We’re going up the garden path in a new series on just that, in Design Elements; grow peantues for real in Vegetable Heroes plus environmental history, will it affect us in the Garden History segment, and flowers to impress in the Talking Flowers segment.
DESIGN ELEMENTS
Garden Paths Series Part 1: Gravel Paths
Garden paths serve an obvious function but they can also be aesthetically pleasing.
This next series in Design Elements, is all about garden paths that work and that you can do yourself.
Over the next 4 weeks, landscape designer, Jason Cornish, and I, will delve into 4 different types of paths and things you need to now before you put them in.
Let’s find out the first one is:Gravel
I'm talking with Landscape Designer, and, Director of Urban Meadows Jason Cornish.
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| Gravel Path: Hear The Crunch When You Walk |
There’s a few things to think about when putting in the cheapest path option. The stone's colour can be used to tie into the scheme of the garden.
Limitations are when walking with a wheelbarrow or wheelie bin whose wheels can sink into the gravel making it hard going.
On the other hand, if it's too thin a layer of gravel, weeds can take over making it a chore to maintain.
Weedmat underneath the gravel is good for a time, but as the leaf litter builds up on the surface of the gravel, weeds will still find a foothold.
Then again, it might suit your location or garden, or maybe just the thing before you decide on one of the more expensive options.
If you have any questions either for me or for Jason, drop us a line to
realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675
VEGETABLE HEROES
Arachis hypogaea:Peanuts!
- The peanut is not a true nut
but a legume, like peas, and beans.
Why peanuts? Because people tell me it’s easy,
and fun thing to try.
Another announcer here at the station, bought a
small plant from a low cost supermarket a few years ago, planted it in a pot
and harvested some peanuts.
He was amazed at how easy it was and wondered
if it would continue to crop the following year.
I’ll answer that later.
- Did you know that anthropologists working on
the slopes of the Andes in Brazil and Peru have discovered the earliest-known
evidence of peanut farming dating back an amazing 7600 years?. Amazing!
- Did you also know that peanut growing was
introduced into Australia in Queensland during the gold rushes of the 1870's?
Chinese gold diggers on the Palmer River near
Cooktown in the 1870's and
1880's first grew peanuts.
How Does It Grow?
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| Peanut bushes |
- The peanut plant develops from an embryo embedded between the two cotyledons of the kernel
and grows to a bush about 50 cm tall and up to 100 cm wide.
- Small, yellow, pea-type flowers emerge at 30-40
days after planting give or take a few weeks, and, after self-pollination, the
ovary's base elongates, bends downwards and penetrates the soil.
- The tip of this 'peg' then enlarges to form a
pod containing one to three kernels.
- Depending on what variety you managed to get,
where you’re growing your peanuts and what the weather’s like that season, the
growth period can take from 14 to 26 weeks, or 3 ½ to 6 months.
- Peanuts aren’t too fussy about the type of soil
you’ve got.
- Peanuts are a subtropical legume crop needing
relatively warm growing conditions and 500 to 600 mm of rain.
- As long as the soil is well-drained and friable
with no large stones, sticks, stumps or chemical residues.
- Peanuts can tolerate a wide range of pH - from
5 to 8, but can’t tolerate heavy clay soils.
- Planting usually occurs from October to January
in Queensland and NSW. In the Northern Territory, plantings occur in March-April.
- Peanuts have been commercially trialled in
Western and South Australia, so give them a go there too.
- For cooler zones, plant your peanuts in pots or
containers and keep the going by placing them in the warmest part of the
garden.
Grow Your Own
- To grow your own peanuts if you can’t find any
peanut bushes to buy, it’s sort of easy.
- What you need is a packet or raw peanuts. Not
salted or roasted or any other fancy shmancy types.
- It has to be raw peanuts.
- Then, like any other seed, you sow some raw peanuts
either into jiffy pots, punnets or into a garden bed.
- Sow each seed 3-5cm deep and if they are fresh
they should germinate in one to two weeks).
- There’s a few strange and weird things about
looking after your peanut bushes though.
- For instance, you might be surprised to know
that the pods take most of their calcium and boron directly from the soil
rather than through the roots.
- Calcium, such as in Dolomite, is best applied
to the plant before flowering.
- Next, watering is critical particularly during
the critical stages of germination, flowering, pegging, and pod filling.
When To Harvest
The next trick is to know when to dig up the
peanuts, and like a lot of things that grow in the veggie bed, it’s when the
leaves start to turn brown.
You can check to see if they’re ripe by digging
a few up.
What you need to see are dark-coloured pods inside
the shell, where the kernel should be changing from a pink to gold colour.
Not all the pods will be ready at once so
timing is important.
But look, if you get it wrong, that try again
next year.
Now Brian, the answer to will the plant grow
again next year.
No, because you have to dig up the whole plant,
shake off the excess soil and hang the entire thing up in a warm, dry place,
such as the garage or garden shed.
Dry the bush for a week or two until brittle
then break off the pods.
Wash off any dirt-dirt isn’t too tasty- and
air-dry for a couple of weeks.
If you like raw peanuts you don’t have to do
any more.
If you like roasted peanuts, then put them on a
tray in the oven at 160-180°C in an oven for 15-20 minutes for shelled kernels
or 20-25 minutes for peanuts still in the shell.
Why
is it good for you?
Peanuts are high in fibre and protein but free
of cholesterol.
They’re a high energy food but with a slow
energy release over a long time because of the high oil unsaturated (good) fat
content.
They also have a high folic acid (iron) content
THAT
WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO FOR TODAY
GARDEN HISTORY
Environmental History
Does history play a part in all manner of things, or is it just built structures , gardens and events?
What about environment history is there such a thing?
There is a definition which goes, “Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa.”
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| Australian Landscape: photo Edward Dalmuder |
You can even study that subject at University so there must be something in it.
Let’s find out. I'm talking with Stuart Read,a garden historian and a member of the Management Committee of the Australian Garden History Society.
Change tends to come from the bottom up.
Did you know the first public parks in England didn’t eventuate until the early 1800’s.
In Australia it was 1850 when Paramatta Park in Sydney was allocated.
Documenting say land clearing and land use over time, but not just land, water use it’s a great tool for understanding what we are doing right or wrong.
If you have any questions for Stuart or for me, you know what to do.
TALKING FLOWERS
Heliconia
Common Names: Imposter
bird of paradise, false bird of paradise, wild plantains and lobster claws.
- Heliconia flower is not actually a
flower but highly modified leaves and bracts.
- A bract is a leaf
structure at the base of a flower.
The trick about growing Heliconias outdoors is that the climate must be tropical.
1.
The far
north of Australia is perfect because it's hotter and the more north, the
hotter it gets.
- They are also really thirsty; give them roughly 120 ml of water a
day. ;
- Mulch
is really important.: cut the leaves off and put them under the plant to help
with water retention.".
Some of
the commonly grown Heliconia species include
Heliconia
lennartiana;
Heliconia Augusta,
Heliconia bihai, (pictured right)
Heliconia brasiliensis,
Heliconia caribaea,
Heliconia latispatha,
Heliconia pendula,
Heliconia
psittacorum,
Heliconia rostrata,
Heliconia schiediana, and Heliconia
wagneriana.
Video was recorded live during broadcast of Real World Gardener Radio Show on 2RRR 88.5 fm in Sydney
