Good Organic Gardening

Kicking a garden off from a completely blank canvas, as we currently are, is the golden opportunity to get it right. By that I mean plant a garden that will thrive in our temperate seaside climate, sandy soil and often dry conditions; one that will p

Who doesn’t love a tomato? In March, The Diggers Club, Australia’s largest gardening community, is celebrating the 30th year of its heirloom tomato taste test. Diggers Tomato Festival is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, March 2–3, at Heronswood, th

Jo is an environmental scientist, photographer and writer. She has worked in the environment movement for decades and is co-ordinator of the National Toxics Network, an organisation dedicated to creating a toxic-free future. She has written many arti

A horticulturist, writer, presenter and passionate organic gardener, Chloe uses her social media profile Bean There Dug That to educate and inform like-minded gardeners, using fun, creative videos and posts. Find her on Facebook and Instagram @beanth

Observers watched the Great Barrier Reef have sex as a new generation of corals was conceived on Moore Reef, 47km east of Cairns, early in November. Billions of tiny pink balls exploded into the water as different species of soft corals and a handful

Although this pungent herb is a trailing plant, don’t be tempted to plant it near an edge or grow it on a balcony. The wrong location could be fatal for the furry member of your family, which might take a tumble. Instead, grow catnip near a hot sunny

The medlar is an old-fashioned fruit not quite lost from cultivation but certainly from general knowledge. Once better known than apples, today it’s regarded more as a curiosity than as a tasty treat — but it offers a history lesson in the developmen

Cauliflower is a member of that happy family of brassicas known as cole crops, though in appearance it’s a bit of a one-off. Unlike its siblings, including Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale, its leaves are not eaten — only the head, a large white in

Crispy, juicy and sometimes tart, the apple is a favourite fruit with a long and fascinating history. It can be traced back thousands of years to Central Asia where the wild apple tree (Malus sieversii) still grows today. These wild apples were nothi

Geraldton, 420km north of Perth, is something of a marine graveyard. Several Dutch vessels including the infamous Batavia sank off the coast. Explorer George Grey, later South Australia’s governor, was shipwrecked at Kalbarri and, in 1941, HMAS Sydne

Catherine Hill Bay is a heritagelisted village on Awabakal land just south of Newcastle. Once a mining town, it was named for the schooner Catherine Hill, which ran aground nearby during a fierce winter storm in 1867. Garden designer Linda (Linnie) R

Misty Tamborine Mountain, an idyllic rainforest region in the Scenic Rim about an hour southwest of Brisbane, is full of stunning subtropical gardens. Chanelle Hepplewhite, Daniel Briffa and their son Sabbath share their quarter-acre block with two l

Early autumn in most of Australia means high temperatures are still likely in the daytime along with humidity, which means there’s still a lot to plant in your patch. April feels more like autumn as the nights become cooler and the wet season ends in

These maps are simplified versions adapted from climate maps by the Bureau of Meteorology and are only a rough guide. Microclimates can be formed anywhere. ■

In the early 20th century, when the kiwifruit was introduced to New Zealand as Chinese gooseberry, it’s said the locals thought it resembled their own national emblem, the flightless, fuzzy kiwi bird, and so the fruit earned a new name. Kiwifruit is

Berries are among the most expensive fruits to buy but are easy to grow and a delight to have in the garden. The top-selling berry is the strawberry: more than nine million tonnes of this succulent fruit are produced around the world annually. Next o

It has to be said: if you’ve always hated Brussels sprouts it’s probably because of the way someone in your family cooked them; you’re haunted by memories of the boiled, soggy, insipid specimens you were served as a kid. If you’re game, you need to h

Fennel isn’t on every gardener’s radar but, as an attractive and very tasty vegetable that’s reasonably easy to grow, perhaps it should be. Though very popular in the UK and Europe, it’s not often seen in Aussie backyards. One reason might be that co

Not many vegetables attain the status of national symbol but, if you’re Welsh, wearing a leek proudly denotes your nationality — especially if worn on Saint David’s Day, March 1. The custom goes back centuries. Even in Shakespeare’s time it was consi

Rutaceae or citrus would have to be one of the most popular families of fruit trees. Most of us can name lemon, orange, mandarin, lime, grapefruit and cumquat, with tangerine, tangelo and lemonade not far behind. But there are others in the family yo

In early spring in my garden, honeyeaters are calling out to one another as they flock to the pendulous yellow flowers on the large kowhai (Sophora tetraptera). Every now and then there’s a tussle and a cascade of yellow flowers fall to the ground. T

The aptly named woolly bush (Adenanthos sericeus) is one of my favourite plants because of its wonderfully textured, soft, silvery foliage. For me, it’s the perfect substitute for a cat or dog — stroking the branches of my furry plant friend gives me

It’s highly probable that aquatic plants were among the earliest leafy vegetables in the human diet. Their visual appeal would have caught the attention of keen observers who, drawn like all of us to water, no doubt noticed how many birds and animals

Learning how to save seeds is a community service of the highest level. By saving and stewarding locally adapted varieties for the future, you increase the resilience of your entire community. It’s a small and slow solution with the largest effects i

Painting the trunks and lower branches of fruit trees white may seem an unusual thing to do but the practice of whitewashing dates back to the orchards of ancient Greece and Rome. The tradition was revived in the 1800s to early 1900s and became wides

There are some stunning-looking breeds of fowl but it’s the crested ones that take the cake. Some have the elegance of a fashion model; others just look comical. That they’re in a class of their own goes without saying. Crests come in a variety of si

• Take advantage of the ongoing daytime warmth to prepare for winter and spring harvests by sowing cabbage, broad beans, Asian greens, lettuce, rocket, carrots, silverbeet, spring onions and spinach. • Other edibles to try now include tatsoi, rocket,

• As temperatures cool, keep on putting in brassicas, broad beans, peas, spring onions and spinach. Now is also a good time to consider planting carrots and spuds as well as artichokes, asparagus and beetroot. Snow peas and spinach planted at the end

This is an edited extract from Meatsmith by Andrew McConnell and Troy Wheeler (Hardie Grant Books, RRP $60). Meatsmith is available in stores nationally. SERVES 8 Quite possibly our favourite parsnip recipe ever. This pairs so well with duck but woul

Common name: Variable ladybird, common Australian lady beetle Scientific name: Coelophora inaequalis If you’ve encountered tiny yellow beetles that don’t seem to wear the usual black spots in the usual pattern, never fear — they are actually ladybird

The team at Aussie Gardener have made it really easy to grow your own vegetable seedlings at home and put an end to all the plastic waste that happens from buying punnets at the nursery. This complete kit contains: A year’s worth of seed, large propa

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