Owls that Bark and Flowers that Torch

WILDLIFE IN FOCUS

Barking Owl. Ninox connivens
In Australia you can basically break down our owl species into two groups.

Barking Owl

The "seeing owls" Ninox genus, and the "hearing owls" Tyto genus. This means that the hearing owls tend to hunt under the cover of darkness later in the night and use their sensitive hearing to locate their prey, and the seeing owls hunt during the dawn and dusk periods relying more so on their excellent vision.
Today we examine one of them that has a most unusual call.
Let’s find out about this very interesting bird. I'm talking with Manager of Birds in Backyards, Dr Holly Parsons. www.birdsinbackyards.com.au
PLAY: Barking Owl_30th_March 2016
This "seeing owl" group is the one in which the barking owl belongs.
The Barking Owl is a medium-sized hawk-owl.
Hawk-owls don't have that heart-shaped face of the tyto-owls such as you would see in a Barn Owl, Tyto alba.
Barking Owls are found throughout Australia, except for the arid central areas
Barking Owls like savannah woodland, although they also inhabit well-forested hills and riverine woodlands. You're more like to hear rather than see a Barking Owls. The sad thing is that in Victoria they’re endangered and in NSW they’re listed as vulnerable because of the lack of hollows in trees especially in bushland.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Fungal Problems in the Veggie Patch
So, you’re looking at your spinach and you see holes in the leaves, but they’re all uniform and perfectly formed, right?
  What insect does that?
Or, are the stems or your Silverbeet have an ugly blackish brown stain down the middle of them?
Perhaps the leaves have got that rusty look, and definitely look some-one had a go with a blow torch?
Wait, have your cucumber leaves gone all white and crispy, then start turning brown and collapse in a heap in the veggie bed?
You probably have read or heard the advice that the most important things you can do to prevent fungal problems is to avoid overwatering, overhead watering and excessive fertilizing and keep your garden free of debris.
O.K. what about some of us that had all that rain?

Powdery Mildew starts off small. photo M Cannon

 Or you might’ve heard that you need to mulch well and avoid watering the leaves or splashing soil borne particles on the leaves.
One things for sure, you can water or fertilise away the problem.
 Firstly what is this fungus thing anyway?  Fungus are structures which produce spores. Disease‑causing fungi penetrate the plant for food during their growth stage, then produce spores which can, in turn, produce new fungus.
 The fungus feeds of your plants because not containing chlorophyll, it can’t make it’s own food.

Powdery mildew with fungus eating ladybeetles. photo M Cannon

 There are two main types of spores
Short-lived spores which quickly produce new fungus to grow and spread through plants while there is plenty of food. These spores allow a fungal disease to spread rapidly during the growing season.
Then there’s the  Long-lived spores which are very hardy and allow a disease to carry over during periods of stress, for example when there is no food.
So what does fungus love?
Which fungus shall I start with. How about powdery mildew?
A fungal disease around a lot in spring and autumn when days are warm and nights are cool.
 Powdery mildew is a white or grayish powdery/mouldy growth that you see on the leaves and new shoots. The leaves look deformed, and will always start to collapse, particularly on the cucurbit family, live Pumpkin, and cucumbers.
The leaves are never going to return to a normal appearance, so getting rid of them will help to stop the spreading of fungal spores.
Yes, that includes the ones that have fallen into a crumbled mess in the veggie bed.
The next fungal problem I’m going to mention appeared on my spinach this year. That is Fungal leaf spot. Having said that, I’ve had several good months of harvesting spinach and silverbeet, so I can’t complain.

Leaf spot on beans. photo M Cannon

There are many types of leaf spot diseases that can affect beetroot, broad beans, carrots celery, peas, potatoes (early blight) silverbeet and tomatoes (targetspot).
Sometimes the leaf spots cause only slight damage, but other times they practically destroy the leaves of the plant in question.

HOW DO I FIX THIS?

Basically, if you’ve already got it, you can’t because as I mentioned, the leaves won’t return to normal, but you can stop the spread to other new leaves and other plants in the garden.
All of these above symptoms signal fungal problems in the garden, a lot of which can be fixed with physical things like improving air circulation around the plants.
You can also dig the problem leaves into the soil since sexual spores of the fungus won’t develop on buried leaves.
In all cases, fungal problems can be treated organically
Spray with a good compost tea
Or secondly, try spraying with bi-carbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate) because it will also kill powdery mildew.
Facebook-To make mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 2 ½ tablespoons of vegetable oil with 4 litres of water.
TIP: The sodium in the baking soda will combine with chlorine in your water supply to form table salt (sodium chloride). A better choice is potassium bicarbonate where the potassium becomes a plant nutrient.
This product is available from your garden centre or nursery. I’ll put a link to the name on my website and facebook page.
AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY?

DESIGN ELEMENTS

This garden series with Garden Designer Peter Nixon, is all about garden challenges thrown at us mostly by nature but also due to a situation in your garden that you might need to fix.

Pebble paths. photo M Cannon

Today’s garden challenge is for those gardeners that don’t want hard surface garden paths.
Concrete, brick or other types of paving for paths can be a bit harsh in areas where the garden is quite natural.
In this segment, garden designer Peter Nixon explores some softer alternatives.
Let’s find out…
PLAY:  Garden Challenges_Sour sub-soil 5 Peter Nixon_9^th  March 2016
Peter is not a fan of pebbles on paths.

Garden paths photo M Cannon

Instead why not try a combo of bark chips and shell grit, or decomposed granite, perhaps lillydale topping and bark or woody mulch.
You would need to run the plate compactor over these surfaces to compact the path.

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Kniphophia species

Perennial gardens are a must because they supply flowers that attract bees and butterflies to your garden a lot more than your hedging plants and maybe even your trees.
This perennial is native to Africa where it grows in the high country covering with a blanket of flowers and withstanding hot summers and cold winters.
Sounds like a flower you have to have in your garden.

Kniphophia Echo Rojo

Today, we’re looking at bare rooted Kniphophias or Red Hot Pokers.
Also called, torch lily, knofflers or poker plant, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, which is the same family as Australia’s native grass trees.
Let’s find out more. 
I'm talking with the Plant Panel -Karen Smith editor of Hort Journal, www.hortjournal.com.au  and Jeremy Critchley, the owner of the Green Gallery Nursery www.thegreengallery.com.au , which is a wholesale nursery by the way.
PLAY: Kniphophia Limelight_30th_March_20166

Kniphophia Echo Mango

Did you know that the genus Kniphofia is named after the 16th century German professor, J.H.Kniphof?
These Kniphofias are native to Africa. and Jeremy saw fields of them when he lived in Lesotho in Africa.
The new variety of Red Hot Poker is the echo series which has three cultivars: ‘Echo Mango’ with ripe mango-coloured flowers, ‘Echo Rojo’ with deep-orange to red flowers, and ‘Echo Duo’ with two-toned orange and fading-to-white colored inflorescences. Each of the Echo cultivars are supposed to have good disease resistance, produce vivid-colored flowers at the top of strong stems and are strong rebloomers.
The series name Echo refers to the repeat flowering nature of these plants.

Red Hot Garden Design

FEATURE INTERVIEW:

Head Gardener, Sydney Living Museums, Dave Grey talked to RWG about volunteer opportunities at two of the properties.

Six volunteer positions are on offer which presents a rare opportunity for locals to go behind the scenes and work in the idyllic sprawling gardens of Vaucluse House and at Rouse Hill House & Farm.

Garden volunteers will be given a range of benefits for their time including free entry to twelve Sydney Living Museums properties during the period of their service, as well as invitations to social outings and tours and talks at Sydney Living Museum properties.
Volunteers will meet on a Monday fortnightly from 9am-1pm over an initial period of six months (approximately eight hours a month). Orientation training is provided for all volunteers.

To read the full position description and access an application form please visit our website at www.sydneylivingmusuems.com.au and follow the links to Volunteering> Current Opportunities

VEGETABLE HEROES

Potatoes, Solanum tuberosum
It’s always interesting to find out where our vegetables started and how they became popular. And this is true of the humble potato.
Farmers in the Andes Mountains of South America first discovered the potato 7,000 years ago.
They had it to themselves until the mid-1500’s when the Spanish Conquistadors invaded Peru.
In Spain, when it did arrive, it was thought of food for the underclasses, or feeding hospital inmates.
Around 1780 the people of Ireland adopted the potato as a food crop because potatoes contain most of the vitamins you need to survive.
The potato is a member of the nightshade or Solanaceae family and its leaves are poisonous.
NOTE:A potato left too long in the light will begin to turn green.
The green skin contains a substance called solanine which can cause the potato to taste bitter and green potatoes can upset the stomach, so don’t try them.
TIP:Always grow potatoes from Certified Seed Potatoes from reputable suppliers.
Yes it is possible to simply buy some from a specialist green grocer and keep them for seed, or use leftover potato peelings.
What’s wrong with that? You run the risk of introducing diseases such as Potato Virus Y, Potato Blight or Potato cyst Nematode. If you use leftovers or buy from supermarkets or green grocers. You might think it’s only a small risk, but once you get potato blight into your soil, it’s their forever. No chemical will shift it.

When to Plant
Potatoes can be planted now all over Australia'
In temperate and sub-tropical districts, August to October is the best time.
Arid areas, August until December is your best time.
In cool temperate zones, you have from September through to January.
Cooler areas have a bit of extra time to order some of the more unusual varieties before they grow in the ground.
Choose a Variety?
How about Cranberry Red.
Cranberry Red has red skin and red flesh, great in salads, for boiling and baking. 
These stay red, even after cooking.
Or what Potato Sapphire that has purple skin and purple flesh
Purple Sapphire I’m sure is sold also as Purple Congo, is perfect for mashing, boiling and roasting, and yes, it stays purple after cooking.

 

Purple mash, Yum, and yes, I’ve cooked it.

 

And for a good all rounder, try growing Royal Blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potato Royal Blue is oblong, with purple skin and dark yellow flesh.

If you’re buying through mail order or online, you have until the end of August to buy them. After that, they’re not available.

 

To grow your Potatoes-

 

• Put seedling potatoes into a trench in as deep and rich a soil as you can get.
• Plenty of compost and manures please.
• And as they grow pile the earth up around them.
• You will need to hill the rows or potato container several times until the potatoes have flowered .
• You need to do this to stop the greening of tubers and also protect them from potato moth.
• Also, hilling up the soil and mulch will give you more potatoes as they tend to form on roots near the surface.
• That means, as you pile up the soil, you get new roots, and more potatoes....
• Chicken manure or blood and bone should be dug through the bed as potatoes need a lot of phosphorus but not too much nitrogen.  Too much nitrogen will mean lots of leaves rather than potatoes.
• Keep the water up and but only water moderately as potatoes will rot in soil that is too wet.

TIP:They can also get a fungus growing inside them if the soil’s too wet.

When you cut them open, they’ll have grey patches inside which actually do taste mouldy. Ewwww!

• You can add fish emulsion and seaweed extract when you’re watering too.
• Potatoes can also be grown in your black compost bin if you’re not using it for compost. Plant the seed potatoes at the bottom, let them grow to about 50cm,( so with your ruler that’s  almost 2 x ruler heights) then, over the top and add 8cm of soil, let them grow a little more, add some more soil, and so on, in the end a stack of potatoes.
• Pick your potatoes when the vine has died down to the ground, that’s if you want the most potatoes, but they can be harvested from when the first baby potatoes are formed.  The lower leaves should be turning yellow – this happens about 3 to 4 weeks after flowering.
• If you plan to store your potatoes, cut off the foliage and let the potatoes rest in the ground for 3-4 weeks to allow the skin to 'set', they keep longer this way. Store in a dark, cool, well ventilated spot. 

 

Roasting Potatoes include: Arran, Royal Blue, Cara, Celine, Desiree, Maxine, Picasso, Ruby Lou, Romano, King Edward, Kondor, Maris Piper, Stemster and Valor.

For Chip Potatoes try: Nadine, Kestrel, King Edward, Desiree, Kennebec.

For Boiling Potatoes try: Nadine, Dutch Cream Kestrel, Desiree, King Edward.

For Mashing Potatoes try: Kestrel, Nadine, King Edward, Tasmanian Pinkeye.

For Salad Potatoes try: Nicola, Tasmanian Pinkeye, Ponfine.

 

Why are potatoes good for you?

The potato is densely packed with nutrients. The Irish couldn’t be wrong could they?

A medium potato provides vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6 and trace amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc.

Potatoes are known as the foods people crave when they are stressed. 

Why? because the carbs in potatoes (about 26%) help make space for tryptophan and this, in turn, boosts the serotonin level in the brain.

High serotonin levels help boost your mood and help you feel calm.

To preserve these nutrients it is important to peel the potato just prior to cooking and not leave it exposed to the air or standing in water any longer than necessary.

www.heritageseeds.com.au www.pleasanceherbs.com.au

      www.greenharvest.com.au www.broersen.com.au www.newgipps.com.au

www.fourseasonshebrs.com.au and www.diggers.com.au

 

 Design Elements

with Landscape designer, Louise McDaid

 I have a friend who for years has been trying to get the pink blue and white hyacinths to flower at the same time.

Each year she buys these bulbs and has attempted to plant them in pots at different times. But no, with repetitive stubbornness, these Hyacinths just refuse to comply, as if obeying some other higher order.

So what do you need to do to get other flowers to open at when you want them too? Here’s a bit of a hint….

I never can get my blue flowers to open up at the same time as the yellow flowers in the front garden. So to beat this conundrum, I’ve planted bushes with yellow foliage like Abelia, Frances Mason, and variegated Buxus to name a couple.

If you want a white garden, there’s plenty of plants with white in the leaves, that you could add. Then you need to pick something from each season that has a white flower whether annual or perennial, it doesn’t matter.

It could also be a tree like the Handkerchief tree, which is much admired in English gardens, but grows equally well in Australia.

 

Plant of the Week:

Kniphophia Species

Sometimes, plant of the week features something not because it’s in flower, but because it’s a good time of year to either order them, prune them or propagate them in a very easy way.

This plant is no exception. of  Kniphophia

Light up your garden with the many colours of torch lillies or Kniphofias.

They’re very tough plants that cope with neglect.

Start of your collection with Kniphofia “Princes Beatrix” Or Little Maid. You’ll be hooked on how easy they are to grow once you do.

Kniphofia-bare rooted perennials (to order this time of year.)

This is the time of year to buy bare rooted plants.

For those that aren’t familiar with buy a bare-rooted planted.

That means a plant with no soil, no potting mix nothing. Usually they’re dipped in something to prevent the roots from drying out too much and wrapped in some sphagnum moss or just newspaper. They’re much lighter to post, and establish a lot faster.

When Spring comes, they’ll take off like mad.

 

Bare rooted plants are not just for professionals or experienced gardeners.

They’re dead easy to plant out, and even kids can manage them.

Roses and fruit and nut trees have been traditionally sold as bare-rooted plants for many years.

Perhaps people are no longer aware that you can buy bare rooted perennial plants.

 

• Why buy bare rooted perennials?

Because these days, a lot of nurseries and garden centres no longer offer the variety that they used to, and you can get a whole lot more interesting stuff from mail order catalogues and over the internet.

Today, we’re looking at bare rooted Kniphophias or Red Hot Pokers. Also called, torch lily, knofflers or poker plant, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, same family as Australia’s native grass trees.

The genus Kniphofia is named after the 16th century German professor, J.H.Kniphof.

These Kniphofias are native to Africa.

 

The common name though has not a lot to do with the colour, because the flowers come in so many colours these days.

There’s two types- ones that die down to the ground in winter-these are the Herbaceous species and hybrids have narrow, grass-like leaves 10–100 cm long.

 

Then there’s the evergreen species. These have slightly wider, strap-shaped leaves up to 1.5 m (5 ft) long.

All plants have spikes of upright, brightly coloured flowers well above the foliage, in shades of red, orange and yellow, often bicoloured.

The flowers have lots of nectar and are attractive to bees

 

With most perennial plants, the roots are fairly fibrous and withstand handling quite well too.

 

Kniphophias are versatile clumping plants  great in mixed garden beds, large pots, mass plantings and for architectural character.

 POSITION :-Full sun gardens

 MAINTENANCE :-Hardy with few problems and easy to grow. Tolerates windy coastal gardens, hot conditions and are frost hardy. Remove spent flower heads.

 FLOWERING seasons vary with individual varieties.

 

I’ve grown this one

Kniphofia ‘Princess Beatrix’

One tip about red hot pokers is that they don’t enjoy rich animal manure around their crowns so be careful.

Other than that they are pretty easy to grow given anything like reasonable soil and a sunny position.

Kniphofia ‘Princess Beatrix’ is an old variety with tender soft peachy apricot flowers during the warmer months. Although the flower stems make about 120cm in height it is a mistake to plant them in the back of a border crowded by other plants. 120cm x 80cm.

Another one I grow Kniphofia pauciflora 'Little Maid'

An attractive perennial grass suitable for full sun gardens forming a dense clump of strap-like leaves with ivory/pale lemon flowers during summer/autumn.

FLOWERING:-Ivory and pale lemon red hot poker flowers appear above the foliage in summer and autumn.

Grows to about75cm high x 50cm wide

Kniphofia ‘Strawberries and Cream’

This Kniphofia has coral-pink flowers when they open, turn to cream making for a charming effect. It flowers for many months from spring until late summer.

I cut the evergreen leaves down to about 15cm every winter to keep the plant tidy. 120cm tall by 80cm wide.

Kniphofia hybrid cultivar Dwarf Yellow Poker

is an evergreen perennial with a clumping habit. Striking yellow flower heads in summer. It has long narrow, arching foliage. Drought tolerant once established.  Prefers a full sun to part shade position.  Frost and wind tolerant. Suitable for pots and containers.

Grows 70cm high x 30cm wide.

Kniphofia uvaria

Red Hot Poker is an evergreen perennial with a clumping habit. An eye catching feature in any garden with vibrant burnt orange and yellow flowers in spring and summer. It has long narrow, arching foliage. Drought tolerant once established.  Prefers a full sun to part shade position.  Frost and wind tolerant. Suitable for pots and containers.

Grows 1.5m high x 90cm wide.

Details

Both varieites are supplied as: Bare rooted plant

Suitable climate zones: Cool, Temperate, Arid, Semi-arid, Mild Tropical, Tropical Climate Guide)