In a recent guide, ‘Waterwise Queensland: Gardening with greywater’*, published on 26th April 2008, Queensland minister for Natural Resources and Water, the Honourable Craig Wallace hopes to popularise grey water in home gardens. During the ongoing drought in SE Qld, home gardeners have grabbed their buckets and answered government calls to reduce their mains water…
Tag: Australia
Climate Change Flora For Brisbane
This stocktake was completed two days ago and it helps me answer some of your FAQ’s:
Native Bee Day
On Saturday I became the proud owner of a hive of native stingless bees, Trigona carbonaria. A little web-searching found that Dr Tim Heard, a CSIRO entomologist and native bee specialist, supplies colonies and his brother, Frank, makes specially designed hives for them. Stingless bees and honeybees happily co-exist. Happily Brisbane provides an ideal climate…
Real Carbon Capture And Sequestration
While Australian governments state and federal, past and present, throw vast amounts of money at unproven ‘clean coal’ technology they are ignoring a proven method of pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it. A thirty year scientific trial by the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania (USA) placed conventional, industrial farming systems and organic systems…
Bellis On The BBC’s Radio 4
An interview will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 next week discussing the water saving aspects of ‘Bellis’. Jeff is particularly pleased as Radio 4 is the home of such favourite cultural icons as the Shipping Forecast and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…Yes, he can be quite strange at times. The Sunparched Country website…
Botanical Stamps
A selection collected by my parents, grandfather and me. One way for a child to learn about plants and places…and a bit of botanical latin too. There’s just one from my grandfather’s collection: Cattleya skinneri, an orchid. Stamps of his era hadn’t tapped into the profitable collectors’ market. There are more from my father’s collection…
A Beneficial Orgy
Sustainable gardens are safe havens for all sorts of activities, but I’ve never witnessed a scene like this. Last summer they did it amongst my pineapples. Last autumn they were hard at it in my sweet potatoes. This week it’s the cardamom that are the silent, involuntary witnesses. I can’t water these plants without wetting…
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…
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…
Jerry Coleby-Williams 