Good Organic Gardening Issue#8.1 - 2017

I write this as we go into the gentle season of autumn, but how could we forget the searing summer we experienced this year? The NSW Hunter Valley, where I live, is one of the areas that copped the worst of it and, for the first time, my summer vegie garden succumbed to the intense heat. Plants were bolting, wilting and just looking sad. Finally, to put an end to its struggle and mine, I opened the gate and let the chickens do their worst, then replanted when the weather became saner. It made me realise again the importance of good garden planning. In my case, I could have thought more about protection from the savage mid-afternoon western sun in temperatures like we experienced. Garden planning needs to take account of…

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 toxicfree future. She has written many articles for magazines and is the author of two books: Toxic Playground and Safer Solutions. BIODIVERSITY OF SEED It’s not something that immediately springs to mind when you think about the multitude of environmental challenges we face today, but the loss of seed biodiversity in agriculture is central to many of them, including climate change. The magnitude of the loss is staggering. Up to 75 per cent of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has disappeared in less than a hundred years and we continue to lose one to two per cent of crop genetic…

MELISSA KING Melissa is a horticulturist, TV presenter and writer. She has been a regular on Gardening Australia, Melbourne Weekender, Garden Angels and The Circle. She currently appears on The Garden Gurus and has launched an online show, The Gardenettes. She has written for top magazines and newspapers and is author of the book, Garden Feast. PERSIAN ROSES The plant: If you’re looking for a rose that sits comfortably in a mixed border and which mingles beautifully with perennials and other flowering shrubs, then you’ll love this new collection of Persian roses, bred in the UK by renowned rose breeder Chris Warner. The roses bloom continuously from spring right through to autumn and tough out our hot summers. Look out for ‘For Your Eyes Only’ with heavenly scented peachy apricot blooms with golden…

If you are searching for something a little different to grow through the months ahead, celtuce is a clever crop that could fit the bill. It looks like a leafy cos lettuce mounted on a long, thick, fleshy stem. This vegetable’s odd looks have seen it described as a “mutant” lettuce and attracted a host of common names, such as stem lettuce, celery lettuce (the combination of the two words gives the name celtuce) and even asparagus lettuce. It’s also called Chinese lettuce and is known in China as wosun. It’s a very popular Chinese vegetable, too. Celtuce isn’t grown for its green leaves, although these are tasty when the plant is young, but for its edible stem. To get the best from celtuce, harvest the plant when the stem is around…

Licorice sticks, licorice allsorts, licorice straps, salty Dutch licorice … whatever form it comes in, we know it as a black, often-chewy confectionery. But what is licorice? The back of a packet of chocolate licorice sticks that just happens to be on my desk (research purposes only) lists licorice as the main ingredient, so licorice isn’t something that’s manufactured. It’s a natural product derived from the root of a plant in the pea family. The genus name, Glycyrrhiza, from the Greek, literally means sweet (glykys) root (rhiza). Licorice is native to various regions, from Spain to China, so it can be grown in a wide range of climates and conditions. PROPAGATION AND GROWING Licorice takes up space. It grows 1–1.5m high and spreads via stolons over 3m2. It’s a plant to grow in its…

Many pelargoniums and geraniums are renowned worldwide for their blowsy blooms, but their lesserknown sisters with scented foliage are the true beauties in my eyes. I recently heard someone declare geraniums/pelargoniums to be unsophisticated plants, but I beg to differ. Any plant with scent as part of its package, whether via bloom or foliage, is a winner in my book. And plants that can take the heat and still look fabulous are great for those locations where rainfall is scarce and summer temperatures soar. With the newfound recognition of the therapeutic benefits of gardening, I believe scented plants play a huge role in the many beneficial aspects of gardening. The flowers of scented pelargoniums are generally quite small, but when the foliage is bruised, it’s fantastically aromatic. The range of scented pelargoniums is…