Garden Gathering this weekend - 5th Feb

From 10am  if the weather is OK
See you there.

Name these plants

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2 Feverfew (anacetum parthenium)

A small perennial shrub, feverfew grows to around 80cm tall. It has green, much divided leaves (though a golden-leafed form does exist.) Flowers are small with yellow centres and there is an attractive double-flowered form.

Choose a semi-shaded location that is well-drained. While the plant is a perennial, it is often grown as an annual because it self-seeds so readily. In the Garden we have not found it to do this, but rather propagating it from root and stem has proved successful. Plant seed in autumn or in spring. Cut established plants down in autumn and they will reshoot in spring.

Feverfew is an old medicinal plant, used to treat fevers, arthritis, migraines and menstruation problems. The flowers can be steeped in hot water to make an insecticidal tea that can be safely sprayed on garden plants and vegetables. Like pyrethrum, it can affect good insects such as bees, so use in the evening.

3 Cork oak (Quercus suber)

Can grow 20 meters, and is an evergreen. The thick and knobbly dark grey bark which covers it is the portion known as “cork.” It is a sustainable and renewable timber product. Cork oak has been produced commerically for component of life jackets, fishing nets and insulation equipment as well as its traditional role as corks in bottles. Cork oaks were planted around early district properties and corks dangling from the brims of the hats of jackaroos and swagmen typify the outback Australian.

4 Amaranth
There are around 60 species of amaranthus, including weeds, leaf vegetables, grain crops and ornamentals. Many have large, colourful leaves and tassel-like flower spikes. Jackie French thinks amaranthus is the most spectacularly beautiful and useful plant that you'll ever find in the vegetable garden.

Amaranthus tricolor (syn A. gangeticus, A. oleraceus)
Also known as leaf amaranth, edible amaranth or Chinese spinach. The young leaves have a sweet, tangy flavour, and cooked leaves can be added to salads, soups and stir-frys. (Note: fresh leaves should not be eaten very often, as they are high in nitrates and oxalic acid.) Young shoots are peeled, steamed and then eaten. Ornamental varieties, such as 'Joseph's Coat' and 'Flaming Fountain', are grown as bedding plants.

5. Asian mustard green

6. Asthma plant (chamaesyce hirta)

7. Avocado

8. Wilde Betel leaf - Piper sarmentosum

9 Climbing spinach

10 Wampi Malaysian citrus
Handsome foliage evergreen tree grown for Summer ripe fruit with grape like flesh. Popular in S.E Asian gardens.
Fruit rich in vitamin C that is grown popularly in Asian back yards - originally from Thailand.
FEATURES: Large lobed, bright green foliage which is aromatic when crushed forms a tall slender tree. Sprays of white flowers become loose clusters of brownish fruit. Thin crisp skins split easily and the grape-like greenish flesh can be eaten directly seeds and all.

Inspiration from Tasmania

Tasmania has been referred to the spiritual home of Permaculture, as it was on the slopes of Mt Wellington, overlooking Hobart, that Bill Mollison and David Holmgren were to co-create Permaculture One in the mid 1970's

The Garden's design principles were directly influenced by Bill Mollison's Permaculture: A Designers' Manual, so it was no surprise in a January visit to beautiful Tasmania, Permaculture practices were in action.

A late afternoon in the Royal Hobart Botanical Gardens...

Apple tree espalier without wire support

Weighing down of apple tree branches with sand bags

Herb roof tool shed

Woven stick edging for retaining soil in the herb bed

Microclimate: bananas growing against a north facing brickwall

Around the sleepy village of Deloraine...

Self serve roadside organics

Bee boxes in the Manuka (tea tree) forests of the Tarkine

Ancient Myrtle forest of the Julius River (temperature rainforest)

When you can draw clean water from the rivers and creeks all over the island, purchase all your seasonal fresh organic produce from roadside stalls and find tranquil, pristine natural beauty every night to camp, you just may have discovered paradise.

Waste Not! Fruit and Veg Swap 15th JAN

Happy New Year!

Ring in the Green New Year by attending the 1st Waste Not! Fruit and Veg Swap of 2012: This Sunday Jan 15 from 9am-12pm at the Garden @ PCYC Wollongong.

We will be swapping the usual (and always unusual) assortment of fruit, veg, seeds, seedlings and growing info along with freshly brewed coffee and sweets.

See you there.

John
Waste Not! Fruit and Veg Swap

The Garden at PCYC Wollongong