Good Organic Gardening Issue#8.6 - 2018

As we head towards the cooler months when we tend to spend a bit more time indoors, why not think about extending your gardening knowledge? Hopefully our magazine is a big help, but there are many ways to get informed and educated, from simply joining a local gardening club to undertaking a permaculture program, to signing up for a uni or TAFE horticulture course. Read our garden education overview to get inspired. If it’s a project you’re after, a great one for autumn, especially if you’ve had a big garden clearout, is Linda Brennan’s design for a meditative labyrinth, made using rocks. Of course, you need the room for it, but it’s a wonderful way to use an open space for purely aesthetic purposes and it doesn’t need any water. Surround…

COMMON NAME: PAINTED CUP MOTH SCIENTIFIC NAME: DORATIFERA OXLEYI, FAMILY LIMACODIDAE Most caterpillars dream of one day bursting forth from their cocoons as beautiful moths or butterflies. In the case of the slightly dowdy Painted Cup Moth, a denizen of the eucalypts of south-eastern Australia, by the time it reaches maturity its salad days are behind it. Never again will it look as fabulous as it did as a caterpillar. Resplendent in lime green with black-edged yellow spots and red bands, the Painted Cup Moth caterpillar resembles a bright-liveried cavalryman from some obscure Napoleonic regiment — particularly when alarmed, whereupon each of the white shields at either end will brandish four clusters of yellow stinging hairs that deliver a bite far out of proportion to the 2cm slug’s size. More weaponry in the…

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. SOIL TO THE RESCUE Researchers at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment have been looking into soil’s ability to hold carbon and have discovered its potential is far greater than previously estimated. Soil may well play a significant role in mitigating global carbon emissions. Organic matter in soil, such as decomposing plant and animal residues, stores more carbon than plants and the atmosphere combined. Much of the carbon in soil is currently lost or degraded through land use changes, unsustainable…

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. NYSSA SYLVATICA ‘AUTUMN CASCADES’ The plant: If you’re looking for a spectacular weeping feature tree for your garden, it’s hard to beat Nyssa sylvatica ‘Autumn Cascades’. It’s a striking weeping form of nyssa with glossy green foliage through spring and summer and blazing orange, yellow and copper leaf tones that set the garden alight in autumn. Growing: To get the best out of it, grow ‘Autumn Cascades’ in a sunny position with moist, slightly acidic soil. Prepare beds…

Fuchsias are best known for their dainty, ballerina-like flowers, but some species and varieties have another string to their bow: they produce black, red or purple edible berries. Fuchsia magellanica is a good source of berries. Widely grown in gardens and often used in hedges in cool climates, it’s native to the southern regions of Argentina and Chile but may be commonly found as an introduced hedging plant in Ireland as well as in cooler parts of Australia such as Tasmania. It produces cascades of pendant flowers with red sepals (the outer petals) and a purple corolla. The flowers are appealing to small, nectar-feeding birds; in America, hummingbirds are known to pollinate fuchsia flowers. Fuchsia magellanica has contributed to the breeding of ornamental hybrids grown as basket and garden plants, so that many…

Though best known in Australia as inula, this familiar yellow flower has several other common names, including one with a fairytale ring to it: elecampane. Other names, such as elfdock, elfwort and horse-heal, sound straight out of Tolkien. “Inula” comes from the botanic name Inula helenium, while both words derive from the name Helen. Legend has it that the plant grew from the spilt tears of Helen of Troy. The romantic-sounding “elecampane” is actually a corruption of the plant’s mediaeval Latin tag enula campana, named for the Italian region of Campania where it grew wild. When a plant has so many common names, it’s a sure indication that it grows widely and has medicinal or other values. This perennial sunflower, which may be flowering right now in your garden, came originally from…