What's in your garden?

[Nomad]

After touching the subject on a similar thread I have decided to start a thread about what kind of plants you grow at home and how you do it?

I have a great interest in horticulture and always have, our whole family recently moved from suburbia to semi-rural acreage and we have been trying to do the most with the small 2.5 acres of land we have.

So far we have an Aquaponic greenhouse full of beans, capsicums, chillies, cucumbers, herbs, peas, spring onions, squash and tomatoes. This aquaponics system is still in early stages and has not reached maturity yet, our growing capability will increase as our fish grow and our nutrient levels go up.

Outside we have a few projects going on. There are young citrus trees, avocados and four large soil/straw wicking beds for potatoes. In construction is a raised garden bed for planting beneficial insect attractants.

We are trying to grow food to eat and currently it is only supplementing the pantry for a few fresh vegetables but the plan is to grow all our own fresh food.

 

[auscraft]

For us this year is re- establishing a lot of previous work done and lost. With the past few years of floods and storm damages we are focusing on different personal gardens for vege, our fruit trees are still fine so that is just re mulch and new water lines. We have just planed new sprinkler system to be installed which will go well beyond where it is currently reaches.
All new personal gardens for vege will be raised and heavily staked so they won't float down to our dam like last two floods that is another to do list re dig dam from all our last mulch and dirt washing into them also rebuild 3 bay compost unit. Last flood we just laid 50 m of mulch 2 weeks before all gone and 30m of compost washed too. So a lot of rebuilding here.
But as said frit trees are still here
Plums
apricots
nectarines
cherry
pear
apples
Blue berries
black berries
mulberry
boysenberry
Lemon
oranges
mandies
Native macadamias (not hybrids)
there are a few more but not coming to mind.
Ginger
chillies
lemon grass and many herbs
Native ginger
Blue flax lily and many other native bush tucker still alive but need big help after Cows got in with down electric fences from floods

 

[Deleted member 1018]

At least the fruit trees are still there auscraft. i hope it all goes ok this year, sounds like you have a bit of work to do, good luck with it all.

 

[kiwibro]

Hey Brendan what fish do you have in your setup? I was thinking for mine I would have staging tanks to hold species like trout or redfin to allow for protein harvesting.

 

[Bloffy13]

I've got four raised beds with standard variety of veges.
ATM carrots, broccoli, cabbage (red and green), beetroot, brussel sprouts.
This is our first season and still learning. Have had snap peas and corn but only enough for one feed.
Tried onions and beans but they both failed for some reason.
Enjoy it but my lifestyle is pretty full on at the moment so clover is probably the best crop I have grown so far.....
Cheers
Bloffy

 

[Craig M]

ATM I have:
Potatoes - 2 varieties
Broad beans
Sugar snap peas
Tomatoes - Roma, Black Russian, Cherry and Yellow Pear
Strawberries
Lemons
Lemonades
Oranges
Mandarines
Herbs -,parsley, rosemary, thyme

 

[Dusty Miller]

beans but they both failed for some reason.

Beans can be a little sensitive. They need soil temps in the 20's to germinate, and they should only be watered once when sown, and not again until they are above ground. They are also sensitive to salinity, more so than other plants.

 

[Nomad]

Hey Brendan what fish do you have in your setup? I was thinking for mine I would have staging tanks to hold species like trout or redfin to allow for protein harvesting.

We are running silver perch, it gets cold here in winter on the north nsw coast they can tolerate the hot and the cold temperatures we have here.

You'd need to be living in a very cold climate for trout, keeping them cool would be an issue in summer.

Silver perch are a great table fish, we plan to harvest them at about 1.5kg. They can grow to 8kg but commonly reach a max weight of 2.5kg.

You can cycle the size of your fish and have a semi-permanent protein supply.

 

[Mickldo]

I have a fruit orchard with

Lemon
apple
orange
mandarin
banana
olive
pomegranate

In the vege garden currently growing

peas
beans
snow peas
cherry tomatoes
carrots
shallots
cauliflower
broccoli
rocket
cos lettuce
chinese cabbage

I just sowed the seeds this afternoon of the following

carrot
roma tomatoes
corn
cauliflower
shallots
radishes
cucumber
rocket
cos lettuce
zucchini
chili

In pots on the front verandah

parsley
coriander
oregano
rosemary
lavender
strawberries

Other herbs scattered through the rest of the garden

aloe vera
mint
basil
comfrey
birds eye chili

The rest of the garden is mostly Australian natives including but not limited to

lots of eucalyptus species
lots of acacia species
paperbarks
grevillias
bottlebrushes
banksias
casurinas
lillipillis
Xantherreas
bottle trees
bamboo (yeah I know it isn't native)

I love having all the natives around as they attract lots of birds and insects. Just this morning I was watering the garden and I was trying to identify how many different species of native bee I could spot. Just on one bottlebrush tree I counted at least four different native bees as well as European Honey bees. Later on while watering the vege garden I swear there was a couple of other species of native bee that weren't on the bottlebrush tree.

I want to get lots more plants yet. I want a lot of bush tucker plants to put in with the Aussie Natives garden. I do a lot of my bushcrafting just in my backyard, utilising resources growing in my yard. I want more fruit trees, more veges, more herbs, and even more trees (desirable lumber trees like Kauri pine, Satinay, etc) so that my kids or grandkids can harvest the timber in the future. I even wouldn't mind putting in some non natives like Birch trees and pine trees just for their bushcraft resources.

 

[Dusty Miller]

Didn't do a winter crop this year. Usually do broad beans, peas, snow peas, Asian greens, cauliflower and broccoli.

Perennials, asparagus, olives, apples ( a few varieties, got to have pollinators) mandarins, oranges, Tahitian lime, persimmon, loquats, mulberries, peaches. pigeon pea.

Tagasaste (a tree Lucerne) for firewood, fodder. Lucerne red clover white clover, barrel medic, caloona peas, Lab Lab beans for summer and winter fodder.

Summer usually have zucchini, squash, pumpkins (golden nugget and Jarrahdale, sometimes butternut), watermelon, rockmelon, mung beans (these are awesome for sprouts and keep forever). Beans of all sorts, Tomatoes (I don't eat them, but the rest of the family do) Cherry tomatoes are better if you have fruit fly issues. Capsicum does well. Parsnips have naturalised under my house deck. Cucumbers, climbing beans, snake beans, cow peas.

Have tried lots of stuff out of Eden seeds catalogue. Spaghetti squash is like a pumpkin that cooks into strings like spaghetti, tastes alright. Lagenaria Gourds, have planted lentils from the store packets, did alright, very small, linseed, wheat, oats, barley (very spiky for hand harvesting!). Sword beans that are a foot long, New Guinea beans. Cassava too. Growing weird things is fun, but have trouble getting the wife to try anything out of the ordinary.

A few trees for timber including coachwood, silky oak, jacaranda and Oldhamii bamboo, red cedar (Toona). Acacia and she oak species for firewood, . Pigeon pea for firewood. A couple of tea trees for oil in a damp spot (M. alternifolia).

A few bottle trees and ornamentals, but not my main focus. A few eucalypt that were there already ( I don't plant eucalypts as the leaf drop tends to reduce the microbial diversity in the soil from the oil.)

The weeds are a great source of greens, sow thistle in winter, purslane in summer.

 

[Nomad]

Do you use your pigeon peas for much else?

I'm planning to grow them for mulch, hedging and chook food.

 

[Dusty Miller]

They grow fast and have a nice sort of curry smell. You can cook them when green, or leave them to go hard and grind them up (and cook well) for "dahl". I found that chickens like the green ones, but you have to open the pods for them, if you feed it hard you have to crack it or it just goes through untouched.

The branches can be left on the ground to dry, the leaves will just fall off after a few days (lots of Nitrogen, can put it in compost to accelerate it or use them in situ as a mulch. The dried pods are nice and curly, so if you shell them, the pods make a good insulating mulch for hot areas, keeps the heat off the soil. The twigs are goo kindling, and the older trunks get to about wrist thickness or so, need a bit of area to use it solely. They don't like frost much but can come back from a total leaf loss.

http://oar.icrisat.org/2423/1/Nutritive-Value-Uses-Pigeonpea-Groundnut.pdf

Helicoverpa caterpillars love them , keep an eye for holes in the pods. Chickens live caterpillars though...

I find that Indian research is most applicable to self sufficiency, it is usually aimed at low tech usage.

 

[Hairyman]

I've heard green pigeon pea pods, leaves and branchlets can be run through a chaff cutter to make them more
accessible to chooks.

 

[Nomad]

I've been busy in the garden as always, mounded all the potatoes for the first time, planted quite a few seedlings out, corn, taro, pumpkin, beans and cucumbers.

Lots more seedlings on the way, current preparing the soil in the second raised garden bed for planting.

 

[darren]

Just got home feom 3 weeks holidays and the poddies have been in the vegie patch. There is nothing above ground level..

 

[Jacko]

We live in a Duplex Townhouse and have a 10m x 4m Backyard and a Courtyard down the side. Enough Sun is a Problem so we are still experimenting with finding the right Plants. Our Goal is to supplement our Food Budget. We where Given a Worm Farm that had a dozen live Worms at best about 6 weeks ago and the Worms are Breeding and Growing very well on a diet of Vegetable and Fruit Scraps. We have been using a large plastic Bin as a Compost Bin to great effect but the Sun has wrecked it after about 3 Years. I need too build a 3 compartment Timber Compost Station

After 10 years I cut / pulled the Tropical [White Flesh ] Peach Tree, to many issue's with Fruit Fly about a month ago. We are sprouting some Rosella Bushes to put in it's place. The Cumquat Tree is fruiting abundantly, the occasional application of Urine has helped it Grow and Fruit abundantly this Year, it's 10 years old. I transplanted the Birdseye Chilli Bush which did not like our Backyard into the Complex's Compost Heap and it has been going Gangbusters

We have had a Glut of Tomatoes and made a lot of Tomato Relish, ate a lot as well ! Egg Plant grew sorta Ok but we won't plant it again

Herbs - Parsley, 2 variety's of Mint, Dill, Sage, Thyme and Basil.

There is also 2 Pineapple Plants, One is growing it's second Fruit and the other is the top of it's first Fruit

We have 2 Sweet Potato Beds, one about 20 square metres in a Neighbours' Back Yard and another 4 square metres in ours. The Crop we Harvest is incredible, a few months ago we harvested 40 Kilo's of them and we are still eating them

I've been lazy and not built a raised Garden Bed for the one Sunny area we have left in the Yard. I must get to it. Plan is to grow Onions as the First Crop in it.

I have a early edition of the Readers Digest - Back to Basics which is an invaluable guide to Crop Rotation and other tricks of growing Vegies. I'd love a couple of Chooks in a movable Pen so they can Scratch and fertilize the Grass as well as letting them loose in the Garden from time to time but the Council will not allow us too, our land is to small

regards Jacko

 

[Hairyman]

Potted up some mixed herbs (from a country market) for Xmas gifts.

 

[Dusty Miller]

Neighbours potty calves... and not a green leaf left

 

[gelandangan]

Sounds like you guys have awesome gardens.

I have weed..

 

[Wildfire]

I have weed..

Careful what you say on public forums G, Big brother is always watching.....