In a region greatly affected by the worst drought in living memory, we were united in seeing gardening as a great way to alleviate anxiety and bring the community together. We had planned for 50 – 80 to attend, but 140 registered. An indication of how valuable our gardens are and how practical regional gatherings like this can be for our mental and spiritual health and our sense of community.
Category: Open Garden
Breathe Magic Into Your Rainforest Garden
“There is one rainforest plant from northern Australia every coastal garden should grow: Phaleria clerodendron, the scented daphne. This compact tree can be grown as far south as Sydney and it will fill a garden with fragrant flowers up to three times as year…unless Australians discover and grow this magical plant, who else will?”
In Production Today: August 2014
Here’s my subtropical food garden’s winter menu: Edible roots Arrowroot, Canna edulis Carrot, Daucus carota ‘Paris Market’ Cassava, Manihot esculenta Cassava, Manihot esculenta ‘Variegata’ Cocoyam, Xanthosoma saggitifolia Jerusalem artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus ‘Dwarf Sunray’ Radish, Raphanus sativus ‘Sparkler’ Edible leaves Basil, Greek, Ocimum minimum Basil, sacred, Ocimum tenuiflorum Cassava, Manihot esculenta Cabbage, Chinese, Brassica rapa var. pekinensis…
Open Day At Bellis, August 2014
FULL DETAILS SEE: http://www.opengarden.org.au Leave Brisbane’s suburbs behind as you visit 813 square metres of rural Wynnum. Check out my award-winning, thrifty sustainable garden: blue bananas, stingless bees, home grown bath sponges, and turf mostly mowed by guinea pigs. See how a decade of organic gardening has converted uncompromising acid sulphate soil into a wonderful,…
Kew Guild Grand Reunion Garden Party
Thirty four years ago, I graduated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Looking Back: Autumn Open Day at Bellis
An Open Day is a great way to get feedback from gardeners on what you’re growing and how you’re doing.
Autumn Open Day at Bellis
Every time I open my garden there is something to celebrate about organic gardening and seed saving.
In Production Today – May
Warm, humid, sunny conditions have allowed most crops to grow well.
Sumptuous Pomelo
At last weekend’s open day, Rosa, a gardening neighbour, gave me two pomelo fruit. So I had two opportunities: to grow my own tree and to make refreshing pomelo salad.
How Do I Grow Sword Beans?
Or more importantly, what are sword beans? Think of sword beans (Canavalia gladiata) as haricot bean alternative. Both are vines and sword bean needs a garden in a frost-free climate to grow really well. Fancy something different for dinner? I grow sword beans in a sunny spot in compost rich, freely draining soil. I train…
In Production Today – August
Next weekend, Saturday 11th – Sunday 12th August is my last open day for Open Gardens Australia this year (click on the link if you want details). Here are the 170 productive plants currently on the August menu at ‘Bellis’, my home.
Open Day At Bellis
Almost 1,700 people visited my garden last weekend. And what a very friendly, gentle, respectful and very inquisitive mob they all were. I found the first visitor snoozing in her car as the dawn mist was rising. People arrived gradually at first, but as Brisbane turned on one of its magical autumn days, things began…
Jerry Coleby-Williams 