Good Organic Gardening

Spring! The weather is warming up, the days are lengthening and everywhere nature emerges blinking and yawning after a long winter snooze. It’s the time of year when every gardener, every plant, every animal looks forward to the prospect of rebirth a

Gorse is an invasive weed that has spread its prickly green branches and yellow flowers in dense swathes across pasture, through bush and woodland and into mountain areas. Native to Europe, it is now found in all but the hottest and driest parts of s

New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) is a popular lowmaintenance garden plant grown for its long and often colourful leaves, which range from bright green to dark burgundy red. The strap-like leaves can reach 2m in length and they have many clever appli

Sweet corn, otherwise known as maize, is a delicious, juicy treat, especially with kids. Steamed and coated with butter, it’s the perfect complement to a barbecue while just about everyone, it seems, loves popcorn. Of course it’s also wonderful in ch

At the time of writing we were seeing an alarmingly early start to flu season with a number of deaths and many hospitalisations. So it was interesting to receive a press release with the heading “Eating elderberries can help minimise influenza sympto

It’s been a while since I last did a Gardening Folk article on my own family and a lot has happened. Since the previous story some seven years ago, we’ve left our rental property of 16 years and moved into our very own place and are no longer held ba

The Big Scrub subtropical rainforest in the NSW Northern Rivers almost wasn’t. Despite a lineage stretching back millions of years to the time Australia was part of the Gondwanan rainforest supercontinent, it came within a hair’s breadth of disappear

Spring is the season everyone loves, gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It seems like the whole world is coming to life with new growth and profusions of flowers. It’s high spring and everything is growing its socks off. Regular feeding, consistent w

Celery is synonymous with diets and healthy eating, though it’s said to be a negative-calorie food because it takes more energy to chew and digest than it contains. Growing celery in your own garden will require time (it’s a relatively slowgrowing pl

Growing cucumbers at my place has had an unexpected side-effect: my daughter has refused to eat store-bought ones as they don’t taste any good. While it was flattering that she loved home-grown vegies, it was tricky to make salads after the frosts ar

The zucchini is a very productive — some might say overly prolific — summer veg. Just one or two plants are enough to have you searching your cookbooks for inspiration under Z or Googling zucchini recipes. But that’s exactly why I love them! Fried, b

Figs have a double harvest as they produce two crops a year. The main crop forms in summer and ripens in autumn. The second crop, known as the breba, grows in spring and ripens in summer. While two crops are a bonus, it is that delicious flavour that

Cymbidiums are among the most popular orchids, ideal for the beginner orchidist and usually grown in large pots positioned outdoors. They have light green strappy leaves but come into their own in winter and early spring when they produce robust stem

Whether you have oodles of space or just a balcony, plants that climb can give you another opportunity to squeeze more garden into your property. The joy of climbing plants is that they provide colour, aesthetics, green shade and insulation. And deci

One of the most delicious crops to harvest in early spring is asparagus. Look for fresh spears daily and harvest them quickly as the spears soon mature into woody and inedible stems. If you haven’t any asparagus growing, don’t despair. Look for pots

Sit outdoors with a cuppa and observe your chooks going about their daily activities. They’re great DIY workers. They all have individual quirks and personalities and most lay a distinctly coloured and shaped egg. With the breeding season imminent, h

When the Department of Environment estimates Australians send about 60 percent organic material to the tip — that’s 40 percent food scraps and 20 percent garden waste — it’s hard not to lament the waste of resources, not least the cost of getting it

Peer under a street light at dusk on a balmy night in Australia and chances are you will observe some energetic nocturnal critters flying about in figure-eight patterns. Most likely they will be microbats catching a quick meal of moths, mosquitoes or

The coming of spring signals the main growing season for many plants and climates. To get your plants going as vigorously as possible, feeding at the right time and in the right balance is the secret to success. (Along with adequate water, suitable l

A tasty warm salad for both the meat eater and the vegetarian. Use leftover meat, fish or chicken for this dish, or simply boil up a few eggs. • 1 cauliflower• ½–1 red onion• 1 tbsp olive oil• ¼ tsp ground turmeric• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Maybe it’s because they’re one of the first stone fruits of the season or maybe it’s because the tree-ripened fruit is so deliciously good. Either way, garden-grown apricots are always at the top of my list of summer stone fruits. Fresh apricots don’

Someone should write a book about the influence of Italians on gardening in Australia. Take Pier and Charlie, who grow vegetables at home in the Geelong suburb of Bell Post Hill as well as on a 1000m2 block they own in nearby Bell Park, now covered w

The eggplant’s closest relatives are tomato, capsicum and potato. Despite differences in appearance between these popular vegies, all are part of the Solanaceae family. This family relationship lies in the flowers, which all share a similar shape eve

Crabapples are very rewarding trees to grow as they are both ornamental and productive. They sport beautiful blossoms in spring and small but attractive fruit that ripens in autumn and can persist on the tree for many months, often well into winter.

Spring is in the air, so what better way to enjoy beautiful warm spring weather than to pot up a fresh produce garden? Use free-draining containers and position them where they’ll receive plenty of warm sunshine: at least 5–6 hours daily. Fill the po

In the two previous articles on permaculture’s energy-efficient planning, we looked at the concept of zone planning, which is concerned with managing energies within our system, and sector planning, which is concerned with elements and forces of natu

In warm parts of the temperate zones, gardeners will be planting second crops but in the cool areas, where frost is still a worry, it’s safer to wait to the end of the month before planting out cold-sensitive seedlings. Keep cucumber, tomato, zucchin