Here’s a great little DIY vertical aquaponics design that Floyd has recently installed outside a studio in Darwin.
It’s a simple system, designed to transform a simple patio into a space of low-maintenance beauty that includes the sound of running water, the cooling effect of a pond, and bountiful herbs! Read More
Last weekend Michael, Zag and Stephen packed the ute with seeds, mulch and tools, and went to Sydney to teach a Serious Backyard Veggies workshop with special guest Costa Georgiadis. Planting, planning what goes where and what goes in next, natural pest management and all the ‘how to grow great tomatoes/eggplant/celery/carrots etc’ tips that could be squeezed into 2 days…
It was pretty darn fun, with lots of students saying ‘this is all the stuff i needed to know but didn’t know I needed!’ And also had the consequence that the front of the Alexandria Park Community Garden is now packed with spring veggies. Check out the gorgeous photos Cathy Xiao Chen took… Read More
We love growing coriander for its many benefits and its flavor, but in our climate it just bolts so quickly, it’s a blink-and-you’ll miss it affair. Fortunately the fabulous Meg McGowan showed up at last weekend’s Aquaponics Workshop with a simple, doable solution to breeding slow to bolt coriander for any climate…
Anyone wanting to grow a wall of summer (literally) should try scarlet runner beans. Just thinking about them makes me smile.
They are incredibly enthusiastic climbers and grow up, up, up, blooming bright red flowers ever which way. Then they bear heavily, with bean pods you can eat whole when young (green bean pods with bright red beans inside!), or leave them and collect the beautiful back and red speckled beans later.
We’ve been growing scarlet runners ever since we moved to Milkwood, and I suspect some of my adoration is due to the fact that they were courteous enough to not turn up their toes and die in those first 3 years of drought-filled summer, like many other ‘easy to grow’ vegetables we tried. Read More
Anyone with compost worms knows how valuable the worm juice from their wormfarm can be as part of veggie growing. The trick is remembering to add it, and having a good method of applying it.
Last year Nick devised a way to passively add worm juice into our kitchen garden irrigation supply, via a rather clever little DIY setup. Read More
