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Gillian
- Female
- Mossman QLD
- Australia
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Gillian's Groups
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South Florida Kitchen ...
10 members
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Garden Irrigation
19 members
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Eight Seasons
10 members
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orum
3 members
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Southeast Asian Food E...
13 members
Gillian's Discussions
Food for Thought
Replied Oct 28
Compost news
Replied Oct 22
I blog at http://africanaussie.blogspot.com
Latest Activity
Profile Information
- Where do you live and garden?
- Tropcial North Queensland, Australia
- How long have you been growing food?
- 4-10 years
- Dream garden travel destination:
- Tasmania
- Favorite foods:
- Spicy Indian food
Gillian's Photos
Gillian's Blog
Tropical fruits
There are so many mangoes everywhere - the road to work is bumpy with fallen mangoes. Most locals do not like the mangoes that grow wild and so they just fall to the ground and rot. The trees are also huge, so it is very hard to pick them, but everytime I see some within reac… Continue
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 5:26pm — 4 Comments
Permaculture and feeding my soul
Posted on October 15, 2009 at 10:32pm — 4 Comments
re-designing, getting ready for summer downunder
When we got back from our holiday the tomatoes were looking very sad, so this weekend I ripped them all up and created a new compost pile where they will be next year. Crop rotation! I have an old table legs and base which is going to act as the support for the vines. So with a bit of fencing around the sides it has created the perfect compost pile. With all those tomato seeds I probably wont even have to plant the tomato bushes! Leaves, bushy trimmings, the old tomato plants and some… Continue
Posted on October 11, 2009 at 8:11pm — 1 Comment
Water rationing in the tropics
Posted on October 6, 2009 at 10:28pm — 6 Comments
Transition time, hot and dry right now.
The tomatoes are really almost at the end, but I cant bear to finally pull them up until we get home. Then I will put them onto the makeshift compost pile where I will grow tomatoes next year. . Maybe try some green toma… Continue
Posted on September 22, 2009 at 8:50pm —
Comment Wall (62 comments)
- At 11:12pm on November 17, 2009,
Steph Webb said…
- ha ha Gillian..Gemsquash it is! LOL! I have always loved gems.....and had some last year for the first time in 9 + years! Bought it at the international delli.....well i am determined to try grow it here next year...i believe there is a SAFFA growing a crop of them up in Queensland and selling them to some supermarkets.....
Gosh you have had a fantastic life...a sail boat nog al! :) My dad was a keen fisherman and always out on the boats and down at the sea,,,,so I have sea water running through my veins! So love the sea and beach ...sigh!!! Yeah i heard about the fires danger down in South Australia and I guess that makes us rather vulnreable....I live near the Dandenongs and there is a huge fire danger there this year...so summer is going to be a nightmare season for us all...I live more in an open suburban area but last year we had fires there too!
- At 6:41pm on November 17, 2009,
Maggie said…
- Hi Gillian,
The brown drip hose is just from the local mitre ten store.
We have not had to replace any.
It is under mulch and the shade cloth is up for summer.
You can view it at number 5 photo on my page.
Have a great day
Maggie
- At 3:22pm on November 17, 2009,
Kathryn said…
- Its all about location isnt it. Sounds lovely.
- At 12:45am on November 17, 2009,
Maggie said…
- Hi Gillian
I always enjoy reading what you write on KGI. Maybe I will get back to commenting when the days are a bit cooler. It is great to see Kathryn online again and Glen comments are great.
Well I best go do something else
Cheers
Maggie
- At 11:43pm on November 16, 2009,
Mary Riekert said…
- Hi Gillian
I am a North Coast girl who arrived in Melbourne in 1987, from JHB. I envy you the tropical fruit. We can buy most things down south but they never taste as good as they should and the though of pawpaw, mangoes and passionfruit produced real envy! I know you have to put up with the humidity and the disease it brings but I'd give anything for a steamy Natal/KZ day. We're in the middle of an unexpectedly hot, dry spring (32 deg tomorrow and 36 on Thursday) and the gardens which were magnificent thatnks to october rain have just wilted.
Cheers
Mary
- At 11:12pm on November 16, 2009,
Steph Webb said…
- Hi Gillian, Wow you have been here a long long time. We got here in Jan 1999....so love it in Australia...we went straight to Melbourne and have remained there despite the awful weather! YUCK! But i must say i am so gettin used to it, and loving the season changes. We have just bought the land and will start building in the new year. We expect to move in anytime between April and beginning of June.... I have always loved gardening but didnt go into veggies etc. My parents and grandparents were always big on kitchen gardens and my mom's parents were farmers in Senekal area....so its in the blood. My children are all grown up now , but two girls still living at home and i love it...its company and fun! Will love to catch up for chats with you about life in Oz and gardening news etc...cheers Steph
- At 2:01am on November 16, 2009,
Kathryn said…
- were that high up
- At 2:01am on November 16, 2009,
Kathryn said…
- Just looked at a map to see where you were exactly, I didnt realise you
- At 8:38am on November 6, 2009,
Maya said… - Yes, I've heard that we can grow papayas/pawpaws indoors from the seeds of supermarket fruit, and that the plant will fruit in the first year. I'm not a big fan of them, but my daughter is. I actually like the flavor of the seeds better than the fruit. Good project for us to do together, in any case, a Jack Sprat kind of thing...
On the bananas, the Lady Finger was the only fruiting dwarf plant available to us, although there was a superdwarf cavendish, which at 1m tall was too dwarfish for our purposes. If they're too sweet for eating out of hand, we can always use them in milkshakes or something (if our lady actually produces fingers in the space we have eked out for her in the warmest, sunniest corner of the house). Anyhow, it's all an experiment, so we'll just sit back and see what happens.
Peace,
Maya
- At 10:37am on November 5, 2009,
Maya said…
- In South America I was always told that you shouldn't eat passionfruit before the skin is all wrinkly, and I've always had it that way. There are yellowish ones like yours and purplish ones. Do you let the fruit age before you use the pulp?
I'm trying to add fruit-producing tropicals to our houseplants, not to feed the family, but as treats and a visual reminder that plants produce food, as we only get to see that in summer. So far we have a calamondin orange, and I've ordered a dwarf Lady Finger banana (my son wanted it to shade his freshwater fish tank from the low-angle winter light that streams directly in his bedroom window) and a Petite Negra fig. Passion fruit and limes are on my Christmas list. Keeping humidity high enough is a trickier proposition for us than temperature and light, as wood heat really dries out the air.
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HOW TO - ADD A LINK
Several people have experienced difficulty putting working links into comments and blogs etc and I know it is clumsy.... so here is how you do it.....
First type the text you want to appear.... ie IAN'S PAGE
Then go back and highlight the link text.
Then hit the hyperlink button...a pictogram of a chain link.
Your browser may intervene and request permission to allow temporary scripting or some similar message. Allow it and go back and highlight the text again
… ContinueCreated by Ian Jun 7, 2009 at 7:28pm. Last updated by Ian Jun 8.
Forum Policy
Hi, I'm starting to put together a few guidlines on using the discussion forum on here.
I would be happy to hear any comments you may have. This is very much a work in progress so plese feel free to ask me to add anything you think is needed.
I don't want to make our community hide bound by rules and regulations but I think that, as the community has grown, some explanation of what is expected is needed.
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You can refer any que
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Hi following recent discussion I have put climate maps of the USA, Australia and Europe on here for reference..
… Continue
Created by Ian Sep 12, 2008 at 6:20pm. Last updated by Ian Apr 14.
Recipes, Recipes, Recipes
Hi Everyone, I've started to collect together recipes from various posts on the site and put them all together here.
If you have a recipe you want to add on here, just post it on the site and leave a comment on my page telling me where it is and I'll go and fetch it back here.
They are organised in Contributor Order but I'm open to better suggestions!
BEVA'S RECIPES
… ContinueCreated by Ian Jun 2, 2008 at 9:54am. Last updated by Ian Apr 13.
US STATES ABBREVIATIONS
US STATE ABBREVIATIONS
AK - Alaska AL - Alabama AR - Arkansas
AZ - Arizona CA - California CO - Colorado
CT - Connecticut DC - Dist of Columbia * DE - Delaware
FL - Florida GA - Georgia GU
Created by Ian Jan 27, 2009 at 4:27pm. Last updated by Ian Jan 27.
HOW TO - MAKE COMPOST
Recently there was an excellent discussion about composting. I’ve pulled together all the various comments here. You can also watch KGI's video on composting here.
KATE’S ADVICE
I used to have a tumbler that we made from a wine-barrel but
1 you have to fill it up all at once
2. it seemed mostly
… ContinueCreated by Ian May 30, 2008 at 5:29am. Last updated by Roger Jan 15.
Notes Home
Welcome to Notes.
To view notes that are in the system hit the "all notes" button above.
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A Note about Notes
I have just written this note so that I can see what we can achieve by using this new feature.
If you read this and have any suggestions then please leave a comment on my page or email me.
Ian
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