Perennial Edible Gardening
Straight forward instructions for getting started in gardens big and small. Knowledge from real down to earth gardeners who walk the walk with busy lives and productive gardens.
- Site assessment (Sun, aspect, wind, slope, existing elements, drainage)
- Plant selection (shelter, stability, nitrogen fixers, perennials and annuals)
- Soils (carbon, nutrients, biota)
- Water management
- Garden maintenance
Blue Java Bananas
The blue Java bananas are ready! Also known as ice cream bananas, the flavour is vanilla like with a creamy texture. They aren’t the shortest of bananas (which is why this bunch isn’t bagged) but most survived the possums, flying foxes and birds. Blue Java bananas are a good choice for our climate and are…
White Sapote
White sapote (Casimiroa edulis). Beautiful sweet custard like flavour. Well suited to subtropical gardens. Drought hardy once established. Native to Mexico and Central America. Not actually a sapote at all but they are delicious.
Panama Berry
Descriptions of the flavour of Panama berry range from caramel to fairy floss. It is truly the queen of sweet tasting fruits. The ripe red berries range in size from 10-20mm depending on the amount of water the tree receives. The fruit can be enjoyed whole, skin, flesh and seeds but is tastiest when you…
Ornamental Edible Gardening
Vegetable patches are wonderfully productive areas however they aren’t always as attractive as the rest of a garden. With annual plants in different stages of dying back and compost piles they may be beautiful to a gardener’s eye, but they are decidedly less so to a visiting relative or passer-by. As a result, food production…
Edible Ornamental Gardening
Let’s face it, vegetable patches aren’t always the most aesthetically pleasing. Yes, to a gardeners eye an abundant veggie patch is a thing of beauty, but the accompanying compost piles and dying annual plants can be decidedly less so, especially to a visiting relative or passer-by. For this reason, the humble veggie patch is often…
Brazilian Spinach (Althernanthera sissoo).
Brazilian spinach is one of the most resilient backyard plants around. It can tolerate a wide range of sun and shade conditions along with drought, dying back only to resurge when the rain arrives. Well suited to planting in dense low garden borders and especially along paths to form a dense green attractive edging. The…
Pumpkin Vinegar
Article by Dr Druce Batstone. Recovered 3060g blitzed pulp from 3233g deseeded JAP pumpkin. Overnight with tbs of pectinase at 40C. Blitzed OK without vinegar. Seeds were 109g.Next morning, used immersion blender to breakup pulp. Extracted 2067g juice, leaving 555g solids. Hand squeezing only. Some losses + evaporation of 448g. Added 500ml of mature pumpkin…
Ginger for Sushi
Article by Dr Druce Batstone. Now (late summer) is the time for making sushi ginger.Sushi Ginger1300g sliced gingerBleached in boiling water for 1min.1l rice vinegar + salt + 400g sugar + 3 candied rosellas.Made 7 packs.Vinegar left over after packing.
Ginger Shrub
Article by Dr Druce Batstone. I harvested about 3kg ginger. I wanted to make pickled ginger. I’m getting less big ginger rhizomes this year. I could only be bothered with bigger pieces for pickling. The smaller pieces were used to make shrub (cordial). Ginger Shrub1730g scraped and washed ginger.Blitzed with 0.5l rice wine vinegar. Added pectinase.…
Frangrance from Flowers
Lovely fragrant oils can be made from your garden flowers. If you are just after a fragrant oil, it’s pretty easy. Simply add the flower petals to your (low scent) oil, soak for 24 hours then drain. After that you’ve got steam distillation, other solvent extraction, expression, sieving, or enfleurage. This is more complex chemistry and…
Jerusalem Artichoke
Jerusalem Artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) is a species of sunflower native to central North America. Also sometimes called wild sunflower, sunroot or sunchoke. As a member of the sunflower family (Asteraceae) they make beautiful additions to the garden, producing lovely bright yellow, sunflower-like flowers throughout the summer months which attract an abundance of bees and butterflies. Unlike…
Pawpaws, Papaya or Paw Paw
Pawpaws (or papaya or paw paw or the multitude of other names it goes by!). The general advice for growing pawpaws in South-East Queensland seems to be to make sure the soil is enriched with garden lime, plant in rich soil in a northerly facing location on gently sloping ground. Try varieties such as Aussie…
Plectranthus argentatus
Plectranthus argentatus growing happily in Mount Crosby. With beautiful silvery leaves and striking blue flowers, the native bees just love it. Reaching about 60 cm tall it will spread as a dense groundcover if provided with a little water when it starts to droop (only really an issue on the hottest or driest days). A…
Grumichama (Eugenia brasiliensis)
Grumichamas come in either black or yellow (orange). They are the equivalent of temperate cherry and are just as delicious. You will find them in full flower across Queensland during spring. Interestingly, only the branched that receive at least 80-100% sun will flower and fruit, so a sunny position is essential. The flowers are small…
Green Christmas
For those wishing to celebrate Christmas with a lighter environmental impact, consumable gifts are a wonderful idea, especially for those difficult to buy for people who already have everything. Need some inspiration, why not try these wonderful gifts and decorations from recycled materials and the garden. Christmas tree ornaments made from seed pods. In this…
Late November in Olga’s annual veggie patch
We have been making the most of the cool, overcast weather here in Brisbane at the moment by taking the opportunity to put in a summer crop. We spent the morning digging over Olga’s annual veggie patch and planting corn, capsicum, eggplant, dwarf beans, perpetual spinach and summer lettuce. We also added a few more…
January Harvest in the Food Forest
What a wonderful time of year for a backyard abundance. We have local mangoes, black sapote, bunya nuts, greens by the wheelbarrow load, native mulberries, Brazilian cherries, Panama berries, macadamia nuts, pepinos, tomatoes, beans, tamarillos, lilly pillies, blueberries, Sandpaper figs, tumeric flowers, paw paws and so much more. It’s such a joyful experience to walk…
Cape York Lilly (Curcuma australasica)
Cape York Lilly in flower. Curcuma australasica, the native turmeric or Cape York lily. What a stunning plant. Very similar to regular turmeric in appearance with the exception of a beautiful pink stripe down the centre of the leaf. Can be used in much the same way as normal turmeric (if you can bring yourself…
Unusual nutritious plants for growing in South-East Queensland.
Brisbane’s climate lends itself to a wide range of edible plants from across Asia, Africa, South America and the Pacific, including many native Australian plants. Amaranth sp. Caution: Many plants contain toxins and require specific preparation prior to consumption or are only safe to consume in limited quantities. Always confirm the identity, and the preparation…
Planting Guide – December and January
Annual seeds ready for Brisbane gardeners to plant directly in the ground at this time of year include: While regular lettuce, kale and spinach is bolting to seed or growing bitter, now is the perfect time to plant leafy green alternatives that will thrive over summer. These include: Lebanese cress growing in wicking boxes.
Where to Start?
Straight forward instructions for getting started in gardens big and small. Knowledge from real down to earth gardeners who walk the walk with busy lives and productive gardens. Anything related to establishing or maintaining your edible garden such as companion planting, native bees and the like will also be included in the list below.
Ponds
Ponds are a wonderful addition to any garden. They are beautiful, encourage wildlife, improve your microclimate but most of all they are an excellent way to, very simply, grow an abundance of edible food. Delicious salad green such as Lebanese Cress, Water Parsley, Native River Mint, Water Celery and Kangkong thrive in water. Medicinal plants…
November in the Garden
Harvesting: Jaboticabas, gramichamas, Brazilian cherries, black berries, the last of the winter kale, silverbeet, carrots and parsnip, herbs, pigface, leafy greens (Okinawa spinach, sambung etc), bananas, paw paws, Atherton raspberries, jackfruit, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, blueberries, tamarillos, Panama berries, mock strawberries, native elderberry, amaranth seeds, warrigal greens and cape gooseberries. Planting: Winged yams, perennial greens, wing…
Jaboticaba (Plinia caulifora)
Jaboticaba. Now in fruit across Brisbane. Also known as the Brazilian grape this delicious fruit grows directly from the trunk and branches of the tree. A very attractive and productive small tree for any garden. The flowers and fruits appear in quick succession and once the birds find them then you’d better be quick. They…
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Brisbane Edible Gardening 