Seat Yourself Under A Tamarind or Rainforest Tree

There’s more than one tamarind that you can use in cooking in the spice it up segment with herb and spice expert, Ian Hemphill ; grow these earthy wonders in Vegetable Heroes. A keystone species that originates in the rainforests of the tropics in plant of the week and get your garden seating sorted in design elements.

SPICE IT UP

Tamarindus indica: Tamarind

You've probably heard of tamarind, but can you describe what it is, exactly?

A bean... maybe? A spice... or something?
Spices and herbs aren’t always used in the way you would think.
For example, this next spice you soak then throw away the spice and use the water.
Sounds strange but what’s even more strange, is that even though it has a sour note, you can make lollies out of it.

Tamarind pod

Let’s find out more.

I'm talking with Ian Hemphill from www.herbies.com.au

The tamarind tree, Tamarindus indica is perhaps not for suburban backyards because of it’s massive height. 18 - 20 m.

Ian recalls driving through a part of India where the Tamarind trees lined the road for over 30km!

Tamarind pods look like pods from the Australian Black Bean tree. (Castanospermum australe.)

Inside the pods is a sticky mass of pulp with seeds and fibre.
Be careful though when purchasing Tamarind for use in cooking because there are 3 types.

• Asian cooking: use tamarind paste which is flesh mixed with salt and water. DON'T USE for Indian cooking.
• Indian cooking-use the dried out tamarind pulp, soak that in water and macerate. Drain off the acidulated water and use in your Indian dishes, but throw away the pulp.
• You can also buy Tamarind concentrate which is the tamarind mixed with water, then boild down to a substance as thick as black molasses. Just use 1/2 teaspoon in your Indian dishes.

Fun Fact:Ever heard of chef Yotam Ottolenghi -- pretty much the "it" chef for all things vegetarian.
Ottolenghi uses tamarind paste in everything; it's one of his "secret" ingredients.
If that's not reason enough to get to know tamarind, we don't know what is.
Just get the dried pulp to use in cooking but be wary of using tamarind paste for Indian dishes.
If you have any questions for me or for Ian, email us at realworldgardener@gmail.com.
Or you can write in to 2RRR PO Box 644, Gladesville NSW 1675

VEGETABLE HEROES

TURNIPS

BOTANICAL NAME: Turnips or Brassica rapa

It’s funny that some vegetables have received a bad rap through no real reason other than not looking all that appealing.

One thinks of Turnips as some bland vegetable that’s used to flavour soups and stews.

But you wouldn’t eat it as a stand alone veggie or would you?

Swedes, Parsnips maybe, but not the regular or even mini turnip.

• Did you know that the Romans used to throw turnips at unpopular people? Maybe that’s why turnips got such a bad reputation?
• But back the UK in the early 1700’s a bloke called Charles Townsend made turnips popular in England. He did this by discovering that animals could be fed and fattened by eating turnips because they grew in cold and damp climates.That meant that farmers were able to keep their livestock instead of having to kill them all for winter because there was nothing to feed them on.

Why are Turnips Good to Grow Again?

You’ll be glad to know that the large woody turnips of old have mainly been replaced with smaller mainly white varieties that are delicious grated raw into a salad or as a side dish, leaving the swedes to take over in the stew department!

Turnips can be harvested when mature or when they’re still quite small, cooked or eaten raw and the young tops can be used like spring greens.

Not only that, they’re quick to mature and easy to grow.

What does the Turnip look like?

Just in case you’re mixing up turnips and Swedes and Parsnips, the turnip is round, sits in the ground with just the top exposed to the light as it grows, and is actually the swelling at the base of the stem of the plant.

Regular turnips

The Turnips that I’m going to talk about have mainly a white flesh and skin with a rosette of green feathery leaves that can also be eaten.

How do they grow?

Turnips can grow in full sun and partial shade, but like a well-drained soil.

Whatever you do when you plant turnips, don’t let them dry out.

When to plant your turnips?

Well I’m afraid it’s a bit of a mixed bag around Australia, so here goes.

From September until May in temperate districts and also cool temperate districts.

From August until May in sub-tropical areas.

For arid areas, you’ll have to wait until February then you have until August and Tropical areas, have even less of a chance, only between April and June.

Before you sow your turnip seeds, give the veggie bed some chook poo-about a handful per square metre.

Turnip seedling in my garden. photo M Cannon

Sow the turnip seeds no more than 6mm deep.

It’ll be a bit tricky to get the right distance apart so keep thinning them out until they’re about 15cm apart.

If you thin them before 8 weeks, both the root and leaves are good to eat at this stage.

The leafy tops of these early pickings are great in salads.

Even though you’re getting an early start on your turnips, if you have some unseasonal warm weather, look after them by not letting them dry out, otherwise they’ll be small and woody.

Mulching with sugar cane, pea straw or something like that will help with keeping the soil moist.

Turnips take about 2-3 months to grow, so add a handful of chicken manure every 4 weeks.

You can pull them out when they’re the size of a golf ball when they’re at their sweetest, or wait until they’re the size of a tennis ball.

There are quite a few new varieties out there so why not try

Turnip White Mini-Tender round white roots, stores well. Crisp, beautiful well shaped rounds, ideal for the turnip lover. Harvest in only 7 weeks.

Turnip ‘Snowball’ is a very popular first-class, globe variety with solid white flesh and a juicy, sweet, mild flavour. Snowball’s an heirloom turnip that was introduced before 1885.

Snowball is best harvested when no larger than a tennis ball and can also be enjoyed when much smaller. Snowball takes between 5-8 weeks to be ready.

Turnip 'Golden Globe'  Also known locally as 'Butter Turnips' locally. Were introduced before 1888, this a heritage turnip with a beautiful golden skin, amber yellow flesh and delicate flavour. Stores well.

Why are the good for you?

Turnip roots are high in dietary fibre, vitamin C and B6, folate, calcium, potassium, and copper.

The greens are an excellent source of vitamins A and C, as well as a good source of calcium, iron, and riboflavin

THAT WAS OUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Weeping Fig: Ficus benjamina.

Some plants are vital to many layers in tropical rainforests and some Old World trees(stranglers, such as the weeping fig (F. benjamina)), develop aerial roots from their branches and send them straight down through the air.

Let’s find out
I'm talking with Jeremy Critchley www.thegreengallery.com.au

The actual definition of a keystone species is a plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions.
Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether.

• But back in suburbia, there’s not that much to worry about . except don’t plant that fig in your garden.
• Because when the aerial root from the branches reach the ground, these roots grow into the soil, thicken, and become additional "trunks." 

  

  Weeping fig planted in the ground.

In this way stranglers grow outward to become large patches of fig forest that consist of a single plant with many interconnected trunks. In this way stranglers grow outward to become large patches of fig forest that consist of a single plant with many interconnected trunks.

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Garden Seating Sorted

What’s the last word in garden seating for you?
Perhaps you can’t be bothered with garden benches, tables and chairs and an old milk crate or just perching on a step will do.

Or you’ve got the good ole’ cast iron table and 2 chair setting which is terribly cold on the bottom, not to mention hard.
Things have moved on considerably in the last thirty of forty years though.
Let’s find out what’s Peter’s last word in garden seating.
I'm talking with Peter Nixon, principle of Paradisus Garden Design

Seating and lighting go together so rather than the awful floodlight stuck on the side of the garage, why not think about 12V lighting to compliment night time seating with your friends and family?

Snip Snip Go The Roses

PLANT DOCTOR

Winter Rose Care

Who doesn’t love receiving a bunch of roses?
It certainly puts a smile on your face especially if they’re the fragrant type.
Perhaps we don’t receive them as much as we would like and if that’s the case, you need to grow some roses of your own.
Pruning can seem complicated if you read blogs on the web or books on roses and their care.
Steve certainly advocates the simple approach to winter rose care.If you’re not that familiar with looking after roses, this next segment has simplified some of the things you have to do to roses in winter in order to have plenty of flowers.


Talking with Steve Falcioni, general manager www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au
Let’s find out...listen to the podcast

The more you know about your rose the easier the task will be.
For example:
Is your rose once-flowering or remontant (repeat flowering)?
What is its normal growth habit - climber, tall, medium or short bush?
Do you get frosts in your area? This is very important for the timing of pruning.
Of course the later you leave the pruning, the easier it’ll be to find a bud as they begin to swell.
The first thing to do of course is to prune of dead and diseased wood.

Pruning cuts are always 1-2 cm above these buds.

Just a few major steps first for beginners.
Prune two-thirds of the bush if it's a vigorous hybrid tea, (most commonly grown) otherwise if it's weaker growing than just half to a third.
Floribundas or shrub roses aren't pruned as heavily, but the same principle applies.
Climbers are different, don't prune those long whippy stems but tie them to a support and prune the stems that come off this main branch to about 2-3 buds.

If you have any questions about winter rose care or roses in general, why not email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

BOTANICAL NAME: Turnips or Brassica rapa

It’s funny that some vegetables have received a bad rap through no real reason other than not looking all that appealing.
One thinks of Turnips as some bland vegetable that’s used to flavour soups and stews.
But you wouldn’t eat it as a stand alone veggie would you?
Swedes, Parsnips maybe, but not the regular or even mini turnip.
I can’t say exactly why that is because I’ve been enjoying eating mini turnips for the last few weeks. Delicious!
Perhaps it’s the name-Turnip, just like Kohlrabi, the name and sight of the actual thing isn’t that appealing until you actually taste it.
Then you’ll be thinking, why didn’t I try this before because it tastes so good?
Did you know that the Romans used to throw turnips at unpopular people?
Maybe that’s why turnips got such a bad reputation?
But back the UK in the early 1700’s a bloke called Charles Townsend made turnips popular in England.
He did this by discovering that animals could be fed and fattened by eating turnips because they grew in cold and damp climates.
That meant that farmers were able to keep their livestock instead of having to kill them all for winter because there was nothing to feed them on.
You’ll be glad to know that the large woody turnips of old have mainly been replaced with smaller mainly white varieties that are delicious grated raw into a salad or as a side dish, leaving the swedes to take over in the stew department!
Why are Turnips Good to Grow Again?
Turnips are a very versatile vegetable - they can be harvested when mature or when they’re still quite small, cooked or eaten raw and the young tops can be used like spring greens.
Not only that, they’re quick to mature and easy to grow.

What does the Turnip look like?
Just in case you’re mixing up turnips and Swedes and Parsnips, the turnip is round, sits in the ground with just the top exposed to the light as it grows, and is actually the swelling at the base of the stem of the plant.
The Turnips that I’m going to talk about have mainly a white flesh and skin with a rosette of green feathery leaves that can also be eaten.
How do they grow?
Turnips can grow in full sun and partial shade, but like a well-drained soil.
Whatever you do when you plant turnips, don’t let them dry out.
When to plant your turnips?
Well I’m afraid it’s a bit of a mixed bag around Australia, so here goes.
From September until May in temperate districts and also cool temperate districts.
From August until May in sub-tropical areas.
For arid areas, you’ll have to wait until February then you have until August and Tropical areas, have even less of a chance, only between April and June.
Before you sow your turnip seeds, give the veggie bed some chook poo-about a handful per square metre.
Sow the turnip seeds no more than 1 cm deep.
It’ll be a bit tricky to get the right distance apart so keep thinning them out until they’re about 15cm apart.
If you thin them before 8 weeks, both the root and leaves are good to eat at this stage.
The leafy tops of these early pickings are great in salads.
Even though you’re getting an early start on your turnips, if you have some unseasonal warm weather, look after them by not letting them dry out, otherwise they’ll be small and woody.
Mulching with sugar cane, pea straw or something like that will help with keeping the soil moist.
Turnips take about 2-3 months to grow, so add a handful of chicken manure every 4 weeks.
You can pull them out when they’re the size of a golf ball when they’re at their sweetest, or wait until they’re the size of a tennis ball.
There are quite a few new varieties out there so why not try
Turnip White Mini-Tender round white roots, stores well. Crisp, beautiful well shaped rounds, ideal for the turnip lover. Harvest in only 7 weeks.
Turnip ‘Snowball’ is a very popular first-class, globe variety with solid white flesh and a juicy, sweet, mild flavour. Snowball’s an heirloom turnip that was introduced before 1885.
Snowball is best harvested when no larger than a tennis ball and can also be enjoyed when much smaller. Snowball takes between 5-8 weeks to be ready.
Turnip 'Golden Globe'  Also known locally as 'Butter Turnips' locally. Were introduced before 1888, this a heritage turnip with a beautiful golden skin, amber yellow flesh and delicate flavour. Stores well.
Why are the good for you?
Turnip roots are high in dietary fibre, vitamin C and B6, folate, calcium, potassium, and copper.
The greens are an excellent source of vitamins A and C, as well as a good source of calcium, iron, and riboflavin
AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!

DESIGN ELEMENTS

 Talking with Landscape Designer Glenice Buck. www.glenicebuckdesigns.com.au
 
Over the last few weeks a series about designing a garden on a rural property a couple of hours south of Sydney has been the topic.
We talked about where to locate the garden, should it be where the bones of the old garden was, should it be somewhere else but not where farm machinery needed to trek through it?
Then was soil needing to be improved? Of course it was.
Now comes the most exciting part of the process.
What plants what materials are going in, not to mention how many?
Let’s find out ….
PLAY: Re-working  A Garden part 4_5^th August_2015

photo Glenice Buck

Some of the plantings are outlined below.
Shade was needed for the back of the house from the western sun but at the same time the trees couldn't be too large so that they would block the views.

Glenice chose Olive trees, alternating these with Crepe Myrtles, underplanted with Buxus and Santolina.
Lower down Glenice used ornamental grasses, Agastache, Sedums, groundcover Geraniums, Salvias and Chrysanthemums.

The back section of the garden included an avenue of Manchurian Pear trees.
If you want to hear that segment again, go to the website and click the podcast.

Not everything is transcribed from the segment, so if you’re looking for something in particular, email or write to me and I can give you more details. realworldgardener@gmail.com

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Talking with Karen Smith from www.hortjournal and Jeremy Critchley www.thegreengallery.com.au
Australia has a diverse range of plants that many wouldn’t recognise as being native other than the usual suspects of Eucalypts, Grevilleas, Bottlebrushes and Banksias.

In steps a climbing vine that is so lush you’d think it came from the rainforests of Madagascar or Sumatra.
Pandorea jasminoides or Bower of Beauty or Bower Vine.
But it turns out to be truly a native plant with dark green glossy leaves and lightly scented flowers that measure around 5cm across.
 What is this plant? Let’s find out …


Even though Bower vine comes from tropical and sub-tropical rainforests, it’ll grow well in southern states if you give it plenty of moisture and protect it from frosts when it’s a young plant.
The newer varieties are Jazzy Bellz-white with deep maroon throats, Ritzy Bellz-pure white petals and throat, Sassy Bellz-medium pink with crimson throat and Flirty Bellz-soft pink with ruffled edges and a dark pink throat.
Same as the original but the distance between the internodes is shorter so appears even more lush, if that was possible.
Large white trumpet flowers with golden centres and is often seen growing all over Australia.
It can be easily trained over fences and trellises forming a dense screen.
I also have a white one with a yellow “throat.”
So, what’s the difference.
Well the original climb to 3 metres high and 5 metres wide. That’s big. I have it climbing over a large arch but it’s not that wide so a trim during the growing season with hedge clippers is need a couple of times.


Jazzy Bellz

Why grow one at all? Bird attracting- Suitable for hedge- - Fast growing
So attractive, I had a birds nest in it for the last two years.
Flowers mainly in Spring and Summer, then you get the long seed pods filled with winged seeds that germinate easily given the right conditions.
I’ve given away quite a few plants that have been grown from seed.
Well there are more varieties out now under the hybrid name “Auzzie Bellz”…with an unusual spelling.
The varieties Jazzyy Bells masses of clean white flowers with ruffled edges and a deep crimson and Sassy Bellz-a darker pink with a crimson throat.
Both only grow to 40 cm
That makes them suitable for pots being more compact, growing to only 40 cm
Use on trellis and pots or on a frame.
There’s also two more varieties that grow as big as the original Pandorea jasminoides but with a deep red flower called Ruby Bellz and a yellow flower with a whi