Jerry Coleby-Williams

A Plant For Every Preschool

I’ve just got back from speaking at the opening day of SEEN, the world’s first early childhood learning conference, at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. The theme was sustainability – creating the future today. There were discussions about plant safety, landscaping and books on these topics for carers and educators. A great conference and some really uplifting…

Gardening In ‘New Summer’

October 2007 is the month that Tim Flannery, Australian of the Year, advised that in 2005 the concentration of CO2 equivalent in the atmosphere passed 450 ppm. Also this month a German study revealed that we passed Peak Oil in 2006. I can think of few more momentous happenings for human civilisation. Certainly for human…

Listen To Bindii…And Say Farewell To Khaki Weed

Whether you call it bindii, bindi weed or bindi-eye, this prickly-seeded little weed is currently causing big problems in Pine River Shire, Brisbane. People are keen to control it, so they can sit or walk barefoot on their lawns. Fair enough, but people seem less willing to hear what bindii means in terms of good…

Driving To The Grocery Store Brings Famine To Your Neighbour

Suddenly the UN, which has spent years warning world leaders that we would reach Peak Food early this century, are being listened to. The UN has accurately described how, where and who would be hit by famine. I recently wrote a piece in The Organic Gardener about this topic because home food gardeners have role…

New Book: How To Create A School Food Garden

Here is the best step by step guide showing how schools can set up an organic food garden. This book is packed with brilliant, practical suggestions for establishing and maintaining an inexpensive Seed Saver garden. Schools are currently eligible for government grants to help establish organic food gardens, and by using this guide, success can…

Perfect Peas

We’ve got some very healthy heritage snow and shelling peas, Pisum sativum var. sativum, most of which came from Seedsavers. I get such a happy feeling observing our growing peas. The seeds feel lovely to the touch, they unfurl and push through the soil so eagerly as they germinate, their leaves are very soft and…

Open Day

Last weekend we opened our place as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme. I chose August to open because that’s when our Phillip Island Hibiscus hedge, Hibiscus insularis, is in flower. Well, in the end it didn’t because the recent frost set it back a fortnight. I also chose this time because right now,…

A Close Shave With Frost During Ongoing Drought: Winter 2007

“What a lot of weather we’re having,” was something my Great Aunt Florence, a one-time Land Army girl, and someone as softly spoken as Lady Bracknell (of ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’) used to say. And we have had a lot of interesting, weather-related events. In the Murray-Darling, irrigated horticulture usually provides 40% of Australia’s fresh…

Only In The USA?

From BBC News on line: Woman jailed for ‘neglected’ lawn A 70-year-old US woman has been left bruised and bloody after an unexpected clash with police who came to arrest her because her lawn was dry and brown.

In Production Today

We currently have an abundance of crops in production today in our 400 square metre back garden. SE Queensland’s dams are just over 80% empty, but we’ve got sufficient recycled water to garden satisfactorily in winter. And using our own recycled water means that we can still use a hose. The coffee has produced its…

Safer Solutions – Media Release

Total Environment Centre (TEC) today released the ‘Easy Guide to Organic Gardening’ at the showcase of the Integrated Sustainability Education Partnership Program. The new guide provides home gardeners with advice on how to avoid exposing themselves and their families to the harmful chemicals found in many synthetic pesticides, fertilisers and herbicides used in the garden.

Making A Hotbed

A while ago I suggested filming how to make a hotbed for TV and as the time to make one has arrived I’ve set to and planted it today. A hotbed is a traditional way of using warmth generated by composting to force vegetable and flower crops into early production during a temperate winter.