Granddad’s lemon barley water
Lovely lemons I love the flavour of lemons – lemon tart, lemon butter, gin and tonic with a twist of lemon… The humble lemon is also heralded as a cure...
Earthwise Gardening
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Petal power
Every now and then I give a talk on organic gardening at a club or show. Afterwards I’m often approached with the question “do flowers have a place in the...
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Fantastic fungi
If I mention the word ‘fungus’, you may picture dark, slimy toadstools amid rot and decay. But to me, the world of fungi is one of jaw-dropping beauty – of...
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Reasons to keep chickens
What have chickens ever done for us? Let’s see – for a start, they produce eggs and fertiliser, control pests, eliminate weeds and take care of kitchen scraps. But for...
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We love microgreens!
I’ve tasted them in restaurants, seen them at the grocer and read about their great nutritional value but until now I’d never tried to specifically grow and harvest the mighty...
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What’s the buzz?
“The only reason for being a bee that I know of is to make honey…. And the only reason for making honey, is so as I can eat it.” – Winnie...
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Organic seed – why bother?
Did you know that seed retailed in Australia can be chemically coated with at least six different chemical products including insecticides, fungicides and specialised polymer coatings? Treated seed in Australia...
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Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb!
Until recently I thought all rhubarb was crimson red. I once grew some rhubarb with green stems but I was too nervous to eat it. I thought it was unripe...
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Asparagus bed maintenance
It’s time to do winter maintenance of the asparagus bed: here’s how I did mine. My two-year-old asparagus crowns were planted in July last year in a raised bed made...
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Away with the worms
I highly recommend being a worm farmer. Worm farms take a little effort to set up and then it’s just scraps in and fertiliser out! There are many different worm...
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Going batty!
Bats in the belfry? No, I had bats in the bathroom. I came home after work, went to close the shutters and down between the double-hung window panes I found...
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Home grown tomatoes
It is very early spring here, not by the calendar but instead by the blossoming of the stone fruit. I know there is a risk of a late frost, so...
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Crazy for lemons
Having followed a simple care routine for your citrus trees, you should be reaping citrus in abundance now. But what to do with them all? Harvesting and storage is easy....
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Charcoal and chickens
It’s not the first thing that springs to mind when I hear the words ‘charcoal’ and ‘chicken’ together, but charcoal as a chicken feed supplement can provide real health benefits...
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Home grown vege protein
I have never wanted to be completely self-sufficient, partly because it would be a full-time job and in its way, quite isolating from other people. The permaculture concept of recognising...
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Hot ginger
When I was a child my grandfather always had a ginger jar on the sideboard, more often than not almost empty with just a few crystallised ginger left in it....
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Terrific turmeric
Most of us know turmeric in powdered form purchased off the grocer’s shelf. I have to admit that I hadn’t until fairly recently used fresh turmeric, when I was given...
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Aromatherapy for chooks
Lining your chooks’ nesting and laying boxes with sweet-smelling herbs may seem a bit ‘out there’ at first, but when you think that many species of wild birds add aromatic...
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Remember the rosemary
fter killing my rosemary plant through enthusiastic over-harvesting, I was alarmed to discover that a replacement was not readily available: the recent wet weather had not been kind to the...
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In mint condition: spearmint
(Mentha spicata) This herb is a lovable rogue – don’t let it get the jump on you or it will take over your garden. I planted spearmint and that’s exactly...
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Oyster and shiitake mushrooms – don’t need much room!
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...
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Edible flowers – eating not only your greens but your reds and blues!
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...
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Tools of choice for the 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...
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Enchanted by eggplant
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!...
