Sustainable Gardening in our Continually Surprising Climate
A whimsical look at some of the produce I’ve grown at Bellis, my sustainable home in Brisbane.
This year my garden had an extended autumn and now, judging by the flowers outside, it’s spring. Did Brisbane skip winter?
I only got 41.3kg of winged yam this year. What went wrong?
Paronella Park, near Innisfail, is the legacy created by Jose Paronella, a prodigiously productive person. Born in Catalonia, Spain, and trained as a pastry chef, Jose emigrated to Australia in 1913. He started as a sugarcane-cutter, then worked at improving sugarcane farms before investing his savings and energy into creating Parronella.
Winter has started fitfully, just like the previous two. Mild, drizzly, calm and cloudy conditions have encouraged moulds, but delayed sowing peas. Spells of cold, dry, windy conditions have spurred leaf drop on summer crops, like winged yam.
Food security alert: Neonicotinoid pesticides, like Confidor, are creating a dangerous world where caterpillars are becoming poison bird bait, where bees and migratory birds ‘forget’ how to navigate and bees and other pollinators are becoming suicide junkies.
When the Guardian published a few shots of Australian plants that can be grown in Britain, I had a flashback to my Australian-effect front garden in London.
I’ve just made Dulce de Tamarindo from tamarind pods, a mouthwatering Mexican sweet that’s guaranteed to stimulate your tastebuds. What could link safer streets, more bees and good food? Here’s a blog on sustainable urban forest management. Let’s start with an end product before making the case to ‘grow me instead’. There is a greater demand…
Whatever they said to you at school, farming is the oldest profession.
An Open Day is a great way to get feedback from gardeners on what you’re growing and how you’re doing.
Every time I open my garden there is something to celebrate about organic gardening and seed saving.
Warm, humid, sunny conditions have allowed most crops to grow well.
Jerry Coleby-Williams 