Hi Maggie, my last day at work today - thought it would be winding down but we are quite busy....looking forward to some extended hours in the garden over the next couple of weeks. are you still so so hot and dry or have you had rain? we have been having lots of rain - everything is very green and growing like mad!
It is hard to miss out on corn, zuchinni, eggplant, tomato, melons,cucumber, and other summer wonder crops.
Other than that it seems to be good advice but when you do the season may be just great.
Thanks for the welcome Maggie.
I would be so glad if you sent over some of the rain as we ran out of water yesterday and have stopped planting till we get some wet weather. We will concentrate on keeping the trees alive till then.
I know of the food forest and am prompted to look them up - thanks.
At 7:12pm on December 11, 2009, James Martin said…
Hi, Maggie. Your garden looks beautiful in your photos! It's very much winter here in the high desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. There is snow and ice out my door. Enjoy summer!
Hi Maggie, thanks for your reply! yes we've had some hot weather here during November - VERY hot! But now it's cooled down again and raining today. I actually have old Rosy Rayburn the wood stove running getting ready to make a fritatta for dinner...and heating my water and the house - a little unexpected for it to be cool enough to use rosy at this time of year...
Yes, I will join the group you mention when I have two seconds to rub together - probably some time in January when I can focus...
Hello to all the kitchen gardeners - great to have found what looks like a lively and interesting group!
Hi Maggie,
that was a great link - I do have that site on my favourites, but it is always good to re-read things. Actually my neighbour has a purple passionfruit and it is coming to visit so I will have both soon. the only purple fruits I have seen here though are very tiny. Interesting to read that the yellow does better here, so I might just go ahead and plant some of my fresh seed so that I have another vine starting. can you grow pawpaw there? Pawpaw and passionfruit is my favourite combination :)
take care, Gillian
Maggie, I was just wondering if you had saved any of your purple passionfruit seeds? I can send you some of my yummy huge yellow ones in exchange! I dont think there is any problem mailing these within Australia is there? They say you need to plant another vine every two years, and I was thinking I might try a purple one. Does it have the purple flower or is the flower the same colour as mine?
hope your weather is a bit cooler these days, do you get any rain in the summer?
Gillian
Thank you all for your comments, wow! we have some very experienced gardeners in our Aussie group.
I look forward to some good discussions and I guess a few moans about the heat when summer arrives and our plants struggle.
Cheers everyone.
At 11:31am on November 24, 2009, Helen Pereira said…
Hi Maggie,
I would like to join the Australian group too - didn't know it existed before you mentioned it. I love your garden - and your dogs! I have a black labrador who I have been feeding according to the BARF regime since he was 8 weeks old, so raw fruit and veggies are important to him too.
I am growing veggies on a very small scale at present - mainly asian greens as well as the usual - potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes - as I am about to create a whole new kitchen garden. Won't try to plant this summer of course, but can use this time for soil improvement, design and construction of beds.
I share your interests in food - my mother was brought up in southern India (the Western Ghats).
Currently my veggies and herbs are scattered through another part of the garden and in tubs. I love potager gardens too. I am somewhat limited in the amount of heavy work I can do at present due to injuries after a work accident, but I will get there.
My grandfather was an orchardist - emigrated from Yorkshire via India in the 1930's. He had never done physical work before then, yet in his mid 50's, built a lovely home, restored the orchards and lived a healthy ( he was vegetarian) active life till 86. So it's in the blood!
I also hosted radio talkback gardening for years in another life and was lucky enough to also have a large Edna Walling inspired country garden. I learnt so much in that time - and it was so inspiring talking to gardeners in the region every week. We used to run an annual tomato tasting competition and it was hilarious - so much fun.
In those days of course I was the facilitator - now my partner and I are having our own very small competition between us - and only with Black Russian and Tigerella. Will be interesting to see who produces the first as well as the tastiest tomato, given we live in different parts of the Adelaide Hills, with quite different topography.
Thanks again for making the contact - your garden is such an inspiration!
Thanks for making me feel welcome - I'd love to join the Australian group, I'm also a friend of Mary Riekart and the business partner of Sally Parrot.
Your garden looks great and very productive. I didn't mean to put that picture of my place on my home page, but am still a bit of a novice at this! I'm not a facebook devotee, but thought this would be more my line, so have to work out the technical bits as I go!
Sally and I run the wholesale nursery on about 6 acres of the property and my partner has a foliage growing business on most of the rest. I have quite a big garden around the house, where I grow a few veggies in the garden beds. My other hobby is chooks and ducks! I understand there is a chook group which I must look into.
Des, my partner, is australian, but I was born in England and came over here in 1996 when Des' old company offered him a job back in Melbourne. His family were dairy farmers in Gippsland and he still has a part-time job with a dairy company there. I am now a convert to Australia and could never move back to the old country!
I would love to chat to other keen gardeners who have new ideas to share to overcome the ever changing climate.
I see you are in the tomato group - Sal and I grew 1000 tomatoes and had a Tomato drive at Tom's (her son) school. We grew Roma, Principe de Borghese, Red Cherry and a Beefsteak cultivar - all the seeds from The Italian Gardener. We've nearly sold out so hopefully there will be a few new members from Wandin and the Yarra Valley! What cultivars do you grow - are there good ones for dry climates. I've planted heaps in the stock beds of the nursery so the dripper system for the stock plants will water the tomatoes too! That's where I put my pumpkins and cucumbers - just hope the chickens and rabbits don't get a taste for them!
Thanks again for contacting me, look forward to keeping in touch
Amanda
At 3:58pm on November 19, 2009, Sally Parrot said…
Hi Maggie
Thanks for getting in touch. Well basically I love growing many different things. My father was a nurseryman, my grandfather and great grandfather were market gardeners so you could say I have inherited the "growing gene". I grew up in England and moved to Australia with my husband back in 1998. I have since set up my own wholesale plant nursery where I grow both native and exotics. My two children, Tom (8) and Amelie(4) are of an age now where they love the garden so we have started a little kitchen garden at home where we try to harvest something fresh each night. My husband is French so we tend to grow huge amounts of lettuce! We have a herb garden, a spot for tomatoes, cucumbers for ourselves (and the guinea pigs!), and a few other bits and pieces. Gosh I could talk all day but I have to do the school run. I'll write more this evening. What a great website this is - my good friend Mary Riekert introduced me to it!
Regards
Sally
Hi Maggie,
I was just looking at your photos again - you have such a lovely garden - so peaceful just looking at it! I was wondering what sort of irrigation hose you use? I have been using soaker hoses, but they rot out so quickly. I have been repairing the rotting pieces with insulation tape, but dont know how long that can go on for!
Your garden photos are wonderful. It's 14F here in Idaho this morning and the wind is blowing. A few apples that didn't get harvested are hanging on a bare tree like Christmas ornaments.
At 12:29am on November 17, 2009, Mary Riekert said…
Hi Maggie - I'm a great fan of your blog. And love your photos.We think we are having a hot spring here but when I hear about the temperatures in Adelaide I realise we're not so bad.
Cheers
"An edible patchwork quilt" sounds like the ideal kitchen garden.
I've seen your pictures, your garden looks so peaceful. Isn't it
awsome how much can come from a small garden.
My son has two 4 x 4 foot beds. He squeezes in a tomato plant,
2 cucumbers, pepper plants, spinach, carrots, and even this year
a summer squash. Because it's small it's easy to care for and
like yours looks beautiful.
At 10:17am on October 19, 2009, Lisa Vallejo said…
Hi Maggie, Thank you for breaking the ice and sending me a note. May I add you as a friend? You've such a beautiful garden, very inspiring. I wish I had a garden like yours. But as you know I can only plant in containers on my roof.
To answer your query, Philippine cuisine has a mixture of eastern and western influences with an array of rich flavor, colors and spices. The most popular dishes are of Spanish and Chinese origin. Personally I prefer sea foods and vegetables.
I've been finding my way around and I can see that there are lots of interesting things in here.
Hi Maggie!Thanx.Broccoli is new to our area.I use it in Salads after steaming them.And in vegetable broth.Some time i use it in chicken stock and vegetable soup it tastes excellent in soup.
Wow Sandra! You've asked for an awful lot of information! Start by checking for your "predicted" last frost date.
There are frost charts online, but the quickest way for you, I think, is to call your county extension agent. He'll be listed in the ph…
Hmmm... we are having lots of sacred snow these days in Baltimore... can't wait for some of it to melt down...
can't wait for spring to get my fingers back in the soil...
Oh gosh, that is rare to get humidity that far south! That is where all our moisture went - we havnt had any rain for over a week :) I started that gemsquash group as I discovered a new member (Margaret Flett) who had gemsquash as her favourite vege…
Yes it's hot but very humid which is unusual. We are having a spell of days in the low 30s but tropical air is being pushed south by the weather systems up north and we are getting rain and humidity. The rain we love - the humidity we are not used t…
yes - the pods are quite tough. We only ate the peas inside and we always ate them green although many Indian people dry them. They are known as toovar dhal in Gujerati or tuvaram in Tamil and there are lots of recipes for them dried. Just google to…
Mary,
so you always shell them? I am entirely in the dark with these, and no more flowers :(... Did you only cook the peas fresh or did you leave some to dry?
I posted a photo of the HUGE luffa I found, and there are lots more making an appearance -…
Hi i just wanted to ask, I know it is still cold and i want to know what i can grow in the garden that would be organic and as close to the original foods? How do i find seeds for these foods? When do i start growing? Can i start seed in the house?…
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
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.
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!
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
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
Maggie's Comments
Comment Wall (278 comments)
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Join this Ning Network
Other than that it seems to be good advice but when you do the season may be just great.
I would be so glad if you sent over some of the rain as we ran out of water yesterday and have stopped planting till we get some wet weather. We will concentrate on keeping the trees alive till then.
I know of the food forest and am prompted to look them up - thanks.
Yes, I will join the group you mention when I have two seconds to rub together - probably some time in January when I can focus...
Hello to all the kitchen gardeners - great to have found what looks like a lively and interesting group!
Kerry
that was a great link - I do have that site on my favourites, but it is always good to re-read things. Actually my neighbour has a purple passionfruit and it is coming to visit so I will have both soon. the only purple fruits I have seen here though are very tiny. Interesting to read that the yellow does better here, so I might just go ahead and plant some of my fresh seed so that I have another vine starting. can you grow pawpaw there? Pawpaw and passionfruit is my favourite combination :)
take care, Gillian
hope your weather is a bit cooler these days, do you get any rain in the summer?
Gillian
I look forward to some good discussions and I guess a few moans about the heat when summer arrives and our plants struggle.
Cheers everyone.
I would like to join the Australian group too - didn't know it existed before you mentioned it. I love your garden - and your dogs! I have a black labrador who I have been feeding according to the BARF regime since he was 8 weeks old, so raw fruit and veggies are important to him too.
I am growing veggies on a very small scale at present - mainly asian greens as well as the usual - potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes - as I am about to create a whole new kitchen garden. Won't try to plant this summer of course, but can use this time for soil improvement, design and construction of beds.
I share your interests in food - my mother was brought up in southern India (the Western Ghats).
Currently my veggies and herbs are scattered through another part of the garden and in tubs. I love potager gardens too. I am somewhat limited in the amount of heavy work I can do at present due to injuries after a work accident, but I will get there.
My grandfather was an orchardist - emigrated from Yorkshire via India in the 1930's. He had never done physical work before then, yet in his mid 50's, built a lovely home, restored the orchards and lived a healthy ( he was vegetarian) active life till 86. So it's in the blood!
I also hosted radio talkback gardening for years in another life and was lucky enough to also have a large Edna Walling inspired country garden. I learnt so much in that time - and it was so inspiring talking to gardeners in the region every week. We used to run an annual tomato tasting competition and it was hilarious - so much fun.
In those days of course I was the facilitator - now my partner and I are having our own very small competition between us - and only with Black Russian and Tigerella. Will be interesting to see who produces the first as well as the tastiest tomato, given we live in different parts of the Adelaide Hills, with quite different topography.
Thanks again for making the contact - your garden is such an inspiration!
Thanks for making me feel welcome - I'd love to join the Australian group, I'm also a friend of Mary Riekart and the business partner of Sally Parrot.
Your garden looks great and very productive. I didn't mean to put that picture of my place on my home page, but am still a bit of a novice at this! I'm not a facebook devotee, but thought this would be more my line, so have to work out the technical bits as I go!
Sally and I run the wholesale nursery on about 6 acres of the property and my partner has a foliage growing business on most of the rest. I have quite a big garden around the house, where I grow a few veggies in the garden beds. My other hobby is chooks and ducks! I understand there is a chook group which I must look into.
Des, my partner, is australian, but I was born in England and came over here in 1996 when Des' old company offered him a job back in Melbourne. His family were dairy farmers in Gippsland and he still has a part-time job with a dairy company there. I am now a convert to Australia and could never move back to the old country!
I would love to chat to other keen gardeners who have new ideas to share to overcome the ever changing climate.
I see you are in the tomato group - Sal and I grew 1000 tomatoes and had a Tomato drive at Tom's (her son) school. We grew Roma, Principe de Borghese, Red Cherry and a Beefsteak cultivar - all the seeds from The Italian Gardener. We've nearly sold out so hopefully there will be a few new members from Wandin and the Yarra Valley! What cultivars do you grow - are there good ones for dry climates. I've planted heaps in the stock beds of the nursery so the dripper system for the stock plants will water the tomatoes too! That's where I put my pumpkins and cucumbers - just hope the chickens and rabbits don't get a taste for them!
Thanks again for contacting me, look forward to keeping in touch
Amanda
Thanks for getting in touch. Well basically I love growing many different things. My father was a nurseryman, my grandfather and great grandfather were market gardeners so you could say I have inherited the "growing gene". I grew up in England and moved to Australia with my husband back in 1998. I have since set up my own wholesale plant nursery where I grow both native and exotics. My two children, Tom (8) and Amelie(4) are of an age now where they love the garden so we have started a little kitchen garden at home where we try to harvest something fresh each night. My husband is French so we tend to grow huge amounts of lettuce! We have a herb garden, a spot for tomatoes, cucumbers for ourselves (and the guinea pigs!), and a few other bits and pieces. Gosh I could talk all day but I have to do the school run. I'll write more this evening. What a great website this is - my good friend Mary Riekert introduced me to it!
Regards
Sally
I was just looking at your photos again - you have such a lovely garden - so peaceful just looking at it! I was wondering what sort of irrigation hose you use? I have been using soaker hoses, but they rot out so quickly. I have been repairing the rotting pieces with insulation tape, but dont know how long that can go on for!
Cheers
I've seen your pictures, your garden looks so peaceful. Isn't it
awsome how much can come from a small garden.
My son has two 4 x 4 foot beds. He squeezes in a tomato plant,
2 cucumbers, pepper plants, spinach, carrots, and even this year
a summer squash. Because it's small it's easy to care for and
like yours looks beautiful.
To answer your query, Philippine cuisine has a mixture of eastern and western influences with an array of rich flavor, colors and spices. The most popular dishes are of Spanish and Chinese origin. Personally I prefer sea foods and vegetables.
I've been finding my way around and I can see that there are lots of interesting things in here.
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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, 2009.
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.
Administration
You can refer any que
… ContinueCreated by Ian May 23, 2009 at 1:55am. Last updated by Ian May. 25, 2009.
Climate maps
Hi following recent discussion I have put climate maps of the USA, Australia and Europe on here for reference..
Climate map of the USA
Climate map of Australia
Climate map of Europe
… ContinueCreated by Ian Sep 12, 2008 at 6:20pm. Last updated by Ian Apr. 14, 2009.
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, 2009.
US STATES ABBREVIATIONS
US STATE ABBREVIATIONS
AK - Alaska AL - Alabama AR - Arkansas
… ContinueAZ - 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, 2009.
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, 2009.
Notes Home
Welcome to Notes.
To view notes that are in the system hit the "all notes" button above.
ContinueCreated by Ian May 28, 2008 at 12:10pm. Last updated by Ian May. 30, 2008.
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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