Good Organic Gardening Issue#9.1 - 2018

Some years ago when I visited Nirvana Organic Farm in the Adelaide Hills, where Deb Cantrill and Quentin Jones grow chestnuts and raspberries, among other biodynamic crops, I spotted Deb’s handmade baskets in the farm shop and just had to buy one. She uses found plant material — from their property — and weaves a little crystal into each one. Refilling my basket recently, I was inspired to ask Claire Bickle about plants to grow (or raid) for craft projects and she came up with some great recommendations. Claire’s craft plant showcase is followed by a lovely little weaving project even beginners like me can tackle, with Stradbroke Island resident Anaheke Metua showing Linda Brennan how to make a small twist-weave basket that would be perfect for storing garlic or other…

COMMON NAME: COMMON SPOTTED LADYBIRD SCIENTIFIC NAME: HARMONIA CONFORMIS, FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE The common spotted ladybird is one of the largest of the worldwide family of coccinellids, named for the Latin word for scarlet, though here it can be more orange than red in colour. Believed to be an Australian native, this omnivorous beetle with its distinctive 20 black spots has been introduced to several countries including New Zealand and the US, where it was intended to control aphids but failed to thrive, and has also been sighted in India and southern China. The ladybird is embedded in our culture: in songs, brand names, even the nickname of a former US first lady, Lady Bird Johnson (the usual American term “ladybug” was apparently deemed inappropriate). Its common name derives from its British soubriquet “Our…

JUST $49 A YEAR We are Australia’s most popular garden magazine and our club has more members than our leading AFLclub. Our members are inspired by visiting three of Australia’s finest summer gardens with espalier orchards and subtropical food borders full of heirloom produce. We trial and grow more food plants and summer perennials than any other grower. We can show you how to grow heirloom vegetables, space-saving subtropical fruit trees and rare herbs like capers and wasabi, all delicious varieties, full of fibre and free of nasty chemicals. Eight magazines a year Innovative, informative and provocative ideas about how to be self-sufficient in a tiny mini-plot space or country orchard, whether your garden is in subtropical Brisbane, Perth, Darwin or cold Hobart. Eight free packets of seeds Members receive four packets of seed in spring…

2,4-D SPRAY DRIFT, AGAIN A recent spray drift incident involving the notorious herbicide 2,4-D, which damaged more than 5000 hectares of cotton crops in Northern NSW, has once again put the spotlight on the environmental dangers and financial impacts of pesticides moving “off target”. The official line is if pesticides are applied according to label instructions, they won’t drift but, in reality, spray drift continues to happen and pesticides regularly turn up in places they shouldn’t such as rivers and oceans. Can all pesticide pollution be put down to people not following instructions? Using aircraft, boom sprays, fan blasts and backpacks to apply pesticides over large areas is an inherently risky business because, despite the best of intentions and adherence to instructions, weather conditions can change rapidly, moving pesticides from the point of…

FICUS CARICA ‘ST DOMINIQUE VIOLETTE’ (HEIRLOOM FIG TREE) The plant: This sumptuous French heirloom fig has a long history in our gardens and on our plates, having been grown as early as 1875 in the Burnley Horticultural College gardens in Melbourne and featured in old nursery catalogues up until the 1930s. The pear-shaped fruit has pretty violet skin and pink flesh that can be devoured straight from the tree. It crops twice a year during summer and autumn. Growing: ‘St Dominique Violette’ likes to bask in the sunshine, so grow it a sunny spot with good drainage. Figs don’t like wet feet. As a bonus, this variety is self-fertile, so you need only one tree to produce a good crop of figs. Design: Ripe ‘St Dominique Violette’ figs feel plump and heavy and…

Stone pine label Common names: Stone pine, umbrella pine Botanical name: Pinus pinea Family: Pinaceae (pine family) Aspect & soil: Full sun to part shade, well-drained soil Best climate: Cool, Mediterranean, temperate Habit: Evergreen tree Propagation: Seed, potted plant Difficulty: Moderate At first glance, stone pines may not look like edible plants, but these tall conifers are the source of the pine nut. Pine nuts, the small, naked seeds that fall from pine cones, are one of the ingredients of pesto (blended with basil, garlic, oil and Parmesan cheese). Pine nuts are known as pignoli or pinoli in Italian. These trees grow naturally through southern Europe and Turkey, developing a distinctive flat-topped shape that’s very different from the typical pyramidal or Christmas-tree shape of most pines. The trunk is often bare of leaves, with red-grey bark, and it tends to…