Yams are warm climate, winter herbaceous, perennial vines. The swollen, starch-rich tuber is their food store, and this is what most people grow them for – they use them as a potato alternative, baked, boiled, mashed or as chips.
Tag: Garden
‘Bellis’ – A Model 21st Century Garden
‘Bellis’, Brisbane’s award winning sustainable house and garden, is now seven years old. Last October this place won a national Save Water! Award in the Built Environment category. Since its inception, this 810 square metre property has collected over 7 megalitres of rainwater and recycled over 3 megalitres of sewage water. In the ornamental subtropical…
Review ‘Eat Your Garden’, By Leonie Shanahan
Review: ‘Eat your garden’, by Leonie Shanahan; Publisher: PI Productions Photography; ISBN 9780975217764; 2010. “If they (children) grow it, they will eat it”. Schools are where Australia’s gardening culture is most rapidly developing, and this is thanks to children. Why? They are generally more keenly aware of 21st century global environmental issues than many adults…
Queensland’s Flying Foxes Are Starving – Again
Pictured: driven by famine, a black flying fox drinks nectar from my banana flowers before sunset Bat Conservation & Rescue Qld President, Louise Saunders, is alarmed by the large number of reports about hungry flying-foxes staying by food trees through the day and not returning to their camps. “This is of huge concern as bats…
Catalyst – Informing Growers And Conservationists About Climate Change
Gardeners, farmers, conservationists and planners should watch this recent segment produced by ABC’s ‘Catalyst’ show on how climate change is affecting the health of our harvests. Rising CO2 levels will mean:
First Flowering: Freycinetia scandens
Freycinetia scandens is an evergreen scrambling vine which I’ve seen growing in coastal rainforest from far northern Queensland south to Fraser Island. They need a damp, sheltered, semi-shaded position. My plant, grown from a cutting, is now six years old. It first flowered in March and would probably have flowered before now, had I not tip…
The First Digger Was A Great Guerilla Gardener
360 years ago on April Fools Day, Gerrard Winstanley, became a very influential guerrilla gardener when he planted vegetables on an English hillside. The repercussions live on.
How Do I Prevent My Garden From Spreading Mosquito-Borne Diseases?
Is gardening fashion fanning ill health? Cairns City Council has increased on-the-spot fines for homeowners found to have mosquitoes breeding on their property to $400. John Pilspanen, of Queensland Health, says the disease will keep spreading until everyone takes the necessary precautions. Queensland Health is concerned about the increasing infection rate of the current dengue…
Book Review: Outdoor Classrooms
‘Outdoor Classrooms, a handbook for school gardens’, by Carolyn Nuttall & Janet Millington. Publisher: PI Productions Photography. ISBN: 978-0-9752177-3-3 (pbk.), 2008. The sharply rising interest in school food gardens is being driven by children, who are generally more keenly aware of 21st century global environmental issues than many adults realise. So if you’re a parent…
The First Day Of Crematoria
The first koel of summer has called, the first mosquito has bitten and the first dust storm has sprinkled Brisbane red ochre. While I’m out there watering, counting every drop as it falls onto the crisped ground, thunderstorm clouds are full of promise yet lacking in rain. It’s the first day of crematoria, south east Queensland’s flexible new season, that bridges that rigid, neat European concept of spring and summer.
Honey Flora Report – June
Blue-banded bees are up early, busily pollinating our eggplants and tomatoes. Our potatoes and Phillip Island hibiscus are budding. Meanwhile our honeybees are zooming around gathering far and wide… AUSTRALIAN WILD PLANTS Broad-leaved Paperbark, Melaleuca quinquinervia Forest red gum, Eucalyptus tereticornis Spotted gum, Corymbia citriodora subsp. maculata (syn. C. maculata, Eucalyptus maculata) Brisbane wattle, black…
Open Letter To The Climate Change Minister: How Effective Carbon Sequestration Offers A Healthy Economy
An organically farmed Australia could naturally sequester almost 70% of national Greenhouse Gas emissions. The amount of CO2 sequestered is based on achievements through current low-till, sustainable farming practices. “This is not a theoretical estimate as in some of the tree plantation models, or unproven like the millions of dollars being spent on clean coal or mechanical…
Jerry Coleby-Williams 