Gardens Too Hot To Trot

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
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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

SPICE IT UP

with Ian Hemphill
Ever heard of native pepper? Maybe you’ve already used it in your cooking?
If you haven’t, you’re in for a surprise, not only can you grow your own native pepper almost anywhere, there’s also a surprising amount of recipes that you can use it in.
But be warned, information on the internet isn’t always right so you need to pay close attention to this…
Listen to this….

Native pepper-berry can be ground in a normal peppermill, but use it sparingly.
Native pepper is five times hotter than standard black peppercorns!
The strong flavour of native peppers goes will with lamb, game and any slow cooked dishes.
Pepper leaf has the same flavour as native pepper, but has the same strength as standard ground black pepper.
Use it in ground form and take in the smell of the Australian native bush. A wonderful aroma!

If you only want to grow the one native pepper tree, , check that it’s  Tasmannia lanceolata, the native pepperberry.
For those wanting the fruit, you need two trees to get the berries, but one tree will supply you with plenty of leaf that can be dried and ground to give you the same flavour as the berry itself. 

Who isn’t tempted by the native seasoning of pepperberries, bush tomatoes wattle seed, ground coriander seed, sweet paprika and lemon myrtle. Yum!
If you have any questions about the Native Pepperberry why not drop us a line to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Curry Leaf Tree or Bergera koenigii used to be sold as Murraya koenigii,  and for the most part, because people are more familiar with that botanical name, the nursery industry is sticking to it and so shall I.
Murraya Koenigii grows very well in Australia.

The species name commemorates the botanist Johann Gerhard König.
Means king in German language. Essentially just an aromatic Murraya species in the family:Rutaceae.

Common name: Curry leaf tree.
The leaves of this tree have a strong curry aroma, but they take on a whole different flavour in cooking. Mmmm!

But there are other shrubs called curry plant, so be careful, because the others aren’t the edible or cooking with variety.
Native to India and Sri Lanka, the curry leaf tree grows into a large shrub to small tree growing 4-6 m tall.

The leaves are similar in a smaller way to Murraya or Orange Jessamine being in the same genus.

Why wouldn’t you grow this bush with the highly aromatic leaves, and heads of flowers that are white, and fragrant appearing in Spring and Summer?

One thing to remember though is that after flowering, the plant produces small black, shiny berries that are edible, but their seeds are poisonous.


Where it likes to grow
Full sun or light shade is the ideal spot and all you need to do is fertilize with palm or citrus fertilizer to get plenty of leaves.
Curry leaf plants can be grown in large pots and also on the ground.
The type of soil doesn’t matter either.

I have one plant in large pot and it’s only about 1 metre in height.
I’ve got to say that it’s pretty slow growing so don’t worry too much about re-potting it.
They have a tendency to sucker when in the ground, so keeping it a pot if you’re worried about this is probably a good idea.

Full grown plants on the ground can survive frosty conditions, plus the curry leaf tree is hardy and drought tolerant once established.

Murraya koenigii or curry leaf tree grows anywhere from tropical areas to cool temperate districts.
A listener, Lesley, has written in to say that she has have several plants in the ground in Melbourne which are now nearly 2 ½ to 3 metres, and thriving.
She doesn’t even cover them during winter period!

Like the hedging variety of Murraya, pruning your curry leaf tree every year will make it more bushy so you’ll get more of those fragrant curry leaves.
Picking of the leaves for cooking is also a way of getting bushy growth.
PROPAGATION TIPS
If you want to propagate this plant, when you see the berries at the very tips of the branches turning black, is the time to propagate from seed.
By the way, in some sub-tropical districts this tree has spread into bushland because of birds eating the berries.
If you live in that district, prune off the berries before the birds get them.
They can be propagated from root suckers but the new plant will sucker even more if you do it this way.
TIP: The fruits are best picked when they are half ripe or when fully ripe ie, quite black.
The fruits should also never be allowed to dry, because the curry plant seeds in them lose their viability when they shrivel or dry up.
Peel the seed out of half ripe or fully ripe fruits by squeezing out the flesh before planting. The fruit around the seed may slow down germination.
Seeds are best planted quite shallowly in seed raising mix and germinate in about 10 days -they germinate best with warm soil 21⁰ to 27⁰ C

HOW TO USE CURRY LEAF
Use young leaves and crushed seeds in curries, soup stocks and sauces.
Spicy but not hot they can flavour vinegars and salad oils.
Used a lot in South Indian kitchens, curry leaves are generally sautéed in oil with mustard seeds and added to dhal, fresh coconut chutney or vegetable dishes.
Strip the leaves from their stalk before frying, and tearing and crushing them between  fingers releases more of their essential oils.

UNUSUAL TIP: do you worry about bad breath? You probably haven’t heard of this type of breath freshener before.
Did you know that the people of India grow the curry leaf tree, Murraya koenigii, not only to flavour traditional dishes but also known for treating bad breath.
What you do is put a few of the fresh leaves in the mouth and hold them there for several minutes and voila’-fresh breath.
I can’t say I’ve tried it though.
Why Are They Good For You?
Apparently scientists are studying the extract of the leaves as a natural medicine against high cholesterol and high blood sugar.
Curry leaves are also known to be good for your hair, for keeping it healthy and long.
You can buy the plant from the herb section of your local nursery or garden centre, some Asian supermarkets, the Botanic Gardens nursery and online from diggers.
But be careful that you’re not getting the curry leaf bush-Helichrysum italicum. This has a grey feathery leaf and can’t be used in cooking at all, even though it smells of curry when you brush past it.
Think of the king when buying your Curry tree plant-Murraya Koenigii!
AND THAT WAS OUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT

DESIGN ELEMENTS

with Louise McDaid, Landscape Designer

There are times of the year when it’s better for planting out new trees, shrubs and perennials.
Sometimes though, we just have to have something what we see in a nursery,garden centre, plant collector's fair or a friend gives us a plant or two.
So how does this plant cope?
Should you plant it out in the garden when it’s really hot?
Or should we wait and hope it survives in its pot until cooler weather?
Let’s find out what this is all about.
PLAY: Dry_Gardens_part3_16th April_2014
It’s a personal choice as to which plants get watered and which you hope will survive the hot dry conditions that some of us have experienced.
Established trees that are quite large might be alright but younger smaller trees and shrubs definitely will need a bit of assistance.
If you’ve got that specail plant still in a pot, now’s the time to put it into the garden because Autumn is the best time to plant out, and to move plants in the garden.


Australian Native Eucalypts

If you have any questions about this week’s any trees on your property, send it our email address, or just post it.

 

PLANT OF THE WEEK Pimenta dioica-Allspice Tree

What would you call a blend of cloves, juniper, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg?

Would you believe this blend can grow as berries on a tree with clusters of white flowers  that open at the end of October.

Allspice, Jamaican Pepper, a small tree in the Myrtle family.  Red berries used in cooking. Need a male and female tree, otherwise grow it for the leaves only.

 

 

The cluster of flowers attract lots of bees and other insects and although each individual flower is very small and insignificant they have a very strong, perfume that fills that air.

There are both male and female allspice trees. The so-called male trees rarely bear fruit. There is no way to tell which is which before the time of fruiting.

Even buying two mightn’t get you both trees so three is recommended.

But if you have a chance to buy one, buy it, they smell incredibly good - the leaves that is!



Pepper Tree Worms

Compost Capers

Does your council ask you to separate your rubbish and recycle everything you throw out? Probably not yet, but that day is coming soon.
In Wales, for example, councils no longer accept regular rubbish.
You have to sort it into many bins.
They even recycle your food scraps-raw and cooked that you must put into separate bins.
A good way to start is with home composts. Most people have home composts.
Home composting is the most environmentally-friendly way of dealing with kitchen and garden waste, plus it produces compost that can be used as an excellent soil improver.
Composting is useful in all gardens. Only in the very smallest gardens will it be difficult to find space for a compost heap and material to fill it. Owners of such smaller gardens could consider worm composting instead.
Let’s find out more about some friends of compost.I'm talking with worm farm expert Cameron Little

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Composting is done all year, and you don’t have to stick to just one type of compost method.
Usually though, late summer to early winter is the peak time for making compost.

If you go away for any length of time, your worm farm will survive just nicely if you make sure it’s loaded up with food scraps.
Don’t just dump them on top,  incorporate them into the composted material that’s already there.As long as the water can drain away if it pours with rain, your worms won’t drown and you’ll come home ready made compost.
Better still, put your worm farm under an evergreen tree so it can’t get flooded.
For regular composts, aim for between 25 and 50 percent soft green materials (e.g. grass clippings, annual weeds, vegetable kitchen waste, or manure) to feed the micro-organisms.
The remainder should be woody brown material (e.g. prunings, wood chippings, paper, cardboard, straw or dead leaves).
The bacteria and micro-organisms that produce the compost function best when the balance of green and brown materials is correct.

If you’ve got any questions about composting or worm farms, drop us a line. by email or by post to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675,  or post them on Real World Gardeners facebook page, we’d love to hear from you.

Vegetable Heroes: Growing Your Own Pepper

Tasmannia lanceolata or Pepperberry.
The Tasmanian Mountain Pepper tree is an endemic shrub or small tree to Tasmania.
It’s in the Winteraceae family, sounds a bit cold, but that makes it a plant from ancient times.
Tasmannia – the first part of the tree’s name is after AW Jansen Tasman, a navigator, for whom the state of Tasmania was named;
Did you know that Mountain pepper was used as a colonial pepper substitute. These days you can get a variety of bushfood products containing pepperberry.
You might be wondering where you can use this pepperberry?
It can be added to curries, cheeses, and alcoholic drinks.
It’s even exported to Japan to flavour wasabi.
What do pepperberries taste like?
Sweet at first with a real peppery aftertaste.
This tree can be used as a feature small tree –growing to only 4-5 metres, or as a bush tucker plant.
Pepper berry trees have glossy green leaves with complimentary red stems and small waxy and creamy white flowers.
The flowers give way to dark peppery berries.
Something called Polygodial is the primary active compound in Tasmannia lanceolata, and is responsible for its peppery taste.
Polygodial is an active ingredient in Dorrigo Pepper, Mountain Pepper, Horopito, Canelo, Paracress and Water-pepper.
This stuff called Polygodial gives the berries their warm and pungent flavour.
Pepperberries will grow anywhere from sea level to alpine regions. Not surprisingly, they tolerate frosts and need moist soil. Being an understorey tree, all types of Pepper Berry trees prefer the protection of other trees and can grow in deep shade.
These trees grow best on well drained soil with good moisture retention and can even grow in quite heavy soil.
The drawback is the need lots of water both in summer and winter for healthy growth.
Being a primitive plant-that means the vascular system isn’t as good as modern day trees, so they grow slowly but will pick up a bit of speed if you give them a light application of general fertiliser in spring and early autumn.
Even though I’ve said they need soil that holds a bit of water, so not too sandy, Pepper Berries aren’t too fussy about what type of soil they grow in, but prefer cool to temperate conditions.
The Alpine regions of Victoria, Tasmania and NSW are ideal, however lower altitudes are also suitable as long as you can give them cool, shaded conditions.
You’ll need two trees though. Male and female trees are needed to produce the hot spicy glossy deep-purple (almost black) pea-sized Pepper Berries which grow in clusters at the base of new season's growth, but only on the female tree.
Dieocious (sexes on separate plants, one gender per individual)
Another variety, although I’m not sure how easy it is to get, is Tasmannia purpurascens.
Technically this tree is moneocious-both male and female flowers on the one tree.
Both the Berry and the leaf are edible - the Berry is an alternative to traditional pepper but much more versatile, nutritious and extremely high in anti-oxidants, while the leaf is used like curry leaves in cooking.
Can you grow Mountain Pepper berry from seeds? Yes, but you won’t know if you are getting a male or female tree for a few years. I’m still waiting, although I’ve only got one so will have to do something about that.
Where do you get it?
www.fourseasonsherbs.com.au and www.diggers.com.au
Why is it good for you?
The leaf and berry are used as a dried spice mainly.
Dried Tasmannia lanceolata berries and leaves have strong antimicrobial activity against food spoilage organisms.
Tasmanian ripe pepper berries (black in colour) can be 10 times hotter then ordinary pepper.
Mountain pepper is considered as one of the world’s strongest anti-oxidant foods and a rich source of vitamin C.

Design Elements: Reviewing Trees 



 

What makes a tree a tree? Is it because it has a trunk? How high does it have to be before it’s a tree and not a shrub. After all, don’t we have tree Rhododendrons?Let’s review some of these trees for your garden now….Let’s find out about some of these now?

 

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Trees reduce pollution, noise and provide shade, sometimes even mulch. Although I dare say some of you may be annoyed sometimes with the amount of leaves that fall on the ground.

Did you know that evergreen trees lose leaves all year and deciduous ones lose them all in one go? That might help you decide which one to plant next.

 Westonbirt arboretum (picture to the right)

 

 

 

 

Plant of the Week

Protea species.
To grow Proteas well you need an open, sunny position.
They do well in poor soils, and many don't mind salty, coastal areas.

But the humidity will knock them around. If you are north of Brisbane they will prefer the cooler drier regions. But they'll do really well most other places where the soil is well drained and it's not too frosty.

 

Some important tips to getting the best out of your Proteas.

• Great drainage, so if you’ve got clay soil, forget it. All Proteas love a sandy loam or open soil.
• Do test your soil pH as most Proteas need acidic soil with a pH below 6. That’s quite acidic.
• Full sun with good air movement. Because they keel over with  humidity.

The more sun they more flowers for all Proteas.
P. Frosted Fire and P. Pink Ice. The last one has spectacular flowers fresh or dried. Probably the one you most see in floral displays.
 Full sun by the way, means around  4-6 hours of sunlight and not dappled sunlight.

• Proteas  won’t grow on south facing walls.
• Mulch your Proteas-use a natural mulch such as bark or straw or leaves.
• Don’t disturb the plants roots when weeding.
• Proteas are pretty tough once they're established. Water at least twice a week in the first summer, - daily when it's really hot. You can gradually reduce this as the plant becomes established.
•  After the first year, plants labelled "drought resistant" don't need much attention at all. The rest should be watered weekly during dry periods.
• Potted Proteas like a nice drink every day.
• Generally it is not necessary to feed Proteas planted in the garden unless your conditions are extremely severe, like by the coast in vert sandy soil or in Perth.
• Feed Proteas by adding compost and a slow release fertiliser suitable for natives, is a good idea. Proteas are best grown away from plants you need to feed regularly.
• Proteas grown in pots will need feeding with a controlled release fertiliser with low phosphorus.
• Proteas become untidy looking if you don’t at least prune off the flowers when they’ve finished. Removing flowering stems helps keep the bush compact and looking great. Always use sharp secateurs. With young bushes tip prune in spring and late summer. With mature plants prune immediately after flowering, usually leaving 10cm of healthy stem.
• Varieties- King Pink Protea cynaroides. The King Protea has one of the largest flower heads in the protea family.

Problems with your Proteas

The most common problem that people might experience is

• Why won't my Protea flower?
• Some possible reasons:
• It's too young - some take 3 years, the King up to 6 years.
• It's in the shade - Proteas need sun all day to flower.
• It's not had enough water during bud formation so buds die.

Why did my Protea die? Some possible reasons:

• overwatering of mature plants.
• unsuitable plant for the condition. 
• presence of root rot fungi (treat with Phosacid, do not replant Proteas in this spot).
• unsuitable soil; do not use mushroom compost or added fertiliser in the garden