gardening
Posted by: paradisi
18th Oct 2008 11:47pm
I grow a lot of my own food - not everything but enough to be able to pick a meal whenever I want to and to feed myself for a while if I have to. We have about 280 square metres of garden and have nearly 60 fruiting trees and vines. And we have vegies - mostly in pots and chooks and ducks. I've calculated that I saved about $5000 last year and will save more just from what's grown in the garden. Not everything is fruiting yet - a lot are seedlings - the first of them to start fruiting are the ice cream bean, mulberry and soursop. We get fruit lemons, oranges, bananas, granadilla, p***ionfruit, cape gooseberry, strawberry, star fruit, buddhas hand citrus, feijoa, paw paw and quite a lot more my blog is here http://opinonated-*******.blogspot.com/2008/08/edible-garden.html
Help Caféstudy members by responding to their questions, or ask your own in Café Chat, and you will get the chance of earning extra rewards. Caféstudy will match these and donate equally to our two chosen Australian charities.
Comments 84
batomo
I have just purchased a property with a large backyard and am going to start growing my own vegies and fruit. We live in Adelaide so what we plant has to deal with the different temperatures. I would like to know what to plant and when to plant to be self sufficient all year round. we are also going to plant fruit trees.
Anyone have any ideas
nelly2
We grow all our own food ,its great to be able to go into the garden and pick something fresh for your dinner ,but in the last few weeks we have had rats in the garden ,so little by little our veg and fruit have been dissapearing ,we have found bits and pieces about on the ground ,have you had any trouble with rats ,would you know how to get rid of them without using traps or bait as we have 2 small dogs that are in the yard most of the day .......
Anonymous
I'm new to this gardening caper. Have moved into a property with an existing vege garden and decided to have a crack at it. Planted lettuce, tomatos,beans and some yellow and green marrows in the existing soil, threw water on it every day and bugga me, veges started appearing. I think I'm hooked.
Anonymous
Growing your own edible garden is an excellent way of minimising your shopping bill at the grocery store, More importantly you know where it's been and how fresh it is. Giving extra's away to friends and family is rewarding also, You have the chance to grow fruit and vegies that aren't normally commercially available, you can try your hand at growing things that you love to eat but sometimes can't afford and let's face it things aren't getting cheaper. Most importantly self sufficiency and easing the burden on the agricultural industry is a big benefit the more we are able to reduce demand overall, prices will be driven downwards.
Jenny
We live on less than 500 sq block but i am getting some soil this weekend to start a small garden. Have lettuces and herbs in pots and random tomatoes in flower garden.
riaria0203
Growing you own food is a great idea given that you have enough time and effort to keep it well maintained! Wow, for such a large garden you must use a lot of water, so I guess the other issue is paying for the water bill that it set to soar up in price over the coming years!
sundancerau
Hi, i have got lots of citrus trees, lemon, orange, lemonade and mandarin they all have wrinkled leaves,what disease would it have, and how can i make them healthier.
Dot
Joydy
Just home from weekend with daughter and her young family that live on 3 acres - they sent me home with apples & pears off the tree, eggs from the chooks, zuccini and cucumbers - all grown on there property. I have added silver beet, tomatoes and herbs from my garden to help with dinner tonight - can't get better than garden fresh products - and no packaging - good for everyone especially me!
elle
great idea to safe trees
Anonymous
I think that's great. Also the food that you grow is so much fresher. I am starting to do that to but find that cannot grow everything that I would like so am working on putting in a glass(plastic)house. It saves a lot of time too. You jsut have to go into the garden and pick a few things. I have also started swapping with neighbours so we can have different things. You are also saving transport costs.
Anonymous
Thats great paradisi, my patch is nowhere as big. I have 4 chooks, enough for 1.
I also have fruit trees, Lemon,Orange,Apricot,Nectarine and Pear.
Have planted Tomatoes,Cucumbers,Zuchini,s,Radish,Carrots,Beetroots,and
both climbing and dwarf beans.
Am hoping for good crops.
You sound as if you live in the tropics, I am in a temperate climate.
Marly
Anonymous
Thats great paradisi, my patch is nowhere as big. I have 4 chooks, enough for 1.
I also have fruit trees, Lemon,Orange,Apricot,Nectarine and Pear.
Have planted Tomatoes,Cucumbers,Zuchini,s,Radish,Carrots,Beetroots,and
both climbing and dwarf beans.
Am hoping for good crops.
You sound as if you live in the tropics, I am in a temperate climate.
flowerdalejewel
I have @1/2 a hectare but a few of my trees went with the bushfires. I have a huge crabapple tree along with a plum, pear, apple, loquat and fig tree. I have only a small garden at the moment with potatoes, tomatoes, onions, rhubarb, silver beet and Jerusalem artichokes. Hopefully once I get my garden back into gear (seems to be taking so long lately) I'll be able to put in some more vegies.
dlrmatrix
yes the prices of fruit and veg have gone up im going to start my own vegie garden
Anonymous
I have recently developed a small vege plot, surrounded by a nice neat yew hedge thanks to my Karen. The soil is thick clay sludge which I have been attempting to improve. There are some things I can grow; beans have been an annual success, and I get some asparagus each year, together with silver beet and beetroot, when the neighbouring wallaby doesn't beat us to them. Anything else seems to be variable from year to year, except for a planting of onions/leeks which have gone feral and I'm trying to eliminate at present.
When I planted the asparagus I put some left-over haggis under them to nourish them. Not a good idea as the foxes kept digging up the asparagus to get to the haggis.
Artichokes have lovely big silver-green foliage, so that even if they do't flower, they are lovely to look at.
The birds cleared my grape crop last year (my first) without leaving me a single one, but they don't touch our raspberries and currants (Please explain!), and our fig tree has become large enough to provide figs for the birds and us as well.
Out walnut is not old enough to provide fruit yet, but I think the birds will not be a problem, but the Quince tree is looking good with increasing crops (how many things can you do with quinces?).
We grow our herbs at the back door.
It is wonderful to be able to pick from the garden and place straight into the pot.
Tony
dannyboy
i also started with pots on balcony and it just 'grew' from there...we also had a lot of fruit trees that were unkept so we sprigged them up & we should get fruit next season...we took cuttings from friends and families gardens and potted then planted in the garden - most of them survived and its a cheap way to grow your gardens variety...i have a small veggie patch - the aim is the have veggies for all seasons
buttonpops
That's great you are growing your own produce. It is a huge concern the amount of pesticides sprayed on the food brought from a store. Here is a chemical free pesticide spray you can make from home - crush 1 chilli, 3 cloves of garlic, add a cup of vinegar and water to add up to a litre then pour into a pot, bring to the boil and when it's cool pour the mixture into a spray bottle.I've just built my first home and am about to start my garden from scratch. The soil doesn't seem to be very good though, full of clay and it's very hard to dig even though we have had lots of rain lately. My children will be involved in the whole process (and I have 4 including a 14 month old) and they each get a say in which fruit/ vegies/ flowers they would like to grow. We are going to build garden beds out of leftover planks of wood from the building sites around our estate and ask friends and family for cuttings so we dont go over budget. Lets hope it grows as good as your garden Paradisi!
david
excellent idea and you always know the food is frest.supermarkets are ripping us off.sometimes their fruit and vegies can be a year old as they freeze,then rip us off at the check-out
elle
our garden is medium and i always find thinks to do
rcuttell
There are all sorts of other uses such as compost bins, areas for the dog to run and play, vegies and plants that like less sun. The sun moves through the year, of course, and leaves fall allowing more sun. Don't think the dog would like chooks at this stage.... We are very doggie people! Off to the RSPCA Million Paws Walk on Sunday.
Arch
PLEASE HELP Can someone please tell me which are the best tomatoes for taste, and what is the best way to grow them.
With Thanks John
woolysmissus
I had to sow my capsicum seeds twice. It could have been the odd weather as it got hot then cold for weeks. Could be they need a certain period of very warm soil to sprout the seeds. They did seem to take a long time to come up too. Some of my plants grew much bigger than the others too, which is confusing. Tasty and handy to have growing in the garden though. They do burn if you get a very hot spell and they aren't shaded at all. Next year I am going to make some removable shade units of pvc and shade cloth that I can just pop up during a heat spell.
Blujay
Been raining here too,very welcome too!
Those bags sound interesting!
rcuttell
Yes, I'm a member. You get a very nice magazine/catalogue quarterly. You get a discount on plants seeds and accessories. They also have a cafe in Dromada, Victoria in an historic house (Heronswood, 1871) where they use their own produce. They also run workshops.
Tatey (from Irish short form of potato) bags are bags in which you can grow potatoes. Yes, of course, you can make a bed as you have, but if you don't have the space or you haven't a bed ready, you can plant some potato tubers in these bags and, hey presto, potatoes!
When seeds get too old and won't germinate, I sprinkle them on the garden and occasionally some sprout!
Welcome rain here, Tuesday, Wednesday
Blujay
Red and yellow,cool!
I once read a story about a bloke who planted ten year old vegie seeds and got a great harvest.
No,I am not a member but I think I will be soon.
Are you a member?And what are 'Tatey" bags?
We put in a new potato bed yesterday and should have some good potatoes in a few months time(must remember to cover over each night though).
rcuttell
I had raspberries at a previous house - very prolific, but I didn't plant them myself. Chinese pisstachios go red and a bit yellow.I'm trying to grow some more veggies from seed but nothing's coming up; seeds are a bit old, I think. I'm trying to do succession planting so, for example, when my current crop of broccoli have grown and are being eaten, a new crop are on the way. Are you a member of the Digger's Club? Good place for plants, seeds and accessories. I'm going to buy some "Tatey" bags and grow potatoes in them as I don't have a suitable plot at the moment.
Blujay
I bought 2 rasberry plants yesterday,very vigourous.
Some fruit on one of them too.
So what colours do the chinese pistachios go?
rcuttell
We had a chinese pistachio in a previous residence which was lovely. The tree surgeons are going to do some work on our oaks in June. We have to trim some branches away from the electricity wires so we'll take the opportunity to raise the canopy and thin it out. We do that every few years to keep them looking good.
Blujay
Oh well,maybe next year.
Yesterday we bought a chinese pistachio tree(google it)that gets really lovely red foliage.
rcuttell
Sorry. Too late. Acorns have finished. (Even the leaves have just about fallen.) What acorns not eaten by birds have been well and truly mown, mulched, massacred!
Blujay
Have fun in the Thousand Paws walk?
If it is not too much trouble,do you think you could please send me some acorns?
My email is pawlipeas@hotmail.com and I will email you our adress if that is ok.
I will greatly appreciate it if you can.
rcuttell
Italian Greyhounds are very little. They can often be seen on the laps of women in the paintings of Renaissance Masters...hence the name.
Acorns are produced about March to May. The cockatoos may be getting some but they have almost finished. I think there's some other delicacy!
Blujay
What time of year do the oaks produce acorns?
Greyhound?Very energetic i'm sure!
rcuttell
Lots of dogs! We currently have Rocco, the Italian Greyhound as a guest for 7 weeks while his folks are in Canada. Speedy and frenetic!
The American Oak has already lost its leaves. The pin-oak has lost about half, aided by the cockatoos which are finding something worth munching in the clusters of leaves.
I do well with Broccoli but my cabbages and cauliflowers are a struggle.
Blujay
Very nice dog.We have 3 Rottweilers,Ike(dad),Izzy(mum)and Eli(son),and 1 Foxy,Benji.
Have been pruning and fertilizing the fruit trees and doing some cleaning up in the yard,are your Oak trees colouring up yet?
The liqiudambers around our town are looking really beautiful this time of year.
Our cabbages are just starting to take shape now and I think I will start sowing some more soon.
rcuttell
A Manchester Terrier
Look at her at this web address:
http://www.asopa6970.com/dog.htm
Blujay
What breed of dog do you have?
rcuttell
There are all sorts of other uses such as compost bins, areas for the dog to run and play, vegies and plants that like less sun. The sun moves through the year, of course, and leaves fall allowing more sun. Don't think the dog would like chooks at this stage.... We are very doggie people! Off to the RSPCA Million Paws Walk on Sunday.
Blujay
Just thought you might be able to use some of that land thats in the shade and can't grow any vegies on.
rcuttell
No chooks. Nice idea though. I like chooks. Me old departed dad had 'em.
Blujay
Very helpful site,thanks.
Got any chooks?
rcuttell
Celery? Lots of water and liquid fertiliser and mulch. Sow in punnets and plant out after last frost. Try this website: http://www.gardenersnet.com/vegetable/celery.htm
Blujay
Funny story about the pot plants,yeah I'm staying in the same town,just bigger land.You get lots of birds.
As for the pumpkins if you live in a cool climate,sow in punnets in August and plant in garden in September.
If temperate,sow direct in Sep-Dec.
Subtropical,sow direct in Aug-Jan(I am in a Subtropical town).
Tropical,all-year.
And any hints on celery?
rcuttell
Cockatoos, crimson rosellas, galalahs, gang gang cockatoos, magpies. currawongs, blue wrens, white eyes (little finches), bower birds, honey eaters. Sometimes water birds will lob in as the lake is only about 200 metres away. When I take the mutt for a walk there are swans and ducks, even pelicans on occasion. Funny seeing seagulls inland, too!
Are you moving to a similar place and climate for gardening? We brought some potplants from our last house more then ten years ago and clumped the pots together with the intention of planting them out.... Never happened. They pushed throught the pots and took root. People think we did it on purpose:)
Blujay
Sowing pumpkins deffers from place to place,where do you live?
I have heard that placing individual paper bags over the apples and then a plastic bag over each paper bag should deter fruit fly and birds(apparently).I don't use any chemicals on my plants either.Our family has a lot of fruit trees and plants in pots,as we are moving soon.Wow,how many species of birds do you have around?
rcuttell
When is the best time to sow pumpkin seeds?
Only one fruit tree...yes, only one... an apple tree. Half the trunk has rotted away but the remaining half is sound. It is a "Granny Smith" and produces big beautiful fruit. Alas I don't have much success against the fruit fly. I'm not one for chemicals. I've had some success by cleaning the trunk and bagging the early fruit. The parrots play havoc as well. But I love the birds. Especially the maggies as they follow me around looking for worms where I disturb the soil. There are honey eaters and currawongs and wrens. The bower birds usually come and eat the tops off the bean climbers, but not this year. Must have been lots of food because of the rain.
Blujay
Cool website,very interesting,good for future reference.
I am glad I am inspiring you with the pumpkins,if you run them up a trellis or get a bush variety they don't take up much room."Golden Nugget"pumpkin can be grown in pots.
Got any fruit trees?
rcuttell
I must admit I didn't look for pumpkin seeds. We were a little restricted as we took our dog. You are inspiring me to grow pumpkins!
I found a good site about chillies. It doesn't recommend air/electric drying green chillies. Here is the web address http://www.chillies-down-under.com/drying-chillies-dehydrator.html It has lots of other pages with everything you wanted to know (or didn't want to know) about chillies and all the different varieties.
Blujay
Wow,sounds really cool,were they any selling pumpkin seeds?
I love growing pumpkins and am trying to get as many varieties as possible.
I reckon the chillies would dry well but be less spicy(good for most people)but I like hot ones more.
rcuttell
No. I tend to grow stuff that's "value for money", so to speak. I have a big yard but lots of shade, so veggie beds are at a premium. My next challenge is potatoes. I might grow some pumpkins next year. We went to the Pumpkin Festival at Collector, a little town about 60 km north of Canberra. Sort of like a medieval fair with the streets taken over with lots of stalls. Of course there's the biggest pumpkin competition and wheelbarrow races with pumkins. Naturally there is pumpkin soup in abundance. We met some friends and bought everything from home grown potatoes to a pottery milk jug. Ate wood-fired pizza and local wines and coffee from portable coffee vendors. . Very crowded but quite fun really.
In the past we have dried red chillies successfully. Do you think green chillies would be worth drying?
Blujay
Do you grow any pumpkins?
Blujay
I don't know much about them but I know to water the seeds once and not water again until they shoot through the surface(they can rot).They need a wind beak aswell or they are stuffed.
rcuttell
Yes. The bushes and initial growth look very similar. Capsicums seem to nee a lot of water. I'll try with them again next year. The chillies I mentioned are great; I dry them in one of those stackable electric driers. Last year I dried tomatoes, too; not enough this year - made them into sauce with my garlic. Got any broad bean tips?
Blujay
They would be grown in much the same way,wouldn't they?
rcuttell
Unfortunately not. I sowed some capsicum seeds this year which turned out to be chillies. They were Cayenne Chillies which despite the name are tasty but not too hot (4 out of 10). How the seeds got mixed up, I don't know.
Blujay
any helpful hints for growing capsicim seeds?
rcuttell
I usually grow a lot of tomatoes from seed. However, I went to a fete last year where one stall was selling seedlings. I bought some "beefsteak" tomatoes...my but they were big and sweet! The little red "Tommy" tomatoes are good, too. They are not as susceptible to disease either. Rather than pinch out the laterals, I let a lot of the better ones grow and stake them up. My theory is that the root system mirrors the foliage and a good root system makes for a healthy plant and fruit (tomato) production.
Blujay
I don't like to eat tomatoes but grow them for the family and they say that "Red Cherry" tomatoes are the sweetest.To grow you sow in spring and prune out all shoots that grow between the stem and main branches fertilize with chook poo just before first flowers.I find it helps to heap soil and straw up arund the base and,as they are 95% water,keep them well watered.
Blujay
My ultamate goal,self sufficiency.
I try to grow as many vegies as possible and grew some pretty nice pumpkins this season.
We eat our own chickens too,when the roosters are old enough.
We are planning to move to a bigger property soon and I have close to 50 fruit trees in pots at the moment but should be in the ground sometime soon.
I have a goat too and is not producing milk at the moment,she must fall pregnant first.
We have some large compost bins made out of forklift pallets and 1 compost tumbler which makes pretty good compost and also some worm farms that make great castings for the garden.
If anyone with similar interests would reply to me that would be great.
Blujay
Very clever idea.No we do not get that problem here,but good tip for future reference.
rcuttell
oregano & marjoram...good tip!
Do you ever have slaters "ring-bark" seedlings? They sometimes eat around the base. Once the seedlings grow a bit, the slaters leave them alone. So, I put a bit of electrical tape around the base, sticky ends together (that way the stem can expand). When the seedlings mature I remove the tape.
Blujay
I keep a few tennis raquets around my veggie garden and as soon as I see a cabbage butterfly around I run out and smash it with the raquet.Another tecnique that works for me is to put pots of oregano or marjorm in amongst the brassicas.
rcuttell
I'm making a 3 x pallet compost bin at the moment. Scoured the neighbourhood building sites! We also have Geddy Bins and worm farms. Our yard has two large oak trees which shade a lot so I have to be clever about placement of veggie garden beds. Still, the trees provide a lot of material for compost once they are shredded. I grew garlic last year...yum. So I have just put in twice as much today. Broccoli is coming along well...it's a battle between me and the cabbage moths who love all brassicas. Everyday I brush their eggs off from under the leaves; time consuming but effective. My beans were prolific this year once the January heat finished; they're coming to an end now.
elle
greast idea
elle
great idea to have own fruits
elle
i love my own tomatoes and vegetablew i love gardening and freshest harvest
hellron
I agree. Tomatoes from shops are just not tomatoes. Too tough. I know..stupid statement.
shachah7
wish i had more time to be able to do this. work and kids makes it very difficult to find spare time.
Joydy
Take the kids out in the garden with you - my 3 year old grandson loves the garden - especially the vege garden. He eats the brocoli, tomatoes, beans, snow peas etc straight out of the garden = how good is that.
Teaches them were food comes from = and tastes so much better than from the shop.
Cheers.
Anonymous
Kids honestly love to get into gardening - start with a few sprouts, a strawberry plant or a seed tray with some quick-growing seeds of herbs or flowers.
Shellbyanne
I agree with you. I don't have the time to look after a garden as I work full time. My dad has a fantastic vegie/fruit garden. He is retired and spends hours each day in the garden weeding, fertilising, watering, picking the vegies, cultivating or creating new garden beds
hellron
My husband was using Carbaryl quite a while ago (last year?) in the vegetable garden for an infestation of caterpillars. When he tried to buy more he couldn't. I then looked it up on the net and found the info that it had concerns. Dipel is a bacteria of caterpillars which we then purchased. I am much happier that he is using that now. Maybe market gardeners are still using it and therefore that is the type of reason that we try to grow our own green vegetables at least.
Ozbev
I work 30 hours a week plus 100 minutes (almost 2 hours) a day commuting to and from work. My children maybe older than yours, but even when they were little we had a veggie garden. There were houses where we could not grow our veggies but now we have a block that is 759 sqm and our house is only 156sqm so we have a large area we can use... but we let work, children and other things get in our way so it took us a while to get going... 7 years in fact since we bought the property. It took a hail storm (worse one in Perth's history) to put a fire under us. Lettuces went from $1-$2 to $7 a head. Tomatoes are expensive and other veggies went through the roof as well. We had no choice but to put some more work into the veggie patch we started a couple of years ago but had left go to seed.
My advice is to get the kids involved... do a no dig garden (necessity for us where we live due to the soil conditions)... where you use bricks/surrounds and you layer it with lucerne, hay with base of newspaper with top layer of soil with fertiliser as well in the layers. It is easier with the raised beds It is good for my BIL who is a paraplegic. He can reach garden beds easily from his wheelchair. It is best to plant seeds if you can and try to buy them from retailers (Eden Seeds) who have old time varieties which are open pollinated. When my veggies end their life, I make sure that I leave one to go to seed and collect it ready for the next season. I recently went to the Perry Lakes Garden show in Perth and heard Graham Ross from Better Homes and Gardens talk on garden products and he warned about the overuse of pesticides and spoke on how the Australian govt still has not banned Carbaryl which has been banned in the US due to it being a known carcinogen. Carbaryl is routinely sprayed on most fruit and veggie crops... so you can see why I am concerned about what I am eating. Even Graham Ross said he would rather grow his own fruit and veggies rather than buying them from shops.
Cheers
Bev
lamyaa
Its really great idea i believe everyone should grow their own food.
Anonymous
I agree everyone should try and grow something edible it's so fresh and you know exactly where it comes from.
Tonno
is a great idea. my garden no where near as big but always has enough for me to get somthing fresh when needed
anna
I have just started a herb garden & it is exciting watching plants grow. Just now went & cut some pieces off & going to make herb & cheese scones. Should have done it ages ago.
Anonymous
I'm sure you could do the gardening by starting small, elle. How about a hydroponic pot of herbs?
nette
Hi Mustang
I used to grow my veggies in a balcony garden until I moved house, it is amazing what you can grow, I had large pots, planters and even had a trellis against the wall so I could grow lebanese cucumbers, beans and mini melons. I gre the types of lettuce that you don't pick all at once, just leaves as you need them, cherry tomatoes, capsicums, chillis. I also had herb pots alomg my kitchen windowsill and in planters outside. It is amazing to reach out and pick your own and fulfilling to look after them. Check out seedsaver member, oztion.com.au nette_j by email for free advice for balcony garden growers on types of plants, how to grow depending on your local climate, it is great to find ways of maintaining good health and a greener footprint by growing your own. You can do it :-)
KM
I also wish same to you.
mustang6000
I would love a veggie garden. Being in a unit I have to do with what we can grow in pots.
elle
i wish i could do gardening
bj
I started with herbs in pots on balcony, and a strawberry plant.
elle
iwish i have garden, i would grow fresh fruit and veg. no quastions.