Black sawfly (Caliroa cerasi) larvae can cause significant damage to pear, cherry, quince, nashi and plum trees. Here's some solutions for slimy sawfly slugs
Edible Gardening Blog for Melbourne Based Gardeners
I’m often mocked for my obsession with growing a Christmas tomato. But I’m not the only one who strives to achieve this gardening glory. Every spring, many hopeful gardeners plant precious tomato seedlings into the garden with the hope to develop and ripen a tasty tomato before Christmas. It is […]
How to Grow a Christmas Tomato without a Greenhouse
I love growing vegetables. I plant them, I tend them, I harvest them, I eat them, I sometimes even dream about them. Some might even say that I’m obsessed with growing vegetables. That obsession has helped me to learn quite a bit about growing food. You don’t have to be […]
How to Plan Your Vegetable Crops and Plant Them Out
I covered this topic briefly for my paid subscribers in part 29 of the Vegetable Patch from Scratch series. I want more gardeners to be aware of this issue so I’m writing about it in more detail and making this article free for everyone to read and share. Shivering citrus […]
The Danger of Adding Epsom Salts to the Garden
I remember vividly the open-for-inspection of the first house that my partner Caryn and I rented together. Caryn was hesitant – “The whole backyard is concreted; we can’t have a garden.” But I was excited by it. There were no trees or shrubs to contend with, just two half wine […]
How to Set Up a New Vegetable Patch
2 I recently sent out to paid subscribers a post about harvesting fresh produce. In response, one of my Substack readers, Bart, recently sent me a great tip on steaming corn husks so you can easily remove the stringy bits (silks). It’s a quick and easy and it has now become […]
Sweetcorn Cooking Hack
5 This cherry tree is on a full-sized rootstock. I’m using the Spanish bush method of pruning to keep it small and compact. I usually advocate for planting fruit trees on dwarfing rootstock (with the exception of citrus). Until recent years, there were no dwarfing rootstocks available for cherries. Most cherry […]
Spanish Bush Method of Pruning Cherry Trees
4 There are a few garden pests that evoke passionate responses from gardeners. Avoiding or controlling these pests can become an obsession bordering on mania. Possums and citrus gall wasp immediately come to mind. However, I’ve recently discovered another garden pest that some gardeners fixate on. The much-dreaded harlequin bug (Dindymus […]
How to Control Harlequin Bugs (Dindymus versicolor)
9 Long term readers will know that I live in Kyneton, a town in Central Victoria. The winters here are cold, with heavy frosts. Our summers are much hotter than in Melbourne and very dry. The growing season for summer vegetables is short in my garden. Local gardeners know better than […]
Early Spring Planting. A Fool’s Garden?
9 Many of you are familiar with my enthusiasm (some even mock it as an obsession) for cultivating and ripening a Christmas tomato. In Melbourne this is relatively easy, but I’ve also managed it in my first three years of growing food here in Kyneton. Part of my approach to growing […]
Is a Heat Mat the Best Way to Germinate Tomato ...
Recently I was chatting with a few friends at a Permies at the Pub meeting in Kyneton. We were discussing recording garden observations and my rather extreme approach to recording everything I see. The conversation went something like this: Kerryn: “Duncan, how do you find the time to record all […]
Five Habits of Good Gardeners
The sustainability house kit supplied by Goldfields Libraries is full of useful equipment and information. My local library in conjunction with the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group offers for loan sustainable house kits to help improve the energy efficiency of your house. There are some exciting pieces of equipment in the […]
Using thermal imaging to analyse the garden
Strawberry plants are relatively small compared to other berries, but they certainly punch above their weight in terms of productivity. Strawberries generally have two main productivity patches. One in early summer and one in autumn. Essentially, they produce just before and just after the summer Blueberry glut. One strawberry plant […]
How to Grow Strawberries
6 Many gardeners see renting as a barrier to maximising productive gardening in their rental space. However, you can easily generate abundance of home-grown food in a rental property. I spent years hopping from one rental property to the next, prior to our move to our forever home in Kyneton. I […]
Edible Gardening for Renters
2 Fruit Tree Espaliers are living works of art. What is an Espalier? “Espalier” refers to special practices for training fruiting trees onto trellises. Espaliers save space and are beautiful works of art. There are many styles and designs of espalier that can be grown against a wall, a building or […]
How to Set-Up and Maintain Espaliers
6 What is Curly Leaf and what causes it? Leaf Curl in peaches and nectarines can look quite overwhelming, but the tree usually recovers well and produces an abundance of fruit. Leaf Curl (also known as Peach Leaf Curl) is a fungal disease caused by the pathogen Taphrina deformans. It affects […]
Curly Leaf in Peaches and Nectarines
2 Why do we Prune Fruit Trees? The reasons we often choose to prune fruit trees are: To keep the trees smaller to enable netting To keep the trees smaller to pick the fruit Because we think they need pruning to improve yield fruit (they don’t!) Because we are told that […]
Guide to Pruning Fruit Trees
10 The soil on my property on the outskirts of Kyneton is very sandy and is low in many nutrients required for optimal plant growth. In October 2019, I conducted a soil test in our orchard. The soil tests were taken at ten sites across the paddock, each one to a […]
The Impact Of Compost On Garden Soil: A Case Study
2 I get to visit a lot of gardens and am asked many questions about all things gardening. There are quite a few issues that I regularly see crop up. Here are my top ten mistakes that I regularly see Melbourne based gardeners make, and suggestions in avoiding making them yourself. […]
Top Ten Gardening Mistakes Made by Melbourne Based Gardeners
8 Households can produce large amounts of organic waste. Composting can be a great way to reduce your household contribution to landfill and create a useful product for your garden. The way to improve most soils, regardless of whether they are sandy, heavy clay or somewhere in between, is to add […]
What is the best compost method?
12 Growing your own food has many benefits. The food tastes better and is more nutrient dense. Growing food connects you to nature and is very rewarding. Gardening has physical and mental health benefits. Recent Coronavirus (Covid-19) panic buying and empty supermarket shelves have now given us another reason to grow […]
The Leaf, Root & Fruit guide to Covid-19 Panic Induced ...
4 This is part three in my three-part series on creating a resilient garden ecosystem. In this blog post I discuss some design techniques to help your garden landscape become a low maintenance resilient foodscape! Avoid large patches of monocultures and rows in the garden If you plant a long row […]
Garden Ecosystems Part Three: How to Turn your Garden into ...
6 My blog post on pest predator dynamics highlighted the importance of treating your garden as an ecosystem. I also discussed “good bugs” and “bad bugs” to show the importance of beneficial insects in the garden. Here I identify some great strategies for attracting beneficial insects or “good bugs” into the […]
Garden Ecosystems Part Two: Attracting Beneficial Insects into the Garden
21 Start seeing your outdoor space as an ecosystem rather than a garden The more I learn about edible gardening, the more I learn the importance of “bugs” in successful gardening. Often, you are too busy concentrating on day to day gardening tasks to see that pest issues come and go […]
Garden Ecosystems Part One: Pest Predator Dynamics and Balance
9 My “grow trials” are proving very popular with local gardeners. In the past, I have trialled different potting mixes and also different chemical and liquid fertilisers. This summer I have trialled some different soil conditioners available to all of our gardeners. I focussed on options that are relatively easy to […]
Plant Soil Conditioner Trial
26 Spring is the busiest time of the year for working in the garden: The days are increasing in length Daytime temperatures are increasing The soil is starting to warm up Melbourne’s rainfall is typically plentiful All of this means that plants (including weeds) will thrive and […]
Spring Planting Guide for Melbourne
There are tomato varieties of many different shapes, sizes and colours avaiable to the home gardener in Melbourne To me, nothing says Melbourne summer like the smell of tomato plants as you brush past them in the garden. The smell of tomato leaves (and basil) as I water the garden […]
How to Grow Great Tomatoes in Melbourne
8 It is quite common for leafy greens such as silverbeet and rocket to flower and set seed in spring. It’s called bolting and is caused by a phenomenon called photoperiodism. Around late October and early November, I start receiving a lot of inquiries related to coriander, silverbeet and parsley. Usually […]
Day Length and Plants (Photoperiodism)
16 Raspberries are a great addition to any edible garden. They are easy to grow and can be highly productive. Raspberries are best trained up a trellis so they can make great use of vertical spaces. For those of you worried about prickles… you can even get thorn-less varieties! Best of […]
How to Grow Raspberries
54 Sweet potatoes are a subtropical crop that grows very well in Melbourne. I’ve grown them for years now and have had some fantastic results. I’ve even grown sweet potatoes in Kyneton which has a cool-temperate climate and a much shorter growing season. Here’s what I’ve learnt about growing sweet potatoes. […]
How to Grow Sweet Potatoes in Melbourne
13 Codling moth can cause significant damage to your apple and pear crops What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? Half a worm! And that worm is likely to be the larvae of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella). Codling Moth larvae are usually prevalent in apple, pear, nashi and […]
What’s eating my apple? Codling Moth!
13 District Docklands (formerly known as the Harbour Town precinct) has created a new community garden. Leaf, Root & Fruit is proud to work with the District Docklands team and Development Victoria to design and implement a productive, aesthetic and exciting space for children and their families enjoyment. Address: Corner of […]
District Docklands Children’s Community Garden
101 Recently, I posted some observations and theories that I have been developing on citrus gall wasps. To test out the theories, I’m setting up a trial to see which treatment regime might produce the healthiest and most productive trees. Setting up the gall wasp experiment In August 2017 I purchased […]
Experiment: Control of Citrus Gall Wasp
232 What is the Citrus Gall Wasp? Citrus Gall Wasps (Bruchophagus fellis) emerging from a citrus gall. Around Melbourne, Citrus Gall Wasp (Bruchophagus fellis) has become a large problem for backyard citrus growers. It is a small, 3 mm in length, shiny, black wasp that is native to Australia. It originated […]
Treating Citrus Gall Wasp in Melbourne: An alternative approach to ...
44 I purchased a range of “off-the-shelf” fertilisers from Bunnings and tested their performance. This summer I conducted an experiment to test the performance of a range of potting mixes. While setting that experiment up, I expanded it to investigate a range of “off-the-shelf” fertilisers (mostly certified organic ones). For those […]
Which Commercial Fertiliser is Best?
Lately we’ve been spending some time at the Harbour Town precinct at Docklands where there’s some big changes in the pipeline. Residents, shoppers and visitors to the centre have all been excited by the arrival of our temporary pop-up-patches. The apple-crate pop up patches have been placed throughout the centre […]
Harbour Town, Docklands Pop-Up-Patch
111 When people try to grow plants in containers, one of the most common pitfalls that I see, is the use of poor quality soil, or potting mix. Last summer I conducted a small experiment to demonstrate the importance of soil in growing great vegetables. It produced some very interesting results, […]
Which Potting Mix is Best?
I bet most of you have noticed huge numbers of hoverflies in the garden recently? Hoverflies look like small bees and they are one of the most beneficial insects to have in the garden. I’ve spent ages watching them in the garden this week. Their larvae are incredible the way […]
Hoverfly populations have exploded across Melbourne to control aphids!
18 Earwigs are the great decomposers of the garden. Sometimes though, they decompose things that we don’t want them to… like our seedlings! Earwigs are common unwanted visitors to most gardens in Melbourne. They can be quite prevalent in October, which is coincidentally, the time that many of us are looking […]
How to Control Earwigs in the Garden
3 I talk about home grown food being tastier and healthier. This is mainly due to the assumption, that chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides, used in large scale farming, are present in the food we buy from the supermarket. But what if it was more than that? What if food […]
Using a Refractometer to Measure Nutrient Density of Fruit and ...
9 Ask someone to draw a tree and often you’ll get something looking a bit like this. But that’s only half of the picture. Usually, more than half of a plant exists underground. Yet, as gardeners we often neglect this fact and ignore the most important aspect of gardening… the soil! […]
Experiment: The Importance of Soil
8 Last week I posted about controlling the damage caused by White Cabbage Moths in the garden. Since then, I’ve gone from removing ten to twenty caterpillars a day from the garden, to now only finding one or two. However, this rapid decrease in numbers has not been entirely due to […]
European Wasp…. Friend or Foe?
22 As I mentioned in our recent newsletter, this autumn I’ve noticed a lot more White Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris rapae) in our gardens than usual. White Cabbage Butterfly lay their eggs on our Brassicas, such as broccoli and cauliflower. Little green caterpillars hatch from these eggs, and then get to work […]
How to Control White Cabbage Butterfly in the Garden
On Wednesday Leaf, Root & Fruit only worked a half day and spent the afternoon visiting the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. As always, the Achievable Gardens were the highlight. Students from Melbourne Polytechnic, Swinburne, Holmesglen and University of Melbourne were challenged to create small, stylish and functional gardens. […]
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2016
123 Possums are the bane of most gardeners, in the leafy inner eastern suburbs of Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell, Malvern, Toorak, Glen Iris and beyond. I frequently get asked the best way to “deal with them”. Here’s my thoughts on the issue and how best to stop them damaging your garden. Why […]
How to Control Possums in Melbourne
18 Dear Michelle Bridges and Woolworths, This morning on social media, you posted an advert promoting a new frozen food range. Frustratingly, during the video you labelled those who grow their own food as “Freaks”. Rather ironic, coming from “The Fresh Food People” don’t you think? Growing your own food doesn’t […]
An Open Letter to Michelle Bridges and Woolworths…..
56 Cucamelons lare great in salads or picked straight from the vine and eaten. Cucamelons are becoming an increasingly popular edible plant in Melbourne. More and more people are asking me how to grow them, and from where to source the seed. Last summer, I grew cucamelons for the first time, […]
How to Grow Cucamelons in Melbourne
2 Last summer, we undertook a project to grow a giant edible trellis. Many of you followed the project quite closely and I know that some of you are going to be trying, something similar for yourselves this summer. With that in mind, I’ve put together this blog post, with a […]
Giant Edible Trellis – Lessons Learned
Heritage Fine Chocolates is a Melbourne based company. It’s one of the few local producers of chocolate Easter eggs, left in Australia. Recently, I had the good fortune to visit their factory in Rowville. Managing Director, Michael Simons had contacted me, to discuss the edible garden that he had installed […]
Heritage Fine Chocolates and their Edible Garden
29 New Guinea Beans (Lagenaria siceraria), are an ironic vegetable. They’re not from New Guinea but actually from Africa – and, they’re not even a bean! They are actually a climbing edible gourd or squash – a member of the cucurbit family. Its common name comes from a taste similar to […]
How to Grow New Guinea Beans in Melbourne
REA Group Limited is a multinational, digital advertising company, specialising in property. They’ve come a long way since starting out 20 years ago in a garage in Doncaster, in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne REA Group operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au. They have diversified […]
REA Group and their Office-based Edible Garden
2 Citrus trees are the most popular fruit tree to grow in Melbourne. In fact, problems with citrus are what I get the most inquiries about. To help you grow better citrus, here’s our top ten tips for growing citrus in Melbourne. Select citrus trees grafted onto the correct rootstock – […]
Top Ten Tips For Growing Citrus In Melbourne
56 “What’s wrong with my citrus tree?” This possibly the most frequently asked question that I come across! Usually, a grower has had the unfortunate experience of all of the leaves, flowers and fruit suddenly falling to the ground. This sudden drop of fruit, leaves or flowers is a sign of […]
Citrus Growing Guide Part 5: Citrus Pests, Diseases and Problems ...
35 Without pruning or training, citrus trees grow naturally into bushy trees and will initially crop well. However, trees will eventually become overgrown with high proportion of dense, unproductive and spent wood. If trained, shaped and pruned in a specific way, trees will be healthier, easier to manage and will crop […]
Citrus Growing Guide Part 4: Pruning and Shaping of Citrus ...
4 In Melbourne, spring and summer are particularly critical for citrus trees. Care or lack of it, during this period will determine tree health, size and quality of citrus fruit crops. Soil management Citrus trees have very shallow root systems so never cultivate or disturb the soil under the tree. Chickens […]
Citrus Growing Guide Part 3: Ongoing Care and Management of ...
26 Of all the fruit trees, Citrus are the most popular backyard trees in Melbourne. Citrus trees are attractive evergreens and fit well into the garden landscape with their glossy green foliage, beautiful white scented blossoms and colourful fruit. Here’s our guide on where in the garden you should plant your […]
Citrus Growing Guide Part 2: Where and How to Plant ...
19 What’s wrong with my lemon tree?” and “Why isn’t my new citrus tree growing yet?” are two of the most common questions I get asked. So to try and help you all get the best out of your citrus trees, I’ve put together this comprehensive guide to growing citrus in […]
Citrus Growing Guide Part 1: Citrus Varieties for Melbourne
Earlier in the year, I took on the challenge of rejuvenating the vertical courtyard garden of Estelle Bistro. Based in High St, Northcote, Estelle Bistro is commanding an increasing attention, from the media and diners across Melbourne. They hold #27 in the Financial Review Australia’s Top 100 Restaurant awards for […]
Estelle Bistro and The Hotplate: Our Vertical Courtyard Garden is ...
34 Winter in Melbourne is the time to attend to your fruit trees. It is important to invest time and effort into fruit trees during winter, to ensure that you have successful fruit crops in summer. Some fruit tree related tasks that are traditionally completed in winter are: Winter pruning of […]
Fruit Trees in Winter in Melbourne: Pruning, Planting and Care.
13 It is important that you select fruit trees grafted onto the correct rootstock for your situation Most fruit trees available for purchase in nurseries, large hardware chains and online stores are grafted. This means that the desired tree has been added onto a rootstock, that can alter the growth habits […]
Buying Fruit Trees: The Importance of Choosing the Right Rootstock
Rainfall, without it, we’d have no plants, and therefore, no life on earth. Yet, somehow we often take it for granted, or even curse its inconvenience. With today’s busy, scheduled to the minute, lives we’re losing connection with the earth and the seasons. What better way to reconnect, than by […]
Measuring rainfall: Why you should be doing it.
It’s been 28 weeks since we built the Giant Edible Trellis and this week we harvested the last of the produce. We harvested two large potimarron pumpkins, a few more zucchini tromboncino and the massive new guinea bean, from the trellis. There was a small moon and stars watermelon fruit, […]
Giant Edible Trellis Week 28: The Final Harvest
20 This was my fourth year of growing watermelons in Melbourne. Surprisingly, watermelons are very easy to grow in our Melbourne climate. You use similar methods to those methods used in growing pumpkins, but they take far less space than your average pumpkin vine. If you can spare a few square […]
How to Grow Watermelons in Melbourne
Gardiner Preschool in Glen Iris has a long history of growing their vegetables. The children are valued as decision makers and caretakers of the vegetable gardens. They decide and vote on what to plant. Strawberries, tomatoes, beans, peas, pumpkins, corn, beetroot, lettuce and potatoes are all favourites. The Gardiner Pre-schoolers […]
Gardiner Preschool Community Herb Garden
2 Over the Easter long weekend, Caryn and I travelled to Hobart. During our stay, we visited the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. There are edible garden sections commonly known as “The Patch,” that I was keen to visit. Officially these gardens are titled The Tasmanian Community Food Garden. The gardens are […]
The Patch: Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
It’s been 26 weeks since we started our Giant Edible Trellis Project. That’s half a year! The time has flown, but we’ve had buckets of produce from this small space. Our tromboncino plants are still producing dozens of fruit. The new guinea beans are also quite prolific. The large new […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Twenty-Six
On Friday, I was fortunate to visit the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, which is in its 20th year. On my visit, I discovered some amazing gardens in the Achievable Gardens section. It was inspiring to see Students from NMIT, Swinburne, Holmesglen and University of Melbourne creating such small, […]
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2015
CH James Cafe, is a new cafe that launched in Station Street, Fairfield in December 2014. CH James Cafe is modern but features a “nod to yesteryear” with its compelling story of local Charles Henry James, who was prominent in the northern suburbs, in the halcyon period of Melbourne’s development. Charles […]
CH James Cafe and our Edible Courtyard Garden
On Sunday night, I was fortunate enough to join 49 other growers at The Melbourne Growers’ Feast, at the Testing Grounds in Southbank. The event was organised by Grow It Local as part of the Sustainable Living Festival. The Grow it Local Melbourne campaign began in January, when they distributed […]
Grow It Local, Melbourne Growers’ Feast
111 Here’s my autumn planting guide for warm-temperate based vegetable patches (such as Melbourne). With the onset of autumn, your planting options change. I actually prefer growing vegetables over winter to growing during summer. Winter veggies require less care and attention. With the cool, wet Melbourne climate, winter vegetables practically grow […]
Autumn Planting Guide For Melbourne
The winner of the race to the top of the trellis was the new guinea bean. I’ve never grown them before, and I’m quickly finding out how rampant they are. Not only is the main vine growing quicker than any of the other crops, but the lateral (side) shoots are […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Twenty-Two… New Guinea Beans
2 Powdery white spots on your zucchini leaves are a sure sign of powdery mildew infestation. Here’s what to do about it. This is the vegetable disease that I am asked about the most. Many vegetable plants are prone to powdery mildew. It is quite common for cucumbers, pumpkins and other […]
How to Treat Powdery Mildew
The Coles Junior Landcare Garden Grants Program is offering funding of up to $1,000 to kindergartens, schools and youth groups to help create gardens in their grounds and communities. There are approximately 250 grants awarded per year across Australia. Leaf, Root & Fruit are encouraging all primary schools, secondary schools, kindergartens, […]
Coles Junior Landcare Garden Grants Program
The race is on! One of the Potimarron Pumpkin vines looked as if it was on track to be the first to reach the top of the trellis, but in the last week, it has been overtaken by the New Guinea Bean vines. The New Guinea Bean has soft, feathery […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Nineteen… Tromboncinos!
5 One of my favourite summertime recipes is Basil Pesto Pasta. There’s nothing better than harvesting your own basil and turning it into a delicious pesto. You can do so much with basil pesto, but my favourite is Basil Pesto Pasta. Here’s a guide on how to turn your excess basil […]
Duncan’s Basil Pesto Pasta Recipe
The snow peas have not handled the recent heat, or the wind very well. They were prolific croppers early on, but are now starting to die back. The good news is that the runner beans are starting to pick up where the snow peas have left off. In some parts […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Sixteen
2 We live in a rented house in Hawthorn East. It has a reasonable sized yard, but I don’t like to waste precious growing space on vining plants such as pumpkins and watermelons. I usually grow these sorts of things on the family farm. However, we have a single car garage […]
Growing Watermelons on the Shed Roof
The giant edible trellis project suffered a bit of a set-back this week with the huge winds we had on Tuesday evening. The snow peas were all battered and torn away from the trellis. We’ve tied them back and hopefully they’ll quickly bounce back. We’ve been inundated with snow peas […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Thirteen
Recently, I wrote a blog post on the large number of whitefly currently plaguing gardens across Melbourne. While their numbers are still quite high, I’ve noticed a huge increase in predatory insects over the last fortnight. We’ve had plenty of ladybugs, spiders, praying mantis, hover flies and lacewings in our […]
Whitefly Predators
Things are getting very busy for Leaf, Root & Fruit in the lead up to Christmas. In the two weeks since I’ve been out to Mum’s, the Giant Edible Trellis Project reached another milestone… our first snow pea harvest! The trellis project now has the ability to supply the family […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Eleven, The Snow Peas are ...
It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been out to Mum’s place, and checked on the Giant Edible Trellis. In that time the project has really kicked along. We sowed the third and final phase of seeds back in week seven. The following varieties were planted: Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Pumpkin […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Nine, Our First Harvest!
2 Are you finding that every time you move in the garden you’re being greeted with a cloud of little white or green insects rising up from your precious plants? Don’t be worried, you’re not the only gardener with this problem. Gardens across Melbourne are currently teeming with whitefly. Whitefly are […]
Whitefly control methods
My mother still lives on the family farm at Mickleham. She’s has an extensive and productive veggie patch in the backyard. It’s also the location of our giant edible trellis project. Back in autumn, mum came across some “out of date” packets of flower seeds she had stashed away. The […]
Attracting pollinators into the garden with poppies and other companion ...
Week seven already! The rain we’ve had during the last week has been fantastic for the garden, but the sparrows and earwigs have not been so good. We’ve even spotted a pesky rabbit around the yard on some evenings. It hasn’t found the tender, tasty goodness growing along the base […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Seven, Pumpkins, Tromboncinos and New ...
Many of the cucumber seeds that we sowed in week four, emerged this week. Unfortunately the sparrows have already taken their toll. Some of them are damaged, and others ripped out of the ground completely. The beans continue to be ravaged by both sparrows and earwigs. We expected this, and […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Six, Giant Tree Tomatoes
Week Five of the Giant Edible Garden Trellis Project was a quiet one. The snow peas and beans are all between 5 and 10cm high. They’ll soon start climbing the trellis. I’ve noticed that a few of the beans and snow peas have had some pests bothering them. Most likely […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Five
8 During 2012, my partner Caryn and I spent a gap year in South America. During our trip we developed a keen appreciation of the agricultural practices of the local inhabitants. One of the ancient planting techniques still used there today is the ‘Three Sisters’, a fantastic companion planting technique. According […]
Three Sisters Gardening, an ancient form of Companion Planting
It’s already week four of the Giant Edible Trellis Project and things are starting to take shape.The flower bed has a fairly thick covering of small seedlings all over it. The snow peas and beans are now well established, although for some reason they are slightly thinner in the […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Four, Cucumber and Watermelon Seeds
Ten horses have just made new homes along Glenferrie Road! The aim of the horse installations are to bring a bit of Spring Racing Carnival festivities to the precinct. The installations are a project set-up by the Glenferrie Road Shopping Centre Association and are supported by Leaf, Root & Fruit […]
Glenferrie Road Spring Racing Carnival Horse Installation
Many of the seeds we planted in the previous two weeks germinated in week three of the Edible Trellis Project. The snow peas had started poking through late in week two. This week they are joined by the beans.The flower bed is showing signs of life with several sunflower seeds […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Three
14 Last summer we tried growing a small, experimental crop of peanuts, in a planter box. The trial was successful with quite a decent crop. This year we’ll be planting out a much bigger crop. Peanuts are easy to grow and great fun for the kids to grow. Here’s the Leaf, […]
How to Grow Peanuts in Melbourne
Week two of the Edible Trellis Project was a quiet one compared to the previous week. We’re waiting for the beans and peas to germinate and establish prior to phase two of planting. The snow peas are just starting to push through the soil 10 days after sowing. Companion Plants […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week Two, Flower Power and Herb ...
Yesterday was a fantastic, sunny day. It was a great day for a caterpillar search and destroy mission in the garden. We’ve had real problems with caterpillars in our garden in the last year or so. They love to munch through beetroot, potatoes, rocket and many of the other leafy […]
Caterpillars: Search and Destroy
17 Our lemon tree is bursting into bloom with the warmer weather I’ve got a lemon tree growing in a large pot at the back doorstep. It’s just bursting in to bloom at the moment. Unfortunately it is also starting to get a bit of scale appearing on the undersides of […]
Controlling Scale on Citrus Trees
Building the Giant Edible Trellis Frame We built our trellis frame using old steel water pipe. We twitched it together with fencing wire and stabilised the three A-frames using star pickets. A final test that it would be strong enough, was to swing on each of the A-frames. We’re happy […]
Giant Edible Trellis Project: Week One, Set-up of trellis and ...
2 We all know that trellises are great for maximising our use of space by growing plants vertically. Quite often they are used in edible gardening for growing cucumbers, beans, peas and other vine veggies. I’ve come across a few images on Pinterest that have inspired me to get out in […]
Vertical Gardening on a Giant Edible Trellis: Our latest project
We had a family dinner at Mum’s last week. Before dinner I popped out to inspect the veggie patch and couldn’t believe the size of the broccoli. I wanted to take a photo to share on our social media pages, but I needed something to give perspective. So, we got […]
Aussie the Broccoli Bandit
With all the warm, sunny, spring weather lately, you might have noticed that your herbs have started growing a lot more vigorously. If you don’t cut them back regularly during this flush of growth, they’re going to go to seed. Going to seed spells the beginning of the end for […]
Parsley Pesto Recipe
30 White oil is among the safest and most effective organic ways of controlling many sap sucking and leaf chewing pests in the garden. Gardeners have been using white oils for centuries, so they’ve been thoroughly tested. The best thing about white oil is that you can make it yourself! White […]
How to Make White Oil
2 Rose Creek Estate in East Keilor held their annual Open Day on the last Sunday in August. Leaf, Root & Fruit took the opportunity to visit this impressive family garden. Without the queue of visitors, the house on the corner of Craig Street would look just like any other in […]
Rose Creek Estate Open Day 2014
12 This post is now a little old… please head over to our spring planting guide for a much more comprehensive wrap up of all the veggies you can plant in spring and how to go about it! Spring Planting Guide Ah spring. It feels like it’s finally here! This week […]
What to Plant in September for the Melbourne Region
40 Zucchini Tromboncino is a heirloom vegetable common throughout Italy. Valued for its abundant, tasty harvests. It was developed in Liguria, in northern Italy. The fruit has a very pale green skin and can have varied faint white stripes like some zucchini varieties as well. The really nice thing about this […]
How to Grow Zucchini Tromboncino
There have been some really inspiring gardening quotes and sayings from over the years. We regularly share quotes such as these on our Facebook Page. Here’s a compilation of some of our favourite ones for you to enjoy. Do you have a great gardening quote that we’ve missed out on? […]
Gardening Quotes and Sayings
2 It’s citrus time! Lemon, Orange, Lime, Mandarin and Cumquat trees all over Melbourne are heavily laden with ripe fruit. We’ve got heaps of lemons on our tree that need using. Last week we asked our Facebook Fans for some recipes to help use up our glut of lemons. Here’s what […]
Lemon Recipes
4 The answer was that they represent some of the different methods that gardeners use to decide when to plant out their tomato seedlings into the garden. Some Gardeners consider it a great achievement if you can harvest a ripe tomato before Christmas. Many of you have your own traditions when […]
What do these 4 images have in common?
4 Originally designed for use in Ethiopia, wicking beds aim to increase food production, while using approximately 50% less water. Think of them as a giant self-watering plant pot. Water is drawn up into the soil via capillary action from a reservoir in the bottom of the wicking bed. Crates, tanks, […]
Make Your Own Self-Watering Wicking Bed
This post is a little old now… please head over to our spring planting guide for a much more comprehensive wrap up of all the veggies you can plant in spring and how to go about it! Spring Planting Guide It’s August already… doesn’t time fly! In gardens all across […]
What to plant in August
The cauliflowers at Leaf, Root & Fruit Headquarters are nearly ready to be picked. Back at the start of Autumn, we were a bit enthusiastic when we sowed our cauliflower seeds. Now we have more cauliflower heads than we really need. Fortunately, all this wintery weather and Cauliflower and Leek […]
Cauliflower and Leek Soup
16 The biggest pumpkins come from the variety called ‘ATLANTIC GIANT’. The current world record for an Atlantic Giant pumpkin is held by Beni Meier from Switzerland, with a 2,323 pound Pumpkin, which is a whopping 1054 kg! The current Australian Record is held by Dale Oliver, with an impressive 743kg […]
Growing Giant Pumpkins in Melbourne
3 Do you have stone fruit trees, such as peaches, nectarines or apricots? If so, give them some TLC now with Bordeaux spray to minimize leaf curl and other fungal diseases this summer. Leaf curl is a fungus that loves cold and wet conditions and infects peach, almond, apricot and nectarine […]
Making Bordeaux Spray to Prevent Leaf Curl
47 Fruit trees don’t need to be pruned to produce fruit. However, if they do need pruning, then selecting an optimal time will ensure the tree remains healthy, productive and resilient. Neglecting to prune your fruit trees won’t stop production of fruit. However, it can help to establish a strong framework […]
When to Prune Fruit Trees
Recently Duncan and Caryn from Leaf, Root & Fruit took some down-time and had a quick holiday traveling to the UK and Europe. Here’s a few horticultural highlights from the trip: Hanover School Towpath Garden Regent’s Canal, London, England The pupils, staff and parents of Hanover School created a […]
Leaf, Root & Fruit’s recent tour of Europe
9 These newspaper pots are so easy to make. There’s no messing around with staples or sticky tape. They’re great for the environment because you’re re-using old newspaper. Best of all though, you’re not using pots made out of plastic. Once your seedlings are ready for transplanting, you can plant the […]
Making newspaper pots
4 Next time that you are cooking with eggs, don’t throw the eggshells away. Did you know that eggshells are a great gardening resource? Let the eggshells dry out for a day and then you can crush them up and sprinkle them as a barrier around seedlings. Slugs and snails hate […]
Using Eggshells in the Garden
1 Thanks to a fellow gardener, Laura for providing us with this delicious quiche recipe. She prepared the quiche using Winter greens she’d grown herself in half wine barrels and pots. You can substitute the Baby Kale, Sorrel and Silver Beet for any other leafy greens. Great comfort food for a […]
Winter Veggie Quiche Recipe
2 Aphids hate the cold. At the moment, with the unusually warm weather they are thriving in protected micro-climates in gardens all over Melbourne. Today, when I was out pottering in the garden, I noticed that all of my parsley and coriander plants were covered in aphids. The plants have been […]
Attack of the Aphids!
8 This blog post is specifically about planting strawberry runners. Why not check out our guide on How to Grow Strawberries as well? Strawberries can “reproduce” either through seeds or from runners. Strawberry runners are horizontal stems that run above the ground and produce new “baby” clone plants at the end […]
How to Plant Strawberry Runners
2 This week Leaf, Root & Fruit have spent some time at Heathmont Pre School. We’ve had a great time exploring edible gardening with each of the 4 year old classes. During the first session on Monday, we discussed how the vegetables that we eat at dinner time usually come from […]
Edible Gardening Program at Heathmont Pre School
Gardening With Soul is a documentary split into four parts, Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. It follows the daily life of Sister Loyola Galvin as she oversees the gardens and grounds of the Home of Compassion in Wellington, New Zealand. It’s as far removed from a Hollywood blockbuster as you […]
Movie Review: Gardening With Soul
4 It’s Peanut Sunday here at LRF Head Quarters in Hawthorn East! Earlier in the year we planted out an experimental crop of peanuts and today we harvested them. As you can see, our crop was a huge success. It was so exciting to uproot the withering plants and finding masses […]
Peanut Sunday
Our garlic is leaping up out of the ground at the moment and it’s not too late to get yours in. As long as you’ve got a sunny spot for it, growing garlic is very easy. It loves moist (but not waterlogged), friable soil with plenty of organic matter and […]