Ice Plant, Beans, Aggies and Parlour Palms

What’s on the show today?

Fixing bean problems in Plant Doctor, Growing something unusual and salty in Vegetable Heroes;  grow this palm instead of the weedy Cocos palm in Plant of the Week and all about Agapanthus in the Talking Flowers segment with Mercedes.?

PLANT DOCTOR

Problems with Beans

Beans are such an easy crop to grow, but if you live in a district where the weather plays havoc with your veggie garden, you could be in for a bit of trouble with your beans.
Perhaps it’s not just disease but a horde of insects have descended.

Powdery mildew on beans

Let’s find out what you can do about this.
I'm talking with Steve Falcioni from OCP’s www.ecogarden.com.au

Whitefly, thrips and aphids control with eco oil or soap based spray to.

Possibly bean fly damage on leaf

Beanfly, is much harder to control, is cultural. If you don't pick off affected leaves, the eggs will hatch and the larvae will tunnel into the stems of the bean plants.
You may as well pull them out at this stage as there is no control.

Caterpillars can be picked off or use Dipel.
Powdery mildew can be controlled with potassium bicarbonate spray such as eco Carb.
Other diseases, such as rusts and leaf spots is better prevented with cultural methods because chemical control is difficult and mostly ineffective.
Good sunlight is best for beans so not near overhanging trees.
No pods but plenty of flowers?
The main reason for no pod set is very hot weather.
Steve says, just be patient and wait for the weather to cool.
Of course, encourage pollinators into your garden with plenty of flowers near your veggie bed.
If you have any questions, either for me or for Steve, why not email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

A succulent in vegetable heroes?

Yes it’s true.

Salty Ice Plant or Mesembryanthemum crystallinum

Native to Europe and Africa but has naturalised in the Southern parts of Australia, extending as far north as Exmouth on the Western Australian coast.

According to CSIRO  Mesembryanthemum crystallinum is found on wide range of soil types, from well-drained sandy soils (including sand dunes), to loams and clays.

Salty Ice Plant  isn’t fussed about soil pH and can even tolerate nutritionally poor or saline soils.

“In the natural state,  Salty Ice plant or M. crystallinum appears to be tied to climatic factors, and is most common in years of relatively high winter-spring rainfall.

Why should you grow this Salty Ice Plant?

• As far as the home gardener goes this plant is rare and exclusive.
• But there’s more.
• It’s highly ornamental, has a creeping or prostrate growth habit  and is great in a pot.
• It’s very attractive and can withstand environmentally tough conditions, plus the glistening succulent leaves look like they are covered in frozen icy bumps.

M. crystallinum flowers from spring to early summer 

Flowers open in the morning and close at night, and are insect pollinated.

The Ice Plant has a tendency to go a pinkish or rosy-red colour in hot dry conditions and this, in itself, makes it an attractive plant.

The fresh sap of the Ice Plant was found to be a great remedy for all manner of skin complaints and could be added to baths or extracted and made into ointments and creams.

It’s not just another succulent that’s growing in your garden but you can use it in cooking.

It’s a fact:Salty Ice Plant is the ultimate salty garnish chefs use for fish dishes and to balance sweet flavours.

It’s A Very Different Plant

• Botanically speaking it’s also quite novel because it seems to be able to switch between two modes of growing.
• I need to mention here that your normal every day tree shrub or groundcover is what’s termed a C3 plant.
• That means it needs sunlight to carry out photosynthesis which it converts to sugars, taking in carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen.
• Salty Ice plant grows like this when conditions are good meaning there’s plenty of rainfall.
• Another method that plants can grow by is called Crassulacean Acid Metabolism or CAM for short.
• CAM plants shut their breathing pores or stomata during the day but open them at night to take in CO2 which is stored.
• This CO2 is released inside the plant during the day and even though the breath pores are closed, it can carry out photosynthesis.
• Also, as the breathing pores are closed, that means that water loss is minimal during the heat of the day.
• How clever is that?

Plants that can do this are very drought tolerant and plants that can switch from one mode of photosynthesis to another are pretty exceptional.

For Salty Ice plant, it switches to CAM metabolism when it experiences salinity and drought.

So how come it’s called salty ice plant?

What makes it glisten in the sun?

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum accumulates salt throughout its life, in a gradient from the roots to the shoots, with the highest concentration stored in epidermal bladder cells.

Epidermal cells are just below the leaf’s surface and it’s these bladder cells with the stored salt that give the leaves that glistening ice crystals look.

Bladder cells glisten in the sun on salty ice plant.

There’s a few uses for salty ice plant.

Firstly the leaves of M. crystallinum are edible and the seeds can also be eaten.

Secondly, and perhaps more unusual, the crushed leaves can be used as a soap substitute and has some medicinal uses (Plants For A Future - Species Database, 1997-2003).

Not surprisingly, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum is also used as a model in plant physiologic research (Bohnert and Cushman, 2000),

When to sow:

In all districts the best time to sow the seeds is in Spring.

Sow the seeds in punnets first only just covering the seed and put them in a plastic container, or in a mini-greenhouse.

When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frosts.

Seedlings are prone to damp off so should not be over watered and should be kept in a very sunny well-ventilated position

Growing

You can easily grow Salty Ice plant in any ordinary well-drained garden soil. Salty Ice plant won’t grow in shade can grows in soils that aren’t that fertile such as sandy soils.

It’s not very hardy in cool temperate climates and will be killed even by a light frost.

Plants have few problems with pests or diseases though as I mentioned the young plants are prone to root rot and damping off unless given plenty of ventilation and dry growing conditions.

TIP: Leaves and stems - raw or cooked. They can be used as a spinach substitute. The leaves have an acid flavour, they are thick and very succulent with a slightly salty tang. They can also be pickled like cucumbers or used as a garnish.

NOTE:

Common ice-plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) is a significant environmental weed in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and an environmental weed in Tasmania and New South Wales.

So if you intend to grow it in your vegie or herb garden, make sure it doesn’t set seeds.

Why are they good for you?

The fresh sap of the Ice Plant is apparently a great remedy for all manner of skin complaints and could be added to baths or extracted and made into ointments and creams.

Juice extracted from the leaves are astringent and mildly antiseptic.

You can mix the juice with water and use it as a gargle to relieve laryngitis, sore throat and mouth infections.

AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO FOR TODAY

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Parlour Palm: Chamaedorea elegans

Do you love or hate palm trees?
The gardening community is divided into two groups, those that love the palm trees and those that hate them.
Probably because people persist in growing the environment weed, the cocos palm, which although grows really fast, is particularly ugly.
I'm talking with the plant panel:Jeremy Critchley of www.thegreengallery.com.au and Karen Smith, editor of www.hortjournal.com.au
Let’s find out.


You can keep the parlour palm indoors for many years, but planted out in the garden under other leafy palms or larger leaved shrubs, it grows as a bushy alternative to the single trunks of most other palms.
If it gets too tall for the room, give it a trim because being multi-branching, there's no risk of killing of the leader.
Plus, you don’t have dropping palm fronds like you do with cocos palms and a few others.

If you have any questions about parlour palms, why not write in to realworldgardener@gmail.com

TALKING FLOWERS

Agapanthus spp:

Agapanthus praecox

You can see straightaway why Agapanthus has the nickname ‘flower of love’.

The Greek word ‘agape’ means love, and ‘anthos’ means flower.

How to pick your Agapanthus flowers for the vase.

 Agapanthus flowers are normally picked when the bud bract has fallen off and no more than three florets are open.

Stalks are cut near their base with a sharp knife.

Remember what Mercedes says: If it's from a bulb, rhizome or cor, then it's Mr Agapanthus.

Mr Agapanthus wears sneakers, so we cut the stems straight across the bottom of the stalk.

If you don't want the pollen to drop onto your tablecloth, cut off the stames before they "fluff."

If you're buying Mr Agapanthus, make sure that flowers are of proper maturity. 

If the neck of flowers is bent upward, they have been transported at warm temperatures and have responded to gravity.

In the Garden:How to care for aggies

Cut off the old flower spikes after the flowers fade and before they begin to dry and set seeds. Snip through the stem with shears near its base, where it emerges from the plant.
I'm talking with Mercedes Sarmini of www.flowersbymercedes.com.au

Recorded live during broadcast of Real World Gardener show on 2RRR 88.5fm, Sydney.

Everything from Lily of the Nile to Dry Soil

What’s On The Show Today?

How to improve your watering in Plant Doctor, crunchy like an apple but sweet like a watermelon in Vegetable Heroes, a mainstay of many gardens in plant of the week and festive flowers in Talking Flowers?

PLANT DOCTOR

Watering The Garden and Hydrophobic Soils
Water is a scarce enough commodity in Australia, so gardeners would like to think that they are watering efficiently.

We all know the best times to water but what you may not know is that if you scratch the surface of your soil, you may find that the water hasn’t even penetrated.

There are many causes of soil that is water repellent or hydrophobic.
Why’s that you may ask?
Let’s find out. 'm talking with General Manager of www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au

Water repellence can be due to the waxy substances that come from plant material being not properly decomposed. These in turn coat the soil particles. The smaller the soil particle, as in sandy soils,the great chance of the waxy substances clinging to them.

Through no fault of your own, the soil in your garden may be prone to being water repellent.
This means you may need to have routine distribution of a wetting agent, either wetting granules or the spray on kind.
The liquid form of wetting agent also comes in a hose on so it does seem an easy way to do a large area.

Wetting granules though are no more difficult to apply than spreading organic fertiliser around your garden.
When choosing a soil wetter one thing to note is that some are based on petroleum derivatives and alcohol, making them unsuited to organic gardens. 
Others contain only naturally occurring substances that readily biodegrade and cause no ill effects to the soil or plants. 
To help choose a suitable wetting agent check the ingredients. 
For organic gardeners, eco-Hydrate contains polysaccharides (natural humectants that can suck moisture from the air), soil surfactants (which aid in moisture penetration) and soil conditioners (including fulvic acid and seaweed extract).  

If you have any questions about hydrophobic soils either for me or Steve, why not email us realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675

VEGETABLE HEROES

Yacon : Smallanthus sonchifolius (syn Polymnia sonchifolia)

Yacon is in the Daisy or Asteraceae family.

Yacon is sometimes called, Peruvian ground apple, ground-pear, and pear of the earth.

We’ll stick to Yacon-which is the name this vegetable mostly goes by

Yacon is native to the Andes- Colombia and Ecuador but did you know that until as recently as the early 2000s, yacón was hardly known outside of South America?
You probably won’t see it any time soon in your veggie shop but you can buy Yacon tea or Yacon syrup.

So what does this plant look like and which part do you eat?

Yacon is a hardy, attractive herbaceous perennial from which you get quite a few tubers.

The plant grows to 1.5 to 2 m tall with light green angular leaves that look a bit like a milk thistle’s leaves or even a Jerusalem artichoke.

When it flowers, you’ll have male and female daisy-like yellow to orange flowers that are pollinated by insects.

Each plant forms a underground clump of 4 to 20 fleshy large tuberous roots.
The plant itself is extremely hardy tolerating hot summers, drought and poor soils.

The part that you eat is underground.

Yacon tubers look a bit like sweet potatoes, but they have a much sweeter taste and crunchy flesh.
The tubers are very sweet, juicy and almost calorie free but more on that later.
I would say that the tubers taste like a cross between apple and watermelon, but with more sweetness.

Generally it’s a bit tricky describing the taste of a new food, but everyone agrees on the crunchiness.
If you can grow Jerusalem artichokes or Parsnips, you can grow Yacon.

PLANTING DETAILS

Yacon has a long growing season-up to 7 months so generally suits temperate to tropical areas.

But you can grow it in cooler districts.

• Yacon can be planted all year round in frost-free areas as it is day-length neutral. 
• In tropical areas grow Yacon during the dry season before the wet sets in.
• It appears to be drought tolerant compared to other vegetable crops and so far, pest-free. 
• For cold areas of Australia the rhizomes can be started in styrofoam boxes in a greenhouse or on a warm verandah, usually in spring, and planted out when frost is past.

Split the tubers into individual shoots with their tubers attached and plant into smaller pots.

Yacon plants are quite sensitive to temperature, so plant them out when you would tomatoes.

Normally you plant the large tubers into large pots and wait for shoots to start growing from each smaller tuber.

Yacon actually produces two types of underground tubers, reddish rhizomes directly at the base of the stem that can be eaten but are a bit stringy and tough so they’re mainly used for propagation.

Then there’s the larger brown or purple tubers-these are the ones you eat.

Prepare the soil by loosening well with a fork and working in compost.

To plant, cover a large rhizome/tuber which has several sprouts, with soil to a depth of 3 cm. Space them 0.5m apart.

But you might just want to start with one plant which you can buy online or some garden centres.

Mulch well because yacon will grow up through the mulch, just like potatoes.

The stems of this plant are brittle so if you haven’t got a wind break tip prune the stems to make the plant lower and more bush.

Because this plant creates dense shade when it grows you probably won’t have to do any weeding. Bonus!

Yacon grows fast even in poor soils but gives you much bigger tubers in rich, friable, well-drained soil.

So when do you pick this strange vegetable?
The plant takes 6 - 7 months to reach maturity.
You know when it’s ready when the top growth withers and dies back.
This is when you dig up the tuber.
The tubers look a bit like dahlia or sweet potato tubers, and on average should weigh about 300 g but can weigh up to 2 kg.
Once the soil starts to heave at the base of the plant, dig around to 'bandicoot' a few early tubers to extend the harvest season.
The tubers continue to sweeten as the plant dies back so the main harvest should only take place once all the top growth is dead.

If you planted your tubers in November they’ll be usually be ready by the end of May.

Don't leave it too long though, especially in areas that have mild winters, as the plant will start to shoot again as the weather warms up and the days get longer.
When digging them up, separate the reddish rhizomes from the tubers and wash off any soil, taking care not to break the skin.
The reddish rhizomes are kept out of the sun and covered with slightly damp sand, sawdust or cocopeat to stop them drying out and put aside for replanting in a dark, dry place.
These offsets are then replanted for the next season.
The plant needs to be dug carefully to avoid damage to the crisp tubers. After separation from the central stem undamaged tubers can be stored in a cool, dark and dry place with good air circulation for some months.
If your plant flowers don’t bother with any seeds you might bet because they’re mostly un-viable.

Yacon is almost always propagated from cuttings or tubers.
Why the tubers keep sweetening during storage is because of starch conversion.
You can put them in the sun for a couple of weeks to speed up the sweetening process.
The tubers can be eaten raw as a refreshing treat on their own, finely sliced and mixed into salads, boiled or baked, fried as chips or prepared as a pickle.

There’s plenty of eating tips, too many to mention, but I’ll post them on the website. For those without a computer, write in to me and I’ll send you a fact sheet.

EATING TIPS:

First remove the outer brown skin and inner white skin by peeling with a knife as the skin has a resinous taste.
Inside is amber coloured sweet crunchy flesh.
Like all tubers there are no seeds to remove, so it is quick and easy to prepare.

Chop the tuber into chunks and add it to green salads where they impart a great flavour and texture. I
When cut into long strips, they make an interesting addition to a plate of raw vegetable crudites for dipping into your favourite guacamole or cream cheese dip.

It can also be boiled, steamed or baked with other vegies. In cooking they stay sweet and slightly crisp.

If boiled 'in the jacket' the skin separates from the flesh and can be peeled off like a boiled egg.
Yacon can also be used in a dessert crumble or pie with apples, pears or choko.

In the Andes, they are grated and squeezed through a cloth to yield a sweet refreshing drink. The juice can also be boiled down to produce a syrup. In South America the juice is concentrated to form dark brown blocks of sugar called chancaca. The young stem can be used as a cooked vegetable.

Why is it good for you?
Nutritionally Yacon is low in calories but it is said to be high in potassium. Yacon tubers store carbohydrate in the form of inulin, a type of fructose, which is a suitable food for type II diabetics. 

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Agapanthus

The old varieties of this tough as old boots flowers, are often seen in neglected gardens but did you know its Greek name means love flower?
Love flower sounds much more romantic than the German Schmucklilie which translated means jewel lily.

This plant with its lily like flower grows almost everywhere except where it’s extremely hot or extremely cold.
Let’ s find out what it is. 'm talking with the plant panel: Jeremy Critchley of www.thegreengallery.com.au and Karen Smith, editor of www.hortjournal.com.au


photo courtesy www.pma.com.au plants
In some areas they are used as a fire retardant plant because of their fleshy green leaves and also for holding banks and stopping erosion with their large and tangled root system.
In the norther hemisphere, Agapanthus, other than in their native South Africa need to be moved into unheated greenhouses in winter.
So don’t underestimate the humble Aggie, plus breeders are always looking for new colourways, so that you won’t be disappointed if you seek them out.

Some newer varieties to watch out for are...management Australia

Agapanthus Black Pantha

Agapanthus Cascade Diamond

Agapanthus Snowball

Agapanthus Golden Drop with variegated foliage.

TALKING FLOWERS

Christmas Bush: Ceratopetalum gummiferum

Ceratopetalum....from Greek ceras, a horn and petalon, a petal, referring to the petal shape of one species.
gummiferum....producing a gum.
In the home garden, I would regard this plant as a large shrub in people’s gardens rather than a small tree because it rarely grows to more the 4-5 metres.

That’s equivalent to Coastal Tee-tree.

The leaves are up to 3-7cm long and are divided into three leaflets or trifoliate, which are finely serrated and the new growth is often pink or bronze coloured. 

Leaves are opposite each other.

I grew these plants as part of a trial when I was studying for my Hort Diploma at Tafe some years ago.

Testing a variety of fertilisers for growth factors. 

Definitely one plant that doesn’t tolerate Phosphorus in the fertilizer. 

Native fertilisers only.

I'm talking with Mercedes Sarmini of www.flowersbymercedes.com.au

Recorded live in 2rrr studios and published on Facebook.