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
Ginger is a valuable ingredient in food and drinks the world over, not to mention expensive- yet it’s easy to grow at home from just one bulb. A little bit can go a long way, and we can add ginger to all sorts of drinks and food. And it has a ton of other uses!
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
Here’s a quick bit of personal trivia – when I was a boy I lived across the road from the “Collard’s” they were a lovely family and my mother still sees them from time to time even though they now have both moved. My mother only recently sold her home about 6 months ago (as
About 8 years ago, when I first started creating regular content on backyard vegetable growing in raised beds (particularly the high sided ones) there wasn't much interest. However, these days there are plenty more people who have joined the raised bed "revolution" and realise this method of food gardening is the best. Initially, I found (to
Most of us can benefit from a little more vegetables in our lives, and growing them at home is the best way to ensure those dinner plates are stacked with a heap of greens every time. But what if you don't have much space outside to grow your favourite vegetables or you live in a
It’s time to peel back the layers to expose my secret to growing onions. But just a quick safety warning before we get started remember when eating onions on a roll or a folded bread ALWAYS place the onions under the sausage… The reason I say this (tongue in cheek) is due to a recent
Container gardening is not rocket science! All that you need are four simple things: containers, soil/growing medium, plants, and water (ok and maybe some plant food occasionally) so let's make it "five". That’s it! Basically, it is not too different from typical gardening, which you can do in a normal garden bed. Most veggies that
The following article is a modified transcript from a video I created on how to grow galangal so if you'd rather watch the video instead of reading scroll down to the bottom of the page. This is my five top tips on how to grow a ton of galangal for some reason I think of
I first started growing dragon fruit (Pitaya) in 2010 and 8 years on I'm so glad I decided to plant such a weird but stunning cactus vine in our food garden. It was only just a few years after (and to my amazement) when our vines started producing fruit and plenty of them! The subsequent article I
There’s arguably nothing better for your backyard garden than your own homemade rich compost made from kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and other organic garden waste. Compost adds nutrients to the soil creating food for plants, worms, fungi, and microbes it also helps give the soil structure and water holding qualities reducing the need to water
Make a winner out of your kitchen dinner by adding some easy to grow Asian herbs and spices and turn bland into YUM. In this article, I'm going to give you seven of my favourite easy to grow herbs and spices we grow at home and you can as well to use in your own
The following article is a guest post by Ann Sanders founder of the Blog/Website A Green Hand based in the USA (more details/link to her Site at the end). With the arrival of the spring season, many homeowners aspire to grow their own vegetables. However, it’s not as simple as sowing seeds in the soil
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.
