Tour East Timor With Jerry Coleby-Williams, 15-25th June 2020.

Join Kew-trained horticulturalist, conservationist and media personality Jerry Coleby-Williams on a small group tour of Timor-Leste. During this tour you will discover community agricultural flair that connects the locals to the land and engage with some of the women who are re-shaping its culture. Learn about the history of this fascinating country and explore rugged coastlines, untouched beaches and landscapes dotted with traditional mountain villages, 15-25.6.2020.

Species 399 at 'Bellis': Crane fly, Nephrotoma australasiae

Every Gardener A Scientist

Any Australian can load their photos of native plants and animals on iNaturalist and ask for sightings to be identified by experts.

How Do I Prepare A Seedbed?

Well prepared soil is the secret to raising good crops and flowers from seed.

Predator Attracting Plants

Organic gardening isn’t conventional gardening, so why not enjoy some unconventional pest control?

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Is There Hope For The Environment In 2020?

Is there hope in 2020? The stream of requests for me to give people hope continues to grow. As a conservationist, I’m really sick of being right.

If you want hope, I suggest you read the most intelligent thing to be said about leadership and coal in 2019 and then push for it to happen: ‘New coalmines in Queensland don’t help existing communities, they hurt them’, by Richard Denniss.

If you want leadership, look to people like Carol Sparks, Mayor of Glen Innes Severn Council, NSW: ‘We’ve been in bushfire hell in Glen Innes – and the scientists knew it was coming’.

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Garden Fresh Festive Fare At Bellis, Brisbane’s Sustainable House And Garden.

A taste of summer from Bellis, a sustainable house and garden in drought-affected subtropical Brisbane: 108 edibles available for my kitchen.

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Let’s Go Plant Spotting In East Timor…And How To Get Those Exotic Plant Finds Identified.

If you like discovering new and exciting plants, East Timor and the rich flora of Malesiana is just a short flight from Darwin. You can join me on my tour of East Timor, 15-25th June 2020.

Malesia is a biogeographical region consisting of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, New Guinea and the Philippines. Its tropical flora is even more diverse than Australia’s. Earlier this year, I found this beautiful but obscure Malesian plant while escorting a gardening tour of Vietnam. How can it be identified?

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Tour The North Island of New Zealand With Jerry Coleby-Williams, departing 31st October 2020

Tour The North Island of New Zealand With Jerry Coleby-Williams, departing 31st October 2020. The Adventure Traveller welcomes and encourages solo travellers. If you are travelling alone and do not wish to pay the Single Supplement for the New Zealand tour, a twin share room will be provided with a person of the same gender.

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How Do I Manage Phytophthora Disease On Cocoa?

“Dear Jerry, my cocoa plants are infected with black pod disease. They are cropping OK, but can I do anything to improve their health?”, asks Peter in Townsville, Australia.

Hi Peter, Phytophthora is primarily a root rot disease and it can spread throughout a plant using the vascular system. Some plants are more susceptible than others and there may be multiple host plant species in your garden.

Certain types of Phytophthora can devastate entire landscapes (like Jarrah dieback, P. cinnamomi) and ruin orchards. This disease is recognised by conservationists as a key threatening process, it cannot be eradicated so you manage it.

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biohazard sign

Sign The Petition To Ensure Genetically Modified Organisms Are Regulated in Australia, Back Friends of the Earth.

At a time when we urgently need stronger laws to regulate GM business, the Australian Government has removed regulations designed to keep us and our food safe. This means that from now, many genetically modified (GM) animals, plants and microbes will enter our environment and food chain with no requirement for safety testing or traceability.

On 13th November 2019 the Senate will debate whether to disallow these regulatory changes, and Labor Party support for the disallowance motion will be vital.



Now is the time to act. If you want to know that the food you are eating is GM free, please contact your local MP and senators to demand that all genetically modified organisms are assessed for safety and labelled for consumer choice.



Please sign this petition organised by Friends of the Earth, Melbourne.



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Sweetpotato: Combat The GM Yellow Rice Scare Campaign While Feeding The Poor

You may be aware that Gene Technology multinationals are on the media warpath claiming that communities are wrong to oppose their new GM yellow rice, an artificial plant invented with higher amounts of Vitamin A than normal rice as their contribution to help combat malnutrition of the world’s poorest people. Think again.

Between 2013 and 2019, UK Aid funding allowed the International Potato Centre and partners to deliver pro-vitamin A-rich, sweetpotato cultivars to more than 2.3 million families in five African countries and Bangladesh.

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How much do you know about PFAS, the ‘forever’ poisons found in homes, workplaces, food, soil, water…even compost?

In the last two decades, the Australian government has failed to have PFAS sites remediated or PFAS wastes destroyed. This failure has resulted in offsite dumping including release of PFAS contaminated water to rivers and the ocean. The most shocking example was the almost a million litres of PFAS contaminated water that was used in to make NuGrow compost.

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Sow Pigeon Peas For Native Bees

If you want protein-rich pigeon peas by the bucketful, grow them in drought. And plant pigeon peas for food, shade, shelter, forage and bees. Grow them in a school food garden to discover which species of native bee live in the vicinity. Use this food plant as a school science project!

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Hell’s Bells – Ugly lemons! What’s gone wrong?

Help! The fruit on my lemon are distorted and covered in ugly warts. What’s gone wrong? Can my tree be saved? Is there an organic remedy? Answer: An infectious fungal disease called lemon scab  is responsible. And yes, this infection can be defeated organically and in more than one way.

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Grow Pandan And Make Pandan Paste And Juice

Pandan (Pandanus amarylliifolius) has long been a staple in tropical food gardens in South and South East Asia. Its leaves impart a unique aroma and flavour to drinks, rice, cakes and desserts. As with all garden produce, the quality of freshly picked pandan surpasses that of the dried or the frozen equivalent. Fortunately, pandan is easy to grow in a subtropical or tropical climate, they make an attractive display, it is an easy plant to  propagate and maintain in a kitchen garden.

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