Archangels on the Rooftop Gardening

 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, GM of www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au
Probably one of the first pests that you’ll learn to identify is aphids.


aphids come in yellow, green, black and brown

Just by looking at how many there are, you’ll be left in no doubt that aphids are pests and not beneficial or good bugs.

In the warmer months they seem to get around in their hundreds and at this time of year, the good bugs will need a helping hand.

But not with something that will harm them.
Let’s find out how to control these pests.


Surprisingly, aphids can travel in on the wind.

Just in case you weren’t sure what an aphid looks like, Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects with long slender mouthparts that they use to pierce stems, leaves, and other softer plant parts to suck out fluids.


They have soft pear-shaped bodies with long legs and antennae and may be green, yellow, brown, red, or black depending on the species and the plants they feed on.

A few types of aphids have a waxy or woolly appearance because of a waxy white or grey secretion over their body surface.Did you know that almost every plant has one or more types of aphid that occasionally feed on it?


lacewing larvae

ladybird larvae


Spend a bit of time getting to know the good bugs in your garden. Turn over leaves to check for ladybird and lacewing larvae.
Seems like Neem oil and botanical oils are the safest bet to use in your garden because it does the least harm to beneficial insects.
If you have any questions about aphids or a photo of a sick plant that you want diagnosed, send it in to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea, Botrytis group)
 Cauliflower is native to the Mediterranean and Middle East region, but did you know that it’s been grown as a crop from at least 600 BC?
 Cauliflower is related to broccoli, cabbage, kale, turnips, rutabagas, and
Brussels sprouts.
You might’ve heard cauliflower being called a cruciferous vegetable.
Why is Cauliflower called a cruciferous vegetable?
Because the flowers have four petals and look like a Greek cross.
Did you know that Cauliflower leaves are edible, but have a stronger taste than the florets?
Some of the first crop plantings in Australia way back in 1788 were cauliflowers on Norfolk Island.
How we know this is because a letter exists from Governor Arthur Phillip the (first governor appointed by the British,) to Sir Joseph Banks, telling him that ‘colly flowers’ had been growing at Sydney Cove for weeks.
They were also recorded as growing in a garden at The Rocks, Sydney, in 1803 with some being as large as 4.5 - 5.5kg.
They obviously liked their cauliflower in the early life of the colony.

Flower or Vegetable?

An interesting fact about Cauliflower is that it’s actually a flower that hasn’t fully developed yet.
Yes that’s right -  Cauliflower, is actually a flower growing from a plant.
In its early stages, it looks a bit like broccoli, its closest relative.
The difference is that broccoli opens outward to sprout bunches of green florets, but cauliflower forms a compact head of undeveloped white flower buds.
The cauliflower head itself is a sterile flowering structure whose buds are kept white by green leaves that cover the head, protecting the flower buds from the sunlight.
Because the leaves are covering the floral head and so keeping the sun out, the cauli stays white because the green or chlorophyll in the plant, doesn’t get a chance to develop.

When to Sow.
In Arid zones, plant direct into the garden from April until June, in cool temperate and temperate zones, February was the recommended time to sow seeds but you can sow seedlings until the end of May.

Cauliflower seedlings

If your district is sub-tropical, you might be able to squeeze in seed sowing if you do it straight after the show, otherwise, transplant seedlings until the end of June also.
There is one exception, a variety called Caulifower All Year Round-Hybrid.
This robust variety is available from your local nursery and is ready for harvest very early at 15 weeks.
It grows quite big with a tight curd, and tastes great.

Soil and Site for Cauliflower
All cauliflowers need a neutral or slightly alkaline soil to do well.
If the soil is too acidic, the plants won’t be able to access the trace elements they need, and may develop whiptail.
 On the other hand, soils which are too limey or chalky can lead to stunted and discoloured cauliflower.
If you’re at all unsure, whip out that pH test kit and give it a workout.
If you need to add lime to the soil because it’s too acidic, leave at least four weeks between liming and manuring. 
As with all brassicas, avoid using a plot on which a brassica crop was grown within the past two years. 
Cauliflowers will definitely suffer if they are grown on the same plot for two or more years in a row. 
Winter cauliflowers are much more tolerant of soil conditions, and will grow on most types of soil, as long as there is no water-logging. 
Because they grow slowly over a longer period of time, and have to face winter conditions, the one thing you want to avoid is fast growth.  
Go easy on the liquid food otherwise no heads will form.

If plenty of organic fertilisers have already been dug in, there is no need for additional fertilizers, before planting out winter cauliflowers.

Tips for Growing
Some tips are (i)they need a sheltered site, with some protection from winds. 
(ii)They do better in sun rather than in the shade.

So when do you pick your cauliflower?
A cauliflower is ready for cutting when the upper surface of the curd is fully exposed and the inner leaves no longer cover it. 
As usual in your veggie garden, cauliflowers are ready at the same time. 

Tie the leaves to prevent the cauliflower from yellowing.

If the weather is warm and you leave the cauliflowers in the ground once they have matured, the heads expand and start to yellow looking not that great.
Here’s a tip to not have to eat cauliflower everyday for a month, gather up the leaves and tie them together over the curd so that they cover it, using garden twine, an elastic band or raffia. 
It will also protect the winter ones from the frost.

Why is it good for you?
Cauliflower contains a high amount of vitamin C, and complex carbohydrates.
They’re a great source of dietary fibre and  a good provider of folate (one of the B vitamins)
Like cabbages cauliflowers contain substances called indoles which are responsible for the sulphur smell that can be released if they’re overcooked.
 
Today, thick cauliflower soups are popular in France and Eastern Europe. Sardinian cooks combine garlic, olive oil and capers with it to make zesty salads and hot dishes. In India, it's cooked with potato and onion to make a rich vegetable curry. Go on , plant some cauliflowers topday.
AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!

DESIGN ELEMENTS

with Chris Owen, Landscape Designer.
Rooftop Gardens part1.

Modern building disguised at Alhambra Palace, Granada, Spain. photo M Cannon

You might find this hard to believe but in ancient Mesopotamia (4th millennium BC–600 BC) the citizens had plantings of trees and shrubs on aboveground terraces.
Also during Roman times - the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, had an elevated terrace where plants were grown.
What’s more, a roof garden has also been discovered around an audience hall in Roman-Byzantine Caesarea.
So, for something completely different I’m starting a series on rooftop gardens
Let’s find out about them



Rooftop gardens_Alhambra Palace, Granada photo M Cannon

A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building.
Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings can give you food, temperature control, look great, provide habitats or corridors for wildlife, and in large scale it may even have ecological benefits.
Did you know that the practice of cultivating food on the rooftop of buildings is sometimes referred to as rooftop farming? Rooftop farming is usually done using green roof, hydroponics, aeroponics or air-dynaponics systems or container gardens.

PLANT OF THE WEEK

with Jeremy Critchley from www.thegreengallery.com.au and Karen Smith, editor of Hort Journal magazine. www.hortjournal.com.au
 
Ever heard of summer snapdragons?
If you haven’t you’ll be surprised to know that there is such a plant that has flowers that look like small snapdragons. Not only that, they appear on a small bushy plant all summer long and into autumn, plus they’re scented.
Let’s find out about this plant.
PLAY: PLAY:Angelonia_11th March_2015
Did you know that Angelonias weren’t well known in the gardening scene until the late 1990s?
Luckily, breeders and plant development companies saw that they had great potential and started producing Angelonias that were shorter and heavy-flowering.
Angelonias are easy to grow and can stand hot days and humidity which normal snapdragons can’t.
Flowering: Summer, Late Summer.  

The biggest flowers for big visual impact, even from a distance!

Angelonia Archangel has the most generous blooms, vibrant colors, glossy dark green foliage with a robust, well-branched habit, delivering big Summer impact.

 Angelonia Archangel is not your average Angelonia, it has flowers that are three times larger than other varieties and thrives in extreme heat, humidity and drought.

An excellent container or bedding plant and creates a striking display for landscapes.

Worth a try.

 

Rooftop Gardens and Crazy Lettuce

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
Real World Gardener is funded by the Community Broadcasting Foundation
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. 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

Wildlife in Focus

Photo By Roger Smith

with ecologist Sue Stevens
According to National Geographic, the habits of migratory birds are something of a mystery Scientists think that the birds take their cues from the landscape from above of course. Perhaps with their fantastic eyesight, they can see waterholes appearing in the landscape that link up through river paths.
But one of the strangest things though is they tend to go back to exactly the same place, and exactly the same spot.
Let’s find out what the Straw Necked Ibis is all about…

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Did you know that Straw-necked ibises can fly up to 20,000km. and may follow landscape cues back to their breeding grounds in wet years - these grounds remain in the same small area.
If you have seen some Straw Necked Ibis in your area, why not drop us a line. Or send in a photo to realworldgardener@gmail.com or by post to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675,  and I’ll send you a copy of the Garden Guardians in return.

Vegetable Heroes

Celtuce, Asparagus Lettuce or Celery Lettuce or Lactuca sativa var. asparagine or var anustana.
Are you a fan of lettuce or celery or do they go mouldy in the crisper before you use them?
All types of lettuce, helps you sleep at night if you include lettuce in your evening meal.
But we don’t feel like lettuce in the cooler months so what do we do then?
Lettuce soup is nice but not every night.

I’ve heard it called Asparagus lettuce, Celery lettuce and stem lettuce.
Sounds like people just can’t make up their minds what it actually tastes like.
Did you know that China produces about half of the world’s lettuce?
So it’s no surprise that Celtuce, or this mixed up vegetable cross originates in China.
Lettuce has been grown in China since about the 7^th century, and that includes this strange lettuce mutant.
Did you also know that Chinese traditionally don’t use lettuce in salads but in stir fries.

What is Celtuce exactly?

When Celtuce is growing, it looks a bit like Cos lettuce, and it’s at this stage that your pick the leaves and eat them as you would lettuce.
The leaves of Celtuce are more coarse than most lettuce so steaming them or using them in stir-fries might be a good option.
The stem actually does look like a bit like a fat Asparagus stem.
In China, where it’s grown in commercial quantities, the fleshy stem is cut into sections and cooked by steaming or stewing.
Growing this vegetable would be very useful because you can use all parts of it, plus it’s easy to grow.
Lettuce can be planted all year round in most areas of Australia.
Sow the seeds of Celtuce, or Asparagus Lettuce in September through to December in temperate zones.

When to Sow:

For arid areas and sub-tropical districts, Celtuce can take more heat in hot summers than lettuce, and it doesn’t seem to mind wet weather either.
Having said that, in Arid districts, it might be a good idea to avoid the hottest months of the year, and in cool temperate areas, you might like to grow your lettuce in a greenhouse or undercover somewhere during winter.
Celtuce tolerates most soils, including clay soils.
Any gardening book (mostly written for the northern hemisphere) will tell you that full sun is essential.
Full sun is best ONLY when it isn't too hot. Once the temperatures go into the thirties, your lettuce will definitely appreciate some shade, especially afternoon shade!

How to Sow:

Sow the Celtuce seeds only half a cm deep, spreading the seed very thinly along a row and cover lightly with soil, or sprinkle it over a bed and rake it in.
For all you balcony gardeners, any largish pot will do for 3 or 4 lettuce seedlings.
Lettuce seed is very fine so you'll get a few clumps.
Thin them out, you know the drill.
If the weather is very hot and your soil sandy, you will need to water daily. Stick your finger in the soil if not sure.
By the way, lettuce seed doesn't germinate that well at soil temperatures over 25⁰C. 
So if you are sowing it in a pot, keep the potting mix cool by putting it in light shade until the lettuce seed germinates.
Don't plant you celtuce or any lettuce in deep shade, like under a tree, or they’ll just grow into pale, leggy things with few leaves on them.
If you can't find a position that provides dappled shade in the afternoon, try interplanting between taller plants that won’t totally shade them like capsicums/peppers or eggplants, staked tomatoes.
Lettuces need good soil, that means light, free draining and rich in organic matter.  
You soil need to be able to hold lots of water, nitrogen and other nutrients.
Sandy soils need help from your compost bin or worm farm.
If you have clay soils, growing celtuce or lettuce shouldn't be a problem, as is growing them in pots.
All types of Lettuce have shallow roots, so they dries out easily.
You must keep up a steady supply of water because any set back will at best, make them tough and bitter, at worst it will cause them to bolt to seed straight away without making any leaves for you!
So make sure they never get stressed (e.g. by forgetting to water them).
Celtuce not being a hearting type of lettuce won’t go to seed in summer very quickly.
TIP:In the summer months, you can’t grow hearting lettuces, even Cos/Romaine types, as they're also very heat susceptible and won’t form a heart at all.
I have grown those types of lettuce and they were the first to bolt to seed at the first sign of hot weather
Celtuce takes about 3 months from seed to harvest, but you can pick the leaves much earlier.
When the stem of the celtuce gets to about 30cm tall and is about 3-4cm thick, that’s the time to cut it and use it as a sort of asparagus come celery alternative.
TIP: Unlike Asparagus, you need to peel the stem because the outer part which has the sap, is bitter to taste.
The soft, translucent green central core is the edible part.
You can eat this fresh, sliced or diced into a salad.
I've heard that the flavour is sort of like a cucumber, yet different.
Why it’s called Asparagus lettuce or celery lettuce has more to do with it’s appearance and not it’s taste.
So why is it good for us?
Asparagus Lettuce is very good for digestion.
All types of lettuce have good levels of Vitamin C, beta-carotene and fibre.
You won’t put on any weight eating Lettuce  because most varieties have over 90% water and are extremely low in calories.
Lettuce contain the sedative lactucarium (lactoo-caree um) which relaxes the nerves but not upsetting digestion.
By varying the greens in your salads, you can boost the nutritional content as well as vary the tastes and textures.  
•Happy Asparagus Lettuce growing everyone!

Design Elements

with Landscape Designer Louise McDaid

Did you know that people have cultivated roof gardens for centuries.As far back as 600BC, people living in Mesopotamia were growing trees and shrubs above ground. Ever heard of the famous hanging gardens of Babylon? Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers, certainly has!
You may not have a rooftop – but this is a very interesting garden and many of the elements can be incorporated into a ‘ground’ garden as well, like your backyard.
Listen to this…

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Today’s inspirational garden also came from the RBS Rooftop garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower show that I visited.
Roof gardens can combine all elements to support wildlife and biodiversity.
OK Australia’s climate can be a bit harsh in some areas for us to even consider having a rooftop garden on your shed or garage, or even your house.
But if you’ve got a balcony, you might try it there instead.
If you have any questions about this week’s Design Elements, send it our email address, or just post it.

Plant of the Week:

Would you like some electric blue flowers that are easy to grow?
Easy to grow but hard to say.
The flowers of this plant can hang around for up to three months.

L. biloba.flowering now down the side of Henley Cottage.

England may have it’s blue poppies, Meconopsis, everywhere in gardens but we have Lechenaultia with the same bright blue flowers.

As usual, when the name was copied down it was incorrectly spelt, so the botanist attached to Baudin's expedition to Australia, Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour. Spelt with an s, became without an s, and persists today.

 
As usual, the most exotic looking flowers seem to come originally from Western Australia.

The flowers, which grow to 1.5 cm long by 2-3 cm in diameter, have a tubular corolla, split on one side, and surrounded by five sepals.

The corolla has five lobes  and look similar to flowers of Scaevola.

Flowering time is from late winter through to summer.

The leaves are soft, blue-green in colour, very tiny at3-9 mm long to 2 mm across, crowded along the stems.

Lechanaultia grows naturally in gravelly and sandy soils of southern and central Western Australia. 

If you like this colour blue and want to grow this plant, you need to copy its original habitat and grow it in sandy, well-drained soil.

Plants in heavier sites will generally not last a season. The plant is not a long-lived one, three to four years being its most probable life span.

Without any tip pruning the shrub will become an open spreading plant to 50 cm high.  

TIP:
Now here’s a great tip because there’s some of these plants growing outside the cottage at the radio station.

Lechanaultia is easily propagated by cuttings taken at any time of the year, but the best time is in late spring and summer.
A few weeks ago I took some cuttings and struck them in situ in a couple of places in the gardens.
seem to be surviving so far.
I used semi-hardwood cuttings about 6-10 cm long.
Spring is the best time, so if these don't survive, I'll try again later.
Lechanaultia is growing at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in built-up beds with added limestone chips; but I don't think you need to do that unless you have limestone chips lying around in your backyard or property.
TIP:
The most important growing requirement is a perfectly drained situation, like in a rockery, built-up beds or pots.
L. biloba has been successfully cultivated in pots for many years in Europe.
Minimal watering is required and the roots will penetrate deeply in a free-draining soil.

Lechenaultia biloba can be allowed to straggle over rocks, or a more compact shape may be obtained by a light pruning after flowering. No pests or diseases have been observed and this plant is frost tolerant.

This is a perfect plant if you’re looking for the colour blue to add to your garden.
Lechanaultia would suit the front of the border, and especially rockeries and even hanging baskets.
Team it up with Yellow Buttons ( Chrysocephalum apiculatum), Paper Daisies, Rhodanthe anthemoides, and even Brachyscome, or Scaevola or fan flower.