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Preparing your planting area ahead of time is very worthwhile - for detailed growing
notes, click the link next to each plant.
List of all plant growing information |
Now available for planting:
Finger Lime,
Sweet Potato Plants
and
Full List.
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Sweet Potato
Ipomea batatas Sweet potatoes are vining plants with attractive lobed leaves, pink morning-glory type flowers and tuberous roots. They are a 'must have' vegetable in warmer climates as they are so easily grown, highly nutritious and can be used in wide range of recipes. The vines are vigorous so space is needed. They do best in areas that are frost-free for at least 5 months with warm days and nights. In cooler areas wait for the beginning of the warm weather to plant. Sweet potato was domesticated in Peru about 8000 years ago and slowly spread through South America. Research published by the National Academy of Sciences has now demonstrated that Polynesians journeyed to South America and brought home kumara, long before Europeans even reached the South Pacific. In New Zealand sweet potato is known as kumara and both the pre-European Maori types and those introduced by Europeans are grown. Sweet potato prefers a rich, fertile, well-drained soil in full sun; space plants 35 cm apart. In subtropical and tropical areas sweet potato can be planted all year round. |
![]() Ipomea batatas Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA 'Beauregard' produces large tubers with a red-orange skin and moist, deep orange, sweet flesh. The vines are vigorous with heart-shaped, wavy-edged, mid-green leaves and green stems. It is quick maturing, very high yielding and resistant to cracking. It produces well even in cooler areas. More info on growing sweet potato... Provided as tubestock. GS141 GS142Save $1.90 |
![]() Ipomea batatas Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA 'Hawaiian Sunshine' produces large tubers with an off-white skin and purple flesh. It has a drier flesh than 'Beauregard'. The vines are vigorous with deeply cut, green leaves with a small purple blotch at the top of the petiole. The stems are bright green. It is an excellent source of purple pigments, called anthocyanins, up to 150% more than blueberries. These pigments have been linked to fighting cancer, aging, hypertension and neurological diseases, inflammation, diabetes and bacterial infections. More info on growing sweet potato... Provided as tubestock. GS144 GS145Save $1.90 |
![]() Ipomea batatas Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA A Polynesian heirloom producing large tubers with a red skin and cream coloured flesh with purple streaks. The leaves are maple-shaped, dark green with purple stems. It is excellent baked or mashed. More info on growing sweet potato... Provided as tubestock. GS177 GS178Save $1.90 |
![]() Ipomea batatas Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA 'Northern Star' produces large tubers with a reddish-purple skin and a nutty flavoured, drier, creamy white flesh. The leaves are heart-shaped, dark green with purple stems. It is hardy and resistant to soil insects. It produces well even in cooler areas. 'Northern Star' is also sometimes sold as kumara. It does not store as well as 'Beauregard' and is prone to cracking. More info on growing sweet potato... Provided as tubestock. GS128 GS143Save $1.90 |
![]() Ipomea batatas Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA 'Purple Raven' is a hardy, attractive, colourful plant with vibrant, deep purple, lobed leaves, it is very useful as a groundcover. It grows 20-30 cm high with dense coverage over the ground. It is not an aggressive runner like the cropping sweet potatoes generally are. It is not grown for the tubers but for its usefulness as a groundcover and for its edible leaves and flowers. It only produces a very small harvest of tubers. It can be grown in containers and hanging baskets and will tolerate partial shade. The leaves are a source of purple pigments, called anthocyanins. More info on growing sweet potato... Provided as tubestock. GS190 GS191Save $1.90 |
Tagasaste or Tree Lucerne plants are available.
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![]() Cyphomandra betacea Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA Syn. Tree Tomato, tomate de árbol Produces abundant quantities of sweet, tangy fruit over a long season. The flesh of the orange tamarillo is sweeter than red types and a good source of Vitamin C. It is a small tree 3 - 5 m high that can live up to 12 years. It is a good fill-in plant as it only takes 18 months to produce the egg-shaped fruit. In the kitchen it can be used to make jam or chutney, added to salads, poached in syrup as a dessert or to make salsa. It is frost tender and needs a very well-drained soil. It is suitable for subtropical and tropical areas. Provided as tubestock. GT120 GT121Save $1.90 Available as seed... |
Taro
Taro is one of the common names of Colocasia esculenta, an important staple food crop in many parts of the world. It is a perennial, tropical and subtropical plant mainly grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm and as a leaf and stem vegetable. Regional names include dasheen (West Indies), inhame (Azores, Brazil), kochu (Bangladesh), tiquisque (Costa Rica), ggobe (East Africa), golgas (Egypt), kolokasi (Cyprus), dalo (Fiji), arbi, kosu, pan, bal, ghandyali, saru (India), satoimo (Japan), pindalu (Nepal), gabi (Philippines), pheuak (Thailand), Kalo (Hawaii). Taro needs a long, frost-free growing season and plenty of water. It has large, green, heart-shaped leaves (commonly called elephant's ears), fleshy stems and grows up to 1.5 m in height. Taro is suitable for both wetland and dryland culture. It will grow well in partial shade, making it an excellent understorey plant. It needs consistent irrigation and a well-drained rich soil with plenty of organic matter. |
![]() Colocasia esculenta Not to Norfolk Island, TAS or WA 'Bun-long' is an excellent eating taro with a creamy white, dense, starchy flesh with purple flecks. It is a soft-cooking type desired in Asian cooking. The leaves are green with a purplish centre spot, the stems become reddish as they mature. The corms produced are large, often weighing several kilos. More info on growing taro... Provided as tubestock. GT140 GT141Save $1.90 |
![]() Colocasia esculenta Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA 'Chinese' produces a smaller corm with a very white flesh. It is a soft-cooking type desired in Asian cooking. The leaves are dark green with purplish stems. This hardy plant is widely adaptable in subtropical and tropical areas including northern NSW. More info on growing taro... Provided as tubestock. GT135 GT136Save $1.90 |
![]() Colocasia esculenta Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA 'Pacific' is an excellent eating taro with a creamy white, dense, starchy flesh, that stays relatively firm with cooking. It produces a large tuber, up to 3 to 4 kg, the heart-shaped leaves are dark green. More info on growing taro... Provided as tubestock. GT124 GT125Save $1.90 |
![]() Colocasia esculenta Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA Syn. Talo A traditional Pacific Island eating taro; the heart-shaped leaves are mid-green and the stems have a pinkish red colouration. The tubers have a nutty flavour. Makes a great substitute for potato in many recipes. An ornamental edible that looks good in the landscape. More info on growing taro... Provided as tubestock. GT146 GT147Save $1.90 |
See also
Tahitian Spinach - a leaf and stem taro.
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![]() Camellia sinensis Not to Norfolk Island, SA, TAS or WA Tea plants make a great hedge, which can be grown to any height with the bonus of pretty white fragrant flowers in spring and glossy leaves. Left unpruned it forms a bushy shrub 2-3m high. The flowers can also be picked and dried, to produce a delicious and healthy flower tea. In cooler areas a position in full sun in is best but in subtropical areas light, dappled shade is ideal. Tea plants do best in a fertile well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Tea plants can also be grown in large containers, but still require their soil acidic, well mulched and very well drained. For a productive hedge, space the plants 1 metre apart and keep pruned to under 1.5 metre for easy harvesting. Provided as tubestock. GT149 GT150Save $1.90 |
![]() Allium cepa var. proliferum Not to Norfolk Island, SA, TAS or WA Syn. walking onion, Egyptian onion, topset onion Tree onions are hardy and prolific, a good plant for the home garden. They can produce up to 3 bulbs at the base and several bulbils, or little onions, at the top. It will self-propagate in the second year by folding its stem to the ground so that the bulbils plant themselves. Tolerant of very dry conditions and freezing. The bulbs store well and are suitable for NSW, VIC and cooler areas of QLD. More info on growing tree onions... Provided as tubestock. Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA GT118 GT119Save $1.90 |
![]() Ugni molinae Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA Syn. Tazziberry, strawberry myrtle, murta Ugni is an ornamental, evergreen shrub from 1 m to 1.5 m tall. The small pale pink flowers bloom in summer. The leaves are a glossy dark green with a spicy scent if crushed. The fruit is a small, blueberry-sized, red or purplish berry with a delightful strawberry smell. The fruit can be eaten fresh, preserved as jam or even made into a liqueur. The plant is useful as a fruiting hedge or container plant. It prefers to grow in full sun to partial shade. It will grow from temperate areas to the subtropics but dislikes low temperatures below -7°C; it will tolerate some frost. Provided in mini pots. GU102 GU103Save $1.90 |
![]() Barbarea verna Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA Syn. Winter Cress A low growing, very cold hardy, biennial vegetable with a delicate, peppery flavour to use in salads or as a cooked green. The yellow blossoms attract beneficial insects including bees. An ABC Gardening Australia segment talked about using cress as a dead-end trap crop for Cabbage White butterflies. The moths and butterflies are attracted to the Cress and lay their eggs on the leaves but when the caterpillars hatch, they take a bite out of the leaves and die. Provided in mini pots. GU100 GU101Save $1.90 Available as seed... |
Vetiver Grass plants are available.
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![]() ![]() Maranta arundinacea Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA Completely different plant to Queensland Arrowroot, looks similar to Turmeric in leaf shape. This is the commercial source of Arrowroot flour. Simply grate the root to thicken any meal, or steam as a crunchy tuber. Suitable for mainly for subtropical and tropical areas. More info on growing West Indian arrowroot... Provided as tubestock. GW111 GW124Save $1.90 |
Wynn's Cassia plants are available.
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![]() ![]() Smallanthus sonchifolius Syn. Polymnia sonchifolia Not to Norfolk Island, TAS or WA Syn. Peruvian ground apple, strawberry jicama, Bolivian sunroot, llacon, sweet-root, ground pear Hardy plant to 2m high, yielding sweet, juicy tubers that can be eaten raw or cooked. One of the easiest-to-grow vegetables we have come across! Suitable for temperate, subtropical and tropical areas. More info on growing yacon... Provided as a rhizome per pack. ![]() GY103 GY116 Provided as tubestock. Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA GY102 GY104Save $1.90 |
![]() Amorphophallus paeoniifolius Not to Norfolk Island, NT, SA, TAS or WA Syn. Whitespot Giant Arum, oal (Bengali), suran (Hindi) Elephant Foot Yam is a tropical and subtropical tuber crop grown primarily in Africa, southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. It prefers to grow in semi-shade as an understorey. It dies back in winter and reshoots in early summer producing a single large leaf. Once this leaf dies back the tuber is ready to harvest. It is used in curry, pickles and chutney. It is also widely used in Indian medicine. It is propagated by cutting the large tubers into a few pieces. Provided as tubestock. GE100 |
![]() Dioscorea alata Not to Norfolk Island, TAS or WA syn. Greater Yam, winged yam, Chinese Yam, Guyana arrowroot, ten-months yam, water yam, violet yam, ube Hardy, vigorously twining vines with shiny, heart-shaped, purple-tinged leaves grow from very large, underground tubers that have a brown skin, purple or white streaked with purple flesh and can weigh many kilos. Full sun or semi-shade, needs a trellis. Suitable for warm temperate to tropical areas. More info on growing yam... Provided as tubestock. GY117 GY118Save $1.90 |
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Green Harvest specialises in plants which are:
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