Sincere Flowers and Lilies

PLANT DOCTOR

Have you ever noticed how fallen leaves get skeletonised leaving a tracery of what looks like a lacey leaf?
This looks very artistic, as if someone had taken great care in removing all the living components of the leaf and just left the fine bones or veins.
Not so this next pest the Lily caterpillar.
You won’t get so much a tracery as a complete removal of the chlorophyll layers and sometimes, just a heap of mush.
Let’s find out what this pest is and how to deal with it.with Steve Falcioni general manager www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au

The caterpillars are about 5 cm long , generally a black with black, and golden yellow and white stripes. It has dots on the front end and back end of the caterpillar.
This caterpillar attacks plants from the Lily family, and includes cliveas, and belladonna lilies.
The caterpillars pretty much chew threw all the layers of the leaf leaving a skeletal mushy remains.
The leaf will then be a dried and pale looking.
If this attack doesn't get down to the roots, or the bulb of the lily, you can cut the plants back to just below the damage, and they may spring back.
Some people spend time picking the caterpillars out of their garden, but this is somewhat inefficient because you could pick 20 caterpillars out of your plants one day and the next day, go out there and find 20 more.
If all else fails, you could use Dipel which contains Bacillus thuringiensis, a naturally occurring soil bacteria that you can put in your garden.
This is non-toxic to humans and animals, but the caterpillars will either stay away or die.
Then there’s the longer lasting product eCo Neem which coAlso organic.
If you have any questions about caterpillars in your garden, why not write in to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

Well it’s TIME FOR VEGETABLE HERO-  planting bulbs
So what is a bulb?
A bulb, in botany, is something that’s in the resting stage of certain plants.
Usually a bulb is made up of a relatively large underground bud with fleshy overlapping leaves that come up from a short stem.

Tunicate bulb

A bulb’s fleshy leaves are its food reserves that let the plant to lie dormant when water is unavailable (during winter or drought) and start growing when conditions are more favourable.
You’re probably familiar with onion, garlic, and brown or golden shallots as the most common vegetable bulbs.
There are two main types of bulbs.
The onion type, has a thin papery covering or tunic, protecting its fleshy leaves.
Funnily enough, these are called tunicate bulbs.
The other type, the scaly bulb, as seen in true lilies, has storage leaves that are unprotected by any papery covering.

Lily bulb

These bulbs dry out faster and are more easily bruised.
All true bulbs have a few things in common such as:
-being more or less rounded, sort of ball-like, and narrow to a point on the top.
Leaves and flower stems appear from this point.
With or without a tunic, true bulbs have a flat part, called a basal plate, at the bottom. That’s where roots grow and also where shoots and scales are attached.
True bulbs have new bulbs, called offsets, which form from the basal plate. When they get big enough, these offsets, or daughter bulbs, produce flowers on their own.
And true bulbs are made up of rings, called scales, which are modified leaves that store food.
If you cut apart a true bulb, like an onion or hyacinth at the right time of year, you’ll find a miniature plant inside, just waiting to begin growing.
Think of onions that have been stored too long, when you cut them open, they have a green shoot inside ready to grow a new plant.
Bulbs can vary in size from insignificant pea-sized ones

to those of large crinums (crinum lilies.)
Did you know that gladioli and crocus aren’t true bulbs, but they’re really corms?
Corms still store food, but if you cut them open, they won’t have any overlapping leaves.
Also when a corm finishes flowering, the corm dries up and a new one grows on top of the old one.
If you’re replanting corms, you usually should remove the old dried up corm  first.
Bulbs are divided into two categories based on when they either flower or produce the edible vegetable.
Spring flowering bulbs are hardy bulbs because they survive cold winter conditions.
In fact, they need exposure to cold temperatures in order to flower properly. Summer-flowering bulbs, including dahlias, begonias and gladiolus, are planted in the spring.
They are tender and don’t survive extreme cold winter conditions.
When  and how to plant bulbs
Spring-flowering bulbs and vegetable bulbs such as daffodils, tulips, garlic, and shallots, are planted in autumn, in most districts.
This allows both the weather and the soil to cool.
For cooler districts though , shallot bulbs for example, are best planted in winter.

Haemanthus coccineus

Spring flowering bulbs are easy to grow and most bulbs can be planted in the same way so that once you understand the basics you can easily grow almost any bulbs.
Bulb planting Depth & Spacing:
Most bulbs are planted twice as deep as the bulb is high/tall and the same distance apart.
The pointed end of the bulb should be upwards.
Anemone & Ranunculi are the only exceptions where the points or claws are pointing downwards.
If you’re not sure which way to plant your bulb can always plant your bulb on it's side and it will always grow upwards!
Best Soil type for growing bulbs:
Most Spring flowering bulbs are best planted in a freely draining soil.
You won’t find any bulbs that like to be planted in heavy clay I’m afraid.
You can raise or mound up the garden beds to improve drainage, otherwise plant and grow your bulbs in pots if your soil is soggy.
Where to plant your bulbs
Most bulbs grow best in full sun to light shade.
If you plant your bulbs in too much shade, you’ll get leggy, taller and softer stems.
In warmer climates, most bulbs tolerate being planted in a bit more shade.
Watering:
Most Spring bulbs like their soil kept moist when they’re actively growing, which is usually from late Winter to early Summer.
They also like to be kept reasonably dry when they’re dormant.

Spring flowering daffodils

Only start watering when green shoots appear and stop when the leaves start to yellow after flowering.
If your district gets high Summer rainfalls, dig the bulbs up in and store them in a dry spot otherwise they’ll probably rot off.
If they’re in a pot, put the pot on its side under a tree somewhere out of the way, and especially away from naughty chooks that like to jump in there and have a great old dig around.
Feeding:
As a general rule of thumb, top dress all bulbs in Autumn and water this in.
Using a specialty bulb fertiliser or an organic fertiliser is fine.
For flowering bulbs, you’ll get a better second year if you add some fertiliser  straight after flowering as this is when the bulb is taking in nutrients for next year's flowers.
Of course with garlic and shallots, you’re going to eat them aren’t you.
After flowering care:
As mentioned, when the bulbs have finished flowering, it's important that you keep on watering and feeding the leaves since they’re generating the energy the bulb needs to produce next year's flowers.
Digging and storing your spring flower bulbs:
Don’t be in too much of a hurry to dig up and store those bulbs.
Also yes, the leaves can look untidy for a while as they die down, but if you cut them off you’re depriving the bulb of nutrients that it needs to store for next season’s flowering.
Let the leaves die down properly before digging up your bulbs.
Loosen the soil with a fork and gently pull up the bulbs by their stems.
Allow the bulbs to dry somewhere cool (not in full sun).
 Once dry, brush off any excess dirt and remove old flower stalks.
Try to leave the bulbs 'skin' or tunic intact as this helps protect the bulbs.
Store the bulbs somewhere cool (less than 25^oC), dry and airy until you replant the following Autumn.
To refrigerate or not to refrigerate?
Tulip bulbs are the only bulbs which require 4-8 weeks in the crisper of the fridge before planting. DO NOT FREEZE THEM.
An easy way to remember is to put your tulip bulbs in the fridge around April fool's day, then plant your bulbs around Mother's day.
Guide lines for planting your Spring flower bulbs in pots:
Keep the bulbs away from the outer edges of the pot which get very hot.
Water regularly to keep soil slightly moist.
TIP: plant the bulbs in the garden the following year since most won't flower consecutive years in pots.
Seeds from bulbs?
Did you know that when pollinated, most bulb flowers will produce seeds, and you can use them to grow new plants?
So why don't you see daffodil or tulip seeds at the garden centre?
Because it takes at least 5 years, and sometimes longer, for seedlings to mature and produce flowers.
Who wants to wait that long?
AND THAT WAS YOUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!

DESIGN ELEMENTS

with garden designer Lesley Simpson
This series is all about colour in the garden.

Colour schemes affect mood.

Why the fuss about any particular colour?
Because colour has an effect on, style, theme, texture and even on mood.
You should really consider your space and what time of day you use it.
Why not can start off with your favourite colour to use in the garden, but then what goes with that colour?
Let’s find out more..


There can be a huge range of shades of the one colour which if you’re not careful, can make your colour scheme not exactly work.
For example, there’s yellows that can range from being a golden yellow right through to an almost apricot colour and to a bright yellow.

If you have any questions about colours in the garden, why not write in or ask for a fact sheet.
All information will be posted on the website atwww.realworldgardener.com

PLANT OF THE WEEK

with Jeremy Critchley owner www.thegreengallery.com.au
and Karen Smith editor of hort journal www.hortjournal.com.au

You would have been seeing Cyclamen almost everywhere since about mid-autumn.

Some, usually the bigger ones, have even got a light perfume, while others just have their outstanding colour and form with which to dazzle you.
Did you know that this next plant, the cyclamen, along with the columbine or grannys bonnet, was one of the flowers of choice for Leonardo Da Vinci at the beginning of the 16th century?
He liked them so much that he covered the margins of his manuscripts with drawings of them.
My sister tells me that she has been throwing out her Cyclamen when it dies down after flowering. Is this you?
You know you should be hanging onto the tuber so your Cyclamen can re-flower for you in the following year.
Let’s find out more

                      

The Cyclamen lifecycle is one of shooting up leaves at the beginning of autumn. That's when you take them from the shady position in the garden and put your potted cyclamen somewhere where it receives dappled sunlight.
At this time give it some fertiliser of any kind.
Water your cyclamen when the soil in the pot feels dry to the touch.
Too much water will cause leaves to yellow and the tuber to be susceptible to rotting.
After your cyclamen has finished flowering and the leaves have died down, put the pot somewhere where it won't get too much rain. Even turn the pot on it's side. Now it's ready for the dormant stage before restarting the lifecycle next Autumn.

You might not be aware that in the language of love, giving someone a cyclamen expresses sincere feelings and why not? With flowers looking like butterflies.
Thanks to its tuber, cyclamen cope with neglect and other tough conditions.
The tuber, which is in fact a swollen root won’t ever have corms or bulb offsets, however, as in the case with the  potato (which is a similar organism), the tuber can be divided provided each portion has both a growth eye and part of the rooting region of the tuber..

Looking for Birds in the Woods

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

with Consultant Ecologist Kurtis Lindsay
Do you still have plenty of birds visiting your local area?
Have you ever wondered where have all the birds gone?
Woodlands and grassland covers about three-quarters of the Australian continent. No surprises then that these areas provide habitat for the majority of Australian land bird species.
These habitats, especially temperate and tropical woodlands and grasslands, also provide much of the country's agricultural land, which has greatly modified them.
Who wins out?
Listen to this!


From the Department of Environment , www.environment.gov.au, about one-third of the major woodland type, eucalypt woodlands, and 80 per cent of temperate woodlands have been cleared (McIntyre et al 2002, Lindenmayer et al 2005).
Much of the remainder is thinned, degraded and deteriorating, and often in poorer country—steep, rocky, wet or with less fertile soils.
Little grassland has been formally cleared, but ploughing, grazing, introduced pastures and weeds, changed burning regimes, and other disturbances have caused major, widespread change.
It’s been shown that revegetation of woodlands has reversed the trend.
 Now it’s up to the private landholders to take action.
Why not look up Australian wildlife conservancy to see what they do?
If you have any questions about woodland birds, why not drop us a line by sending in your question 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

BOTANICAL NAME: Smallanthus sonchifolius (syn Polymnia sonchifolia)
Yacon is sometimes called, Peruvian ground apple, strawberry jicama, Bolivian sunroot, groundpear, pear of the earth.

Yacon is the name this vegetable mostly goes by is in the Daisy or Asteraceae family.
Yacon is native to Colombia and Ecuador and is a hardy, attractive herbaceous perennial from which you get quite a few tubers.
The plant grows to 1.5 to 3 m tall with dark green celery-like leaves.
When it flowers, you’ll have male and female daisy-like yellow to orange flowers that are pollinated by insects.
Each plant forms a underground clump of 4 to 20 fleshy large tuberous roots.
The plant itself is extremely hardy tolerating hot summers, drought and poor soils.
Yacon tubers look a bit like sweet potatoes, but they have a much sweeter taste and crunchy flesh.
The tubers can be eaten raw as a refreshing treat on their own, finely sliced and mixed into salads, boiled or baked, fried as chips or prepared as a pickle.
They are sweet, juicy and almost calorie free.
The main stem can also be used like celery.
The tubers taste like a cross between apple and watermelon, but with more sweetness.
Generally it’s a bit tricky describing the taste of a new food, but everyone agrees on the crunchiness.
As a member of the sunflower family, yacon can grow to 2 metres in height with small, daisy-like yellow flowers.
If you can grow Jerusalem artichokes or Parsnips, you can grow Yacon.

 PLANTING DETAILS
Normally you plant the crowns into large pots and wait
for shoots to start growing from each small tuber.
Yacon can be planted all year round in frost-free areas as it is day-length neutral.
It appears to be drought tolerant compared to other vegetable crops and so far, pest-free.
For cold areas of Australia the rhizomes can be started in styrofoam boxes in a greenhouse or on a warm verandah, usually in spring,and planted out when frost is past.
Split the crowns into individual shoots with their tubers attached and plant into smaller pots.
Yacon plants are quite sensitive to temperature, so plant them out when you would tomatoes.
Yacon actually produces two types of underground tubers, reddish rhizomes directly at the base of the stem, which can be eaten when young but are mainly used for propagation and the larger brown tubers, which are mainly eaten.
Prepare the soil by loosening well with a fork and working in compost.
To plant, cover a large rhizome which has several sprouts, with soil to a depth of 3 cm.  Space them 0.5m apart.
Mulch well because yacon will grow up through the mulch, just like potatoes.
Because this plant creates dense shade when it grows you probably won’t have to do any weeding. Bonus!
Yacon grows fast even in poor soils but crops best in rich, friable, well-drained soil.
So when do you pick this strange vegetable?
The plant takes 6 - 7 months to reach maturity.
You know when it’s ready when the top growth withers and dies back.
This is when you dig up the tuber.
They resemble dahlia or sweet potato tubers, on average weigh about 300 g but can weigh up to 2 kg.
The tubers continue to sweeten as the plant dies back so the main harvest should only take place once all the top growth is dead, usually by May. Don't leave it too long though, especially in areas that have mild winters, as the plant will start to shoot again as the weather warms up and the days get longer.
When harvesting, separate the reddish rhizomes from the tubers and wash off any soil, taking care not to break the skin.
The reddish rhizomes are kept out of the sun and covered with slightly damp sand, sawdust or cocopeat to stop them drying out and put aside for replanting in a dark, dry place.
These offsets are then replanted for the next season.
The plant needs to be dug carefully to avoid damage to the crisp tubers. After separation from the central stem undamaged tubers can be stored in a cool, dark and dry place with good air circulation for some months.
Why the tubers keep sweetening during storage is because of starch conversion.
You can put them in the sun for a couple of weeks to speed up the sweetening process.
There’s plenty of eating tips, too many to mention, but I’ll post them on the website. For those without a computer, write in to me and I’ll send you a fact sheet.

EATING TIPS:

First remove the outer brown skin and inner white skin by peeling with a knife as the skin has a resinous taste.
Inside is amber coloured sweet crunchy flesh.
Like all tubers there are no seeds to remove, so it is quick and easy to prepare.
Chop the tuber into chunks and add it to green salads where they impart a great flavour and texture. I
When cut into long strips, they make an interesting addition to a plate of raw vegetable crudites for dipping into your favourite guacamole or cream cheese dip.
It can also be boiled, steamed or baked with other vegies. In cooking they stay sweet and slightly crisp.
If boiled 'in the jacket' the skin separates from the flesh and can be peeled off like a boiled egg.
Yacon can also be used in a dessert crumble or pie with apples, pears or choko.
In the Andes, they are grated and squeezed through a cloth to yield a sweet refreshing drink. The juice can also be boiled down to produce a syrup. In South America the juice is concentrated to form dark brown blocks of sugar called chancaca. The young stem can be used as a cooked vegetable.
Why is it good for you?
Nutritionally yacon is low in calories but it is said to be high in potassium.
 Yacon tubers store carbohydrate in the form of inulin, a type of fructose, which is a suitable food for type II diabetics.
Plants with the sugar inulin such as Jerusalem artichokes and yacon can be useful additions to diet of people with type II diabetes.
AND THAT WAS OUR VEGETABLE HERO SEGMENT FOR TODAY!

Design Elements

with Landscape Designer Louise McDaid


Last week, a new series was started on colour in garden design.
Colour theory and a range of different ways to use the colours were explained through using the colour wheel.

Main colour schemes used in gardens are complementary, split complementary, triadic/contrasting, harmonious and monochromatic.But colour is a fickle thing, and many factors affect the appearance of the colour of your plants. Because this program goes Australia, you can imagine how the different light levels will affect colour in people’s gardens from Ballina in NSW to Kingston in South Australia.
Colour is affected by a number of factors such as (i) light-we need to consider the light levels in our gardens. (ii)distance-how far away is the garden from where you're looking at it?

For the best tips, listen to Louise explain how you can overcome the colour dilemma.

Let’s find out….

As Louise mentioned, there are some guidelines to using colour:
Receding colours – fade away or black out – cool colours such as blues, deep greens – they look further away – also grey, black (good for fences or other items you want to ‘disappear’ in the garden)
Luminous colours – appear closer – warm colours yellow, orange, red – they also lead the eye through a garden.
Colour changes should be graduated or sequenced to keep continuity.
Colour and textures are related – delicate pastel colours have a fine textural appearance,  while bright colours appear coarser.If you have any questions about this week’s Design Elements, send it our email address, or just post it.

Plant of the Week;

Aniseed Myrtle Aneothola anisata syn. Backhousia anisata
These days, many Australian native plants are quite rare in the wild. This one’s no exception. Although the good news is that it’s relatively easy to get one from native nurseries.
Its name comes from the strong aniseed scented and flavoured leaves. The leaves are often used for flavouring desserts, sweet sauces and preserves. It also is popular as a scented savoury sauce or marinade for meats and sets a deep fragrant flavour to salad dressings.
This bush food is native to southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, but will grow as far south as Melbourne, Victoria.

Aniseed Myrtle will tolerate light frosts.

You can use the young leaves chopped in salads and as a flavouring in sauces for fish dishes. An excellent companion for lemon myrtle.

Aniseed Myrtile is a medium-sized to large tree with somewhat soft and corky bark; young branchlets.

Leaves lanceolate to elliptic, 5–12.5 cm long,  the margins are wavy and because of numerous oil glands large, numerous, the leaves have a distinct aniseed smell when crushed;

This stunning rainforest tree is both highly ornamental and a very desirable for its bushfood characteristics.

The tree can reach up to 45m in a rainforest environment but in people's gardens in will only grow to about8-10 m. Aniseed Myrtle is really is regarded as a small to medium tree in and is usually harvested as a hedge to 2-3 m in bushfood plantations.

This tree has a dense cover of fine lush green foliage throughout the year with white scented flowers in the spring. Flowers are white and staminous. Much like other plants in the Myrtaceae family.

The tree prefers regular watering and fertiliser to looks its best as a foliage feature plant.

It also likes protection from wind, otherwise in both situations, the margins of the leaves dry out and turn brown, making it look untidy.

If you've got plenty of water to give it, then grow it in full sun otherwise choose a part shade positions.

For the first few years at least, Aniseed Myrtle makes an excellent pot specimen particularly when regularly pruned to encourage fresh tip growth.

 

Under garden conditions this makes for an interesting small tree growing to about 8 metres.
It responds well to pruning like many of its "lilly-pilly' cousins and has potential for use as a very aromatic hedge plant.
New growth is pale which stands out well against the darker stems.
Growth in the garden may be slow at first but given some fertilizer and mulch it becomes well established after a couple of years.