Orchids are amazing! Growing up in Perth with hot bone-dry Summers and wet Winters, I would see them as plants for enthusiasts only, and we didn’t see the huge variety that are available now. When you’ve got the right climate though, they flourish in the toughest spots. In a bit of a faith leap, I planted out a set of orchids into trees above the house back in Winter; these two as well as Dendrobiums and a Cymbidium. It was partly to get them off the ground, where rats were prone…
Read MoreMonth: February 2015
Pineapple sage
Although a great fan of standard sage (Salvia officinalis) and also of the flowering salvias, I didn’t know about pineapple sage (Salvia elegans, for an updated post click here) until I saw a scrawny cutting in the $2 section of a nursery last Spring. Now, I’m really glad I got it. It’s a fine looking plant with added flavour benefits.
Read MoreBiological control?
It’s nice to see that caterpillars sometimes eat the weeds too. This mallow burr is a major weed here, and comes up on any disturbed ground. It gets up to 2 m high and has burrs that stick firmly to any fabric. Fortunately it’s relatively easy to pull, when young, but I was delighted to see some caterpillars helping me with the job. This caterpillar is in my old school colours, too! Green, black and gold, and even the red head fits with the later addition of the red house. Biological control…
Read MoreGreen Gem cucumbers
Cucumbers have become a staple of summer this year. When we were living in the city I would prefer to get the old fashioned thick-skinned kind, rather than lebanese or telegraph, as I think they have better flavour. So my choice from the seed catalogue for Spring was Green Gem cucumbers; an old standard, good for hot climates, and mildew resistant.
Read MoreGreen zebra tomatoes
This is a crop that I’ve been looking forward to very much. Back in Winter when I was sorting through the seed catalogues to see which tomatoes I should get, there was one from the array of choices that I definitely had in mind; green zebra tomatoes to add colour interest to a tomato salad, and as a bonus they were recommended for regions with wet summers. You can see how pretty they are, the fruit are small, about 5 cm round, with green stripes. Fully ripe, the background colour goes…
Read MoreNational Pickling Gherkin
National Pickling gherkin; this name sounds rather grand to me. I’m not sure which nation they represent, but they were a lucky selection for our garden as they have yielded well and are different enough from salad cucumbers to be a separate crop for the kitchen. I planted two types of cucumber this year; a salad type and a pickling one, to hedge my bets. The first picking of the gherkins was a bit of a worry to me, as they were not only insipid but also bitter. Fortunately the…
Read MoreEdamame soy beans
Edamame soy beans are a large-seeded cultivar bred for the green beans. They are a rewarding crop, and another one that I had no experience of growing. In Sydney I usually had a bag of frozen edamame in the apartment freezer, ready for snacks, and had wondered how they compared with fresh ones. How do they compare? Fresher, greener, and I know how they’ve been treated.
Read MoreSandpaper fig
This attractive tree is growing on our driveway, decorated with its red fruit. There are a few sandpaper figs locally, but this is the rainforest (upland) species Ficus fraseri. The creek sandpaper fig, Ficus coronata, has edible fruit, but these ones just taste recognisably figgy – thats as far as I’d go for palatability, although the fruit bats love them and land for a feed every evening. By the way, the name is for real. The leaves are very finely rough and can be used for sanding wood. I think…
Read MoreSunflower harvest.
This week I started the sunflower harvest in earnest. I’ve grown sunflowers before but harvesting them is new to me. Sites I visited said that they are harvested earlier than I would expect, some say as soon as the heads turn down or turn brown on top.
Read MoreThai Pink Egg tomatoes
Thai Pink Egg tomatoes are great for the home garden, especially in areas with warm wet Summers. The fruit is about 5 cm long, egg shaped, and ripens from a pearly grey to pink. Cut, the flesh is contrastingly orange, and the flavour is good, not at all acid, so excellent for salads. I selected this from the seed catalogue for two reasons; it is suited to our climate, and the shape and colour make it ideal for mixed tomato salads. Growing Thai Pink Egg tomatoes As the name suggests,…
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