Like plants and animals? Like to leave your mark on the map? In a country as biodiverse and as poorly understood as Australia, you could find yourself at the cutting edge of science.
Well prepared soil is the secret to raising good crops and flowers from seed.
Thirty four years ago, I graduated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Most of the seed sold in Australia is imported, harvested from plants farmed overseas.
Organic gardening isn’t conventional gardening, so why not enjoy some unconventional pest control?
Question Hi Jerry, I have just moved to Byron Bay and have a Scrub Turkey (aka Australian Bush Turkey) problem. Do you have any clues as to what I should do to get… Continue reading
“How did they keep lawns trim in the days before lawnmowers? asks The Guardian newspaper. Animals and scythes were originally used to maintain closely cut turf…and Australia has an indigenous answer”.
Thuan’s market garden: 1,500 sq m of alluvial, sandy loam in a flood plain of the Perfume River catchment, Hue, Vietnam. Fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, flowers, poultry – and incense – in a prolifically productive, wet, inland subtropical climate.
I’ve signed a petition to the Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water because Australia is a party to the UN’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. I oppose government… Continue reading
Caffeine is a biochemical with the purpose of affecting the germination, growth, survival, and reproduction of other competing plants. Do not add coffee grounds to worm farms.
Join Kew-trained horticulturalist, conservationist, television and radio talkback gardening presenter Jerry Coleby-Williams on a small group tour of Singapore to discover its horticultural and culinary delights.
In the ancient landscapes of Queensland’s desert uplands grow many curious and attractive plants. Dame Quentin Bryce Ad, CVO, remembers the desert uplands for its ‘vivid red soils, its astonishing vegetation, its lakes,… Continue reading
It’s avocado season in Australia and Vietnam. Anthracnose disease can significantly affect the yield and quality of avocado fruit. It’s worst in warm, wet, humid, calm weather. Irritatingly, the symptoms of disease become… Continue reading
If you live in south eastern Queensland and grow pawpaw, it’s worth a quick health check right now. Mild, calm, showery, humid winter weather is perfect for observing outbreaks of pawpaw black spot… Continue reading
We ignore the following key aspects of sustainable food production at our peril:
* A culture of forgetting – we forget our horticultural history;
* Declining crop diversity, both in the range of species grown and in the genetic diversity within each crop;
* The oversimplification and impoverishment of systems of food production;
* A reluctance to apply the precautionary principle where using the least toxic solution in crop protection comes first;
Grab your camera and join gardener and conservationist Jerry Coleby-Williams on an eleven day tour of choice gardens of the South Island of New Zealand while Middle Earth is looking its best this… Continue reading
I’m waiting for the summer wet season to start. Until the rain arrives, there is little cloud to filter the hot sunlight. Thank goodness for old net curtains and shadecloth! I thought I would… Continue reading
Ten years ago British Petroleum closed Prudhoe Bay, the largest oilfield in the USA. Rusted, leaking oil pipes heavily polluted a region already suffering from accelerating global warming. At the same time, melting… Continue reading
