Sustainable Organic Gardening

Small spaces – are never too small!

Posted on:
January 2, 2013
Author:
Lazy Gardener
Layered Planter Box

I recently returned from a lovely holiday in New Zealand. I stayed with my Aunt for some of the time and travelled the glorious East and West coast of the North Island – I was really overcome at times at the amazing beauty of the place. What I wanted to share from my journey was, […]

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Raised garden beds – pros and cons

Posted on:
December 18, 2012
Author:
Chook Whisperer
Raised Bed Compact Space

I’ve got several pre-fabricated raised beds in my garden – the ‘tank’ type – and having used them for a few years, have got an idea of the good and bad points of this type of gardening. Here they are! Pros Saves your back: A 70 cm high raised bed brings the growing medium’s surface […]

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Brazilian spinach – a leafy green vegetable for the subtropics

Posted on:
December 13, 2012
Author:
Earthwise

I can’t remember where my first plant of Warrigal Greens. It spread wide in a mat, self-sowed, was unfazed by the hottest summer and always seemed to be available. Moving north to the subtropics I discovered it really disliked humidity and even though it self-sows, the niche it occupies is much smaller. It tends to […]

Posted in Kitchen, Organic Gardening | Tags: , , | 13 Comments

No phos for us!

Posted on:
December 5, 2012
Author:
Chook Whisperer

There’s a popular garden myth that states that native plants don’t like fertiliser. That’s really not true – most plants will benefit from fertiliser, there are just a few types of natives that don’t like being hit with a large amount of some nutrients, phosphorous in particular. These plants – including Grevillea, Banksia, Casuarina, Protea […]

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Crop rotation – myth or reality?

Posted on:
November 28, 2012
Author:
Earthwise

Once again I’ve read in a magazine on organic gardening that it is good practice to use crop rotation. There are lots of reasons for this, particularly as it helps prevent a build-up of soil-borne diseases. Usually though, somewhere in the article it will say ‘your beans and peas are able to provide extra nitrogen […]

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Mould with itchy feet

Posted on:
November 14, 2012
Author:
Chook Whisperer

Often, when people find out I’m interested in fungi, they’ll ask me to identify something weird, disgusting or horrible in their garden. If the thing in question is also described as looking like scrambled eggs or something the dog threw up, and that it seems to be moving around the yard, then I can be […]

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Enchanted by eggplant

Posted on:
November 6, 2012
Author:
Chook Whisperer

I can’t resist having eggplants in the garden, with their glossy, plump, dark purple fruit and soft, grey-green foliage – they make me feel like a such a successful gardener! I reckon these plants can give most cottage garden flowers a run for their money when it comes to splashes of colour. To me they […]

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Tools of choice for the Lazy Gardener

Posted on:
October 31, 2012
Author:
Lazy Gardener

The Asian Hand Cultivator (also known as a Ho Mi) is probably my favourite tool of the trade. Being a self-confessed Lazy Gardener I have found this tool to be invaluable. It takes the place of a trowel, transplanter, fork, cultivator and pointy stick! I use it for hacking and lifting weeds, turning the soil […]

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Edible flowers – eating not only your greens but your reds and blues!

Posted on:
October 23, 2012
Author:
Earthwise

I grow a selection of flowers in my garden that I can add to salads, stuff with cheese, rice and herbs or use as a colourful decoration on fruit, cheese or salad platters. The vivid blues of borage, bright reds and oranges of nasturtium and the golden and lime hues of the zucchini flowers are […]

Posted in Kitchen, Organic Gardening | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

Oyster and shiitake mushrooms – don’t need much room!

Posted on:
October 12, 2012
Author:
Chook Whisperer

I love mushrooms; amongst my favourites are shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Their robust flavours are perfect in stir fries but work well in many other dishes too. They can be quite expensive to buy fresh, but are very easy and satisfying to grow. Your home mushroom farm needs very little space and could be set […]

Posted in Kitchen | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments