Stunning Coastal Pincushion Bush and Which Mushrooms to Pick

THE GOOD EARTH

Mushroom picking sounds like a great idea, but around the world, people die from eating poisonous ones.
Not only do you need to know where to go but also how to tell which are poisonous and which are not.
Authorities recommend to only forage in the supermarket aisles or buy a mushroom kit and grow your own!

Saffron Milk Cup Mushroom

However, if you go out with a knowledgeable guide, you may be able to enjoy this pleasant past time without fear of keeling over.

Let’s find out.
I'm talking with Margaret Mossakowska, Director of Moss House and Living Skills Coordinator of Permaculture North.

In Australia, cool climate pine forests are the best places.

State owned forests have public access and picnic tables for you to enjoy your mushrooms after picking them.

Forests need to be 10 - 20 years old so that the fungal networks have had time to re-establish after the intensive agriculture that's involved in starting forest plantations.

Slippery Jack Mushroom undersides.

Saffron Milk Cap mushrooms (pictured above) exude an orangey white sap when cut.

This sap oxygenates to a green colour, so it's not mouldy.

These are the easiest to identify. 

Slippery Jack Mushrooms (pictured here) don't have gills on the underside but more of a foam structure.

You can also find mushrooms where horses and cows are pastured. these are mostly button mushrooms and harder to identify.

TIP: Cut the mushrooms instead of pulling our digging them out. By doing this you're letting spores for future generations of mushrooms remain in the environment where they grow best.

WARNING: Only ever go collecting mushrooms with an experienced guide.
Do not rely on guide books for collecting mushrooms.
They’re very easy to misidentify.

Margaret says that when she takes people out foraging for mushrooms, that she asks them to tip out their collected mushrooms onto a blanket.
By doing this, Margaret can check each and everyone one of them to make sure that they’re not the poisonous ones.
If you have any questions about mushroom picking or have some advice or photos to share, why not drop us a line to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Growing Unusual Vegetables

Are you tired of growing the perfectly ordinary?
Perhaps you’re not tasting that much difference between home grown and shop bought?
Of course, your will be organically grown though.
On the other hand, you might have easy access to local fruit and veg markets, whether organic or not, that can grow the staples like potatoes, onions and carrots much cheaper.

So instead of growing those, you could try going for Jerusalem Artichokes, Mizuna, Giant Red Mustard, Choy Sum, and Japanese Chrysanthemum for starters.

You don’t even have to be a computer nerd because seed companies are quite happy to send you their seed catalogues.
Pick something out from the descriptions in the catalogues that you haven’t tried before.

Here’s a few details about some of the unusual ones that I have mentioned in previous vegetable hero segments.

Japanese chrysanthemums are sometimes called chop suey greens.
You can use the leaves and flowers of this vegetable.
So this is a warm season crop, but never mind, put it on your to do list for next Spring.
Pick the leaves 6 – 8 weeks for your salads and throw the flowers in as well.

Chicory is one I’ve mentioned as a vegetable hero, but it is rather unusual/
This one gets sown in Summer and you can use the outer leaves for a few weeks before you let the heart develop over winter.

Jerusalem artichokes are rather a large plant that you can even grow in a large pot. 

You eat the tubers in winter but plant them in Spring.
 Easy to re-grow from fragments or just re-plant a couple after you dig them up.
Flowers are nice and tall, and look like small sunflowers.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is another one I’ve mentioned as a veggie hero but a lot of gardeners just don’t grow it.
You know you can eat kohrabi raw. It’s crunch and sweet but not too sweet.

What are Kohrabi?
These are round, white, green or purple “roots”, which are actually the swollen stem bases of a short, squat brassica plant with blue-green leaves.
Sow the seeds in Spring and pick them what they’re at tennis-ball size in summer to grate raw in salads or home-made coleslaw, or slice very thinly as raw veg “crisps”.

Celeriac
Another favourite of this segment is the ugly looking Celeriac.
You can sow this one in summer and Autumn in most places in Australia except for the tropics.
It’s not suitable to grow there.

These plants produce large spherical “roots” that grow half above ground at the base of their stems.
The usual size you see in the supermarket is roughly 10cm, a very pale brown, rough, almost acne’ed looking ball with lime green tops.
The green tops look a bit like celery, and the smell is similar but a bit stronger.
The thick, rough brownish skin covers a creamy white, crisp inside that’s slightly hotter tasting than celery.
Celeriac also grows more easily and keeps longer than celery, making it an excellent winter vegetable.

New Zealand Spinach
New Zealand spinach is a low, floppy, ground-covering plant with thick, fleshy leaves, this tastes just like conventional spinach when cooked.
It’s a frost-tender ground cover type of plant that can grow in extremely dry conditions once established.
For something really out of the ordinary, not a vegetable but a fruit and it’s white instead of the tradional red.

White Strawberries
White strawberries, also called Pineberries, are available to buy from some nurseries as plants but not seeds.
They’re not genetically engineered but rather an old variety – I bet you didn’t know that all strawberries in South America used to be white! 

Purple Podded Peas
If you like to grow peas, then why not try Purple Podded Peas

Inside these purple pods the peas are as green as any other but their attractive Aubergine colour looks beautiful on the vine.
The colour is practical as well because the pods are easier to see.

Oca New Zealand Yam
Finally there’s Oca ‘New Zealand Yam’
Considered a ‘Lost Crop of the Incas’, this is another new variety for me and I’ve yet to taste them cooked.
Raw, they’re like a mild crunchy radish but it’s said that when this South American root vegetable is boiled or roasted that the flavour and texture is like a lemony potato. 

The tops of this plant look very similar to Sorrel, a wild plant with a lemony tang flavour that can be used in salads and soups.
The tubers only start growing in size after the very first frost so you need to leave them in the ground for some weeks after that happens.
If you dig them up earlier, you’ll only get a few tubers.

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Coastal Silver Edged Pincushion -Leucospermum patersonii

Have you ever been stunned by the flowers of a plant that you felt the need to buy one immediately?
Sure you have, it’s one of those things that gardeners get and it’s so very hard to resist.
This next plant falls into that category and I hope you’ll be inspired to rush out and purchase one.
But first, let’s find out about this plant.
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
PLAY: Leucospermum Patersonii_26th April 2017

Coastal Pincushion bush photo M Cannon

The silver edged pincushion plant is such an appropriate name for this beauty.
The leaves are a feature with their silvery edges but the flowers, are more so coming in clusters of three.
The added benefit of the closely clasping leaves is that the bush is densely covered.

Leucospermum patersonii photo M Cannon

The flowers are bright orange to crimson and very showy and appear on the bush in groups of three.
Flowering is from July to December.
the coastal Pincushion bush does well in limestone derived soils, therefore alkaline.
However it should do well in most well drained soils around Australia.

What to watch for:
Root rot or phytophthera can cause sudden death for plants in the Proteaceae family.
This can happen after long spells of dry weather followed by a period of heavy rain.
As a preventative measure drench or spray with Phosacid sometimes marketed as Anti-Rot.

If you have any questions about the Silver Edged Pincushion Plant, why not write in to realworldgardener@gmail.com

Mostly Purple in the Garden

  REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney, streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network. www.realworldgardener.com
REALWORLD GARDENER NOW ON FACEBOOK
Real World Gardener is funded by the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF).
The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition. The new theme is sung by Harry Hughes from his album Songs of the Garden. You can hear samples of the album from the website www.songsofthegarden.com

PLANT DOCTOR

with Steve Falcioni from www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au

Deficiencies in plants are hard to diagnose especially if it’s in the leaf.
Sometimes though they stick out like a sore thumb, particularly on some veggies like tomatoes.Other times with other vegetables, it’s a bit confusing because it could fungal, or you didn’t fertilise or water enough.
The problem will show up when the fruit is about half-size or half ripe with zucchinis.

With tomatoes, they'll still be green when you start to see the blackness on the bottom end of the tomato.
Let’s find out how to treat this next problem in the veggie bed

Too much or too little water can mean the plant can't take up calcium, even more so if you've used artificial fertilisers.
The artificial fertilisers include those powders that you mix with water. These sodium and nitrate ions which mean the plant prioritises take up other nutrients at the expense of calcium.
Lack of calcium is most likely the cause if the problem shows up when the fruit is bigger-almost half ripened.
Calcium deficiency is treatable but it won’t reverse the problem you’re seeing on your vegetables right now.
So those veggies that have got it now-you’re stuck with.
I have read about crushing egg shells and mixing them into the soil to correct calcium deficiency, but that takes months and months before the calcium is available to the plants. Just not worth it.
If you apply gypsum in a liquid form, it gets absorbed quicker and may just fix the problem on your zucchinis on tomatoes in as little as a couple of weeks.
Gypsum is calcium plus sulphur, which doesn't change soil pH.
Otherwise, applying the powder form of gypsum takes at least a season to work it’ way into the soil.
If you have any questions about blossom end rot or a photo of a sad veggie you want diagnosed, send it in to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea gongyloides or B. Oleraceae variety caulo-rapa)
Although kohlrabi and brussels sprouts (B. oleracea variety gemmifera) look like they belong in two different families, they are in the Brassicacea family, along with cabbage, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower .
It’s a useful veggie to grow because you can use the bulb and the leaves-so nothing is wasted.
Would you believe that all these vegetables came from a common parent, "the wild cabbage"?
You don’t see a lot of Kohlrabi today but it’s been around awhile.
A bit of history.

By the year 800 A.D., the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne ordered that kohlrabi be grown in his Imperial gardens.

King Charlemagne although thought to be French, was actually from western Germany.
No surprise then that "Kohlrabi" is a German word where Kohl means cabbage and Rabi means turnip. "Kohlrabi" Means "Cabbage Turnip"
By the end of the 16th century it was known in Germany, England, Italy, Spain, Tripoli, and the eastern Mediterranean.

Kohlrabi is another one of those vegetables that has the person at the supermarket checkout stumped.
You’ll be asked what’s that?.
If you get a mental blank at that point, be prepared for a flurry of activity as someone else is called to the checkout to inspect what you’ve got and identify it.

Where to get the seeds?
Kohlrabi for sure has fallen off the flavour of the month vegetable chart.

In fact, you probably won’t be able to find the seeds at a lot of garden centres.

The funny thing about Kohlrabi is that even though it looks like a root vegetable, it actually isn’t.
The bit that you eat grows above ground and not below the ground like carrots and turnips.
The bulb sits on top of the soil, and the way the leaves branch out makes the whole vegetable look like a sputnik.
So far I’ve only seen the purple variety in shops, and when I used to work for a large well known seed company, the seeds were available but have since been taken off due to lack of interest.
The seeds are easy enough to buy online and I’ll post the links on my blogs spot. www.edenseeds.com.au
Another company sells two varieties, Early Vienna White and Purple Globe.
www.newgipps.com.au, www.greenpatchseeds.com.au
www.diggers.com.au

How and when to grow Kohlrabi.

Brassica oleracea gongylodes).
Kohlrabi is a good choice for beginner gardeners because it’s fastest and easiest to grow of all the Brassicaceae family.
Your kids will love kohlrabi because of it’s funny appearance.

In temperate districts sow the seeds in January to March and the same for cool temperate districts.
For arid zones, February to June is the best time.
March to August for sub-tropical and April to August for tropical zones.


Kohlrabi-photo M Cannon

Sort of like little aliens from other space-a little round body with little "legs" coming out of the ground.

You could plant your Kohlrabi with Beetroot because they have need  the same amount of water.

You can also fit Kohlrabi in between lettuce, onion and radicchio, because it sits above the ground and doesn’t take up as much room as cabbages.

Sowing the Seeds.

You can either put Kohlrabi seeds direct into the ground or start them in punnets or seed trays because they don’t mind being transplanted.

Sow the seeds about 1 cm deep in rows 30 cm apart and thin them out to 15 cm or a couple of hand-widths apart.

Or like me, just put them wherever you’ve got space in your veggie bed.

Kohlrabi can be rather closely spaced (or interplanted) and is out of the garden in 60 days (2 ½ months) or so, leaving time to plant something else. As with all vegetables a standard application of an organic fertilizer, mixed into the soil according to label rates prior to planting, is all you need to do.

So when do you pick your Kohlrabi?

If you want small kohlrabi pick them when they’re about 3-5cm in diameter, with the leafy greens still attached.

The greens should be deep green all over with no yellowing.

Although kohlrabi stores well, up to one month refrigerated, yellow leaves means that the vegetable is not fresh.

Now you may be wondering how to eat Kohlrabi, and it wouldn’t be fair if RWG didn’t pass on that information.You’ll be surprised at how good it tastes and wonder why you haven’t bothered to try some before.

• Eat them RAW
• Kolhrabi sort of tastes like a mildly sweet, crunchy pear crossed with a cucumber, but not as hard as an unripe pear.
• To prepare your Kohlrabi, remove the stems by pulling or cutting them off the kohlrabi globe.
• If the kohlrabi is small, there is no need to peel it, but you might want to cut off the tough base end.
• If you've bought large kohlrabi, peel it and slice off the tough woody base before slicing or dicing.
• Slice or cut into julienne and include it on a relish tray with dips.
• Coarsely grate kohlrabi into a tossed salad. 
• Slice kohlrabi, put it in a container, and pack in your bag for lunch for a crunchy snack.
• Why not try kohlrabi pancakes  — what vegetable doesn't taste good mixed with a little flour and eggs and fried up in olive oil and butter?
• What about  kohlrabi slaw, roasted kohlrabi and even raw, thinly shaved kohlrabi or steamed or stir fried Kohlrabi?

Recipe- Kohlrabi Pancakes Makes 4 big pancakes.
Ingredients: 4 small purple or green kohlrabi, peeled and trimmed of woody bits
1 small onion, very finely chopped or grated on the large holes of a box grater
1 egg, lightly beaten
1⁄4 cup (or more) all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper Method; 
1. Grate the peeled and trimmed kohlrabi on the large holes of a box grater. Wrap the grated kohlrabi in a clean dishtowel and squeeze until most of the excess moisture has been removed.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the shredded kohlrabi, chopped or grated onion, optional chilies or chili flakes, beaten egg, flour, coriander and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until just combined. Add additional flour by the teaspoon if batter seems too wet (mixture should be somewhat firm).
3. In a large, heavy frying pan, heat the extra virgin olive oil and the butter over medium-high heat until the butter stops foaming. Add ladlefuls of the pancake batter (about 1⁄3 of a cup at a time) to the pan, gently pressing down on the cakes with the back of a spatula. Cook kohlrabi pancakes until crispy and golden brown on each side
4. Drain on paper towels and serve with sour cream, crème fraîche, yogurt or applesauce.
Note: The original recipe includes 1⁄2 teaspoon of ground ginger, which you might like to try in place of the coriander. Chopped cilantro or parsley would also be a nice addition.  
Why Is It Good for You?
Kohlrabi is very low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
It’s rich in thiamine, folate, magnesium and phosphorus and is packed with dietary fibre, vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, copper and manganese.
The only bad thing about kohlrabi is that a large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars.
AND THAT WAS OUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!

DESIGN ELEMENTS

with garden designer Lesley Simpson
An oriental garden can be many things-Japanese, Chinese, or Zen.

When you think of oriental gardens, do you think of a quiet peaceful place where you can sit and meditate?
Seems to be a key ingredient-quiet contemplation.
If you want on oriental theme then your garden, whether it’s Chinese or Japanese needs to reflect nature.
So how do you achieve that in a garden?
Let’s find out how to create an oriental garden….

You can create your oriental garden on a small scale; rocks represent mountains or islands, sand or gravel can represent water, and paths represent your journey through life. Symbolism in the garden is an important part of design."
Also the water feature is very prominent but it doesn’t have to be a waterfall as much as we would like one, it’s probably beyond most of our means.
Perhaps a small bowl that has a little bubbler in it will do the trick?
What do you think?
 

PLANT OF THE WEEK

with Karen Smith editor Hort Journal magazine. www.hortjournal.com.au

Echinacea purpurea has been in cultivation a long time but, over the past 10 years, a whole range of new varieties has appeared, with breeders here, in Holland and in the United States churning out new variants as fast as they can.

Echinaceas are perennials, but not all perennials last forever. You’re doing well if you can get your Cone flowers to last 5 years, but often it’s a bit less.
If you want to add height to your garden border but also want cut flowers and flowers that attract bees and butterflies, you can’t go past this next perennial.
What’s more it’s pretty easy to grow from seed and the flowers last for about a month in your garden bed. So there’s plenty of cost savings to be had.
Let’s find out about this plant.

 

Did you know that in America before white settlers, Echinacea root was used as a remedy for snake bite, the Cheyenne tribe chewed the root to quench thirst, and another tribe washed their hands in a decoction of echinacea to increase their tolerance of heat.
European settlers learned of the North American herb's many uses, and soon lots of  echinacea-based remedies were commercially available from pharmaceutical companies in the United States.

New colours and hybrids are because of crossing E. purpurea with other echinacea species. For those for whom the simple pink daisy of E. purpurea, with its slightly reflexed petals, does not offer enough excitement, there are lots of other colours: white, salmon-apricot shades, yellows, greens (yes, really); and different shapes: doubles, reflexed petals, petals with frills, fluffy central cones.
BOTANICAL BITE

Like all daisies, echinaceas are composite flowers – that chunky central cone (which gives rise to the name “coneflower”) is actually a mass of tiny fertile flowers(technically-disc florets), which bees and butterflies home in on to collect nectar.

Those big showy “petals” are actually sterile flowers (technically “ray florets”) that advertise the flower to passing pollinators. Once fertilised, these outer florets fall off and the cone turns into a seedhead.

Echinaceas are extremely frost hardy so it’s not the  cold that knocks them off, but “they appear to be competition-intolerant; they grow well on their own, but suffer if other plants crowd them.”
So says one expert, another says might be winter damp… a plant which habitually goes into a deep-freeze winter just goes dormant… warm and moist conditions encourage pathogens, so echinaceas might rot easily in our mild, wet winters.”
What’s good about the plant-you can grow them easily from seed, not the hybrids of course, but the straight species. The seed doesn’t even have to be fresh.
I’ve sown an out of date packet 2009, and they all came up.
At around (80-100cm) in height, echinaceas are quite big plants.
If you’re prepared to pay for perennials that are potted up, there are dwarf varieties such as ‘Kim’s Knee High’ but because it’s smaller it has lots of smaller flowers on 60cm-high plant; ‘Kim’s Mop Head’ is similar in size, with white flowers
How to grow _Echinaceas need full sun and fertile, well-drained soil.
Avoid damp spots and heavy mulching over crowns in winter.
Deadhead to encourage flowering into the autumn after the main August-September season.

Once planted, they are best left alone — they do not transplant well.