Microbats and Natural Gardens

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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Living Planet

with Katie Oxenham

They’re probably hibernating right now, and they’re definitely nothing to be scared of.
There’s too many myths and legends about bats of all kinds and mostly untrue and unkind.
The greatest harm to bats is not knowing  anything about them , and this creates fears and hatred towards them.
Some say, even possible extinction because they’re now regarded as a vulnerable species.
My brother in law has a sheep farm in South Australia and also has been planting plenty of trees on his property.
One day, he was leaning back on his kitchen chair having a morning cuppa when it seemed to squeak unnaturally. He leant forward and tried again, sqea- a- a k?
He turned around to find a microbat was hanging of the chair and he was nearly squashing it.
Being a friendly sort of fella, he put little batkins outside.
Let’s find out a bit more about these little creatures.

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It’s not too early to be thinking of what you’re going to net your fruit trees with this spring and summer. If you can put your finger through any of the holes, then that net is dangerous to wildlife, not just bats of any size.
Birds and mammals can get hopelessly entangled in those larger holed nets and cause life threatening damage to their limbs, and wings.
Choose a fine mesh instead and makes sure the net is tied off at the bottom of the tree so they can’t get in from underneath.
Remember without bats that pollinate Australian trees, we’d have no trees and no Koalas.
If you do come across a distressed animal, contact your local wildlife service right away, and don’t try to handle the bird or animal.
For more information about Microbats see: www.ausbats.org.au
If you’ve got any questions tree netting, drop us a line. to realworldgardener@gmail.com 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:

 Berries, in particular Youngberries just for something different.
Did you know that there are about twenty four varieties of blackberry around and youngberry is just one of those.
Yes, Youngberries are hybrid blackberries and were bred in Louisiana in America.
Youngberries are a complex hybrid between three different plants that belong in the Rosaceae or rose family.
This family not only has roses but  raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries and heaps more other berries.
Plants from the Rose family tend to have woody stems with thorns or prickles.
Berries belong within that rose family in the Rubus genus, because unlike the rose, which produce rose-hips, berries have a cluster or aggregate of drupelets. Rubus species or hybrids such as boysenberries and loganberries are also called "cane-fruit" because they’re generally grown with some sort of support such as wires or a trellis.
Raspberries aren’t in this group because of the way the fruit separates from the plug that attaches the fruit to the cane.
In Raspberries, the plug comes away, but in all others, the plug comes with the fruit when you pick it.
No surprise that it was a Mr. Byrnes M Young, who was a businessman by profession, but liked the plant sciences and dabbling with crossing plants, who actually produced the first Youngberry in 1905.
Young crossed an existing hybrid between a blackberry and a raspberry, to further cross it with a Dewberry. Voila! Youngberries!
I don’t suppose he named it after himself but he might’ve.

So what is a youngberry exactly?

Rubus ursinus hybrid is the scientific name.

Youngberry canes grow to 1 ½ metres and flower anytime between December and March.
According to Louise Glowinski in has book on fruit growing, Youngberries are a vigorous trailing cane that has excellent, sweet juicy fruit that turn black-purple when they’re ripe.
Great to use in jams or eat fresh.  How often do you see Youngberries at the supermarket?
Did you know that berries are sold as bare rootstock at this time of year?
That means you can buy all sorts of berries through mail order catalogs and online because with soil, they’re really light to transport to your door.
To grow any berries you must prepare the soil first by loosening it up and adding lots of compost. Either from your own compost heap or bought it,
The soil must be well drained, so for clay soils, build up a mound to plant your canes into.
All Blackberry hybrids, of which Youngberries is one like a slightly acidic soil of around pH 6-6.5.
If your soil is neutral pH add some spent or used coffee ground to the back fill which you can get for free from your local café if you ask.
Otherwise use Sulphur.
Youngberries grow in full sun or part shade.
Cane fruits suit most climates from cool temperate to sub-tropical.
Most other blackberry hybrids need a winter chilling before flowering will start, but Youngberries are more adaptable to warmer climates provided the winter months are cool.
They’re not too fussy except for hot dry winds which will damage any type of berry fruit. Grow a wind break if your area is prone to high winds.
All types of berries are gross feeders so they do need a lot of feeding in late Spring. Your choice, just lots of it.
If you’re in a sub-tropical climate, use heavy mulch with large stones so the roots experience cooler conditions.
Frosts are usually not a problem.
Pruning is important:
Pruning berries is important otherwise you might prune out those bits where you’re supposed to get fruit.
Young plants tend to produce a lot of canes which need thinning out. But as they mature, remove the last year's stems that fruited but keep the young canes. New canes that grew last year will frui this season for you.
 Tie these canes against some sort of trellis and cut off excess growth.ie Any growth that’s a bit too long for your situation in the garden.
If you're not growing the berries on a trellis, simply tie them in bunches of about 8 (select the thickest canes) and chop them off at about 170-80 cm so they're not too unmanageable
Actually pruning off the ends of each runner will make the vine grow laterals .Flowers and fruit come on the laterals.
This tip I gleaned from the Department of Ag in Victoria and it’s about the oldest method of trellising the more flexible varieties, like Youngberries, using the rope method.
To do this you have to grab all new canes as a bundle and wind them around a single wire about 1.or 1 1/4 m above the ground level.
The bundle is then wound in one direction only until it just passes the point where the next plant begins.
The remaining cane is pruned off, and the next bundle of canes is wound over the last to prevent unwinding.
If you have only one plant you might just have to tie it off with some twine so it doesn’t unravel.
The only downside is you’ll get slightly reduced fruiting because some buds that are inside the bundle won’t flower.
Nifty idea!
TIP: It takes about three years for the plant to mature, so don’t worry  about if your fruit supply isn’t that great at first. Certainly, don’t prune it in the first year.
Where do you get it?
www.lakenurseries.com.au
Why is it good for you?
Youngberries are rich in vitamin C, A, E and dietary fibre. They also contain calcium, phosphorus and potassium. Pectin in the fruit helps lower LDL cholesterol

Design Elements

Louise Mc Daid
What is a natural garden?
It's not about letting the weeds take over! In England, a lot of gardens that I visited had a natural element to them where plants where combined in an informal way to create natural meadow borders
There, the idea is becoming increasingly popular. It means using plants that attract wildlife, combined with not using pesticides.
The result is a supposed to mean a natural balance and the well tended estate gardens that I saw it worked very well.
It also means it can go pear shaped if you’re not too careful and haven’t planted things that work well together.
Let’s look at what can go wrong and how to fix it in part one of a natural garden….Let’s find out about some of these now?

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Lots of small steps can take us a long way towards helping garden wildlife.
Things like make a log shelter for our reptiles, building a pond to attract frogs, create a compost or start a worm far.
All these things , as well as plants, belong in a natural garden, although not as features.
In England, Scientists are investigating how native and non-native plants affect garden biodiversity in a three-year study project called Plants for Bugs.
Will a project like that start in Australia too?
My guess, is that a lot of creatures have adapted in some small way to the exotic plants we have in our garden too.

Plant of the Week:

Macadamia Lots o Nuts-Macadamia integrifolia selection

Nuts are good for our health, lower cholesterol and are low in carbs.
Think of the creamy texture and delicious taste when you eat Macadamia nuts. You can have this all in your own backyard if you plant this new release, smaller version of the Macadamia tree.
Think about it, a Macadamia tree growing in your garden. 

BE IN IT TO WIN "MACDAMIA "LOTS O'NUTS
SIMPLY WRITE IN AND TELL US WHY YOU SHOULD GROW A MACADAMIA IN YOUR GARDEN.
THE BEST ENTRY GETS A TREE SENT TO THEIR DOOR!

Macadamia integrifolia and M tetraphylla are two recognised cultivars of this nut tree in the Proteaceae family.

They will grow and fruit as far south as Melbourne, so are extremely hardy.

I have a mature Macadamia tree- Macadamia tetraphylla H2. It’s a grafted tree and about 15 years old.  Being grafted it will eventually get to 10 metres
My tree didn’t start fruiting until it reached 6 years of age. Seed grown Macadamias take even longer, so be prepared to wait for your nuts.
Boy o Boy, as my father used to say, does it fruit. I have kilos of the nuts every year. More on that later.
By the way, M tetraphylla cultivar grows best in southern parts of Australia, and M. integrifolia in the northern parts. If grown from seed, they will be a big tree, about 15 metres.
Macadamia trees have large glossy evergreen leaves, the margins or edges of which are wavy and spiny. Not unlike, but nowhere near as prickly as holly leaves.
M. tetraphylla has pink flowers and M integrifolia has cream flowers. New growth is pale green on M integrifolia and pink on M tetraphylla.

The flowers are very attracting, hanging down below the canopy in long narrow racemes, at least 15-20cm long.

Bees and especially native bees are the best pollinators of this tree.

After this, and it takes quite some time as you go further south of Brisbane, the nuts start to form, and should begin to drop around March.

If the tree experiences water stress, the nuts will drop earlier, and they’ll be too small for doing anything with really. This gets worse as temperatures rise above 30⁰C.
Both types of Macadamias are pretty adaptable to most soils, and will tolerate part shade.

When you start of a young tree, keep it well water, as they get more water stressed than Avocados and Citrus.

As for the nuts, they have two shells, the outer green shell splits when ready to reveal the inner hard brown shell. You will need to buy a special device to crack them, or the trusty hammer on a rock with a hollow to rest the nut is OK too.

Macadamia Lots o Nuts-Macadamia integrifolia selection-but let’s talk about this new variety.

 A large dense shrub or small tree, with attractive foliage, and pendulous perfumed cream flowers in spring, followed by delicious edible nuts.

Suited to cool temperate to tropical climates, in well drained moist humus-rich clay or loamy soils, neutral to acid pH. A multi-purpose plant for screening or hedging. Prune to shape as required, and feed with low phosphorus native fertilizer early spring or late summer.

The breeders of this plant recommend that you feed with low phosphorus native fertilizer early spring or late summer.

However, I have always fed my tree with Citrus fertiliser with great results. In fact that is the recommendation in the Louis Glowinski book about growing fruit., called the Complete Book of Fruit Growing in Australia.

Why are Macadamias good for you?

If you want to lower your cholesterol, eating 6 – 10 Macadamias a day may lower your cholesterol by 5% in a few weeks.

Macadamia nuts like all non-animal foods contain no cholesterol. But they are remarkable in the fact that their fat contains over 86% monounsaturated fatty acids. The average macadamia nut will also add about 18 calories to your diet, so don’t overdo the nuts.

If you have any questions about growing Macadamias, write in and ask.

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

 

Yellow Robins 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
Real World Gardener is funded by CBF, 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 ecologist and bird expert, Kurtis Lindsay
It’s a pity more birds don’t hang around for us to peer at and marvel at their birdsong and colouring, but maybe we should get up earlier.
You may have heard the sound before and wondered about what bird could’ve been making it. That’s if you’re up at the crack of dawn.
Let’s find out more...

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Eastern Yellow Robins prefer an understorey canopy of tall shrubs with a canopy of small to large trees. Think of this as two layers in your garden.
Because these Robins look for insects all year round, insect attracting trees and shrubs are recommended as is stopping the use of pesticides.
Trees with stringy, fibrous or chunky bark provide good nooks and crannies for insects to hide in, and provide a meal for insect eating birds.
The sound of the Eastern Yellow Robin is bought to you curtesy of Bill Rankin and Tony Bayliss of the Wildlife Sound Recording Group www.awsrg.org.au  has kindly provided RWG with wildlife sound recordings for our 'Wildlife in Focus" episodes.
If you’ve seen an eastern yellow robin, send in a photo ,or drop us a line. to realworldgardener@gmail.com or by post to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675,  or post them on Real World Gardeners facebook page, and I’ll post a CD or some seeds, in return.

 

Vegetable Heroes:

 BLACK CUMIN
There’s two types of Cumin that you can grow. Black cumin is in the Ranunculaceae family, while the other cumin, Cuminum cyminum is in the carrot and parsley family.
The type of cumin that’s sown at this time of year is actually Black cumin (Nigella sativa), also called fennel flower, nutmeg flower Roman coriander and black caraway.
Don’t confuse this with it’s cousin, Love in the Mist or Nigella damascena.
Because, black cumin, is related to the delicate-looking love-in-a-mist, it looks like Love in the Mist
They both have that fine light green ferny foliage.
Black cumin has similar flowers to Nigella except they’re white, while Love-in-the-Mist flowers are pale blue.
Black cumin also grows balloon capsules which dry on the bush but are larger, spicy and fruity seeds that were an important seasoning before black pepper was first brought to Europe.
Cumin and black cumin are temperate to subtropical annuals.
Both of these cumins you can get as packets of spice, one of them, the Cuminum cyminum, is often slow to germinate but once you get it growing, there’s no stopping them.
The black cumin is dead easy-even for beginner gardeners.
Cumin is grown for its aromatic and flavourful seeds.
Black Cumin has been grown for around 3,000 years.and is used for cooking, and extensively used in the Middle East, Turkey, and Western Asia.
Did You Know?- they found some Black cumin seeds in Tutenkamen’s tomb, although they’ve never worked out what they were there for?
The seeds have been traditionally used in the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries for treating a variety of illnesses.
In modern Marrakech, nigella seeds are sold in small bundles to be rubbed until warm, giving off an aroma which opens clogged sinuses in the way that eucalyptus or Vicks does.
Nestlé has filed a patent application covering use of Nigella sativa as an food allergy treatment
The aromatic seeds of Black Cumin are used in many Indian spice mixtures, as well as in bread.
Black Cumin seeds can be ground in a peppermill and used like pepper
Where to buy?
Mail order is probably the way to go for Black cumin or Nigella sativa
Available from www.fourseasonshebrs.com.au and www.diggers.com.au
Black Cumin is a hardy annual that grows to about 40cm, so you’ll have to sow it each year.
Being hardy it will survive close to or on freezing temperatures.
When to Sow:
Ideal temperature is 15-180C. and a rich, well-drained sandy loam, pH 4.5-8.3,and the sowing times is between Autumn and Spring.Drop two or three seeds at each planting site and cover with 3mm of soil. Water well with a gentle spray to settle the soil.
The seeds will germinate in two to three weeks; keep the soil moist but not soggy during germination.
Thin the emerging plants by pinching off all but the strongest seedlings.
You can also start the seeds off in punnets or trays if you like.
Cumin needs at least 4 months from seed to harvest and doesn’t tolerate long periods of dry heat.
Planting close together will help to support the heavy heads when they mature.
Prefers full sun and a sheltered position.
Collect seeds as soon as the ballon-shaped striped seeds pods have formad and are beginning to feel dry. They should be turning brown.
The black seeds are ground up and used like pepper as a spice.
Cumin requires full sun and a long growing season. It tolerates a fairly wide range of soil types, but will do best with well-drained, fertile soil.
Why is it good for you?
Like other spices, even though cumin has large percentage of iron, you’d have to eat and awful lot for it to be of any use as a dietary source.
Instead, think of the seeds as something useful for your cooking. Cumin is found even in some breads and cheeses.
Because it has a spicy, nutty flavour, black cumin can be sprinkled whole or ground up on food, and the oil can also be used on salads and other dishes
How about that coating for fish and meat called Dukkah? I’ll put that recipe up on the web, or send me a note and I’ll post a fact sheet.

Design Elements

with Garden Designer Lesley Simpson

Why do plants climb? Is it because most climbing plants originated from rainforests and needed to reach the light? That’s one theory.
Plus so many climbing plants have different ways of reaching the top.
They can be twining stems with tendrils like Mandevillas and Stephanotis, or scrambling like Banskia Roses, or have thorns like Bouganvillea.

Let’s review some of these climbers for your garden now…

 

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Climbing plants are useful if you haven’t got much room in your garden because they add a vertical element to your garden and most of them don’t take up much room. Most need a support of some sort, and most are evergreen, so even if they’re not flowering, there’s some vertical interest with the leaves all year round.

Plant of the Week

Is Zygocactus really a cactus?
Where are the leaves and where are the stems?
It turns out yes, it’s a cactus and the stems are now the leaves?
Confused, …
Over thousands of years of plant adaptations to drier conditions, the stems of the Zygocactus or Schlumbergia, elongated while the leaves dropped off forever.
That meant the stems took over the function of food making or photosynthesis and developed pores or stomates for gas exchange.
But enough of science because for a splash of colour through Autumn and Winter, there’s a showy zygocactus for your garden. So many differed flower shapes and colours to choose from. From filly whites, pale yellows, deep purple and bright reds.Easy to look after and easier to propagate.Just don’t overwater them
Looking after your Zygocactus
You probably have known them as pale pink to pale orange coloured flowers, but these days you can get them in fantastic shades of cherry red, mauve and magenta. I prefer these brighter shades at this time of year, because it contrasts well with the darker winter sky.

Zygocactus are not desert dwellers, but epiphytic plants living high up in the canopy of rainforests. So they’re surviving on leaf litter and not getting full sun, but instead, dappled shade from the rainforest canopy.

Zygocacti like to stay evenly moist but not wet or soggy. When soil dries on top (but not all the way down), water thoroughly. Give them good air circulation and plenty of good, bright light. Outdoors, in mild weather, they like light shade or very filtered sunlight. They cannot tolerate frost.

Fertilizer

Zygocactus respond to light feedings with diluted liquid fertilizer during spring and summer growing seasons. If you’re growing them indoors,use any good houseplant fertilizer or African Violet food every two to three weeks.
But I don’t think people of Sydney do that as they grow quite well outside. Give them a potassium food such as tomato food or something for flowers. Stop fertilizing in early March to allow buds to set. Do not transplant or move the plant once buds have set. Resume fertilizing after flowering.
 

Transplanting

Transplanting Zygos is dead easy, just don't disturb the roots.
Press the soil firmly around the plant.
As with all transplanting of potplants-DON'T bury the plant too deeply – use the same soil line that it presently has.
Leave a half inch space from the top of the pot to your soil line for watering.
 

Soil

Use a general potting mix but added loads of coarse sand, or perlite.. The epiphytic cacti prefer a soil that is slightly acidic.
If you can find a pre-packaged cactus soil mix, feel free to use it. If you should use unglazed terracotta pots, remember that they dry out faster and will need watering more often.

 

growing seedling.

Honeycombs and Banksias

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 CBF, Community Broadcasting Foundation.
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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

Living Planet

with Manager, Urban Ecology, Katie Oxenham

• Ever thought of keeping a beehive?
• Maybe some listeners do just that.
• Did you know that commercial honey bees (Apis mellifera) are not native to Australia. They were introduced from Europe in about 1822.
• I bet you didn’t know that Australia has over 1,500 species of “true Blue” Aussie native bees, some of which don’t sting.

Let’s find out if keeping native bees is for you….

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You can buy a box of native stingless bees to put into your backyard. Native bees are great for gardeners or nature lovers. They’ll help pollinate your plants-well of course but best of all they’re stingless.Stingless bees are only for the warmer parts of Australia that includes all across the top end and down to the coastal areas of NSW around Bega.If you’re in other states listening to this you’ll have to give your stingless hive artificial support in the form of heat.Find out more at http://www.aussiebee.com.au/
If you keep bees, any bees, not just native bees, drop us a line, send in a photo,. to realworldgardener@gmail.com or by post to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675,  or post them on Real World Gardeners facebook page, and I’ll post a CD or some seeds, in return.

Vegetable Heroes

MUSTARD Greens or Mustard Lettuce

• The mustard plant comes from the Brassica family and is called Brassica juncea. They’re in the same family as those Mustard plants that are grown mainly for their seeds to be used in the condiment Mustard.
• Mustard greens originated in the Himalayan region of India and have been grown and eaten for more than 5,000 years.
• Mustard greens feature in many different cuisines, ranging from Chinese to Southern American.
• In Russia this is the main variety grown for production of mustard oil, which after refining is considered one of the best vegetable oils around and is widely used in canning, baking and margarine production; and the majority of table mustard there is also made from this species of mustard plant.
• They’re not called Mustard greens for nothing, because you can use them in place of that Mustard out of a jar because they have that peppery, and zesty flavour that’s really like the real deal mustard.
• All members of the Brassica juncea species have colourful large leaves that vary in colour from red through to lime green.
• Did you know that Mustard greens are called Sarson ka saag in Hindi. They’re also called Indian mustard, Chinese mustard or just leaf Mustard.
• One of the mustard plant facts is that it loves cold.
• I have some popping up around my garden at the moment, not too many to make them a nuisance but enough for me to not have to save the seeds.
• They grow to about 50 – 70 cm high, around knee height and don’t really mind what soil they grow in.
• I think the variety I have is Red Giant. Red Giant has deep purplish-red, large, Savoy leaves with white mid-ribs. The thick leaves have a spicy, pungent flavour and are excellent for adding to sandwiches with ham or other meats.
• Mustard plants are easy, fast growing cool weather crop with leaves that are great raw, in sandwiches,  in salads, or as a cooked greens.

When to Sow

• In tropical and sub-tropical, temperate and cool temperate areas you can grow them all year round, perhaps not in full sun in the hotter areas. In arid areas you can grow them between April and August.
• Mustard greens are grown like lettuce. It’s more heat tolerant than lettuce, but long hot summer days will force the plant to bolt (go to seed).
• Mine self sow and start coming up at the end of April.
• You can also grow them as a green manure crop. Just dig them in when they get quite big but before they flower.
• If grown as a green manure, the mustard plants are cut down at the base when big enough, and left on the surface, acting as a mulch until you want to plant something else. That’s when you dig in the leaves.
• Mustard green provide a lot of green matter that improves soil texture and soil water retention, or as scientists call it, water holding capacity.
• Where to get the seed? If you’re wonder where to get the seed varieties like Red Giant, or Ruby Streak and Golden streaks that have finely serrated leaves, you can easily get them from online suppliers, www.greenharvest.com.au www. Edenseeds.com,au
• Another way is to buy seedlings. I bought my seedlings a couple of years ago from a market stall at an organic market in the inner west.
• Sow mustard seeds 5-10mm deep, and 25cm apart. They prefer full sun. and cool weather, so leave the middle of the summer for the heat loving vegetables.
• Mustard plants grow well in most good garden soils.
• If you plant some seeds a week apart, you’ll get Mustard greens all winter.
• Like all greens, Mustard plants should be grown quickly.
• Use plenty of water, and lots of fertilizer so they’ll grow fast to give you tender, green leaves.
• For winter crops soluble fertilisers are the way to go because organic ferts won’t break down much in cold weather
• In some districts, winter can be a dry affair, so don’t forget to water your greens.
• Mustard greens are eaten raw, or cooked.
• Picking the leaves when they’re still quite small is the tastiest way to enjoy your Mustard greens. Leaves get tough and have a strong flavour as they get bigger, especially during hot, dry weather.
• You can pick off one or two leaves at a time, or the entire plant.
• Leaf mustards add zest to a salad mix;
• If you actually want the seeds themselves, Mustard seeds should be picked when the plants begin to yellow. You want to leave them on the plants as long as possible, but before the pods burst open and spill their seeds. That’s why I’ve got hundreds of the little seedlings all over my veggie bed.
• Keep the plants well weeded, so weeds do not compete for water and nutrients. It makes picking the leaves easier, too.
• The leaves should be ready by 6-7 weeks

• By the way, beneficial insects like lacewings and Predatory wasp,  like the flowers of mustard plants.
• Mildews can affect the plant especially when they get older.
• Keep your plants growing fast and healthy plants, so they’ll be less susceptible to disease.
• Allow proper spacing to increase air circulation. Avoid watering towards evening.
• Why Are They Good For You?
• Mustard leaves are good for your health because they have a great ability to lower cholesterol. Even better than collard greens and kale.
• They’re low in calories and carbs, yet high in vitamins.
• At a minimum, include cruciferous vegetables as part of your diet 2-3 times per week, and make the serving size at least 1-1/2 cups

Design Elements

Reviewing Perennials
Do you know the difference between an annual and a perennial plant?
Annuals grow, flower and set seed in less than a year.
Perennials, are those plants that are way smaller than most shrubs, but they flower and set seed over a number of years.
Let’s find out about some of these now?

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Perennials add that extra layer to your garden without which, just having trees and shrubs would be just two dimensional.

They come in so many colours, shapes and sizes, you’re really spoilt for choice. Your nursery in your local area will have the ones the grow best in your area, and probably can get in ones that you’re really after. I don’t mean those large conglomerate chains that all sell the same thing either.

You can perennial plants through mail order catalogs, and online as well as from your local nursery.

www.gardenexpress.com.au  

Plant of the Week:

Banksia ericifolia subspecies Macrantha;Family: Proteaceae

• Do the two Banksias, Heath Banksia or Banskia ericifolia and Banksia spinulosa (pictured below)always have you beat?
• For whatever reason do you get the leaf shapes mixed up between the two so when it comes to identifying them when out on a bushwalk, you’re talking a guess?
• Compare the two photos. The one with golden coloured flowers is Banksia spinulosa or Hairpin Banksia. The leaves are wider and have turned under margins.
• Banksia ericiolia or Heath Banksia, has needle like leaves, pictured with the reddish brown flowers with the red pollen presenters.

 

Banksia ericifolia subspecies Macrantha, is a compact shrub up to 5 m high, but the leaves are more crowded, the individual flowers are larger and the flower colour is often darker.

This subspecies of the Heath Banksia occurs in coastal heaths of the north and mid-north coast of New South Wales where the water table is seasonally high.

Heath Bankisas make a good windbreak or screen plant and can withstand a considerable amount of salt spray. The dense foliage and nectar-rich flowers make it an excellent choice for attracting both insectivorous and honey-eating birds. It prefers well-drained soil and would make a useful and decorative addition to a large garden.

Both varieties of Banksia ericifolia are medium to large shrubs with narrow , linear leaves to about 15 mm long. The flower spikes are 80 - 110 mm wide, up to 500 - 600 mm long and usually orange in colour, although there is a form with maroon flowers in cultivation and another with whitish flowers with red styles. B.ericifolia is one of a group of banksias with "hooked" styles projecting from the axis of the flower spike. The flowers occur in autumn and winter and are followed by woody seed-bearing cones.

B.ericifolia is fire-sensitive in that it does not have a lignotuber for vegetative regeneration after bushfires. The species relies on seed for regeneration - seeds are retained in the cones for many years and are released by the heat of a fire.
Banksias prefer acid soils, that aren't too heavy and are well drained. They will grow in full sun or semi shade and are one of the best plants for attracting honey-eating birds.
Fertilisers with a phosphorus component of more than 1,2 from the NPK ratio, should be avoided.

Propagation from seed or cuttings is relatively easy.

TIP:Remember Heath Banksia has needle like leaves that remind me of the herb Rosemary in a way, and Banksia spinulosa or Hairpin Banksia has slight wider leaves that are rolled under on the margins. You’ll have to take a closer look but you don’t need a hand lens.
Let me know how you go with identifying the two plants. If you need any help, send in a photo and I’ll identify it for you.