The wet summer season in the subtropics is a time for lush grass, sunshine, Christmas holidays and vigorous plant growth. So what better time to investigate some new and interesting fruit trees for your orchard? The traditional fruit trees that require a cold snap to set fruit are never going to be winners in the
Growing new plants from cuttings is a great way to increase your plant collection and save money at the same time. Growing new plants from cuttings is a great way to increase your plant collection and save money at the same time.
In order to make the best use of your space, you need to know what will grow successfully in the shade.
There’s so much to learn as a beginner gardener….To that end, here is a dictionary of important terms used in gardening. It covers everything except plants!
Although it is autumn, I’m still harvesting summer carrots. I love them and I love making delicious recipes with them. This is one of those recipes that I come back to again and again because it is so easy, healthy, yummy and you don’t even need an oven for this one! It is also vegan
This is the last in a series of articles about the issues I’ve had in my geodesic dome greenhouse and grow tunnel. Here is the previous chapter, where I tell about the possum problems. With a feeling of failure weighing heavily upon me, I left the greenhouses to fend for themselves for a few weeks.
This is the fourth part in a series of articles on my self-built geodesic dome greenhouse. If you need to catch up, here is part 3. It’s All About the Possums! As if my problems with light and powdery mildew weren’t enough, I now had pest damage to contend with. Will it ever end?! The
The Queensland fruit fly is a serious garden pest that destroys a wide variety of crops by laying its eggs inside fruit and vegetables. This results in fruit which is full of maggots and rotting, sloppy flesh…in other words, completely ruined. While they are a nuisance for the backyard gardener, the damage they cause means
This recipe is a staple in my home. I make it a lot, because it is healthy, easy, tasty and versatile. It is also lactose-, gluten- and sugarfree. I can use a lot of vegetables in one recipe and use it for dinner, lunch (or your kids school lunchboxes) or as a filling snack. This
The best place to start with permaculture is your own backyard. That might be as small as a paved courtyard or as big as a farm; either way, anyone can put permaculture into practice. Permaculture is a flexible system that caters for every type of property. It allows you to start small, and build up
High-raised garden beds are all the rage these days- and why not?! I’ve been using them for years for their many advantages. They’re fantastic to garden in, so convenient, easy to use and to water. But they’re not the quickest to fill, and they do take a lot of material. I’m going to show you
Pumpkins are part of the cucurbit family of vegetables. Cucurbits are veggies like cucumbers, zucchini, button squash, watermelons and even gourds. I’ve been growing and eating a ton of pumpkins this past year- I’ve eaten them fresh, frozen them, made soup, given them away, you name it. You can do this too, by following my
‘Permaculture’ is one of those words we often see and hear when reading about gardening. It’s like some sort of mythical desert oasis…you’ve heard about it, you know it’s a good thing, but you can’t put your finger on what it really is and what it looks like in the real world. So what is
This article is a follow-up to ‘Problems with Light-My Geodesic dome Greenhouse Part 2’. Although I’ve been harvesting lovely vegetables from my geodesic dome and grow tunnel daily, a new problem appeared in February, just after the wet season had started. POWDERY MILDEW!! I really want to make the dome work, as it’s such an
A guest post authored by Lauren Schwartz of www.lawn.com.au There’s more to self-sufficient gardening than ornamental plants and decorative sculptures. A productive garden is a healthy garden, and one that can lead to an excellent life goal: self-sufficiency! By growing your own food and in the process caring for nature, you can make the land
This article is a follow-up to ‘My Geodesic Dome Greenhouse Part 1’. In part one, I detailed the building of my geodesic dome greenhouse. This second part talks about the light problems I had in this dome greenhouse. It really highlights that light is a huge factor in successful gardening. As I began planting out
Gardens never stay still, do they? They’re always changing-plants grow, die, and multiply. The seasons change, and with that, the weather. You could say they are dynamic. But did you know there’s an actual thing called dynamic gardening? Yes, really! And it’s more than just having a garden that changes naturally- it’s an authentic gardening
At the start of any growing season, people plant like crazy with the excitement of growing vegetables. The excitement can quickly die down though, when those veggies start to pitter out before the season is fully finished, leaving gaps in your garden bed & a gap of time where you could still be growing, harvesting
It’s no secret that clay soil is far from the gardeners friend. Poor drainage is a problem, and when the soil is waterlogged your plant roots become starved of oxygen. If the soil is too dry, it can be hard to dig and plant roots can’t grow through it. So how do we fix clay
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
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.
