gardens update
Well the rain has finally ceased for a few days and things are a little more cheerful. The slugs and snails have had a great time and viciously and viscously attacked and stripped the 5th planting of beans this season. Have resorted to using Iron Phosphate around them. This was not an issue last year. It’s just been the huge amount of water and rainfall this year.
The Squash area is thriving and with some warmer dry weather the flowers are no longer rotting and so we have produce!. Same with the tomatoes which are now flowering and setting so we have fruit.
Some more citrus are in and hopefully will put in enough growth before winter burns them back.
Someone tried the mangel-wurzel root roasted and reported back that it’s pretty good and a lot like sweet potato.
Mibuna, mizuna, tatsoi and rocket and going well. And a new fast access raised herb garden has been made up to replace the weed infested herb area near the carpark. This will be useful for those that drop in to the gardens quickly to grab a handful of herbs like parsley, origin and thyme etc. The area around it needs wiping of weeds…
I have to add that this is possibly the most dismal growing summer for vegetables I have seen around here for many years… 
Randwick NSW community gardens
I called in to see the Randwick community organic garden on 19 Jan to see what they were doing with their space.
They are funded by the Randwick City Council and the garden is organised along the lines of a structured Council garden space. The area is surrounded by a large storm wire fence and the gates are locked to casual visitors.
I could only get in for a few minutes as someone was going in to water their plants and let me wander for 5 minutes before they had to leave.
They have a small enclosure for chickens, a large water tank and a small building and covered area. It is all very compact and is a mixture apparently of single personal plots with a few communal planting areas – although this was hard to tell by what was growing in the limited time I had to look around.
Hunter region NSW botanic gardens
Quickly dropped in to visit the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens [basically Newcastle NSW and surrounds] while passing on 13 Jan [2012]. They are located at Hexham on the north side of the Newcastle river beside the highway as you drive north or south on the pacific highway.
They are particularly interesting in that they are essentially of community gardens origin and have developed over time to be a more widely supported botanic gardens structure. Started in the mid eighties they have developed somewhat randomly over the years based on peoples interests and ability to contribute as volunteers.
The collection of plants is somewhat esoteric but interesting because of that. The succulent and cactus collection is really quite nicely laid out and holds a lot of interesting plants. They have a nice passive solar tropical orchid house of some size and a number of glass and shade houses.
There are a lot of really nice fundamental structural features and ideas that are still in development. They have some really nice parkland spaces and a variety of functional features like a small bush chapel obviously setup to cater to weddings and some nice lawns. They also have a tiny volunteer run cafe.
It felt good to see what a community garden could end up like.
note – The mosquitoes were severe and savage – they have a free spray yourself down area at the entrance with natural oil repellents – make sure you use it before walking anywhere in summer especially.
My pics here are of only really the succulent area.
http://www.huntergardens.org.au/
Forster NSW community gardens
On Jan 11 [2012] I visited the Forster community gardens while staying in the area to the north of Sydney on the mid NSW coast. They are in a small park like gardening area next to the local neighbourhood and tourist information centre on the lake or river side of the central city area.
They seem well set up with mainly free standing growing containers all with their own watering and drip systems and activity areas. This is a smart and interesting design for use in a public area like this. There is a main thoroughfare path running through the area and there was a constant stream of people wandering or cycling through while I was there.
The weather on the coast there is edging into sub-tropical and it showed with some very nice growth on some of the plants I would not even attempt to grow in my cold temperate region.
I was also mildly impressed by their ‘not ready for harvest’ and ‘ready for harvest’ signs which they were using.
http://www.fnc.org.au/community_garden.htm
gardens update
Good growth after the heavy rain for 2 weeks and especially the female kiwifruit vines are finally taking off.
gardens update
The beginnings of the medical – physic herb garden. Base layer is mainly wood chip and waste, then a layer of half composted soil then a layer of about 20cm of Lucerne and then some straw to bind the top surface. Luckily it rained heavily right after laying all this down.
Squash and Pumpkins are progressing well.
Gastrodia sesamoides
Gastrodia sesamoides – Australian native potato orchid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrodia_sesamoides
Its leafless and saprophytic, so you only see it when it flowers or you dig it up accidentally.
The spikes are quite minimal but attractive when the flowers open.
Our backyard has been fully converted for some 10 years to growing mainly native plants. We have a lot of these orchids growing wild now along with a number of other native ground orchids including various green hoods, caladenia etc. I have been spreading them about the place each year as I find them and there are now about 4-5 significant clumps and about 15-20 other single plants moving about as they wish in the garden. They move location frequently and quickly each season and grow to the size of a small potato [about 10cm long and 2-3cm thick] once growing happy in the environment. You often find about 2-3 of them near each other – I assume they may break up or split or something – its hard to tell as they are mostly moving about underground about 5 cm below the surface in the soil. The flower spikes are about up to 1 meter high once mature and growing strong. They have a very slight scent when they first open in the morning.
They are coming to the end of flowering in December this year.
Please excuse the grass and aluminium plant weeds etc there in the clump photo 
it’s hard to stay on top of that stuff all the time.
Solanum
Solanum is a mysterious group of plants that include potatoes, tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplants and a whole lot of strange berries. Although this is a pretty big genus there are only a few of them that will grow in the local climate here. I have found growing some either inside for most of the year or at least inside the cold glasshouse I have is the only possible way.
They seem to like sun with heat and never too damp and cold. it’s very hard to grow the Australian native ones especially here as it’s just too damp and cold for a lot of the year. They just drop leaves and die at the slightest damp cold period. I have found growing them inside in a very bright dry space on a watering tray seems best and keeps them moving and the fungus and mould from affecting them.
Our growing season is too short for really big crops of Tomatoes and Tomatillos although this varies year to year and the placement in the garden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum
The plants I’m growing:
Potatoes – Solanum tuberous - We have a selection of about 20 varieties grown mainly in individual containers. These keep the varieties topped up and growing and then I focus on 1 or two that are grown in larger containers each year so that they can be eaten.
Favourites include Sapphire, Dutch Cream, Purple Congo, Kipfler, King Edward, pink fir, banana.
Tomatoes – Solanum lycopersicum - These are grown in the ground and I usually save the seed for the ones that keep coming back strong. We grow a lot of the small to tiny varieties due to their great taste and also they tend to grow faster and fruit more effectively with a short growing season that we often have here.
Favourites include the Thai pink, tiny tom, black russian, green zebra and the tiny riesentraube
Tomatillos - Solanum - see mexican flavours post – growing about 3 different varieties
Eggplants - Solanum melongena - several varieties but mainly small sizes
Eggplant Ethiopian - Solanum aethiopicum – given to me by someone who spotted it at a food market in Sydney – first year growing 2011
Tamarillos – Solanum betaceum - growing red and yellow varieties in cold glasshouse and both seem pretty happy
Pepino - Solanum muricatum – perennial but need to keep propagating by cutting as they tend to die quickly when stressed by cold
Wonder berry - Solanum retroflexum - fairly easy to grow and fruit
Golden fruit of the andes - Solanum quitoense - large fruit and crazy coloured leaves and plant yet to fruit – also known as naranjilla
Kangaroo apple – probably Solanum aviculture - struggling to survive
I would like to grow bush tomatoes but it’s too cold and damp here.
Also growing other plants in same Solanaceae family such as cape gooseberries but limiting myself here to the genus.
Tamarillo - Solanum betaceum
Golden fruit of the andes - Solanum quitoense - naranjilla
Wonder berry - Solanum retroflexum
lavender
Lavender - Lavandula genus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender
I’m growing a wide range of these plants and have built up a good sized collection. I have a large collection of the most commonly available species and varieties of them. But there are lots of species in other groups that I just can’t find or get a cutting of. They are generally very hardy but don’t like heavy frosts or extended damp conditions. Otherwise they are close to being xerophytes and thrive on neglect and being left alone. They like being lightly fed with dynamic lifter while in growth and hate water on them in winter when mostly dormant. I grow them generally in a gravel/soil mixture and with free drainage and scatter slow release granules round them if they are in pots.
Lanata and Latifolia are a pain to cultivate as cuttings. Best to do this only in mid spring while in full growth.
Dentata is extremely hardy and often is in flower here even in winter under snow.
Pinnata and canariensis are under rated and have both an intense flower colour and are in flower for long periods.
Cuttings can be taken either in spring or autumn for best results. These are so effective there is no need for seeds generally.
For best fragrance use the Angustifolia flower seed capsules left behind directly after flowering which are full of oil.
Viridis and some of the very dark purple flowering stoechas are really sticky to touch and seem to exude oil on their leaves and stems as well as flowers.
Stoechas group [often called Italian - Spanish - Portugese]
- Stoechas
- Kew red
- a very intense dark purple
- Alba large and small (nana)
- Avonview, marshwood etc
- Pedunculata
- Viridis
Dentata [often called French]
- Dentata
- Dentata var candicans
Angustifolia Group [often called English]
- Angustifolia – alba, rosea
- Latifolia
- Lanata
Hybrids
- Intermedia – Angustifolia – latifolia
- heterophylla - Angustifolia - dentata
- allardii - Angustifolia - dentata
Pterostoechis group
- Pinnata
- Sidonie – hard to tell if this is multifida or pinnata as it looks like a cross to me.
- Multifida
- Canariensis
Lavandula Dentata var candicans [note silver hair]
Lavandula Dentata
Mixed bag of sidonie, pinnata and multifida
cape gooseberry
Cape gooseberry - Physalis_peruviana - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis_peruviana
Perennial but short lived vine like soft herby plant from Andes in South America
The fruit is a small berry that is marble sized [about 1cm+] and bright orange when ripe. It grows inside a small papery calyx enclosure.
It is a solanum and closely related to the Tomatillo and Chinese lantern plants.
It does not need a lot of attention and appears to grow in a wide variety of climates. It likes warmth and sun and water and some food. I grow it inside a cold glasshouse in large pots but the main fruit appears on the parts of the plant where it hangs outside. I also have it growing ok in the garden area in pots all year round.
It is easy to propagate from seed and from cuttings.
It crops almost year long except in mid winter for about 2 months.
It was an important food crop in South Africa for some time.
It has a distinct taste – but tastes a bit like a white table grape and a little sour and citrusy and not much else. But it makes a nice addition to fresh fruit salads and other deserts, and can be used to make and interesting ice-cream. Apparently it makes an interesting jam but i have not tried this.
