Wattle Will Goldilocks Do with Juniper?

SPICE IT UP

Juniper Juniperus communis
This small tree is native to desert regions so it’s hardy and drought-resistant.
But not only does this tree give your garden an interesting focal point with its fibrous and furrowed bark and attractive needles, the dried berries can be used to give your homemade gin its distinctive flavour.

Juniper berries have a bloom.

 Conifers in general have pine cones however the Juniper bush has what appears to be fleshy berries with a large seed inside.
The berry  of the culinary Juniper, Juniperus communis, is somewhat smaller than a blueberry and and about the same size as an Allspice berry.
Let’s find out what it is. I'm talking with Ian Hemphill, owner of Herbies Spices and author of the Spice Bible

Ian says Juniper berries are a demon to harvest because they don't all ripen at once, and the needles on the Juniper tree are very prickly, so you need protective gloves.
Make Your Own Gin
The berries can be used to flavour your own gin.
Start with some vodka to which you can add whole Juniper berries, some Coriander seed, and Grains of Paradise. You can crush the berries in a mortar and pestle if you wish.
Cooking with Juniper Berries
The piney flavour of the berries help to balance foods that are rich or cloying, such as Duck or Pork.
Juniper berries go great in a meat pie either used whole or crushed.
Juniper Trees
Unlike other conifers that have either needles or scales, juniper trees have both, sometimes on the same branch.
The needles have sharp edges and a pungent, distinctive scent, sort of like Rosemary with Citrus undertones.
The berries look like smaller blueberries, juniper berries also appear in red or copper, and are in fact soft cones.
Like typical hard and prickly conifer cones, juniper berries also contain the tree's seeds.
You can catch that up by listening to the podcast www.realworldgardener.com
If you have any questions about growing Juniper Berries or have some information to share, drop us a line to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675

VEGETABLE HEROES

What vegetable plants, herbs and fruits will grow in your garden this Spring?
Have some or no idea?
Well here’s a few seconds of music so you can go and get pen and paper to jot down what you might grow in your gardening zone.
It may just jog your memory to remind you to get started on one or two veggies that you had forgotten about.
In temperate areas the soil is still pretty cold.
For some of us the late frosts can pop up after a run of warm days and rain might be in scarce supply, depending on where you live.

There’s no rush to get summer crops in the ground.
If you’re desperate to get warm season crops in like tomatoes, your best bet is to start them indoors where they are protected or use a heated propagating mat/tray.
Be prepared to protect them on cold nights, and plant seedlings out in the open  when the risk of frost has passed.
The kind of veg you can grow in September is "shoulder" season stuff like spinach, peas, turnips, kale, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, Asian greens, mustard, silverbeet, carrots, beetroot and radishes.
Depending on where you are, you could also grow beans, rosella, eggplant, sweetcorn, sweet potato and zucchini.
It’s also a good time to plant herbs such as coriander, dill, mint, rosemary, thyme and parsley, and perennials such as rhubarb and globe artichokes.
And of course spring onions.
They're the easiest onions to grow and are absolutely made for planting in September!
In arid and semi arid zones it's getting warm enough to plant early summer veggies such as bush and climbing beans, corn, tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, beetroot, silverbeet, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and zucchini.

Add caption

Hold off on capsicums, eggplants, and cucurbits like watermelons, cucumbers and pumpkins until next month.
The herbs you could sow are pretty much all types of herbs.
Watch out for fruit fly and control spray lawn weeds.
In the frost-free subtropics you can get stuck into planting heat lovers such as capsicums, eggplants, tomatillos, pumpkins, and watermelons.
You could also get in a fresh sowing of sweetcorn, basil and okra, along with perennials such as sweet potato, yam, taro, cape gooseberry, lemongrass and passionfruit.
These all need warm soil to germinate, and tend to grow well in the spring dry season with extra watering if needed.
It’s also a great time to plant citrus trees, guavas and other subtropical fruiting evergreens. 
For the topics or sub-tropics, it’s a good time to sow some herbs too.
The herbs you could sow or  plant are  basil, chives, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme.

In the tropics, it’s a good time to get in a fresh sowing of sweetcorn, basil and okra, along with perennials such as sweet potato, yam, taro, cape gooseberry, lemongrass and passionfruit.
Cool Temperate& Southern Tablelands and Tasmania, Sow broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, beetroot, cucumber, leek, endive,  lettuce, silver beet, snow pea, spinach, strawberry, sweet corn, zucchini and tomato.
Traditionally, you don't plant your tomatoes in Tasmania until late October, but you can make an early start and hopefully get fruit by Christmas - if you give your plants a bit of protection."
"Don't use high-nitrogen fertilisers with tomatoes or you'll get lots of leaves and less fruit. Use compost and lower-nitrogen manures like sheep or cow. I'm using cow
HERBS – sow basil, chives, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme.
For those of you without a veggie garden, perhaps it’s time to start one now in a sunny spot.
If you are limited by space and are planting in pots, make sure you choose the sunniest part of your balcony or courtyard.
Begin your veggie garden by digging over the soil, then adding two kilograms of compost or cow manure per square metre and then mix in well.
By also adding two handfuls of dolomite every square metre, you’ll  prevent blossom end rot happening in tomatoes and will also add essential calcium to the soil.
Dig compost into the garden beds four weeks before planting any seedlings.
But that’s OK, because you can start your veggies off in punnets or trays first and they should be ready to plant out by then.
If you’re a bit forgetful and are handy with the mobile phone or ipad, you can actually download apps if you put in the words “garden planner.”
There’s a few available so just pick one that suits your area.
THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO FOR TODAY

DESIGN ELEMENTS
Scented Bulbs for Your Garden
A couple of weeks ago we started a new series on scented plants for your garden.
So many plants are lovely, with beautiful blooms, but only a smaller section of these also include a wonderful fragrance.

Fill Your Garden With Scented Bulbs photo M Cannon

Tuberose

When it comes to bulbs you probably know hyacinths and peonies and paperwhites as fragrant choices - but did you know there are bearded iris, daffodils, hostas and even tulip varieties with a luscious scent?


Let’s find out more. I'm talking with Landscape Designer Peter Nixon.

Some of the bulbs Peter mentioned are:-
Polianthes tuberosa - Tuberoses
Eucharist amazonica - Eucharist Lily
Amorphophallus riviera Konjac - Voo Doo Lily


Hymenocallis

Crinum x powelii
Hymenocalis literalis, speciosa, caribaeaSo many gardens are planted without a thought to scent – perhaps because there has been such a shift to perennials, which are the least-scented group of plants
They’re missing the third dimension – fragrance puts the whole garden onto another level.
Why not grow all of these plants so that you can turn your garden in to a perfumed paradise all year round.
 

PLANT OF THE WEEK

ACACIA FAVOURITES
The Plant Panel choose their favourite Acacias.

Acacia leprosa Scarlet Blaze

Wattles herald the coming Spring with masses of mostly yellow blooms all throughout our bushland, parks and reserves and even in some gardens.


This mass display is mostly seen as winter draws to a close but did you know there’s one of these in flower somewhere in Australia at all times of the year?
Let’s find out what our favourites are?
I'm talking with the plant panel:- Karen Smith, editor of Hort Journal www.hortjournal.com.au  and Jeremy Critchley, The Green Gallery wholesale nursery owner. www.thegreengallery.com.au

Plant Panel Picks
 Acacia leprosa “Scarlet Blaze
Scarlet Blaze It is a small tree or large shrub, growing to 5 metres high and 3 metres wide.

Acacia baileyana flowers

All forms of Cinnamon Wattle, and so this one, have leaves that release a cinnamon-like scent from its foliage, particularly in hot weather.
Acacia baileyana "Goldilocks."
A Grafted Standard form of Acacia baileyana that makes a stunning feature plant to the landscape. It has grey fern like foliage and bright yellow rounded flowers that bloom in late winter to spring providing a mass display of grey and gold in a weeping waterfall habit.
No secret about this plant of the week because the Australian National Colours of green and gold are representative of the Wattle in flower.
Acacia cognata "Limelight"
'Limelight' looks fantastic all year round with its lime green foliage a stand out against many other common garden plants

Acacia cognate 'Limelight"

Did you know that the wattle, specifically Acacia pycnantha was officially proclaimed as the National Emblem on the 19th of August 1988, but has been unofficially accepted as our Floral Emblem since federation in 1901?
It used to be in August but now September the 1st is National Wattle Day in Australia.
The Golden Wattle is an Australian Symbol  of unity, resilience and spirit of the people of Australia.



Fairy Martins Like Living Walls

REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network.
REALWORLD GARDENER NOW ON FACEBOOK!
The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition.

Wildlife in Focus

with ecologist Sue Stevens

• Swallows and Martins in the Hirundinadae family, build mud nests close to overhead shelter in locations that are protected from both the weather and predators.. Mud nesting species aren’t seen that much in areas of high humidity, which causes the mud nests to crumble.
• Many cave, bank and cliff dwelling species of swallow nest in large colonies. Building mud nests is family affair with the male and female sharing the tunnel the excavation as well.
• Fairy Martins are shier than other types of swallows and will not nest close to humans.
• You might be lucky, like Sue, and see a Fairy Martin nest attached op the underside of bridges, other manmade objects such as pipes, buildings, the and in culvert, so keep a lookout.
• The Fairy Martin, sometimes known as the bottle swallow, is hard to spot because it flies around so fast catching insects. Even the call can be easily confused with other small birds. So what does it get up to? Let’s find out…

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Vegetable Heroes

Tomatoes or Lycospericon esculentum. Being in the Solanaceae family, they’re related to eggplants,capsicums, chillies and potatoes. Tomatoes are botanically a fruit, or to be even more accurate a berry, because they are pulpy and have edible seeds.
Other botanical fruits classified as vegetables include squash, cucumbers, green beans, corn kernels, eggplants, and peppers.
There’s a tomato for every type of climatic condition and generally they’re a warm season fruit even though we call them vegetables.
In temperate climates you can plant them until December, hopefully some of you started them in early September to get the jump on fruit flies.
 In sub-tropical and tropical areas, this week it’s your turn to win, and yes, you can plant tomatoes all year round.
In cool temperate districts you have from October until December, and in Arid areas from August until March, so nearly all year.
Tomatoes prefer full sun but if you live in very hot climates, you’ll get sun scald on your tomatoes, so afternoon shade of some sort is essential.
Growing tomatoes has to be in full sun at least 6 hours.


Tomatoes for Everyone

• For cool districts I recommend that you start your tomatoes off in punnets of some kind and place this in a plastic bag or mini-greenhouse.
• Before your transplant your seedlings from the seed tray, and this applies to all seedlings, you need to harden them off.
• That means taking them out of a protected environment and putting them into 50% shade for a few days.
• TIP:When you plant your seedling, this is about the only plant I know that you pile the soil higher than it was in the pot-that way, it grows extra roots to support the plant.
• At the same time, put in a tomato stake of some kind and sprinkle some Dolomite around the plant.
• ANOTHER  good tip is to put some hydrated or fluffed up water crystals in the bottom of the planting hole, especially if in your district it’s very hot during the day, that it’s sometimes hard to keep the water up to them.
• They actually need lots of water to prevent a problem called “blossom end” rot, when they get a black bottom. Which also means a lack of Calcium. But you put on the Dolomite didn’t you?
• Don’t crowd your tomato plants because they need good air circulation around them so that fungal diseases don’t take hold.
• When your tomato plant has four trusses (or branches of flowers) nip out top of the plant. By this stage you should have plenty of fruits forming that need to grow and ripen.
• You need to do this mainly because you want the plant to put all its energy into these potentially succulent fruits. And…you don’t want it growing taller than you tomato stake and flopping all over the place.
• Keep the soil moist by regular watering and using a mulch of some kind.
• Once the flowers have formed, you need to feed weekly with tomato fertiliser or a general fertiliser but add a side dressing of sulphate of potash.
• Irregular watering or drying out of the soil or compost in very hot weather can result in the fruits splitting. The inside grows faster than the skin, splits and unless eaten quickly, disease very quickly enters the damaged area and the tomato disposed of.
• Tomato feed is very high in potash. Be careful not to overfeed as this can lock up other elements in the soil / compost that the plants require.
• HINT: tomato plants will only set fruit if the temperatures don’t drop below 21⁰C.
• Did you know that a tomato picked at first sign of colour and ripened at room temperature will be just as tasty as one left to fully mature on the vine?

Pleaching Ulmus at Floriade, Netherlands 2012

Reference:Tomatoes for Everyone by Allen Gilbert


Design Elements:

with Landscape Designer Louise McDaid
Have you ever thought of having a vertical garden? It’s one way to grow more plants that’s for sure.
Which one is right for you? Over the next 5 weeks, Design Elements will be covering Five different Living Walls and Vertical gardens.
If you’ve never thought of this concept, then you’re in for a surprise. Let’s begin the series.

Did you know that Vertical gardens on an external wall of your home, acts as an excellent natural insulator, making the temperature inside several degrees lower. In fact, a room with a vertical garden can be 7 to 10 degrees cooler than a room without one!
You can’t go wrong if you listen into Design Elements’ Living Walls and Vertical Garden Series.

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Plant of the Week

with horticulturalist Sabina Fielding-Smith
Wattles are part of Australia’s bushland and gardens, and along with Gum trees, bottlebrushes and grevilleas, form part of our landscape.
Here’s a couple of unusual wattles that might peak your interest into adding them to your collection of plants.
Acacia leprosa "Scarlet Blaze"
Red Wattle has turned out to be quite drought tolerant, requiring only occasional deep watering once established. It is relatively easy to grow as long as it doesn't get overwatered, which we have a tendency to do with rare plants.
The Red Wattle also prefers a well-drained, moist soil in full sun to dappled shade. From personal experience, the ones planted in full sun grew faster and flowering was delightfully abundant.
Did you know that Acacia Scarlet Blaze was selected as Victoria’s Centenary of Federation floral emblem?
However, Plant Management Australia, who have the rights to propagate Acacia Scarlet Blaze, say on their website that “Although currently commercially available to home gardeners, the degree of difficulty in propagation has kept numbers limited with availability set to increase for future years.”

Acacia cognata UY2“Mop Top.” Called River Wattle

Grows 90cm x 150cm. Great as a feature plant in pots and rockeries.

A low mounding dense shrub with aromatic foliage,

This wattle has plum-coloured new growth, and bright yellow perfumed flowers in spring,

Grows in cool temperate to sub-tropical climates. Drought tolerant once established.

Fertilise with a low phosphorus fertiliser, ie, <3% P

Grows in full sun to part shade and is fast growing like a lot of Acacias.

No need to prune-self-shaping.

Sydney Wildflower Nursery (NSW)Website: www.sydneywildflowernursery.com.au