WHY ARE EARTHWORMS SUCH A BIG DEAL FOR GARDENERS? Earthworms are the largest & most productive part of the plant-food cycle: they can work harder and faster than any other organism, and produce a huge amount of nutrients for the plants. To see exactly how they work within the soil structure, read our article here
Place a teaspoon of soil in the palm of your hand. In that teaspoon of soil, there could be as many as 3000 species of bacteria, 200 species of fungi and 20 000 algae. In fact, there are more organisms in a handful of soil than there are people on earth…but most of them can
Soil is a mixture of minerals, air, water, plus a variety of living and dead organic matter. The purpose of soil is as a growing medium for plants, a regulator of water supplies, recycler of raw materials, habitat for soil organisms, and as a landscaping and engineering medium. When it comes to gardening, we need
Picture yourself standing in your garden. Looking around, right to left, up and down, admiring the results of all your hard work. Beautiful flowers, deep green leaves, fruit on the way to ripening….BUT WAIT! You spot one plant that is shrivelled, sick, and covered in bugs. Turn the other way, and there’s one with yellow
So, you are thinking of taking that idealistic step away from the modern mainstream, and moving towards self sufficiency. It’s a term we’ve heard a lot this past year, but it’s not always clear what it really means. And is it realistic these days? We all have work, families, responsibilities, vehicles and modern technology that
I’ll happily admit to practising the art of lazy gardening! Years ago, we used to make our gardens pristine, with rows of plants all the same height, lawns mowed within an inch of their life, annual flowers planted with perfect spacing, and trees all neatly pruned…in other words, a green desert. While our gardens were
Domes are such an ideal use of space in the garden, providing heaps of ground area as well as protected height if you need it. My reason for building this dome is probably obvious: to prevent the larger critters from stealing my vegetables and fruit…I grow produce for myself, not for them! At my place,
Often the plants that grow the best are the ones totally adapted to the area they are growing in and whilst most examples in the home garden are ornamentals here are some examples of edible plants that are native to Australia. Macadamia Everyone worldwide knows about the Macadamia nut, but most don’t know it’s a
Most of us have at least one citrus tree in our gardens. Be it a Meyer lemon down the backyard or a Kumquat in a pot on the front verandah. Meyer lemon fruit (image above) Autumn is citrus care time. Right before they begin flowering is the best time to treat all the ails of
Well, here we are at the beginning of a brave new world having been dragged kicking and screaming into this new reality where we must learn to be more self-reliant and more communally and locally co-operative. It’s going to get tough but you know the saying “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”
How many people have succeeded at growing good garlic? Especially, in warmer climates such as the subtropics… Do you get the leek variety? Or very small bulbuls rather than full-sized bulbs full of fat cloves? We are told it should grow in a Mediterranean climate and growing conditions. But in all honesty, growing garlic in
The recent fires have been devastating for all concerned. Not only in the usual ways, but for many less obvious reasons also. One less obvious reason is the pollution of the garden soil where buildings once stood. The top layer of soil is now covered with ash made up of all that a building was
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
