Blueberry Hill?

I am thinking of renaming my place Blueberry Hill after the number of blueberry bushes that I now have producing fruit! The only problem being that I am at the bottom of the hill, not up the top?

How it started?

It all started with one little blueberry bush that I found on the ‘take me home and love me’ tray at the Big Green Shed! The poor thing was soo close to dead! It didn’t even have a label and was reduced to $1.00. This bush has become so productive that I wrote a separate blog about it. As a result I was given another 2 blueberry bushes that people had not been able to get to produce fruit. Since then, these blueberries have flowered and produced a couple of great crops of blueberries!

Since then I have found more blueberry plants on the ‘take me home and love me’ tray at the Big Green shed. Of course I just can’t resist these temptations?

Grow and thrive

As they grow and thrive in part shade at my place, they have become a great filler plant. I have them in pots as well as in the ground. They are great for under larger fruit trees and deciduous flowering trees.

I cannot believe how different the fruit taste straight from the bush! They are sooo sweet. Absolutely none of the tartness or blandness you can get from store bought blueberries. And the size! They can be double the size of the store bought fruit!

And what’s even better is that they are good for your health, with research showing that the anthocyanins that cause the bright blue colour are helpful in combating several human diseases and may even prevent some cancers!

So, why not grow some yourself?

Happy gardening from your edible garden guru ?

The post Are Blueberry’s Easy to Grow? appeared first on Delectable Garden.

And one of the major reasons is the awful, tragic effect that plastic pollution is having on animals, especially in our oceans ?

However, I am not going to use any of those heart-wrenching photos of animals killed by plastic rings or plastic bags in their gut!

Not because I don’t believe that it is happening! But because those photos and that information make me feel sooo sick in the gut, sad and powerless. So it almost seems easier to give up, than to try and make any difference! ? After all, I’m only one person right?

I was also horrified to read that plastic rubbish was recently found at the bottom of the Mariana trench. ? That is nearly 11,000 metres below sea level. That is about 3,000 metres deeper than Mt Everest, if you inverted Mt Everest!

And I know that plastic pollution is found at the top of Mt Everest!

But you need to be in a submarine to visit Mariana trench! And the number of people who have achieved this (unlike Everest) are in single digits!

Another reason my Plastic free living journey was when I read that scientists have found shreds of micro-plastic in our poop. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to think that I am eating and digesting enough plastics that it is coming out the other end! ?

Another thing that horrified me was the change, or should I say lack of change, that happened when single use plastic bags were banned in Queensland. ? It seems to me that this was just an excuse for the supermarkets to charge for the single use bags and put their logos on them! This just replaced the previously freely supplied ubiquitous grey or white plastic bags.

And the final reason was when I realised that every piece of plastic that has ever been made is still with us on our beautiful planet Earth! ?

I think I knew that subliminally, but I had never really thought it through.

Plastic doesn’t degrade! If it was made, then it is still made.

It’s in our landfill, in our oceans, in our back yards and in our homes! And at the rate we are producing and using plastic, soon there won’t be enough land for us to fill with plastic waste! ?

Anyway, these are some of my reasons. I’m sure if I thought about it I could come up with a lot more. However, my aim is not to preach at people but to give you some ideas and suggestions about how we can all make a difference, one piece of plastic at a time!

I hope you will join me and the millions of others signed up to Plastic Free July. For further information visit www.plasticfreejuly.org.

Here’s to living more sustainably.

Your Edible Gardening Guru.

The post Plastic Free Living: My Journey appeared first on Delectable Garden.

In Brisbane we grow a fabulous range of vegetables throughout winter. These include lettuce, bok choy, eggplants, tomatoes, kale and most leafy green vegetables.

I was planting up my vegetable garden the other day in time for winter and was planting some more red veined sorrel. It’s really attractive, and adds colour to the garden. As I was removing the seedling from its pot I noticed the label described red veined sorrel as a “Superfood”.

Now I must admit that I have been noticing quite a few vegetables labelled as Superfood in the nursery lately. So I decided to find out what exactly what this constituted a superfood.

You probably won’t be surprised to know that there are lots of conflicting opinions of what exactly constituted a superfood.

General consensus was that superfood is a marketing term to describe a food that is nutrient dense. This means that they contain lots of vitamins and minerals. They also contain lots of micronutrients such as anthocyanins and lycopenes. Researchers are discovering that many micronutrients are instrumental in helping to protect us from cancer. They also work at protecting us from many age-related illnesses.

Most green leafy vegetables are considered a superfood, as are many herbs and fruits.

In fact I would go as far as to say, if you can grow it and eat it, it is a superfood! Many processed foods have empty nutrient foods like sugar added to them. This dilutes the nutrient value of the food.

Processing, especially with lots of heat destroys nutrients. Also, removing layers such as peeling vegetables, removes a lot of nutirents which are then discarded. Food manufacturers add back many synthetic vitamins and minerals to replace those remove during processing. But what about the nutrients we have yet to discover are in the raw foods that may be good for our health?

I think it’s a sad indictment on our lifestyles and current way of life that we have to relabel foods fresh from nature as superfoods!

Let us know what you think in the comments area below.

The post Superfoods – Eating foods as nature intended? appeared first on Delectable Garden.

Pests on plant

Normally this request is also accompanied by a desire for it to be in a single application as “I don’t have time to be spraying these insects or weeds regularly”!

Many people don’t seem to understand that for a poison or pesticide or weedicide to work as instantly and effectively as they have requested, it is usually a strong poison.

Poison

By definition, this means that it is not going to be safe for their children, pets or even for themselves!

Sure we may require a bigger dose of the poison to kills us than that which we use to kill the insects. But instant death may not be the only outcome!

Many of these chemicals, like the glyphosates used to kill weeds are now being shown to cause cancers in humans.

Poison

And yet people continue to want to poison themselves and the earth! Just to get rid of an insect that might even be doing good!

This week I spoke to a gardener who was trying to eradicate the microwasps hovering above their lawns. They were sure that these wasps were the reason for their dead lawn. In fact, the wasps were busily killing the lawn grubs that had caused the damage! Although I treid to explain this, the person still wanted to poison the wasps!

Praying Mantis egg sack

As you can probably guess, the answer to the question of whether I can recommend a strong poison that is safe is always NO! I cannot recommend a strong poison that will kill insects and weeds and not have the potential to affect children or pets.

In fact, as many of my regular readers will know, I am a big fan of helping mother nature do the job of sorting out troublesome pests in my garden. I have found that she often has a safe and effective solution that does not require me to spray any insects or use any poisons.

Not only that, by not spraying I have been happy to welcome natural pest killers into my garden. Like the praying mantis egg sack above and the green frog below in my garden!

Green tree frog

Happy gardening

Rohanne, Your Edible Garden Guru

The post What is a safe garden poison? appeared first on Delectable Garden.

Conventional wisdom says that you should not compost dog poop as the poop can contain pathogens that can get into the soil.

Doggy doo

And I certainly would not want to add dog poop to my compost bin, mainly because of the smell and the possibility of generating more flies!

However, I have discovered that it is possible to compost dog poop using a worm tube!

The tube is buried in the ground and indirectly feeds your plants without any of the problems associated with pathogens. And, as it is buried and covered there is no problem with flies or with bad smells!

Worm tube

So, how to do this?

First, you have to select the site for the worm tube.

It is best if this gets some sun, but also some shade. I try and position my worm tubes so that they are located close to trees or plants that would love the extra nutrients.

Then you have to dig a hole. At least 30 cm deep is preferable so all the worm holes are covered.

Also, you want to minimise the chance of flies getting in, so the deeper the hole the better 🙂

Once the hole is dug, position the worm tube and backfill until the tube is stable.

The next step is to put some coir peat or equivalent material in the base of the tube. I know it looks just like more dog poop, but it isn’t!

Coir peat

This provides a good base for the compost worms that you are going to add to the tube.

These are the little guys that are going to do all the work, munching through the dog poop!

Not my idea of a good meal, but apparently they don’t mind!

Compost worms

Next, you add the doggy doo. I am finding it best to do a dog poop pick up early morning, just after the dogs have been out to do their toilet. Because this minimises the amount of time the flies have to find the droppings and lay their eggs!

And in summer it minimises the amount of time the doggy doo can dry out, helping to make sure its enjoyable for the worms!

Finally, top the dog poo with a layer of sawdust and an occasional handful of lime. This helps ensure that the tube does not smell when you open to add more poop!

So, more nutrients for your plants and less waste to the municipal tip. A win-win for everyone!

Happy gardening from Rohanne, Your Personal Garden Expert:)

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Here are a few things you need to know about how to grow Turmeric

Turmeric is an attractive plant with wide, bright green leaves and beautiful flowers. The flowers look like they are made out of silk. Growing Turmeric is easy!

turmeric plant

To grow your own Turmeric, all you need to do is get a piece of Turmeric root from your local market and plant it in a good quality potting mix. Keep it moist, but not wet in a warm, sheltered location protected from frosts and cold mornings.

I prefer to grow my Turmeric in a pot as it makes it easy to move around the garden and to harvest the corms. However, if you are going to grow Turmeric further south than the NSW central coast, or anywhere where you get cold winters, this becomes more of a necessity.

By growing your Turmeric in pots you can start growing it under shelter. Move it outside as the weather warms up.

I find mine does best with some shelter from the hot afternoon sun in summer. It takes about 8 months to grow a crop. This might seem a bit excessive but at $50 or more per kilo you soon see the benefits. Especially as you will probably find that it has pretty much filled the pot in this time!

To harvest your Turmeric, wait until the leaves have died down then dig up the plant. Pull the roots away from any stem that remains. Wash off the dirt and it’s ready to use.

Turmeric corm

When dealing with fresh Turmeric you need to use gloves, or you will have yellow-stained fingers for quite a few days. Turmeric adds a warm, earthy peppery flavour to many Indian and Asian recipes, especially when used fresh.

I usually grate mine and use in curries or stir-fries. Its also great in a Turmeric latte heated with almond milk and organic honey and then strained.

Otherwise, you can dehydrate thin slices in an oven or food dehydrator and then crush into a powder when dry.

If you are used to cooking with ground turmeric spice, take care when using it fresh as it is much stronger in taste and you will only need a small amount to really add its peppery zest to a meal. I find the fresh Turmeric a much nicer flavour than the dried powders.

Like many herbs and spices, Turmeric is being welcomed as a super-food and it seems that many of its claims are being supported by science. It is high in an anti-oxidant called curcumin, which is being promoted as having anti-inflammatory and even anti-cancer properties.

A number of the claims being backed up by science. These include it being very good for arthritis and joint pain, lowering the risk of heart disease and delaying age-related chronic diseases, as well as being helpful in the prevention and treatment of some cancers!

Some of the information that you read says that there may not enough of these health giving properties in the natural food, and that you have to take it as a supplement in order to get the benefits. However, it seems this is not completely true (surprise, surprise the supplements manufacturers aren’t telling us the full truth).

It has been used for thousands of years in Chinese and Indian medicine without needing to be concentrated, although research has shown that, when Turmeric is heated with fats and other spices, particularly black pepper its effectiveness is increased by up to 2000 percent.

So why not try to grow Turmeric today.

Happy gardening!

Rohanne, your Personal Garden Expert

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The post How to Grow Turmeric in Australia appeared first on Delectable Garden.

What is Echinacea?

Echinacea

Echinacea is a herb that helps our immune system protect us from catching colds and flu.

It also plays a role in shortening the duration of sickness if you do catch a cold. These health effects have been supported by research.

Echinacea is also known as the purple cone flower and is a perennial plant that is really easy to grow. It grows up to 140 cm or 4 feet.

Echinacea seeds

How do you grow Echinacea?

All you need to grow Echinacea is a well-drained soil with a neutral pH, some seeds or a piece of Echinacea root and a full sun to part shade position. I find in the sub-tropics that my Echinacea needs some protection from the hot afternoon sun.

Plant the seeds (see photo) and they will germinate in around 14 days and, if planted in spring will flower in the first year.

What are Echinacea’ benefits?

Most of you would be aware of Echinacea and its health benefits.

Did you know however that you can get all the benefits of Echinacea from the actual Echinacea plant? This may even be better for you, given that researchers have found that over 10% of commercially available Echinacea pills contained absolutely no Echinacea!

All you need to do is make and drink echinacea tea.

To make Echinacea tea, finely chop a few echinacea leaves, then squeeze the pulp through a strainer to yield about half a teaspoon of juice. Dilute in hot water and drink.

Adults can take this dose three times per day, making a fresh batch each time.

As with many herbal remedies, it is not suitable for people who are pregnant and breastfeeding, are taking immuno-suppressive medication or are allergic to other members of the Asteraceae family.

Echinacea is a perennial which means that the plant will die back in winter, which is often when you need the plant’s health effects most!! Don’t worry.

You can use some grated root to make a tea or you can dry the leaves when it is flowering abundantly and use the dried leaves to make the tea.

Happy gardening

Rohanne, your Personal Gardening Expert

The post How to grow Echinacea plants? appeared first on Delectable Garden.

Visitors to my garden are often surprised to see my lettuce, mizuna and other veggies flowering and going to seed at the end of the season.

Why don’t you just rip them out they ask?

Lettuce in flower

Well, one of the reasons is that vegetables flower and provide a great food source for my native bees and other beneficial insects! They actually help to attract these beneficial insects into my garden!

Beneficial insects are great because they will attack and eat the bad bugs likely to be feasting on your veggies.

Besides, as a bonus, I get new seeds that are totally adapted to their environment. This means that they grow quicker, are more resistant to pests and diseases and taste better!

Lettuce seeds on the plant

Most importantly, I know that the vegetable seeds haven’t been coated in any fungicides or pesticides. This means they are organic and just as nature intended!

At the moment I am on my sixth generation of mignonette lettuces. The lettuces continue to happily self-seed in the vegetable garden and adjacent path. Therefore all I have to do is give them the occasional water, some organic fertiliser and then I get to pick the leaves as I need them!

Mignonette lettuce seedlings

The mignonette lettuces seem to be almost totally immune to any pests or diseases. And they taste so much better than anything you can buy in the shops!

So, why don’t you experiment on letting some of your vegetables flower and develop seeds for your garden?

You too can benefit from growing your own seeds and vegetables that have become conditioned to your natural environment!

Happy gardening

Rohanne, your Personal Garden Expert

The post Should I let vegetables flower and set seed? How to save seeds for next year’s garden appeared first on Delectable Garden.

I was down at my local farmers market on the weekend, and I noticed some Galangal root for sale.

This is great, as it can be hard to find in the shops and local markets at this time of year. I grow my own Galangal and it will soon be in flower and after the leaves die down it is ready to harvest.

Galangal root

If you haven’t tried Galangal, it is a member of the ginger family ginger. And, like ginger, is used extensively in cooking.

Galangal is found primarily in Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines. It has a hotter, more peppery taste than ginger with under-notes of pine and citrus.

To use it, add it to soups such as Thai Chicken and Coconut soup. Its also an important ingredient in many Thai curry pastes.

Depending which recipes you read, some say if you don’t have Galangal you can substitute ginger. Other recipes say that it is different and that ginger and galangal cannot be used interchangeably. I am in the latter camp as to me they have different flavours to contribute.

Galangal is closely related to Ginger and, as such, has many of the healing and medicinal uses attributed to ginger. It is said that consuming Galangal on a regular basis can help with digestion, reducing bloating, constipation and vomiting.

Like ginger, Galangal helps reduce motion sickness and nausea. It has proven anti-inflammatory properties, which means that it can help treat arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Galangal has been shown to improve blood circulation, improving oxygen supply and nutrient supply to the extremities including the hands and feet. As such it has been credited as assisting with hair growth and to treat baldness, although this is not proven.

It can also help respiratory problems. A mixture of Galangal and lime juice can be used as a tonic for coughs and colds.

As Galangal is high in anti-oxidants it helps to minimise the damage caused by free radicals and other toxins in the body.

Galangal is a tropical plant, although it grows well in Brisbane, and can be grown as far south as Melbourne with a bit of care.

It is an attractive plant, very similar to ginger with quite narrow strappy green leaves. I prefer to grow my Galangal in a pot as it makes it easy to harvest, but this becomes more of a necessity if you are going to grow Galangal further south than the central coast.

This way you can start growing your Galangal under shelter and move it outside as the weather warms up.

Galangal plant

Galangal is really easy to grow and is seldom bothered by insects or disease.

All you need to do is get a piece of Galangal root from your local market and plant it in good quality potting mix. Keep it moist, but not wet in a warm, sheltered location.

I find mine does best with some shelter from the hot afternoon sun. It takes about 8 months to grow a crop. But in this time you will be probably find that it has pretty much filled the pot, depending on how big a pot you started with of course!

Yes, that may seem a while but at between $30 to $50 per kilo it’s worth it! So why not try growing some today?

Happy gardening

Rohanne, your Personal Garden Expert

Related Posts

How to Grow Turmeric in Australia

The post How to grow Galangal in Australia appeared first on Delectable Garden.

Here are five new year resolutions that have been tweeted as popular this year. And how your garden can help you to keep to achieve these resolutions in the next the 365 days.

Resolution 1: Exercise more

Exercise more

A lot of people start the New Year with a resolution to exercise more. This may be because they want to get fitter or because they want to lose weight.

You may already be getting some exercise. But most of the time you just sit around at home and at work, and this can have a negative effect on your health and your posture. In fact, sitting has been called “the new smoking” because of the negative effects on our health.

The garden can help you keep this resolution! You could actually grow some things that you can eat.

Gardening is a great activity for increasing your health and fitness.

Don’t have much space? It’s amazing how much you can grow in a pot or a vertical garden.

A patch of greenery can be a great positive influence for you in the concrete jungle we live in!

Resolution 2: Engage more with people and less with Social Media

Engage with more people

It’s even more fun if you share your gardening activities with friends and family.

Invite them over to help you set up your garden. Even better, invite them for a meal, where you can serve them something you have grown! Another way you can meet people and connect is to attend gardening clubs or join gardening groups on Meet-Up or Facebook.

Resolution 3: Eat Healthier Food

Vibrant veggies

There is soo much fast food around today that it sometimes seems harder to actually make healthier choices. Again, your garden can help.

When you get to eat something that you have grown and nurtured, it brings a whole new meaning and flavour to your food. Growing your own lettuce is easy. And the bonus is that you only pick what you need for your meal and leave the rest still growing in the garden, instead of getting slimy in the bottom of your fridge!

Try growing herbs such as Basil, Thyme, Sage or Mint and add them to your salads. It will add a huge flavour boost and the added bonus of knowing you grew them. Therefore they haven’t been treated with nasty chemicals that aren’t good for the bad bugs, but they aren’t good for you either!

Resolution 4: Reduce Stress

Even if you don’t have a green thumb, digging in the dirt, planting and nurturing plant life can be very therapeutic and stress relieving. Gardening has been proven to reduce stress.

Doctors have been able to test levels of the stress hormone cortisol. These tests show that cortisol levels decrease massively after we have been gardening and playing in the dirt.

I know that life can get busy and it can be hard to find time to do some gardening, but even a few indoor or outdoor potted plants have been shown to have these stress-reducing benefits.

Resolution 5: Start saving money.

There are lots of ways that your garden can help you save money.

By making healthy lifestyle changes, like cutting back on fast food and eating fresh salads from your garden. Gardening can also be a physical activity, which helps burn calories. So why not trade in your gym membership which costs both money and time and trade it for exercising at home in your garden?

The benefits are that you actually get an end product that you can use in your kitchen!

Don’t know where to start? Contact us at The Delectable Garden. We’d love to help you.

Happy gardening 

Rohanne, your Personal Garden Expert

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