My Productive Backyard
Turn your backyard into a productive food-growing paradise
The joys of the self-sown cherry tomato.
Many years ago, (about 23 to be exact) I purchased a popular gardening magazine which had a packet of tomato seeds attached to the front of it. They were called Tommy Toe and there were only about 10 seeds in the packet. I dutifully sowed the seed and they all...
Sustainable Gardening
I have been asked to do a workshop on Sustainable Gardening so I thought I would share with you the notes from my presentation. What is Sustainable Gardening? It is a method of gardening that has as little external input as possible and as little external impact as...
Blueberries- freezing your crop.
I have been harvesting a bumper crop of Blueberries this year so I am freezing some so I have Blueberries all year. I thought I would share the process with you in case you are also lucky enough to have excess harvest. The frozen product is not quite as good as the...
Preparing your garden and potted plants for summer holidays.
As we head into the festive season and the traditional time for most Australian households to take a break, I thought I would share with you some of the things I do to ensure my garden, and in particular my pot plants, survive when I am away on holidays. I use soil...
SPD (Sudden plant death) To replace or not to replace – a few musings about whether to replace plants that have died in my garden.
I have had a couple of deaths in my garden this year that have baffled me. The first was my Tarragon. I have had the plant growing for many years in a small pot, I keep it in a pot as I must put it into the glasshouse each winter as Tarragon is cold sensitive. It dies...
Repotting a Finger lime
I grow my Finger lime in a pot so I am able to move it into a more protected environment during our cold winters. I only have one and this gives me all the fruit I need. Last year it produced nearly 50 fruit and even though I used it in all kinds of imaginative...
Beans- one of the easiest vegetables to grow.
Beans are easy to grow and are one of the most prolific warm season vegetables you can grow. There is no comparison between a fleshly picked organic bean and a shop bought bean. So be warned, after growing your first crop you may never be able to buy beans...
Where to buy Australian Finger Lime Plants
I am often asked on the blog about purchasing Finger Lime plants and seeds. The two main questions I am asked are: Should I buy seeds or plants? And Where can I purchase plants and seeds? So firstly, Plants or seeds. Why would I buy a plant? If purchased from a...
Why I love Broccoli and a recipe to temp the non-believers.
If you regularly view my Facebook page and read my blog you will know I am a bit obsessed with growing and eating broccoli. Now if you Google the health benefits of broccoli, you will come up with a plethora of hits all extolling the benefits of this super food. Here...
Super spring organic fertiliser mix.
I have been using this mix for many years and have always had good results. This is a one off spring application and then I supplement with fertiliser teas or commercial liquid fertilisers at different times during the year depending on the type of plant growth I...
Changing the world – one garden at a time.
Just a follow up on from last week’s post where I asked people to let me know how much backyard food production is happening in their neighbourhood, which has led me to put some tips together on how we could spread the word about the joys of the productive backyard....
How much home grown food production is happening in your local area?
I am forever extolling the virtues of the backyard veggie garden and have been heartened by the increase in interest in home grown food over the last decade but I still think there is so much more we can do. I like to travel by train whether it be in Sydney, in...