develop their own farming
enterprises,” says Joel. “We’ve lost what was
once a family farming model where the farm
got passed on generationally.
“We’re seeing this transition to young
people who are interested in getting into
farming and more or less coming from urban
backgrounds, but not able to afford to buy
farms or farmland.”
One of the ideas he floats is a return to
tenant farming. “In the NSW Northern Rivers,
there has been a wave of landholders who
are essentially hobby or lifestyle farmers,”
says Joel. “They have 100-acre blocks where
they run a few cattle to keep the grass down,
but that’s not growing food. It’s possible they
could provide a couple of acres of land for a
young farmer to have a house and get a start.”
Joel farms on two acres at the
Mullumbimby Community Gardens where he
grows food using a community-supported
agriculture model (CSA). CSA is a system
whereby subscribers commit to supporting a
farmer for a season, or longer, and in return
Good Organic Gardening | 63

GARDENING COMMUNITY | Future Feeders
pick up a weekly box of freshly picked,
seasonal organic produce.
The abundance and risks are shared, Joel
explains, which is particularly apt as we tour
the farm after an east coast low has brought
flooding rains and drowned some of his
crops. He’ll source missing vegetables from
other young farmers who fared better, for his
weekly boxes.
According to Joel, the new breed of farmer
is tackling much smaller pieces of land, using
higher-production biological systems and
growing a diverse range of locally suited crops.
“My ideology around farming is based
on ecology, as we know successful thriving
ecologies depend on diversity,” he explains.
“So when I look at my farm production
system, I would call it an ecological system
and that’s how I model it. When I look at the
farm as a business enterprise, it has to carry
through those ideas of ecology thriving on
diversity and communities as well.”
Working together, instead of the isolated
and competitive way that farming has
become, is what inspired Joel to establish
a network of young farmers so they can
benefit from the efficiencies of scale and the
effectiveness of being a larger-scale operation
on paper, but geographically separated, much
like bringing together pieces of a jigsaw.
“If young farmers can work together in a
network, we can inspire each other into the
social space we need,” explains Joel. “Working
in isolation is a really unattractive offer to any
young person thinking about starting a career
in farming and committing themselves to
seven days a week. That’s unreasonable, but
if we can work together with models of labour
sharing and time sharing it can work.”
Communitysupported
agriculture
As with other peer-to-peer business models,
Joel believes associative economies and new
societies are thriving on the idea of coming
back together again. “It’s actually us who’s
doing it for ourselves. It’s communities owning
their food production systems,” he says.
Associative economies, first described by
Rudolph Steiner in lectures about economics
in the 1920s, are based on the conscious
co-ordination between producers, distributors
and consumers. The goal is an economic
sector managed by associations of industry
and consumers, rather than the “invisible
hand” of the blind market in capitalist
economies or government-owned enterprise
in socialist economies.
“That’s why I really look to the communitysupported
agriculture model as something
that’s great for our community, because it
gives everybody a sense of ownership and
responsibility for their food,” Joel explains.
“While farmers’ markets have been a great
step in the right direction, they still suffer
from a pay-and-walk-away mentality where
your responsibility ends at the financial
transaction. That responsibility also needs
to extend to the health and wellbeing of the
farm and farmers because without them we
all go hungry.”
On trying to make a living as a farmer,
Joel also points to the problem that farming
models have created where they depend
on free labour, leading to an enormous skills
deficit because that labour is transient and
no one is keeping young people or enticing
them to stay in the community and become
food growers.
“We haven’t centred our industries on
farming being a viable future and I think
there’s so much opportunity for it,” says Joel.
“We really need to value food security. It’s
crazy not to.”
“We need a complete change in the dynamic of how
young people are going to access land and develop
their own farming enterprises. We’ve lost what was
once a family farming model where the farm got
passed on generationally.”
Snow peas
Weekly boxes
Vegetable harvest
Greens
64 | Good Organic Gardening

Future Feeders | GARDENING COMMUNITY
Garden visitor
Joel Orchard with
his insect hotel
Young farmers at
the end of the day
Participation builds
trust
Another development Joel and his band of
young famers have underway is the Farm
Endorsement Ecological Development (FEED)
program. This quality-assurance scheme is
based on IFOAM Organics International’s
Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS).
Unlike national certifying bodies, PGS is
a locally focused quality-assurance scheme
especially suited to small organic farmers
and their consumers. It’s a far cheaper
scheme based on the active participation of
stakeholders who build on a foundation of trust,
social networks and knowledge exchange.
Joel explains, “PGS offers the community an
opportunity to drive their own local certification
system outside of the commercial organic
agencies, so it gives the freedom to define what
it is we want it to be and it gives farmers the
freedom to access a level of reward for their
integrity that doesn’t cost them an arm and a leg.
“The fact that it is peer reviewed allows
farmers to develop around good practice and
enhances their capacity to communicate,
develop skills and find out what other people
are doing. It’s a tool to get farmers to work
together as a community again because
we’ve forgotten how to do that.
“The grandest vision for me is to use the
agriculture industry to preserve what we
love about the natural identity of an area. If
we can preserve the green rolling hills and
use farming to develop healthier ecologies,
then that’s triple bottom line. We get locally
available organic food and we get to provide
livelihoods for young people and keep them in
a community. If young people can’t afford to
stay in a community, essentially we are losing
all of the wonderful young minds because
there’s no opportunity for them.”
Joel predicts the next big thing after the
organic wave will be this direct connection
with the farmer. He sees a whole marketing
trend towards produce grown by humans, not
robots. I know which one I prefer.
Resources
Future Feeders, futurefeeders.org
International Federation of Organic
Movements (IFOAM), ifoam.bio
Good Organic Gardening | 65

ONLINE GARDENING | The Gardenettes
L–R: Dani Venn, Chloe Thomson, Melissa King
DIGITAL
digging
If you haven’t already come across the
fabulous Gardenettes, you’re missing out.
Catch them on their website, YouTube
channel or Facebook or Instagram page
Photos Ger Hynes
In this fast-paced world of instant
information and portable gadgets,
how do you capture a new generation
of hands-in-the-earth gardeners?
This is a question that might just be
answered by The Gardenettes, a new
100 per cent online gardening and cooking
show designed to inspire people with an
on-the-go lifestyle to take some time out
to smell the tomatoes — and cook them
as well!
The girls’ retro style and ’40s hair give
the show a feeling of nostalgia and you
can be guaranteed of lots of Nan-approved
gardening tips and simple home-style recipes
that can be whipped up in a jiffy. But the
66 | Good Organic Gardening

The Gardenettes | ONLINE GARDENING
plants, products and advice featured are on
trend and up to the minute.
The stories are short and sharp, with
plenty of inspiring projects and simple takehome
ideas. Episodes are themed including
potted style, organic pest control, growing
edibles for use in the kitchen and how to
cook them. And, despite their vintage-glam
look, the Gardenettes are not afraid to roll
up their sleeves and get a bit of dirt or flour
under their fingernails.
Each seven-to-10-minute episode features
the girls working in everyday gardens, big and
small, and their own home-style kitchens.
The show is the brainchild of home-grown
garden experts Melissa King and Chloe
Thomson, who believe that a new approach
to viewing and consuming gardening
information is just what’s needed to inspire a
new generation of budding green thumbs.
“Every day the world is becoming more
digital and more mobile. The way we view
shows now is about so much more than just
tuning in to watch live TV,” Chloe says. “We
wanted to create a show that’s fast paced,
fun and fabulous, but still based on down-toearth
gardening principles.” “The sort of thing
people can watch in their own gardens or
kitchens to inspire them,” Melissa adds.
Melissa and Chloe have both been around
the gardening block a few times, having
appeared on some of Australia’s biggest
gardening and lifestyle shows. Melissa has
a degree in horticulture and is a well-known
TV presenter, writer and author. Chloe has
a degree in agricultural science and has
Stories in each episode have themes including
potted style, organic pest control, growing edibles
for use in the kitchen and how to cook them.
Chloe Thomson has a degree in
agricultural science and a gardening
blog titled Bean There Dug That
Melissa King is a horticulturist, well-known
TV personality and writer
worked as a TV presenter, writer and blogger.
She’s currently completing her Masters of
Horticulture at Burnley.
Excitingly, the girls take The Gardenettes
beyond a gardening show, bringing seasonal
and healthy recipes to the table, too, thanks
to the talented Dani Venn. A finalist from
the 2011 season of MasterChef and now
The Wholehearted Cook, Dani’s bubbly
personality and delicious recipes round out
each episode beautifully.
The Gardenettes airs fortnightly via
their website (thegardenettes.com.au) and
YouTube channel and the episodes can be
watched and re-watched whenever and
wherever you wa nt.
You’ll also find bite-sized gardening tips on
their Facebook and Instagram pages.
Good Organic Gardening | 67

THE SHED | Build a frog pond
POND LIFE
Providing food, water, shelter and habitat
is arguably the best way to attract not just
frogs but all sorts of wildlife to your garden
Words & photos Sandra Tuszynska
Many animal species that are
essential to the health of our
ecosystems are disappearing.
This is largely due to our
encroachment on their habitats, the pollution
we create and the changing climatic conditions.
The great news is we can play a key role
in helping to conserve animals such as frogs
and other amphibians, reptiles such as lizards,
68 | Good Organic Gardening

and mammals such as antechinus by creating
habitat for them in our gardens. In doing so,
we re-create the habitat we’ve taken away
from these creatures.
We also create wildlife corridors, which
animals can use to travel from habitat to
habitat, maintaining genetically diverse
populations and thus aiding the survival of
some threatened species.
Frog ponds, when constructed with other
animals in mind, can be a fantastic way to
provide habitat in our gardens, as they offer
water, food and shelter for various species.
The following steps describe the creative
process of building such a pond. The
photos and the process were taken at Sean
Morrow’s workshop at the Planting Festival,
which has a strong focus on environmental
sustainability and happens each year at
Woodfordia, the home of the Woodford Folk
Festival in Queensland.
Sean is a passionate wildlife habitat creator
and gardener. His own garden is featured
in our Gardening Folk story on page 32.
1
Constructing
the pond
Choose a suitable site where there is some
sunlight but also some shade — aim for
a balance between shade and sun. If the
pond is fully exposed to the sun, algae will
proliferate or the water will get too hot for
frogs to breed in and their tadpoles will die.
The water will also evaporate quickly and
need constant refilling. Too much shade, on
the other hand, will reduce plant growth, while
fallen leaves may introduce too much organic
matter at the bottom of the pond. If you have
no shade, you can create a simple structure
over the pond using shade cloth.
1. Dig a hole about 50cm deep and 1.5×1.5m
wide. The size of the pond is up to you,
depending on your budget.
2. Line the hole with carpet liner to protect
the pond liner from any potential damage.
3. Carefully line the hole with pond liner.
4. Place rocks in the pond, being careful not to
cause any damage to the liner. Add differentsized
rocks on the bottom to provide a range
Build a frog pond | THE SHED
What you need
1. Mattock and shovel to dig a hole.
2. Pond liner — enough to cover the
entirety of the hole and comfortably
spill over the edges. For example,
for a 1.5×1.5× 0.5m pond, you’ll need
at least 3×3m liner. The quality of
the liner you buy depends on your
budget; the thicker it is, the more
expensive it becomes. However,
once the liner is completely covered
with rocks and logs, it will last for
many years.
3. Carpet liner the size of the pond
liner (potentially available for free
from carpet shops).
4. Scissors.
5. Rocks — enough to cover the
entirety of the liner — 1m 3 of rocks
should be enough for a 1.5m pond.
These should range from fist size up
to 30cm.
6. Logs — enough to decorate and
stack up the outside of the pond.
7. Mulch to fill the gaps between the
logs and around the pond.
8. Plants to grow around and in the
pond (optional).
9. Hose connected to a water supply.
4
Sean explaining how to measure
the length of the pond liner
down and across the bottom
2 3
Covering the hole with carpet liner
Adding the pond liner
Snuggly fitting the liner into the hole
Good Organic Gardening | 69

THE SHED | Build a frog pond
5
Cutting liner leaving an edge
Cutting is completed
6
Adding logs into and around the pond
of depths, making sure to cover the liner as
much as possible; fill the gaps with smaller
rocks. Then stack rocks up the edges of the
pond to provide gently sloping sides that act
as platforms for animals. Extend the rocks
about 30cm around the pond. They’ll provide
hiding places for tadpoles and insects that
live in water.
5. Cut off the edges of the carpet and
pond liner.
6. Carefully arrange logs across and
around the pond to suit your aesthetic
preferences. Logs are essential for frogs
and other animals to hide in. A hollow log
will make a great home. You can block off
one side of the log with mulch or rocks to
encourage nesting.
7. Fill any gaps with mulch and mulch heavily
around the pond. Skinks and other lizards
love laying their eggs in warm mulch.
8. Plant sedges or other plants around the
pond. This will help animals hide, will make
the pond less visible and will prevent cane
toads from breeding, as they can’t get
through thick grasses like frogs can.
9. Plant species that grow in the water, such
as native waterlilies. This will provide
shade, breeding ground, habitat and food
for the creatures living in the water, as well
as help filter the water.
7
More logs
The animals you provide habitat for will
control insect populations in your garden.
Sean stuffing mulch to block off one end of log
70 | Good Organic Gardening

Build a frog pond | THE SHED
10. Fill your pond with water. Rainwater
is best, as tap water often contains
chemicals such as fluoride and chlorine.
You can collect rainwater from your roof if
you don’t have a tank.
It’s important to note that different frog
species dwell at different heights, including
high up in trees. Some frogs prefer raised
ponds, which can be built using a raised
bathtub. Sean offers workshops that
demonstrate the different building methods
for different ponds.
The animals you provide habitat for will
control insect populations in your garden.
Mosquitoes are a great source of food in the
pond and will be eaten by frogs, small lizards
and some small birds. All kinds of birds might
drink from your pond, bathe in it and feed on
insects and larvae.
Be willing to attract all kinds of creatures,
even snakes, as they will prey on the frogs
and are an essential part of the ecosystem.
Remember, if you don’t disturb them, they
won’t cause you any harm. Bandicoots and
other marsupials such as antechinus may also
make a home around your pond.
Finally, don’t be tempted to populate your
pond with fish, as they will eat tadpoles and
insect larvae that are meant for native animals
to feed on. Now, sit back and relax as you listen
to the evening chorus the frogs will entertain
you with as they start to breed in the pond.
10
Fill with water and the
pond’s complete
Good Organic Gardening | 71

FEATHERED FRIENDS | Breeding tips
BACKYARD
BROODIES
There are a few things
you need to know if you’re
going to let your broody
hens become mums
72 | Good Organic Gardening

Breeding tips | FEATHERED FRIENDS
Words Megg Miller
Now that incubators
are inexpensive, many
backyarders borrow or buy
one. It’s fun checking on the
eggs as they develop but once the chicks
hatch, the work really starts.
When you live a busy lifestyle, a broody
hen that has a good record for sitting tight
on the eggs and then caring for the chicks
diligently is worth gold.
When hens
go broody
Traditional breeds of fowl lay eggs in
clutches. Essentially, they lay a sequence
of eggs and then stop for a rest. The Silkie
will lay between 10 and 16 eggs and take a
rest, while the Light Sussex could lay 25–35
eggs before resting. Nature intends these
traditional fowl to set on a clutch and hatch
it, so the number of eggs laid has a bearing
on the clutch size a hen can cover.
A clutch of eggs can begin and finish at
any time of year, but most hens start to go
broody from late spring onwards.
Would you be able to
recognise a broody
hen? She is likely to
have commandeered
the nest box, fluffing
out her feathers to look
large and intimidating.
Some circumstances increase the
likelihood of broodiness developing. High
temperatures are a common trigger, along
with a nest full of eggs. If the hen can
sit without interference, her immobility
encourages prolactin to develop and this
boosts broodiness.
Nests should be checked daily for eggs if
broodiness isn’t desired or the setting hen’s hot
body will heat — and spoil — eggs for eating.
Would you be able to recognise a broody
hen? She is likely to have commandeered the
nest box, fluffing out her feathers to look large
and intimidating. You can anticipate a cluckcluck
sound and the hen is likely to peck if
you attempt to steal the eggs. With some, it’s
all show; others peck to hurt.
Best broodies
Not every hen develops broodiness. It’s
uncommon in white ear-lobed hens — breeds
such as Ancona and Leghorn — and it’s rare
in Hy-Line Browns and ISAs.
Most red ear-lobed breeds go broody
but not all make good mums. Wyandottes
are usually great and so are Pekin bantams.
Game hens are good but overprotective.
The Silkie is best of all, although her leg
feathers may need to be trimmed to prevent
entangled chicks.
Where should
hens set?
You can be certain your broody hen will
choose an inappropriate site to sit. The
communal nest box is unsuitable: neither the
hen nor keeper will be able to keep track of
which eggs are part incubated and which
are fresh. As well, it’s a stressful spot, as
constant interruptions stop broodies being in
a meditative zone. A communal nest wouldn’t
be safe or healthy for chicks hatching there.
Many hens steal a nest, go bush or head to
the haystack, the bike shed or other secretive
places. Unfortunately, the fox isn’t fooled by their
concealment and usually makes a meal of them.
A safe shed/pen works best, but first you
may need to persuade mother hen. Set up a
nest on the floor that’s well lined with litter
and pop some golf balls in. Collect the hen at
night, dust her to eliminate lice and northern
fowl mite with Pestene or diatomaceous earth
then place her on the golf balls. If the nest is
in a box, drape a towel over the top.
When henny wakes up in the morning, if
the light is subdued by the towel, she will likely
settle. Some hens are outraged at being moved,
refusing to set, hence the gentle persuasion.
Next day, the hen should be allowed to leave
the nest to drink, eat and defecate, but ensure
she cannot leave the house/pen. If she does,
she will return to her original nest.
Remember that foxes will prowl around
sheds and smell a bird that’s on the ground
with just a wall between. Ensure foxes cannot
dig in or, if up north, that carpet snakes
cannot squeeze in.
Silkies make the
best broodies of all
Good Organic Gardening | 73

FEATHERED FRIENDS | Breeding tips
Choose the best eggs
Medium-sized, strong-shelled, ovate-shaped
eggs are the ones to set. Egg shape is
heritable, so pull out elongated or round eggs
as well as double-yolkers as they rarely hatch.
Reject extreme-sized ones as extra-large
eggs have poor hatchability, while small eggs
may hatch a couple of days early and cause
havoc for hen and owner.
Of course, if you are colour-conscious, you
may want to select for the brownest or bluest
shells, but the importance of size and shape
should not be overlooked.
How many to put under your hen? The rule
is that she should be able to cover all eggs —
there should be no signs of eggs peeping out
under her breast or flanks.
Hens turn the eggs frequently, rolling them
around so the outer eggs take a turn in the
centre and vice versa. If eggs are observable,
it’s likely the outer portion will chill and that
over 24 hours, all eggs will be exposed to cool
air. This is deleterious to a good hatch.
Broody care
Setting hens need to eat and drink and if they
don’t leave the nest may defecate over the eggs.
It’s important to check that these needs are
being managed. Leave food and water nearby in
case the hen prefers small snacks regularly.
If food is untouched, you will need to gently
lift the hen off the nest, checking that no eggs
are caught under her wings, and then firmly
(but not roughly) drop her on the ground
and stand aside. The dropping movement
stimulates a large, smelly poo that has been
saved up for days.
Broodies appreciate a puddle or wet area
— their feet must get very hot as they will
stand in the mud/water for some time. They
also appreciate a dust bath if this can be
arranged in the pen.
How long is permissible off the eggs? Some
hens gulp their food and return immediately,
while others may stay off the nest for 20–25
minutes. Forty-five minutes is too long and
henny needs guiding back.
Family care
Eggs can hatch from day 19 onwards
and, if you listen, you can hear the chicks
cheeping in the eggs and henny chirping
and urging them on. Most eggs will hatch
on day 21; any still unhatched by 23 days
should be composted.
Little chicks drown easily, so ensure their
water is in a shallow container with a few
large stones.
Chick starter provides a balanced ration,
although many people boil and mash eggs
mixed with diced parsley for a good start.
Keep the family enclosed for at least three
weeks, by which time chicks are strong and
smart enough to avoid predatory birds.
A final word on ectoparasites. These
pests multiply rapidly on a setting hen,
so it’s essential to dust the hen and nest
once during setting and on day 17 or 18.
Chicks quickly succumb to these irritating
or blood-sucking critters. Mother hen will
soon demonstrate dust bathing to her
brood, reducing infestation, but always
keep an eye on them.
Happy hatching and brooding.
You can be certain your
broody hen will choose
an inappropriate site to
sit. The communal nest
box is unsuitable.
Choose eggs to be hatched by shape,
size and, if it matters to you, colour
74 | Good Organic Gardening

Breeding tips | FEATHERED FRIENDS
Just hatched!
Welcome to the world
Keep them and Mum safely
enclosed for three weeks
Eggs are simply the best.
We give them the best certifi ed organic grain – no meat-meal (unlike others). We value the
welfare of our feathered friends; that’s why we give them an idyllic habitat with plenty of space to
roam, lots of deep mulch to scratch through, shady trees and lush pasture so our eggs are nutrient
dense and rich in omega 3’s. We run no more than 600 hens per hectare. Our hens are always
occupied so we don’t have to debeak.
Happy hens lay sensational eggs.
For stockists and more details, go to our website:
www.organigrow.com.au
Good Organic Gardening | 75

SHORT SHOOTS | Earthy ideas
10
Top Tips
Clever ideas for your garden
Words Erina Starkey
1
2
Grilled onions
If you’ve pulled your barbecue
out of the shed to find it caked in
grime from last year’s feasting, it’s probably
time for a heavy-duty scrub-down. Instead
of using harsh chemicals, which can end up
on your lawn and in your steak sandwich, try
rubbing it down with half an onion. Simply
turn your barbecue onto the highest setting,
then spear the onion with a fork and rub it
over the grill plates. Not only will it shift your
grease and grime, it will also leave a delicious
taste and smell next time you fire up.
3
Inside out
If you’re stuck for garden space,
there are plenty of fruits and
vegetables that will happily grow indoors.
Consider moving your carrots, chillies,
radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries,
sprouts, ginger and spring onions out of the
garden and onto your windowsills. If you
intend to grow these plants from seed, cover
the containers in plastic wrap to create a cosy
climate for germination.
4
Get swapping
Saving seeds allows you to develop
plant varieties that are better
adapted to your climate, soil conditions and
growing practices and which resist local pests
and disease. If you live in a community of avid
gardeners, consider hosting a seed-swapping
event where everyone trades their extra
seeds from the previous season. A seed swap
is a great excuse to get together with fellow
gardeners and glean some local wisdom on
what works and what doesn’t in your shared
gardening microclimate.
5
Busy bees
Backyard beekeeping makes
a fantastic hobby. As well as
securing yourself a fresh supply of honey,
you’ll also enhance your fruit and vegetable
production and support pollination in your
local community. By-products from beehives
such as beeswax, propolis, royal jelly and
pollen can be used in organic crafts to make
candles, soap, lip balm, skincare products
and furniture polish. If you’re worried about
bee stings, consider the many native
stingless varieties.
6
A third wheel
Make a portable garden in minutes
by attaching caster wheels to
the bottom of your planters. This allows you
to shift your plants around based on their
sunlight and shade needs and create little
microclimates. Also, it gives you the flexibility
to move plants out of the way if you plan on
entertaining, or simply to rearrange them
whenever you feel inspired.
7
Bottled up
No need to ask your neighbour for
a favour; create your own water
bottle irrigator to look after the garden in
your absence. Simply fill an empty wine bottle
with water up to the three-quarter mark and
overturn it quickly, plunging the neck of the
bottle deep into the soil. Your wine bottle will
gradually release water as the soil regains the
capacity to take in more.
8
The waiting
game
While you may be excited to try
your first home-grown orange, it pays to hold
out a little while longer. As painful as it may
be, it’s important to systematically pinch off
your citrus fruit for the first three years. This
will direct energy into producing lots of strong
branches so your citrus tree will be able to
support an abundant crop down the track.
9
Shelling out
Oyster shells contain around
95 per cent calcium carbonate,
1
Hang in there
Keep cherry tomatoes off the
ground and away from pests with
an upside-down hanging planter. To make
your own, cut away the bottom from a 2L
soft-drink bottle. Gently push a cherry tomato
seedling through the neck of the bottle,
leaving the root ball still inside. Carefully fill
the bottle with soil. Punch a few holes around
the plastic rim and string it up like a hanging
planter. You can also add a second plant,
such as strawberry or herb, to the top. For a
sturdier version, simply drill a 3cm hole in the
bottom of a bucket, tin or planter.
5
Kathy Kimpel, Canstockphoto
76 | Good Organic Gardening

Earthy ideas | SHORT SHOOTS
10
9
which makes them an excellent fertiliser
and amendment for acidic soils. To crush
oyster shells, place them in a zip-lock bag,
carefully sealing out all the air, then cover
with a tea towel and start hammering. If you
have chickens, grind the oyster shells down
further in a mortar and pestle and feed it to
them. Laying hens require large amounts of
calcium to create their eggshells and if they
are fed mainly fresh foods, they will require a
calcium supplement.
10 Foolproof
flora
We all have that one herbicidal
friend who manages to kill every pot plant
ever given to them. Help them grow their
confidence by introducing them to one of
these ultra-hardy varieties that can handle
a dimly lit apartment and irregular watering.
Plants such as aloe, snake (pictured), ZZ,
jade and pothos are not just easy to care for,
they’re also downright difficult to kill.
(Leppington) Pty Ltd
ABN 36 001 123 726
1675 The Northern Road Bringelly NSW 2556
Phone: (02) 4773 4291 Fax: (02) 4773 4104 Email: sales@lpcmilk.com
www.organicfertilisers.com.au
Suppliers of certified poultry and cow manures.
Fresh or composted delivered in bulk.
Great for all types of agriculture industries.
Poultry manure which can be spread in residential
areas, golf courses, sporting ovals and parks.
Also ask us about our reduced low odour.
Member of Australian Organic Association
Good Organic Gardening | 77

GARDEN CALENDAR | Late spring
Things to do in
November
Late spring means hotter weather and increased sunshine. The garden
should be growing strongly, covering bare ground with lush green
By Jennifer Stackhouse
Vegetables
COOL & TEMPERATE
By late spring, soils are warming and seeds
are germinating, especially in the vegie patch.
In warmer zones, early plantings of tomatoes
may already be flowering and forming fruit
for a Christmas harvest. In cooler zones, if all
threat of frost has passed, it’s safe to plant
out summer crops such as tomato, capsicum,
eggplant, cucumber and zucchini. Continue
to shelter these new plantings from any late
cold weather. Corn, too, can be planted now,
sowing seeds or planting seedlings in blocks
to aid pollination, as corn is wind-pollinated.
Position corn to shelter smaller vegetables
from hot summer winds. Also plant herbs
in the garden or in containers. Liquid feed
leafy crops every seven to 10 days for
strong growth and keep plants well watered,
especially if temperatures suddenly peak.
TROPICAL
Planting leafy greens in raised garden beds,
troughs or other containers keeps their
roots in well-drained conditions through
the wet season ahead. Use a free-draining
potting mix. Keep herbs disease-free by
growing them in containers that can be
moved into a bright and airy but sheltered
spot to protect them from heavy rains.
Despite these precautions, watch for
powdery mildew, a fungal disease that
produces a white, powdery coating over the
foliage and stems of many plants. A milk
1
spray made from diluted full-cream milk
(use at a ratio of one-part milk to nine-parts
water) can keep mildew at bay if applied
before mildew appears. It’s also a good time
to plant starch crops such as sweet potato
and taro as well as vegetables such as okra,
snake beans and winged beans that tolerate
humidity and grow well over summer. Also
plant capsicum and chilli.
Fruit
COOL & TEMPERATE
Ragged, skeletonised leaves on pear, cherry,
hawthorn and related trees are the work of
the pear and cherry slug. Look for the small,
slug-like insects on foliage. Dust leaves with
ash or powder to keep these pests away. The
insects can also be squashed or sprayed with
a pyrethrum spray (don’t spray while bees are
around — wait until early evening). Passionfruit
vines may be flowering, but often fruit is
slow to form. Hand-pollinating flowers can
encourage fruit formation. Regularly fertilise
these hungry vines to keep them flowering
and growing strongly. Apply pelletised chook
manure, compost or other organic fertiliser to
flowers and fruit. Prune trees that have fruited,
including mulberry and loquat.
TROPICAL
Watch for aphids, caterpillars and
grasshoppers on flushes of new growth
after rain. Squashing these pests gives
quick control. Grasshoppers are easiest to
catch in the cool of the morning so, where
grasshoppers are a pest, take an earlymorning
garden stroll. Fertilise pawpaw, citrus
and avocado using compost or a fertiliser for
fruiting plants. Plant rosella seeds now. The
plants are attractive and the fruit makes great
jam or a therapeutic herbal tea. Prune fruit
trees after harvest.
Compost & soil
COOL & TEMPERATE
Keep on top of weeds by regularly pulling
them from the soil and replenishing mulches.
Add green weeds that are seed free to the
compost heap along with spent crops such
as peas. To avoid spreading persistent weeds
such as tradescantia, soak them in a bucket
of water for at least a week until they start
to break down. The resulting liquid can be
used as liquid feed while the decomposing
vegetation, which should no longer be able to
regrow, can be added to the compost heap.
Weeds can also be fed to chooks to enrich
their diets. In bushfire-prone areas, replace
organic mulch with pebbles or gravel, or plant
living mulches such as succulents or sterile
agapanthus varieties that can slow the spread
of fires and may reduce spot fires occurring
during a fire storm.
2
TROPICAL
Regularly remove weeds and cover bare earth
with organic mulch to deter weedy regrowth
and to protect the soil from heat and heavy
rain. Seed-free weeds and those that don’t
regrow can also be laid back on top of the
soil to decompose. This returns nutrients
to the soil where the weed extracted it. Use
up compost from existing heaps by digging
it into garden soil or by spreading as mulch
over the soil surface. Using up compost also
makes room for more prunings, spent plants
and weeds as summer growth matures. As
you prune and tidy the garden, chop up
woody or long pieces to add to the compost
pile and hasten their breakdown.
78 | Good Organic Gardening

Late spring | GARDEN CALENDAR
3
Feed for healthy growth
• Feed all plants in spring. Water the soil before applying
granular fertiliser (or apply after rain).
• Always follow recommended application rates. Too much
fertiliser can be harmful to the plant and is wasteful.
• Add liquid fertilisers to a filled watering can (not the other
way around). Stir to combine.
• When adding fertiliser to soil at planting time, lightly cover
the fertiliser with a layer of soil to protect the roots.
• Store fertilisers in sealed containers away from moisture and
sunshine and out of reach of pets.
6
7
4
CanStockPhoto, Scot Nelson, Martin Cooper, Kenpai, iStock
5
1. Rosellas have attractive flowers and fruit — great for jam and herbal tea
2. Hand pollination of passionfruit flowers can hurry things along
3. In bushfire-prone areas agapanthus is a good living mulch
4. Soak persistent weeds like tradescantia in a bucket to prevent their
further spread
5. Too much humidity can bring on powdery mildew — here on okra
6. This slippery little fellow is a pear and cherry slug, Caliroa cerasi
7. Keep an eye out for grasshoppers and other pests
Good Organic Gardening | 79

GARDEN CALENDAR | Early summer
Things to do in
December
The longer, warmer days of summer mean strong growth, flowers and
lots of ripening crops. It’s also time to think about shade and watering
By Jennifer Stackhouse
Vegetables
COOL & TEMPERATE
Develop the habit of inspecting the vegie
garden once or twice a day through summer.
Look for pests and weeds that need control
and crops that are ready to harvest. Take the
hose or watering can to give plants a drink. If
a hot day is forecast, water plants early in the
morning and, if it’s going to get really hot, cover
new plants and leafy crops with some sort of
shade as protection against the heat. Move
containers into a sheltered position. Young and
leaf crops become stressed in the heat and
fruit and leaves are at a high risk of burning.
A piece of shadecloth spread over plants can
help crops survive a hot day without loss.
Remove the cover at night. New plantings now
keep harvests coming through summer. Dwarf
beans give a quick crop and are easy to sow
and grow. Also sow seeds or plant seedlings of
tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and beetroot
now to extend the harvest through summer.
TROPICAL
Make the most of warm, wet conditions by
growing edible and productive climbers
such as cucumber, snake beans and Ceylon
spinach. Train these climbing crops over
a support such as a tripod so they shade
heat-sensitive and leafy crops such as lettuce.
Also plant cassava, taro and melons, which
can cover the soil and help keep it cool. Pick
vegies, especially cucumbers and zucchinis,
while they are small as they quickly become
1
over-mature. Feed oversized cucumbers and
zucchinis to the chooks. Cherry tomatoes
have better heat and pest tolerance than
large-fruited varieties so are more suitable for
growing through summer.
Fruit trees
COOL & TEMPERATE
Thin apples while they are small so individual
fruit are bigger and ripen more evenly, even
if the crop is reduced. Simply remove several
small apples in each cluster to give the others
room to grow. Water citrus and keep the
ground around trees weed free. Check citrus
trees for stink bugs. Squash those clustering
on the trunk or remove bugs from foliage or
branches using long-handled tongs. Wear
sunglasses to protect your eyes from the
liquid they squirt when they are disturbed.
The bugs also drop down from the branch
when they are disturbed. Catch and drown
bugs in a bucket of soapy water to prevent
them returning to the tree (mature adults
have wings and can fly to other trees).
TROPICAL
Fertilise passionfruit and keep vines well
watered to encourage lots of flowers and
abundant crops. Apply water and fertiliser
along the root system, allowing it to soak
in thoroughly. Also, fertilise banana and
avocado trees. Summer brings a wealth of
fruit to harvest, including mango, pineapple
and pawpaw. Boxes of home-grown fruit and
vegetables make welcome gifts for those
without gardens, or turn excess produce
into jams or chutneys. To protect fruit from
birds, bats and other fruit-lovers, use birdsafe
knitted netting or shadecloth. Check the
netting frequently to release any captured
animals or birds. Prune trees to reduce their
height as this makes it easier to cover them
with protective netting.
Compost & soil
COOL & TEMPERATE
Use homemade compost or aged manure as
mulch to feed the soil and plants and watch
your whole garden take on a new lease of life.
Move worm farms into a cool location during
summer. On hot days, cover the worm home
with a damp sack to keep its inhabitants cool.
If it continues to be hot and dry, the compost
heap may need added moisture to keep it
composting. Decomposition slows when the
heap begins to dry out. If the heap looks dry,
damp it down with a spray of water from the
hose. Layers of grass clippings and green
weeds spread over the heap help increase
temperatures for hotter and faster composting.
TROPICAL
Heavy rains and storms leach nutrients
from the soil. Combat this by keeping soils
mulched or covered with a leafy crop such as
sweet potato. Apply slow-release fertiliser and
compost around productive plants to replace
lost nutrients. Where weeds are thriving,
keep them mown or hoed. Hand-pulled
green weeds can be added to the compost
or soaked in water to make a weed tea, which
can be used as a liquid feed for potted plants.
Add the residue to the compost heap. Edible
weeds can also be fed to the chooks.
2
80 | Good Organic Gardening

3
Pumpkin flowers
Pumpkins produce both male and female flowers and both
are needed for fruit formation. If there are only male flowers
on pumpkin vines, tip-prune the long stems. Follow up with
fertiliser and daily watering. More female flowers should follow
on the side shoots, encouraged by tip pruning as summer
progresses. The female flowers form pumpkins.
4
Early summer | GARDEN CALENDAR
1. Beans are prolific
croppers for not
much ground space
2. Now is a good
time to plant some
Ceylon spinach —
train over a support
to provide shade to
other plants
3. This bee needs
to find a female
pumpkin flower
to pollinate
4. Protect your fruit
trees with white
bird-safe netting
5. Bronze orange
bug, Musgraveia
sulciventris will
damage citrus if
not controlled
Fruit fly
warning
In fruit fly zones, protect
maturing stone fruits and
other soft fruits against
fruit fly using organic
baits and traps. Cover fruit
clusters with exclusion
bags to keep pests away.
5
CanStockPhoto, Jan Anderson, Jana Holmer
Warning
Water from hoses and
watering systems can
be very hot when they
are first turned on. To
avoid burning yourself
and your plants, let
the water run onto a
path until it’s cool.
Good Organic Gardening | 81

GARDEN TO TABLE | Seasonal edibles
Garden to table
with The Organic Chef, Joanna Rushton
84 Basil
Baked Eggs with Tuscan Herbs & Shaved Leg Ham
86 Capsicum
Mexican-Style Stuffed Peppers
88 Baby Spinach
Grilled Tandoori Chicken & Salad with Fermented Vegetables
90 Strawberries
Strawberry & Rhubarb Crumble
92 Chillies
Grandma Baba’s Chilli Relish
82 | Good Organic Gardening

Seasonal edibles | GARDEN TO TABLE
86
92
84
88
90
Good Organic Gardening | 83

COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON | Basil
Star ingredient: Basil
Baked Eggs with Tuscan
Herbs & Shaved Leg Ham
This is one of the best Sunday brunches ever, with flavours that are just delicious. I use my naturopath’s
organic herb mixes but you can make your own from your herb garden or use a commercial Italian herb mix.
Ingredients
Butter, for greasing
100g shaved leg ham
½ red onion, diced
1 cup tomato passata (puree)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp Ovvio Tuscan Organic Herb &
Spice Blend*
Celtic sea salt & cracked pepper, to taste
2 eggs
1 avocado, sliced
1 tbsp torn basil leaves
*A blend of dried organic marjoram, oregano,
basil, black peppercorns and garlic granules
Method
1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
2. Butter a ceramic baking dish and line with
ham, onion, tomato, garlic, Tuscan herbs and
a splash of water. Season well. Cover with
baking paper and foil and bake for 15 mins.
3. Remove from oven and remove cover.
Create two small wells and crack an egg
into each.
4. Re-cover and continue baking until eggs
are cooked with a soft yolk finish, or as
desired.
5. Serve with sliced avocado, topped with
fresh basil.
Helen Coetzee
84 | Good Organic Gardening

Basil | COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON
Good Organic Gardening | 85

COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON | Capsicum
Star ingredient: Capsicum
Mexican-Style Stuffed Peppers
Capsicums are also great stuffed with a herbed quinoa mixture, with a serve of protein on the side, but I like the
all-in-one approach. Vegetarians can make them with the following ingredients, substituting lentils for meat.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 capsicums, different colours
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
6 tbsp chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp sweet paprika
2 small red chillies, deseeded & chopped
1 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
500g minced beef
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup stock (any kind)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 150°C.
2. Cut off the top of peppers and reserve
tops. Scoop seeds from cavities. Brush the
outside of the peppers with a little oil, then
heat remaining oil in a large sauté pan over
medium heat.
3. Add onion, parsley, garlic, paprika, chilli,
salt and pepper. Sautee until onion has
softened, then add meat and cook through
until it’s a crumbled mince consistency.
4. Add chopped tomatoes and stock and
simmer until stock has almost reduced.
The consistency should be moist but not
running with liquid.
5. Fill pepper cavities with beef mixture.
Stand filled peppers on a baking tray and
put the tops back on. Bake until peppers
are tender, about 25 mins.
6. Serve with your choice of salad or vegies.
Helen Coetzee
86 | Good Organic Gardening

Capsicum | COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON
Good Organic Gardening | 87

COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON | Baby spinach
Star ingredient: Baby spinach
Grilled Tandoori Chicken &
Salad with Fermented Vegetables
This makes a lovely lunch or light dinner, with the spicy chicken, fresh salad, tangy fermented vegetables
or chutney and creamy yoghurt all complementing each other perfectly.
Serves 2
Ingredients
300g boneless chicken thigh
2 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp tandoori spice mix
Mixed salad, to serve*
2 tbsp fermented vegetables**, to serve
2 small ramekins yoghurt (optional), to serve
Spicy Tandoori Mix
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp garam masala
*Our salad is baby spinach, cherry tomatoes,
avocado and sunflow er sprouts with a simple
dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and a
dash of pomegranate molasses.
**Our fermented vegetables recipe appeared in
Vol 4 No 6 of Good Organic Gardening but if you
didn’t make any, use pickle or chutney instead.
Method
1. To make tandoori spice mix, combine
all ingredients.
2. To make salad, place ingredients in salad
bowl and toss with your favourite dressing.
3. In stainless steel bowl, toss chicken
meat in tandoori spices.
4. Heat ghee on either a cast-iron grill plate
or sauté pan. Cook chicken on medium
heat for about 6 mins each side.
5. Serve with salad, fermented vegetables
or chutney and a small ramekin of yoghurt.
CanStockPhoto
88 | Good Organic Gardening

Baby spinach | COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON
Good Organic Gardening | 89

COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON | Strawberry
Star ingredient: Strawberry
Strawberry & Rhubarb Crumble
This makes a nice change from the more common apple and rhubarb crumble for a summer dessert. This version is
gluten free and low in sugar. Serve with double cream, ice cream or custard.
Serves 6
Ingredients
Topping
• 1 cup flaked coconut, toasted
• ½ cup shredded coconut, toasted
• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
Filling
• 3 cups of fresh strawberries left whole
• 1 bunch rhubarb, washed & chopped
• ½ tsp vanilla powder*
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg*
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon*
• ½ tsp ground cloves*
• 1 tsp orange zest*
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
*Alternatively, you can use the OVVIO Organic
Fragrant Fruit Spice Blend (ingredients:
elderberries, hawthorn berries, rosehips,
nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, hibiscus flowers
and orange peel) from ovvioorganics.com.au
Method
1. Combine topping ingredients to form a
crumble and set aside.
2. Mix strawberries and rhubarb together
with spices and poach in a slow cooker for
1 hour or in a saucepan on the stovetop
over low heat until rhubarb is soft .
3. Divide into individual ramekin dishes,
top with crumble mixture and finish in an
oven preheated to 160°C for 5–10 mins to
warm the crumble through.
CanStockPhoto
90 | Good Organic Gardening

Strawberry | COOKING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON
Kerry Boyne
Good Organic Gardening | 91

PRESERVING WITH JOANNA RUSHTON | Chilli
Star ingredient: Chilli
Grandma Baba’s Chilli Relish
Use as a relish or condiment, or put a little in soups and curries. You can even add a bit to a salad dressing.
Ingredients
3 tbsp turmeric
3 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp black mustard seeds
150mL olive oil
115g fresh ginger, chopped
10 cloves garlic, chopped
1kg ripe tomatoes
3 green chillies, chopped
70g brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt
150mL malt vinegar
Method
1. Fry all spices in olive oil for 5 minutes.
2. Add the ginger and garlic to the spices.
3. Purée the tomatoes and chillies in a
blender and set aside.
4. Add the puree and sugar to the spice mix
and stir well.
5. Add the malt vinegar and salt and
mix well.
6. Allow the mixture to simmer for 30 mins.
7. Cool a little and place the relish in clean
air-tight jars.
92 | Good Organic Gardening

pick of the crop
Our selection of products and services for gardeners and cooks
PICK OF THE CROP
Home in the Grange
Sproutwell’s Grange Series is Australia’s first proven
commercial-grade greenhouse (in the market for
three years) and is widely used in both residential
and commercial agricultural industries. Over the past
three years, Sproutwell has provided hundreds of
Granges across Australia and New Zealand and it’s
without a doubt the most sought-after greenhouse
on the market today due to its supreme strength and
durability. Sproutwell’s Easy Aluminium Connectors
and Smart Slide-in Assembly System have been
designed to reduce the assembly time by up to 70 per
cent compared to other greenhouse structures (uses
300-plus fewer nuts and bolts than the traditionalstyle
greenhouse). Complete with 10mm polycarbonate
panels, it’s hands-down one of the strongest
greenhouses available. The entire range is perfect for
those wanting to erect a larger greenhouse in an open
area as the structure is unbelievably strong. Phone 1300
657 174 or visit sproutwellgreenhouses.com.au
Good for your
hair, good for
the planet
The handles and bristles of MiEco
hair brushes are made of bamboo,
which is stronger, lighter and more
durable than wood. And there’s no
plastic here. Bamboo is a 100 per
cent natural renewable resource that
grows naturally without the use of any
pesticides or fertilisers, so this really
is a green brush. It helps stimulate
hair growth and promotes healthy
hair cells and a healthy scalp while
restoring hair balance and shine. Great
for styling and detangling, the brushes
are lightweight and anti-static with
ergonomic handles. Available in two
sizes from just RRP $10.50. Get yours
today. gogreenathome.com.au
Pope’s iconic range of hoses
Pope’s renowned collection of garden hoses just got better! The line-up has been refreshed with
durable new hose end fittings and new-look packaging to help you choose the right hose for
your situation. Keep a particular lookout for the new brass fittings on Pope’s Brumby and GroPro
Storm hoses, which look more like works of art than gardening products. One thing that has not
changed in the Pope hose line-up is the patented Permafit Connection — the fittings are factory
crimped with brass sleeves, meaning they are securely attached to the hose. This vastly reduces
the risk of “fitting blow-off ”, which can waste thousands of litres of water. The Pope range can be
found in all good hardware stores. popeproducts.com.au
Good Organic Gardening | 93

PICK OF THE CROP
Are weeds taking over your
garden and taking up too
much of your time?
Take charge by reducing the weed seed bank with this organic
enzymatic product, which degrades surface-deposited weed seeds
so there’s no next generation of the weed. Earthlife WeedLess
attacks the weed seed, rendering it unable to germinate, thereby
reducing weed populations. Preliminary trials conducted by TAFE
Toowoomba on the weed fleabane achieved more than 90 per
cent reduction in seed germination. Earthlife customers are seeing
similar results with other garden weeds, including cobbler’s pegs
(farmer’s friend), khaki weed, bindii, clover, wintergrass and oxalis,
to name a few. There’s always weed seed lying dormant waiting for
the opportunity to germinate and some are viable for seven years
or more. You can spray Earthlife WeedLess around your plants or
your lawn without any damage
or burning. Apply it over the
area to directly contact mature
deposited weed seed. Earthlife
WeedLess is completely safe
for use around humans and
animals and is available in 1L
or 2.5L containers. Mix 100mL
to 1L water to treat up to 20m².
Regular applications may be
needed to achieve best results.
Phone 1800 819 003 or visit
earthlife.com.au
Mulch for good looks
and garden goodness
There are many important reasons to mulch. First, mulch stops
the top of the soil drying out, keeps it moist and can reduce
watering by up to 75 per cent. Mulching also prevents weeds and
weed seed germination, which compete with plants for moisture
and nutrients. It keeps the soil temperature constant, and using
an organic mulch means you’re adding extra organic matter to
the soil, another fantastic benefit. Plus, mulch looks great. It can
create consistent colour and coverage to what was bare ground.
Feeder mulches, as the name suggests, add nutrition and improve
soil as they break down. They are generally organic sugar-cane,
lucerne and other straw mulches. These can be aesthetically
pleasing yet are lighter
coloured and absorb and
retain moisture. They add
beneficial organic matter to
the soil and promote active
biology such as earthworms.
Long-term use of these
mulches increases soil
fertility, markedly improves
soil composition and reduces
fertiliser dependence. Rocky
Point Mulching’s Sugar Cane,
Lucerne and Pea Straw
mulches are finely chopped,
dust extracted and come in
highly compressed packaging.
rpmulching.com.au
Pest-free the
organic way
Keep your vegetables
and garden plants pest-free and looking
good the natural way without using
harsh chemicals. Searles Ecofend
Vegetable & Garden is an organic soap-based
spray that makes it easy to control infestations
of insects and mites such as thrips, mealybugs,
whiteflies and those nasty plant-deforming
insects, aphids. Spray Searles Ecofend Vegetable
& Garden at the first sight of insects on
your vegetables, fruit trees, pot plants,
roses and ornamentals. This spray
contains an organic ingredient that
is safe to use on edible plants and is
available in 250mL, 500mL and 1L
easy-to-measure concentrate bottles
and a ready-to-use trigger spray. For
more information on this product
and other organic pest-control
sprays, phone 07 5422 3000 or visit
searlesgardening.com.au
News from the Organigrow
free-range organic egg farm
Now aged two weeks, our chicks are growing well. They were only
one day old when they arrived after safely travelling in specially
adapted cardboard boxes. Once on the farm, we immediately
released them into two separate enclosures where they feed on a
high-protein organic chick starter mash. They also have plenty of
fresh water, as the large brooder shed is kept at a constant 31°C
to keep them warm. As they get older, the temperature is lowered
gradually until they are at ambient temperature at around four
weeks. It’s a real treat to watch them grow from day to day and,
after the first week, release them from the enclosures to the full
playground of the shed. Recently we started mixing our own feed
for the chooks using high-quality organic grain. Two new silos
were added to the three already present to include a wider range
of cereals, thus ensuring a larger selection of nutrients for even
better eggs. It will also allow enough grain to be held on the farm
for almost a full year’s supply. organigrow.com.au
94 | Good Organic Gardening

PICK OF THE CROP
The leading edge
When you first think of stunning outdoor areas, an assortment of plants
and pavers may come to mind. Garden edging is rarely at the top of the
list but you’ll be surprised at just how much clean borders and raised
garden beds can set your landscape apart from the average. FormBoss
metal garden edging has been supplying designers, landscapers
and weekend DIYers all over Australia for almost 10 years. What sets
FormBoss apart is the fact that you can produce straight lines, curves
and garden beds on-site with unprecedented ease, needing little to no
experience. The rolled top lip makes the edging completely safe and
allows you to easily connect the edging. Anchoring the edging into the
ground will completely conceal all fixings. Eight heights are available
ranging from 75mm to 580mm in both ZAM and Corten steel. For more
information, visit formboss.com.au
Organic Times Dark Chocolate
Raspberry Licorice
The latest treat from the organic gourmet food experts, Organic
Times, is finally here and it’s a winner. After the release of the
company’s White Chocolate Raspberry Licorice, many fans cried
out for a dark chocolate alternative. The Dark Chocolate Raspberry
Licorice is the ultimate luxury treat with its perfect combination of
organic fresh licorice made with real raspberries, covered in smooth,
rich, dark coverture chocolate. Indulge in these decadent bite-size
sweets for only RRP $9.95. organictimes.com.au
Marketleading
juicer
Choice recommended
and Good Organic
Gardening award winner
for the best cold-press
juicer, the Kuvings Whole
Slow juicer is the first
cold-press juicer that
juices whole fruit and
vegetables. Stylish,
quiet and easy
to clean, it yields
more nutrients
and enzymes for a
healthy juice. Made
in Korea, it includes
20 years warranty
on the motor and
five years on the
parts. For more
information,
phone 02 9798
0586 or visit
kuvings.net.au
Make yours the “pick of the crop”
with Fleming’s fabulous fruit trees
Growing fruit at home is special; it’s personal and, most importantly, it means
you can eat the very best fruit fresh from the tree — rather than what’s
packed for the supermarkets. That’s why Fleming’s Nurseries has developed a
catalogue featuring the best fruit trees to grow in the home garden: Pick of the
Crop. Fleming’s’ Pick of the Crop features careful selections of the very best
fruit-bearing trees suitable to most areas of temperate Australia. It includes
a selection of tried-and-true varieties as well as the best new cultivars on
the Australian market today. Covering stone and pome fruits and including
handy tips, hints and wise words
from Fleming’s tree guru, Wes
Fleming, Pick of the Crop is every
home harvester’s practical guide
to buying the right fruit tree for
your needs. So if you are planning
a bumper crop of future fruit at
your place, make sure you check
out Fleming’s guide to fruit trees,
Pick of the Crop. Find an in-store
catalogue at your local Fleming’s
stockist or view online at flemings.
com.au/potc/potc.asp For
more information on Fleming’s
Nurseries’ fruit and ornamental tree
collections, visit flemings.com.au
Good Organic Gardening | 95

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some surprising celebrity gardeners. Whatever form
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these pages you’ll find miracles of nature shaped by
the human hand and creative mind to inspire, admire
and delight. May your year ahead be full of such
miracles, large and small.
HEALTHY LIVING
2017 DIARY
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Healthy Living diary offers a comprehensive guide to
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ooks | REVIEWS
Cover to cover
Leafing through books for gardeners and nature lovers
The Bee Friendly Garden
By Doug Purdie, Murdoch Books, $39.99
Like the proverbial canary in the coalmine, the bee — or rather its absence — is often the first indication that
something is amiss in our environment. Bees are our most important pollinators and their numbers are in sharp
decline. It’s not just the lethal effects of pesticides or the loss of habitat; the urban landscape, with its emphasis on
lawns, concrete and forage-poor “architectural” plantings, curtails the bees’ short hops from flower to flower and
isolates populations from one another, with disastrous results. What we need to do, says Doug Purdie, self-professed
“beevangelist” and co-founder of The Urban Beehive project in Sydney, is put on our “bee goggles” and see the
world like a bee. To that end, this extensively illustrated book shows how to create a bee-friendly garden and,
ultimately, a “bee highway” across Australia, saving bees one backyard or balcony plant tub at a time.
Passion: Organic Vegan Recipes to Live For
By Anthea Amore, organicpassioncatering.com, $39.95
Anthea Amore, the woman behind Byron Bay’s vegan catering company Organic Passion Catering, became a
vegetarian at 14 and a vegan four years later — in spite of (or perhaps because of) her paternal Italian roots and the
love of food that came with them. “As I had been a lover of meat and distinctly not vegetables, my family found this
very amusing,” she writes. “They made bets on how long I would last.” Nearly three decades later, Anthea’s still going
strong and has poured her passion for organic, raw produce into this stunning self-published cookbook. After a
brief discussion of the ethics of food, Anthea launches into 100-plus delicious recipes, from smoothies and soups to
raw cashew hummus, spinach tagliatelle with vegan “Parmesan cheese” and san choy bow with crispy tempeh and
macadamia, lime and coriander mayonnaise. For vegan beginners, there’s also a list of pantry must-haves.
Nourish Bowls
Photography by Issy Croker, Quadrille/Hardie Grant, $24.99
Whether you call it a hippie bowl, Buddha bowl, rainbow vegie bowl, poke bowl or glow bowl, the concept behind
the bowl craze is simple: to combine all the nutritional elements you need in each meal. Meaning 25 per cent
protein (meat, fish, dairy, eggs or plant-based); 25 per cent complex carbohydrates (grains); 10 per cent healthy fats
(avocado, coconut oil); seasonal fruit or vegetables (the largest proportion); some leafy greens; and dressings or
toppings of seeds, nuts or berries. This beautiful book, illustrated by London-based photographer and food editor
Issy Croker, provides 60 seasonal, hearty and photogenic recipes to help you build your daily bowls, from breakfast
and light meals to hearty dinner bowls. The book finishes with recipes for staples you can store, including buttermilk
dressing, Creole spice mix, green Thai and laksa pastes and kimchi, the spicy Korean condiment. Let’s go bowling!
Bees, Beekeeping and Honey
By John Mason & staff, ACS Distance Education, $32.95
Here’s an ebook that presents a practical guide to all aspects of beekeeping and honey production, from how to
build and where to locate your hive to harvesting and using the end product in the kitchen. You’ll find detailed
information about the different species of bees and their physiology, a guide to the seasonal tasks involved in
bee husbandry, a chapter about bee health and diseases, pests and viruses, plus all the ways to attract bees to
your garden. At a time when this beneficial insect’s numbers are in decline, here’s your chance to do something
not only for your own garden and pantry but for the environment as a whole. Beekeeping can even be a lucrative
enterprise. With 106 pages including 46 pictures, this fascinating ebook is available at acsbookshop.com.
The House and Garden at Glenmore
By Mickey Robertson, Murdoch Books, $59.99
This handsome book, lavishly illustrated with Daniel Shipp’s stunning photography, tells the story of how interior
designer Mickey Robertson and her husband made an impulse decision to buy a dilapidated sandstone cottage
near Camden on the western edge of Sydney. Now, after nearly 30 years of painstaking restoration and renewal, the
colonial house, its garden and outlying buildings are something of a showpiece and the focus of regular gardening,
cooking and craft workshops run by the couple. Mickey is an engaging writer and her account of Glenmore’s
progress from grand folly to grand design, including asides about her family life and the inspiration she draws from
her ornamental garden, makes for amusing and thoroughly distracting reading. A bonus chapter includes
30 seasonal recipes highlighting the produce from her productive organic, biodynamic kitchen garden.
Good Organic Gardening | 102

www.organicediblegarden.co.nz
Directory
Organic Edible Garden
Gardening By The Moon Calendar 2017
GARDENING BY THE MOON CALENDAR 2017
the perfect
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RESULTS SPEAK
LOUDER THAN WORDS!
It’s no surprise that Troforte® is fast
becoming the fertiliser of choice for
Australian gardeners. The unique,
specifically selected strains of beneficial
soil microbes in Troforte® ensure that
soils are at their optimum health and this
is crucial to plants growing healthy too!
After all, it took us 15 years researching
these good microbes and working out
which strains work best together. Troforte
has up to 24 strains of beneficial microbes
and also 60 minerals and controlled
release fertiliser that will ensure fruits and
vegetables will be packed full of nutrients!
Troforte is safe for our environment and
does not leach and therefore does not
add to the pollution of our rivers and
waterways. Troforte is also safe for pets
and won’t burn your plants and prolonged
use will also help inhibit many soil and
plant diseases. That’s great news as
the use of harmful chemical pesticides
can be minimized or eliminated
altogether. Troforte is a proudly
Aussie innovation that tackles
plant health from the roots -
Literally! You will taste the
difference in your fruits and
veggies as Troforte® promotes
greater nutrient uptake and that
means your home grown
produce will be packed full
of goodness!
www.saveyoursoils.com.au
(for more information i and your nearest retailer )
E: info@langleyfertilizers.com.au P: (08) 9302 1633

Directory
HUNTER DISTILLERY is a certied organic distillery in the Hunter
Valley wine region of New South Wales.
Locally owned and operated, we use premium quality organic raw
ingredients to produce the award winning certied organic
VALLI PREMIUM VODKA and COPPERWAVE GIN,
as well as an exceptional range of top shelf spirits including
avoured Vodkas, Liqueurs and Schnapps.
Visit and sample our unique range of spirits, with a avour for every
taste.
An amazing experience not to be missed.
Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm
1686 Broke Road POKOLBIN NSW 2320
Ph: 02 4998 6737 Fax: 02 4998 6738
info@hunterdistillery.com.au www.hunterdistillery.com.au
90 DAY
MONEY BACK
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HUMANE POSSUM DETERRENTENT
24/7 POSSUM REPELLER FOR THE ULTIMATE POSSUM CONTROL
The ultrasonic Possum Deterrent has a maximum range of 14 metres.
This weatherproof Possum Repeller randomly and intermittently emits quiet ultrasonics
with a maximum arc of 170 degrees in front of the device.
The device also has a motion sensor that activates the possum repeller when
possums move into its infra red coverage zone. The light sensor automatically turns
the device on at dusk and off at dawn or runs 24 hours when used in a roof space.
The Possum Repeller is easy to use, set up and maintain. We’re always at the end of a
phone or email to help you with any setup and best practice questions you may have.
(07) 5443 6344
birdgard@birdgard.com.au
www.birdgard.com.au
Smart Planter is a Modular System that allows you to make a
variety of shapes and sizes. Made from Recycled PVC UV
Stabilised. The Planks are hollow which helps to retain the
moisture in the soil. The Smart Planter comes as a trough
terrace, corner planter or raised bed garden. The Planters
can be custom made to your requirements. Great for units,
townhouses, courtyards, balconies or just the back yard. Any
of the planters can be made to what ever height you like, for
ease of gardening. All the planters are Australian made and
designed at our factory in Caringbah.
02 95261455
34-36 Meta Street,Taren Point 2229
www.smartplanter.com.au

Directory
WANT TO USE LESS CHEMICALS IN YOUR LAWN /
GARDEN? TARGET WEEDS FROM THE SEED BANK.
Earthlife Weedless is the
Solution to your problem!
IT'S ORGANIC!
SAFE TO USE
AROUND
CHILDREN
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Earthlife Weedless is an organic enzyme
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seeds. It attacks the seed rendering it
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weed populations.
People’s
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NATURE’S OWN ANSWER TO
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Up to 6 different
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Fruit Salad Trees
• Stone Fruits
• Citrus Fruits
• Multi Apples
• NATURAL CONTROL
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• EASY TO USE AND APPLY
• SAFE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
• SAFE FOR THE FAMILY
Ground or Pots
Longer Picking
All Climates
The safe and natural way to eliminate garden pests
www.ecogrow.com.au
Australian owned and operated
ORDER ONLINE
FruitSaladTrees.com
All States
ALL YEAR
(02) 6585 8115
e: sales@fruitsaladtrees.com

Directory
Buy online at ...
Australian
Hand Made
Wind Chimes
Copper Rain Chains
www.windsongchimes.com.au
PO Box 462, Bellingen NSW 2454
info@windsongchimes.com.au
Phone: (02) 6655 9899
Join us at one of our nutrition and cooking
demonstrations or retreats, see website for
details or connect with us at the Energy
Coaching Institute on Facebook for regular
updates, and health and wellness tips.
100% Australian
Hand-made
No petrochemicals
Specialising in a unique multidisciplined
approach to enhancing
your energy, personal health
& professional performance.
Pure Polish
Furniture cleaning, care and
restoration products that are
effective, natural and smell nice!
www.purepolish.com.au
NEW GIPPSLAND
SEEDS & BULBS
PO Box 1 (120 Lewis Rd) Silvan VIC 3795
ph. (03) 9737 9560 e. orders@newgipps.com.au
www.newgipps.com.au
10% DISCOUNT STOREWIDE ON
PRODUCTS FOR GOOD ORGANIC
GARDENING MAGAZINE READERS.
Enter the code GOGM5 at checkout.
• Largest supplier of Perma-Guard Fossil Shell Flour,
Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
• Human and Animal Health Supplements
• Premium Organic Fertilisers and Soil Conditioners
• Zeolite, Humates, Liquid Seaweed Concentrate, Wetters
• Sell to home user, large farmers & resellers
1300 385 842 • sales@plantdoctor.com.au
Go to our website for a FREE chapter
of Jo’s book ‘Rocket Fuel on a Budget’.
www.facebook.com/ EnergyCoachingInstitute
www.energycoachinginstitute.com

Your Complete Steel
Edging Solution
Picture: Groundswell Landscape Design
Picture:
DIY installation
We make custom rings!
Seamless connections & corners!
Picture: Vivid Green Landscaping
Picture:
Wiley & Co.
Create any shape you can imagine!
Stays in shape with guaranteed results.
Multiple heights, gauges & finishes.
Delivery Australia wide.
GUARANTEED
FOR
~10 YEARS~
Structural Guarantee
See website for
T & C’s
Get those old edges replaced! 1800 852 672