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
Tag Archives: plants
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.
What Can I Grow As Stock Feed In SE Queensland?
Question
We live on 1 acre of land at Boonah, Qld approx same temperature as Ipswich, Qld, in black soil country.
We run our own poultry and a pig and are working towards a reasonable self-sufficiency with substantial vegetable garden, orchard, plus a food forest.
What I am wishing to do is try to cut back on the feed costs for these animals, by way of growing a tree of some sort on our property, instead of the large outlay of animal pellets.
Do you know if Spanish Chestnut would grow here, or my thoughts were Carob or Avocado, have you any suggestion that can help us?
Regards
Rob
Climate Change Flora For Brisbane
This stocktake was completed two days ago and it helps me answer some of your FAQ’s:
Honey Flora Report – May
Monkey vine growing at Toowong cemetery, Brisbane
We’re members of the Bayside Beekeepers Association, and every month they release a Honey Flora Report listing significant flowering local native plants useful for honey production.
Our hives are busy harvesting pollen and nectar from the urban forest and garden plants as well, so we’ve decided to add them to the BBA report.
In Production Today
We currently have 43 crops in production in our 400 square metre back garden.
SE Queensland’s dams are around 70% empty, but we’ve got just enough recycled water to scrape by. Due to this I’m not using any town water as yet, thanks to the few showers of rain that fell over the past few weeks. Continue Reading →
In Flower Today
There are fifty one plants flowering in my garden.
My Ant Plant is still flowering since the last ‘in flower today’ entry on 24.4.06;
Springing To Life
It’s thirteen days since the mulberry, Morus nigra, next door sprouted its new spring leaves – in the middle of July (17.7.06). Here springtime traditionally follows Brisbane’s agricultural show – “The Ecca”, August 10 -19th.
The media always look for indicators that springs are arriving earlier due to climate change. It’s such a predictable request that I used to keep my eyes peeled at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney for any early signs (or differences) from the previous year.
Climate change is a fact and the ten hottest years on record have been in the last fifteen years. Yesterday Jeff, Damien and I saw a preview of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ (Paramount Pictures). It goes on general release in September.
