After the storms that hit Brisbane yesterday you might expect that I could give watering a rest for a while. Continue Reading →
Tag Archives: Brisbane
In Flower Today
Brisbane‘s subtropical winter comes to a happy, floriferous end in mid-August. Today there’s around a hundred different plants flowering, two weeks before Australia’s official first day of spring.
In Production Today: July 2012
Thanks to a damp, mild and gloomy Brisbane winter, succulent mushrooms have boosted my menu from a low of 112 taxa last month to 157 taxa.
A Magical Day in Brisbane
There wasn’t a dry eye in Customs House last Saturday when Professor Alan McKee and Anthony Spinaze were married. Following four years of courtship, the couple declared their love and commitment to a hall packed with close friends, relatives and chosen family. Continue Reading →
Scrub Turkey Trouble
Question
Hi Jerry,
I have just moved to Byron Bay and have a bush turkey problem. Do you have any clues as to what I should do to get my veggie garden going?
Me and my veggie-head friend in Sydney love your work,
Vicki Continue Reading →
Marigold Magic
Question
I love the smell of Stinking Roger, but my neighbour says it’s a weed to get rid of. Please do tell me what use I can make of it.
Kelly, Facebook
In Production Today – June 2012
There’s just 112 different types of edible available right now, less than in late winter, since many crops sown are still juvenile.
Winter in Brisbane is perfect for mushroom growing on the cheap. In cool conditions, mushroom fly (Lycoriella sp.) ceases egg laying, so its maggots don’t riddle mushrooms with holes.
Windfall Kaffir Lime Marmalade
The hardest part of making jam is waiting for it to cool, fending off beasts so you can try some out yourself…
Today the fun has been making good use of the kaffir lime windfall, fruit that dropped in the cold snap (9C last night). This also gave me an opportunity to justify warming the kitchen and to try my first pickings of Australian sweet lime. More mild than genuinely sweet, I thought they’d make a pleasant contrast with richly-flavoured kaffir lime.
Small, Sweet Cucumbers – Almost Without Effort
I enjoy trialling new crops, and this season one of the most outstanding plants at ‘Bellis’ has been the West Indian gherkin, Cucumis anguria.
This trial had a shaky start, with only one seed germinating from the packet I bought from Eden seeds. I gave it well composted, freely draining soil in a raised bed in a sunny position. Sown on 24th October, I planted my seedling in December.
In Production Today
Red mizuna, Brassica juncea var. japonica
After a dry April in Bayside Brisbane, 152 mm rain fell during the 28th April. A good gentle drop with no gales, it filled the rainwater tank and the stormwater soakaway pit. Not a drop was wasted : the compost-rich soil lapped it all up. A banana burst into bloom and my winter greens are growing strongly.
Crop diversity is rising once more with 120 edibles available right now…
