END OF YEAR GET TOGETHER

At the Rare Fruit Society meeting on Tuesday night, there was quite a group of Hills and Plains Seedsavers, all happily gathering fruit trees and produce from the wonderful stalls which open after the meetings. We were standing around chatting at the end and decided it was time to make a date for our end of year get-together. So here is the plan:

Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Economic garden (follow the arrow to area 4 on the map below)

Wednesday Dec 10th, 1pm

Bring lunch to share and whatever you need for a picnic

 

Apologies to the people who can't come on a weekday but when I organise things for the weekends you rarely come anyway!

BIG CHOOK, LITTLE CHOOK

This afternoon I went and visited our newest seedsaver.... baby Rebecca, who was born on October 16th. She is amazingly gorgeous and didn't even cry at all when I kidnapped her from her basinet, while Chook was on the phone....well, I couldn't wait any longer to pick her up....and Peter was busy watching The Wiggles so.....

Anyway, amongst all the thousand other things a young mother has to do, Chook has propogated some seedlings for me and I am looking forward to getting them into the ground and watching them grow.

The other thing she has done is to somehow end up with an extra chook....no, not a clone.... another hen! A new-laying ISAbrown has arrived, uninvited and is causing some chaos in the chook yard which is the last thing this family needs right now. What's more, this one keeps getting out and digging up the vegetables and in all the ruccus Marly, the dog, has started digging into the chook yard and between all of them the commotion is continuous!

So, if anyone wants a chook who is young and just started laying, please ring or email big Chook, or me, ASAP.

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PREPARING FOR SUMMER

It is worth going to some trouble now to help reduce evaporation, keep the soil from overheating and maintain soil moisture around the root zones, during the heat of summer. We have had a week or so of beautiful, cool weather which has been ideal for getting these jobs seen to so and to avoid working in the hot summer sun, battling against the elements. Working with nature is always the best option because you will never beat or control the forces of the earth.

I fork over the soil, lightly dig in some compost and whatever else you like to use. This year I am also adding some reconstituted coconut fibre blocks that are $1 each at Cheap as Chips! They help to hold the water in the soil and are a better option than those granules or other chemical solutions.....and MUCH cheaper. On this whole bed, I used 1 block, reconstituted in about 1/2 bucket of water, or maybe a bit more.....try it and see. I hate buying inputs but I am preparing for extreme, prolonged heat.

Then I have laid out the dripline. I hate the dripper and much prefer small sprays but this is my front yard.....and people walk by all the time so I have to obey at least this part of the water restrictions. Large plants like capsicums, tomatoes, eggplant and okra are fine with drippers. There are 4 rows of dripline and I will plant between the rows, so there will be 3 rows of vegetables. Over each dripline I place about 3 sheets of newspaper folded into thirds, so that's a thickness of about 9 sheets.....thanks to Joy for the newspapers......I have discovered in the past that this does a great job of keeping all the water going down, into the soil. Then I  lay thick 'biscuits' of straw over the top.....if I thought we were likely to get any substantial rain, I would fluff up the straw, so the rain would penetrate.....but it seems unlikely that there will be any rain, ever!

So, now there are 3 channels, between the 4 rows of straw, and into these I will plant the seedlings. They will need watering until their roots reach out to the moisture from the dripline. This method ensures that the roots will congregate in the coolest, wettest, most mulched areas, and there will be a little space around the plants for airflow. This is very hard to photograph...it just all looks like a mass of straw....I hope you get the gist of what I am describing here!

 

Another thing I am developing is my water vegetable garden.....4 tubs will all soon be full of various, mostly Asian vegetables like water chestnuts, water spinach (kang kong), taro, water cress, duck potato and nardoo. I also have a few water irises which have been spectacular in the last week or so.

The water chestnuts are doing very well this year..

..3 of the 4 tubs installed..

..A photo for Chook of the whole scene!

 

The water can get very hot on a 40 degree day so I surround all the sides with straw for insulation and fill the tubs completely and also use some non-invasive creeper to cover the water surface. If I think mozzies are a problem, I get a few of those tiny native fish, that don't eat frog eggs, because there are lots of frog noises coming from this area already! Ideally I would like to have light-coloured tubs but beggars can't be choosers!

 

I erected this floppy bit of shade for the new seedlings but I want to make something more like in Scarecrow's garden. In addition to the white shade top, I am going to put some light weldmesh along the sides and grow beans. By the time it is mid-summer, the beans will be providing extra shade along the sides of my curving garden beds, which are more difficult to shade than if they were in nice, straight lines! Under these more substantial structures I will grow softer things like lettuce and cucumbers.

 

 

In the full sun, in another bed which always seems to be drier than anywhere else, I am going to put the terracotta pots, with bush beans and celery around them as they do best with more water. So, better late than never and this cool weather is letting me get these jobs done, while listening to the wildlife.....shame snakes don't make a noise though!

A NOISY TRANQUILITY

Mt. Osmond is a noisy place but not in the ways you might think. It is the wildlife, you see, that screeches, grunts, chirps and laughs from before sunrise to after sunset and sometimes all through the night too. In winter I wrote about the wood ducks and previously I have mentioned the parrots, that make so much noise for several months of the year, that it is almost impossible to talk on the phone outside and at times drive me inside for some peace and quiet.

This time of the year it is the koalas, that roam the gum trees, sounding like a sick bear, with their deep, throaty growls sounding out across the tree tops, that are the most distinctive. And there are the crows, whose call was made to carry across the dry, flat plains of Australia, but are deafening when only a few metres from you! Now, in late spring, the sky is often filled with flocks of cockatoos - sometimes the black ones whose call truly takes the cake for the most raucous Australian bird, and sometimes the sulphur-crested cockatoos and less frequently, the pink-crested ones, all vying for the prize for maximum volume at the same time!

The kookaburra season seems to be over, but they are the real comedians, laughing across miles of scrub-land, as though they are telling hilarious jokes to one another, at full volume, but sometimes stopping just short of the punchline and reducing their mirth to a giggle.....I don't know why.....maybe the joke wasn't that great after all...

I have seen and heard all those creatures while I have been out in the garden this morning.... and I took a photo of the latest koala to wedge himself between some branches for a feed of manna gum leaves, and a few hours' sleep. To get a good shot, I got out my biggest old lens, for the first time since I got my new camera, and couldn't help zooming in on anything I could see.....check here for more photos.

MORE HILLS ON THE PLAINS FOR KGI MEMBERS

In some States of America and some other countries it is illegal to dry your clothes outside, you must use an indoor clothes drier, how crazy is that!

Here is Aussie land most of us dry our clothes outside, I very rarely use an indoor clothes drier and many of us hang our clothes indoors, on drying racks, in winter or on wet days.

Well let me shock you America, look over my side fence today and you will see a work of art, my new Hills large size collapsible clothes line.My very talented Industrial Designer son designed this and I love it.

It has 32 little lines, 60 metres of line space and 64 hooks to hang shirts on. The whole darn wash fits on it and it glides effortlessly up and down. It has a cover to make it like an umbrella and you can remove the whole thing and it folds away for storage.

Remember the old steel Hills Hoists (Icon of South Australia and included in the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony) they were hard work to wind up sometimes. But as you can see Kate is growing peaches on hers.

Okay now for the gardening bit, it did not take me too long to work out what I could do with my old hills hoist. A shade house for young or shade loving plants. We have some new plans for arranging the shade cloth down the sides. I think I shall even grow some things hanging from pots, I have been reading on the KGI forum about people growing things upside down to save space!

Check out this cool shade house. Gardening Australia - Hills Hoist Makeover (I actually like my air conditioned version better.)

I could say I would love to fill up our heat barren front yard with old hoists and shade cloth but I wont say that. But instead I am digging tiny circular gardens in the front and planting zucchinis and pumpkins. I dont know they will survive the hot summer days, Deb uses old sheets to protect some plants and we use shadecloth over our back garden bed.

Bob is really the gardener(i.e. the one who makes the compost and does all the hard work) but I am becoming more interested because I love eating the fresh veggies and herbs we grow. I also like designing garden beds and letting plants go to flower then seed. I love the bees and bugs that come to the garden and I love growing different things, last year we grew a pepino plant and this year we are growing okra.

I can understand now why people get obsessed with their gardens, there is always something to plant or prune or harvest or just enjoy. There are always new varieties of seeds to germinate and new things to cook, eat and learn about. I reckon it wont be long before I start calling myself a gardener but for the moment I am still a cook, well maybe a kitchen gardener.

And speaking of Kitchen Gardeners please sign up and join KITCHEN GARDENERS INTERNATIONAL, we need all the experiences of gardeners from different parts of the world, different climates, different experiences, you who grow different plants and have different ways of storing, cooking and preserving veggies.

SO COME ON VEGGIE GARDEN BLOGGERS JOIN UP AND GIVE KGI A PROMO ON YOUR BLOG!

THE AUSSIE SUMMER CLOTHESLINE

Last summer I wrote about myself, in the middle of a heatwave of 14 days over 40C and I called it The Aussie Summer Gardener and now there is another, equally rare creature appearing in my garden, for only the second and hopefully the last year. You see, my mother has a peach tree, and every year I bring home some peaches to eat and we put the stones in the compost bin. Somehow the stones end up all over the yard..... in places I have never spread compost.....it must be rats I guess that shift them around....and every year several germinate and I get peach trees coming up everywhere! Usually I dig them up when they are tiny and give them away but every now and then I let them grow......and grow they do.....like Jack and the Beanstalk. I never water them but they never die or look unhappy; they are super duper peach trees and after only maybe 2 or 3 years, when they are as high as the eves or higher, they bear hundreds of the sweetest, juiciest, tastiest, most incredible peaches! This is no joke and I have written about them several times.....and this year, again, they are laden.....and that is the problem!

 

We live on a hill.....a bloody great big, steep hill.....not a mountain though.....just a hill, called Mt. Osmond......(most of Adelaide is pretty flat so anything sloping is called a mountain!!) Flat land is at a premium at our place though, and we have spent 18 years working to make usable areas out of this hill and one of those little flat spots is around 1/2 of the Hills Hoist  clothesline ...... the other 1/2 hangs over the slope...as you can see in the first photo.....so I have to turn the clothesline to reach all the sides.

And guess where one of the peach trees grew so fast I didn't quite realise until it was too late? Yes, right next to the clothesline, under the dripline of the gutterless roof! During winter the tree has no leaves and the branches are light and spring up and keep away from the arms of the Hills Hoist, but once we get towards the end of spring, the branches are laden with leaves and fruit and lean down further and further.....until....I can't turn the clothesline without knocking off some of the peaches! So, you say, why didn't I prune it before we got to this stage....again? Well, you may or may not know that I have been away for 6 weeks.....when I left the tree was still bare.....and I had forgotten all about the problem.....until now! Now I can't stand the idea of wasting about a dozen beautiful peaches for the sake of the washing.....so I have to LEAN precariously over the slope, on tippy toes like a ballerina....which I definitely am not.....or hang all the clothes on one side.....like I did today, in the photo.

One of the advantages of this arrangement is that, in a couple of months, I will be able to start picking the peaches and this will be a lovely treat for me while I try not to get peach juice on the clothes I am putting on the line at the same time as eating a sticky, juicy peach and.....the branches will gradually get lighter until they will one day be fruitless and spring up and away and I will probably forget to prune it again.....so please....if you think of it.....remind me, will you?

THIS WEEKEND IN ADELAIDE

French Festival 2008 – Provence
The biggest event of its kind in the Pacific region, The French
Festival brings together people from diverse backgrounds to
celebrate French language and culture. Attractions include music,
performing arts, food, wine, and cooking with world famous chef,
Jean Montagard.
Where: Carrick Hill, 46 Carrick Hill Drive, Springfield
When: Saturday 15 – Sunday 16 November 2008, Sat: 11am -
10pm Sun: 11am - 6pm
Prices: Adult: $25 (per person per day), child: free (under 13),
concession: $20 (per person per day), student: $15 (per person
per day.)
Call for info: Media - 8272 4281 or email adelaide@af.org.au
Public – visit www.frenchfestival.org.au

Nuts About Fruit Art Exhibition
Working from live specimens and photographs, Botanic Gardens
artists have shown plant development after flowering, expressing
their love and appreciation for flora. Watercolour, graphite and
colour pencil have been used to depict the natural beauty of fruit,
nuts and berries.
Where: North Lodge, Adelaide Botanic Plane Tree Drive, Adelaide
When: Saturday 15 – Sunday 23 November 2008, Mon – Fri and
Sun: 10am 3pm, Sat: 11am - 3pm
Prices: Free
Call for info: Media and Public - 0401 985 994

The Hills Garden and Environmental Expo
The Hills Garden and Environmental Expo aims to become the
premier annual event for those interested in environmental,
gardening and 'green' activities, products and services. Gardening
identity Sophie Thompson will open the event, which will feature
demonstrations from environmental experts. There will also be
various activities and entertainment.
Where: Uraidla Showgrounds, Swamp Road, Uraidla
When: Sunday 16 November 2008, 10am - 4pm
Prices: Adult: $5, child: free, concession: $3
Call for info: Media - 8339 6842 or email
cathyf@montessori.sa.edu.au
Public – visit www.hillsgardenexpo.com.au

WILD RICE IN CANADA

I wanted to write a thing about special foods of the areas I visited but I had forgotten until this moment.....now I hope I can remember what I discovered!

I was reminded of this idea while just now reading the October/ November edition of Sumptuous (a magazine all about South Australian food and wine) where there is a thing about black rice which reminded me of wild rice.....

I was staying in Agassiz, an hour or so east of Vancouver, with Kathy-from-my-garden-group's parents. Agassiz is in the Fraser Valley, a food growing area for Vancouver and beyond. Rosemary and Garth took me to a house that simply had a sign outside saying .....Coffee Roasting and Pottery..... sounded interesting! Inside was a woman sitting at a potting wheel, who barely spoke at first, while we followed the signs about the coffee roasting going on behind the glass screen. She heard my accent and, as we were leaving, asked me what I was doing there, in a little town like Agassiz. We got talking and she was so wonderfully interesting I would like to have stayed longer, and written a whole thing about her.....but we were heading for the airport as it was my last day. I have her email address somewhere in my as yet not-completely-unpacked suitcase.....I must write to her.

Anyway, the gist of the whole wild rice thing is that she has a friend who is from an Indian tribe further north in Canada, where wild rice grows.....wild....it is native to Canada.....I didn't know that! Anyway, only the Indians from that area are allowed to go out and collect the wild rice, and she had some for sale in her coffee, pottery and now wild rice house/shop! Rosemary bought some of the wild rice, which is not rice at all actually, and I must ask her how she got on cooking it, but as I couldn't bring it into Australia I had to leave it for next time! It is so lovely to come across such stories quite by chance, rather than by taking some touristy trap....I mean .... trip! She also talked about her chooks and her vegetables garden and how there is an annual bike ride that takes in her place and other local growers and crafts-people during summer. She has a daughter in Japan.... and so the links went on and on.....until we just had to go. As I have written before..... the earth connects so many of us.

NOVEMBER IN MY GARDEN

As I wandered around the garden with my camera when I got home I found lots of things happening. One very good thing was that the peach tree is once again laden with fruit....this is a relief because in my rush to get everything ready before I left I failed to spray the peach tree with copper oxychloride for curly-leaf. Usually this awful fungus has devastating affects on my 2 peach trees and last time I didn't spray, it nearly killed them both. So I was very surprised to find not a single diseased leaf.....but I have heard others say the same and I think it was probably our cold winter and dry spring this year that has saved us.

 

 

The garlic bulbs from Tony Scarfo are developing really well, probably the best ever, I'd say. His seeds and garlic etc certainly are excellent and since he saves his own, they are perfect for us, here in Adelaide.We are lucky he is so keen to share them with us, especially since we are also his vegetable-buying customers! I think I might ask him if we can visit again soon and see his summer vegetables growing. I met a lovely Frenchman, in France, who reminded me very much of Tony, called Gabriel, and showed me everything, explaining it all in simple French so I could understand.... lovely.

Oh no....I have forgotten about Carlo!.... I will ring him and see whan we can visit his garden....he is an Italian friend of Tony's and lives near DoodDoof.

 

 

 

The parrots just love the bottlebrush flowers....

 

 

Veggie Gnomes' rhubarb is fantastic and I will pick some this week for a crumble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every now and then I take a great photo...mostly because the subject is great.....and this is the best recently. Although there is a contender and more photos....here.

This purple violetta artichoke is past the picking stage but there are lots more coming!

 

 

 

Look at those fennel flowers.....they taste sooooooooo good. I wrote about this once before and I will again. This would be one of my favourite taste sensations. Pick a stem and bite off the whole flower.....and chew....and savour.....mmmmmm.....I can nearly taste it from here at the shack!

 

 

 

Deb's purple-podded peas are just about ready to pick for seed saving..... see how they seem to match the colour of the background..... interesting.

There are the sweet and delicious white shahtoot mulberries to pick. The coriander is putting on a lovely flower show, along with the chervil, the bok choy, some daikon, the comfrey, the boysenberries, poppies, cliveas, nasturtiums, geraniums, some of the succulents, the seaside lavender, some grevilleas and so on and so on..... a riot of colour and a haven for bees and insects as well as the birds.

 

It is difficult to pull out any of it. I need a much bigger area, where I can have summer things growing while the winter things are finishing their life-cycle and attracting all the insects to keep the ecosystem happy..... a happy ecosystem is a happy vegetable gardener!

BEGONIA, BEGONIA.....WHEREFORE ART THOU?

I have mentioned before how much I love begonias and now I have, what I think, are the two most beautiful begonias to grace our planet. The one on the left, Dragon's Wings, I bought at the last ABC Carpark Caper and it has flourished and now looks stunning. The variegated one on the right was given to me for my 50th birthday and was struck from a cutting by my friend Robert, whose plant I have admired for years. The flowers are held together by threads, like a beautiful, pink spider web....  and it is soft and delicate and feathery and will grow to be tall and elegant, like its parent, I hope. I have put them in larger pots, on the verandah, outside my door where they get a bit of filtered morning sun.

Since I took the photos I have put a sturdy wire frame behind each, to support them as they grow....

...and I have a little table and chair near them so I can have my morning coffee and bask in their beauty and marvel at nature and try to forget how we humans can stuff things up so much.