Gardenworld

A little bit of inspiration.

By James Wall

A few years ago in another life, I had some spare garlic bulbs and had given them to Southmoor Primary School, a little school situated in Moorabbin. This school has been at the forefront of kitchen gardening and the headmaster had managed to chase me up to see if we had a few spare vegie seedlings. This morning I dropped them off.

To see what had been achieved over those few years was nothing less than inspirational.

February 2010 gardenworld happenings.

 Growing your own fresh produce is a trend that has grown immensely and is sure to be even bigger in 2010. Whether it is just a few herbs around the back door or a full blown vegie patch or orchard, there is nothing sweeter than picking your own food and using it to its maximum potential. There are many seasonal cookery books coming out that show you how to better use your harvest and minimise wastage.  A lot of schools are now educating our younger members of the community on food gardens and hence it is often families who are coming into the nursery together to learn about what crops they could grow and use. And of course there are many nationalities that we can learn from who have been food garden experts since they migrated here to Australia, whether it be Italians growing tomatoes or Vietnamese growing lemon grass, everyone can delight in their flavours with a little bit of knowledge.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

By Sarah Naumoff 

I first heard about the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, when I attended the Australian Landscape Conference in September 2009. Stephanie Alexander was one of the many wonderful experts who spoke at the conference. 

An October Garden In Melbourne.

 

What a great month to get into the vegie patch or potted vegie garden. It is usually warm enough now to plant chillies, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplants and basil, (although so far this month its been freezing). It’s the only time of year you can grow these varieties, so give them priority over the year round stuff, and don’t even consider cauliflower or cabbage, leaving them for the cooler months.

A July garden in Melbourne

The gleditsia tree is barren – there is not a leaf on it. The pruned roses are looking naked, and the unpruned roses are a dishevelled mess.  Deep into winter, the garden is at its most minimalist. It is a distinct season but beneath its bitter cold, there is beauty. The days may be shorter, but we are now past the shortest of them, and gradually they will get longer – and then the earth will wake, the birds will begin to sing and new growth will flood our eyes. This is the time to let your senses explore every corner of your winter garden.

Norfolk Island Pines on a wintery Elwood beach

 

June in a Melbourne garden - shallots, bare-root trees, camellias...

 

Winter wonders - a liriope intertwined with fallen leaves of a silver birch

We have just finished building a little herb garden in front of the café. Now the staff can simply walk out and pick some Italian parsley, mint, rosemary and dill. In a few weeks the thyme and oregano will also be big enough to harvest. Of course it is too cold for basil now, but coriander will grow well in the cooler weather and it is less likely to set seed. It is a great feeling to have built something so useful, and the food has never tasted so good.

Mushroom kits are back.

 

This week we received our first batch of mushroom kits for the year. There is something weird about fungi. I can remember seeing shitake mushrooms growing in Vietnam. They were under a house and growing on hard wooden beams. The kits we have are a lot more practical than that !

Mycelium is the vegetative part of the fungi. It is like frosty white flattened cotton wool. This comes embedded in the organically certified compost which has been through a sterilisation and pastuerisation process. The trick is to suffocate the mycelium by covering it with the bag of coconut fibre peat. This peat has been PH adjusted with ground limestone, so the entire process is 100% natural and organic. So once the suffocant goes on, the mushroom thinks it's going to die and begins to flower, which is the bit we eat. Sometimes the mycelium creeps up the corners of the box, but scratch it with a fork. Swear at it ! We don't want it to be happy so treat it mean to keep it keen with mushrooms. It needs to be threatened to produce mushrooms and thats why we keep it in a dark place and give it nothing but misty water !

The 60 Minutes 'Backyard Revolution' Story

Last Sunday on Channel Nine's 60 minutes program, vegetable growing went primetime. Yep, there was the ever energetic Peter Cundall harvesting potatoes in front of disbelieving Liz Hayes eyes (although some of his spuds were gigantic). The reporter then went on to inform us that people are digging up tennis courts and replacing them with vegie patches although I don't believe Leyton Hewitt has done this yet! However give Peter Cundall 5 minutes with him and I am sure he would love to get his hands this dirty.

Why are truss tomatoes so cheap at the moment ?

It wasn't so long ago that large truss tomatoes were $6.99 to $7.99 per kilo. The price hardly ever varied. I noticed that my local fruit shop is now at $5.99 and that an Aldi catalogue this week advertised truss tomatoes for $2.99 per kilo. I started to wonder why. That's when I did a bit of research  and found that there were 2 reasons for this. Reason 1 is that Aldi and Coles are bypassing the vegetable markets and the other middlemen and going direct to the growers. Reason 2 is one of supply and demand. It seems that three big companies have built huge greenhouses that are many hectares in size. They include Timbercorp, Costas and Moraitis. All three projects have all started to come on tap at around the same time.

Thats good news for consumers but beware, as over the last few weeks I have tasted some of the various truss tomatoes and would suggest that there is a difference in flavour. Some of this may be attributable to variety grown, but there are other factors at play. You see if a greenhouse is built in the wrong place, or the temperatures in it cannot be stopped from getting too high because the cooling system or shading are not adequate, then these tomatoes will use a lot of water and too much water will mean less flavour. Therefore quality will vary so keep an eye on who's tomatoes you are eating (your green grocer will know) and keep in mind that price can refelect quality. I have always thought Flavourite had a nice flavoured truss tomato but will be analysing all future purchases much more closely.

Goji Berry - The Super Fruit

By Dennis Ting - Gardenworld Nursery 

The Goji Berry (Lycium barbarium) plant is a recent addition to the range of plants we have in the garden centre.   

It is widely known as being a "Super Fruit" packed with vitamins, anti-oxidants, amino acids and polysaccarides.  You have to believe its properties given the price currently charged for Goji juice, dried berries and similar products!! 

We have had these plants in the nursery for just over a year now and there is still some amazement expressed by customers when they see the plants and wonder whether it is possible to grow these in Melbourne. 

I have been growing these plants here for several years now and harvest my fruit in December each year so let me tell you a bit about them. 

The plant itself looks fairly ordinary with thin canes and long dull green leaves.  It is actually a member of the Solanaceae family (tomatoes and chillies).  The plant has several growth flushes during the season and in between tends to rest with no active growth.