- Published on
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.
- Published on
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.
- Published on
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.
- Published on
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.
- Published on
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!
- Published on
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.”
- Published on
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.
- Published on
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.
- Published on
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.
- Published on
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.