Good Organic Gardening Issue #13.4 - 2022

At the time of writing, the prices of fresh produce are through the roof and, for all we know, by the time we hit the newsstands they could be even worse. Now, more than ever, growing any food you can is not just sensible — it’s practically imperative. Coming into summer, we all love our salad greens. But what if lettuce, for example, is simply unaffordable? Obviously, you can grow your own but there are so many alternatives to lettuce for your summer salads, including a range of natives that are suited to our climate. Claire Bickle looks at some of her favourites. Still on natives, in our WellBeing section, naturopath, nutritionist and cook Meg Thompson covers some native herbs and spices that also go well in salads. And, still on salads,…

JO IMMIG Jo is an environmental scientist, photographer and writer. She has worked in the environment movement for decades and is co-ordinator of the National Toxics Network, an organisation dedicated to creating a toxic-free future. She has written many articles for magazines and is the author of two books: Toxic Playground and Safer Solutions. SEAGRASSES HIT THE CARBON SWEET SPOT Scientists have discovered that seagrass meadows of Neptune grass on the Mediterranean coastal ocean floor are highly efficient at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere — so effective, in fact, they bury carbon 35 times faster per unit area than rainforests. Key to its capacity to store carbon and utilise other nutrients was the surprising finding that Neptune grass (Posidonia oceanica) excretes high concentrations of sugar as sucrose into the rhizosphere around its roots. Researchers found…

CHLOE THOMSON A horticulturist, writer, presenter and passionate organic gardener, Chloe uses her social media profile Bean There Dug That to educate and inform like-minded gardeners, using fun, creative videos and posts. Find her on Facebook and Instagram @beantheredugthat CALIFORNIA POPPY ‘APRICOT CHIFFON’, ESCHSCHOLZIA CALIFORNICA The plant: This pretty poppy produces big blooms with frilly, flared petals in sunset shades. It thrives in poor soils and is perfect for low-maintenance gardens where you want splashes of colour through spring and summer. Growing: These poppies are best sown in the hot and drier months from January to May. Choose a full-sun spot and sow seed direct into well-prepared garden beds, watering regularly to improve germination, which should occur within 2 weeks of sowing. Flowers should begin 8–12 weeks after planting. The Diggers Club, diggers.com.au TOMATO ‘BLACK PLUM’,…

The Heart Gardening Project has launched a crowdfunding campaign to establish an Australian first: a pollinator corridor linking Port Melbourne’s Westgate Park to the Royal Botanic Gardens. When finished, the corridor will be an 8km-long urban wildlife reserve comprising 200 community-maintained street gardens, with the focus on indigenous plantings — 18,000 in all — to attract bees and other pollinators. Working with local councils and more than 20 scientists and specialist consultants, volunteers have already transformed more than 480m2 of barren and unused public land into pollinator-friendly gardens. So far, THGP has helped create more than 70 street gardens, planted over 6000 plants and given away more than 600 pollinator-loving plants to other street gardeners. Supporters are now invited to help fund the next stage of the project, including another 28 gardens, 6400 indigenous…

The beautyleaf tree definitely has a split personality. While it’s admired for its beauty and shade, there’s a dangerous undercurrent. This is a tree native to the tropics where it’s grown in parks and on large properties as a shade tree. One of its many names is mastwood as it was traditionally used to build outrigger canoes. As well as providing welcome shade with its broad, spreading branches, the beautyleaf is regarded as cyclone and termite proof, making it a very clever and useful plant, tolerant of coastal as well as inland locations. Its leaves are glossy green and it produces fragrant white flowers, attractive to birds. The flowers form in clusters, each bloom on a long stem. The round buds open to reveal flowers with thick white petals and a boss of…

Lemon aspen is a highly prized bush tucker plant native to north Queensland, the Atherton Tableland in particular, growing at altitudes of 100 metres. Its pulpy fruit, most abundant in summer and autumn, is edible with a lemony grapefruit tang. The commercial value of many native plants was often overlooked by European settlers — but not so the lemon aspen. It has a long history of use, whether eaten fresh or used in preserves. Today the fruit is available frozen or dried and used in many commercial products including juices and spice mixes. The tall rainforest native has also been harvested as a forestry tree. The big demand for lemon aspen makes it a crop well worth growing. In a factsheet on the tree produced around a decade ago by the Rural Industries Research…