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By Catherine Watson
GROWING avocadoes is a holy grail for many local home gardeners, but it’s no simple matter.
I reckon I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on avocados in my lifetime, and hundreds of dollars on avocado trees.
All failed. If the drought didn’t get them, the frost did. The trees are incredibly vulnerable. I’ve heard there are productive avocado trees growing in the community garden at Wimbledon Heights, so it can be done, but how?
GROWING avocadoes is a holy grail for many local home gardeners, but it’s no simple matter.
I reckon I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on avocados in my lifetime, and hundreds of dollars on avocado trees.
All failed. If the drought didn’t get them, the frost did. The trees are incredibly vulnerable. I’ve heard there are productive avocado trees growing in the community garden at Wimbledon Heights, so it can be done, but how?
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The return of amaranth each summer reminds Catherine of another life.
By Catherine Watson
IT’S 23 years since I left my Collingwood life behind and moved full-time to Wonthaggi.
Each summer I’m reminded of that other life when the amaranth seedlings appear in my rocket and herb bed.
My old Greek neighbour Anna used to bring me vegetable dishes made from her own garden: young broad beans cooked in the pod with garlic and herbs, stuffed zucchini flowers and horta, a mix of leafy greens, including amaranth. All slow cooked, slathered in good olive oil and lemon juice, served at room temperature and delicious.
Anna gave me some plants when I moved and there must have been some amaranth seeds in the soil, because the next year they came up in my garden and they’ve reappeared every year since. Never so many that they become a nuisance – maybe 10 or 20, just enough to be very welcome.
IT’S 23 years since I left my Collingwood life behind and moved full-time to Wonthaggi.
Each summer I’m reminded of that other life when the amaranth seedlings appear in my rocket and herb bed.
My old Greek neighbour Anna used to bring me vegetable dishes made from her own garden: young broad beans cooked in the pod with garlic and herbs, stuffed zucchini flowers and horta, a mix of leafy greens, including amaranth. All slow cooked, slathered in good olive oil and lemon juice, served at room temperature and delicious.
Anna gave me some plants when I moved and there must have been some amaranth seeds in the soil, because the next year they came up in my garden and they’ve reappeared every year since. Never so many that they become a nuisance – maybe 10 or 20, just enough to be very welcome.
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Dick Wettenhall, centre, with runners up Larry Hills and Morgan Blackthorne
DICK Wettenhall has won the annual Wonthaggi-Jeetho West-Gurdies Pumpkin Growing Cup for the second year in a row.
It’s the first time in the 13-year history of the championship that a grower has had to present the trophy to himself.
This year’s variety was Queensland Blue and it proved a difficult task for most growers in a very dry summer.
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Mother in law’s tongue, also known as devil’s tongue, releases oxygen at night. Photo by Ks.mini
By Anne Heath Mennell
DID YOU know that NASA (yes, the space agency) has been researching air quality for decades, including how plants can improve our air quality?
Plant enthusiast Monique Wilson shared this information at the Let’s Talk Plants event, organised by the West Gippsland Library Corporation, at the Grantville Transaction Centre. Monique is passionate about plants and generous in sharing her knowledge, tips and hints for being a good plant ‘parent’.
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Make compost, not war on weeds, is the advice from veteran gardener Barbara Hallett.
By Catherine Watson
WEEDS are not the enemy in Barbara Hallet’s garden. Describing herself as “messy but productive”, she has a relaxed attitude to garden surprises.
“Weeds are only what nature plants when you leave a space,” she says. “You can’t fight nature. You can only work with it.”
On Wednesday, Mitchell House Harvest Centre in Wonthaggi will host a talk by Barbara on seed saving, gardening and vegetarianism. She will give out seeds from her North Wonthaggi garden and answer gardening questions.
WEEDS are not the enemy in Barbara Hallet’s garden. Describing herself as “messy but productive”, she has a relaxed attitude to garden surprises.
“Weeds are only what nature plants when you leave a space,” she says. “You can’t fight nature. You can only work with it.”
On Wednesday, Mitchell House Harvest Centre in Wonthaggi will host a talk by Barbara on seed saving, gardening and vegetarianism. She will give out seeds from her North Wonthaggi garden and answer gardening questions.
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By Linda Gordon
FEELING discouraged in your fruit and veg garden? Troubled by extreme UV, heatwaves, blasts of north wind and hollow-sounding water tanks? Join the club.
Truly, if I can’t get the garden jobs done before morning tea I’m as desiccated as the lettuce in the north-facing vegie bed.
It could be worse. We live down south, not in sunny Mildura, and for that I’m thankful.
There is also gratitude due to this hot weather for what it teaches us gardeners about growing edibles, and other plants, in challenging conditions.
FEELING discouraged in your fruit and veg garden? Troubled by extreme UV, heatwaves, blasts of north wind and hollow-sounding water tanks? Join the club.
Truly, if I can’t get the garden jobs done before morning tea I’m as desiccated as the lettuce in the north-facing vegie bed.
It could be worse. We live down south, not in sunny Mildura, and for that I’m thankful.
There is also gratitude due to this hot weather for what it teaches us gardeners about growing edibles, and other plants, in challenging conditions.
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By Linda Gordon
DO YOU remember a time when puddles of mucky water, dirt, long, stout sticks and an absence of responsible adults was all you desired in life?
I do. And it wasn’t in my long-ago childhood. It was last Thursday, at the community garden, in Wonthaggi, before anyone else had arrived.
My job during this year has been to monitor the weed tea. This involves using a long stick for vigorous mixing of smelly water and invasive weeds, marinating in a barrel and two rubbish bins, in full sun.
I also get to add water to the containers, and throw the pungent, decayed weeds into the nearby compost bays, where they add compost-activating microbes aplenty.
It’s the dream job. Right?
DO YOU remember a time when puddles of mucky water, dirt, long, stout sticks and an absence of responsible adults was all you desired in life?
I do. And it wasn’t in my long-ago childhood. It was last Thursday, at the community garden, in Wonthaggi, before anyone else had arrived.
My job during this year has been to monitor the weed tea. This involves using a long stick for vigorous mixing of smelly water and invasive weeds, marinating in a barrel and two rubbish bins, in full sun.
I also get to add water to the containers, and throw the pungent, decayed weeds into the nearby compost bays, where they add compost-activating microbes aplenty.
It’s the dream job. Right?
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Cartoon by Natasha Williams-Novak
By Linda Gordon
FIGS are ingenious and highly successful trees. Did you know that there are 750 known species; more than either the eucalyptus or oaks?
“Extraordinarily - indeed it all starts to seem miraculous – each kind of fig has its own species of symbiotic wasp. Each wasp co-evolved with the fig it pollinates. “
These remarkable fig facts and much, much more are revealed in The Secret Life of Trees, How They Live and Why They Matter by zoologist, philosopher and writer Colin Tudge.
FIGS are ingenious and highly successful trees. Did you know that there are 750 known species; more than either the eucalyptus or oaks?
“Extraordinarily - indeed it all starts to seem miraculous – each kind of fig has its own species of symbiotic wasp. Each wasp co-evolved with the fig it pollinates. “
These remarkable fig facts and much, much more are revealed in The Secret Life of Trees, How They Live and Why They Matter by zoologist, philosopher and writer Colin Tudge.
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By Linda Gordon
WONTHAGGI’S heathlands are particularly lovely walking in spring, when the plants put on their best in the hope of attracting passing pollinators. I was disappointed last week, then, to see that someone had used the area near the start of a walking track as a dump site for a washing machine and a bed.
Staff from the council and Parks Victoria had noted it, too. There was yellow and black tape around the dumped stuff.
WONTHAGGI’S heathlands are particularly lovely walking in spring, when the plants put on their best in the hope of attracting passing pollinators. I was disappointed last week, then, to see that someone had used the area near the start of a walking track as a dump site for a washing machine and a bed.
Staff from the council and Parks Victoria had noted it, too. There was yellow and black tape around the dumped stuff.
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By Linda Gordon
WHAT do these good-looking, hard-working local people have in common? Yes, they were all working in the Wonthaggi Community Garden in the sunshine last week.
But what may not be obvious to you, or even to them. was that the closer they got to the dirt, the better their chances of dodging depression, rheumatoid arthritis, certain cancers and Crohn’s Disease.
WHAT do these good-looking, hard-working local people have in common? Yes, they were all working in the Wonthaggi Community Garden in the sunshine last week.
But what may not be obvious to you, or even to them. was that the closer they got to the dirt, the better their chances of dodging depression, rheumatoid arthritis, certain cancers and Crohn’s Disease.
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By Linda Gordon
SUDDENLY, it seems, the garden has woken up, or could it be me who’s come out of hibernation.
SUDDENLY, it seems, the garden has woken up, or could it be me who’s come out of hibernation.
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By Catherine Watson
THE extended heat waves of summer and autumn made this year’s apple crop a hit and miss affair, but here in a shady corner of Wonthaggi I had my best-ever apple season. Royal gala and Cox’s orange apple trees that had sulked ever since I planted them more than 10 years ago suddenly decided this was their season and produced bountiful, tasty crops.
THE extended heat waves of summer and autumn made this year’s apple crop a hit and miss affair, but here in a shady corner of Wonthaggi I had my best-ever apple season. Royal gala and Cox’s orange apple trees that had sulked ever since I planted them more than 10 years ago suddenly decided this was their season and produced bountiful, tasty crops.
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By Linda Gordon
IT’S true gardeners have had an image problem in the past. Decent people, mostly middle aged and older, hopelessly unfashionable: baggy trousers stained at the knees, cardigans over jumpers and shapeless tee shirts, troubling hats or hair blown every which way.
IT’S true gardeners have had an image problem in the past. Decent people, mostly middle aged and older, hopelessly unfashionable: baggy trousers stained at the knees, cardigans over jumpers and shapeless tee shirts, troubling hats or hair blown every which way.
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A completed Hügelkultur bed prior to being covered with soil. Photo: Jon Roberts
By Linda Gordon
ANOTHER dry cool day, another pile of prunings. It’s inevitable at this time of the gardening year that we want to cut back, tidy up and plan for the warm growing season.
ANOTHER dry cool day, another pile of prunings. It’s inevitable at this time of the gardening year that we want to cut back, tidy up and plan for the warm growing season.
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By Linda Gordon
BRUISED and confused by the budget news, I put my head, heart and hands into the garden this week and had a moment of clarity. Yes I’m cash poor but, hang on, I am compost rich!
BRUISED and confused by the budget news, I put my head, heart and hands into the garden this week and had a moment of clarity. Yes I’m cash poor but, hang on, I am compost rich!
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By Linda Gordon
“WEEDS are the ultimate convenience food. They ask of you no money, no search for a parking space at the supermarket, no planting, no watering or any other maintenance whatsoever.”
“WEEDS are the ultimate convenience food. They ask of you no money, no search for a parking space at the supermarket, no planting, no watering or any other maintenance whatsoever.”
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By Linda Gordon
MY GARDEN shed is an open-plan affair, a very convenient design for getting in and out with bulky things. There are no doors and just one corrugated tin wall.
MY GARDEN shed is an open-plan affair, a very convenient design for getting in and out with bulky things. There are no doors and just one corrugated tin wall.
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By Linda Gordon
IF YOU are in the habit of singing to your plants, you’d better make sure you’re in tune. It turns out they can hear you and they are more than somewhat sensitive.
IF YOU are in the habit of singing to your plants, you’d better make sure you’re in tune. It turns out they can hear you and they are more than somewhat sensitive.
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By Linda Gordon
THEY come from the far east, are exotic and easy to ignore. You may not have eaten one since you were a kid when you idly picked the orangey ball off a neighbourhood tree, took a bite and chucked the rest away.
THEY come from the far east, are exotic and easy to ignore. You may not have eaten one since you were a kid when you idly picked the orangey ball off a neighbourhood tree, took a bite and chucked the rest away.
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By Linda Gordon
To net or not to net? That is the question. Every fruit season we have the same quandary: the netting is awkward to use but the crop is vulnerable.
And there is the scale of the exercise. We have about 40 fruit and nut trees in our medium sized garden: 11 apples and two crab apples, three apricots, a fig, pomegranate, persimmon, two plums, one cherry, three peach, two nectarines ... and so on.
To net or not to net? That is the question. Every fruit season we have the same quandary: the netting is awkward to use but the crop is vulnerable.
And there is the scale of the exercise. We have about 40 fruit and nut trees in our medium sized garden: 11 apples and two crab apples, three apricots, a fig, pomegranate, persimmon, two plums, one cherry, three peach, two nectarines ... and so on.