After years of devastatingly hot summers and drought, I had to let my food garden go. We’re on tank water and simply couldn’t keep the moisture up.
Beds dried out and unwanted plants I’d spent countless hours weeding over the years finally took over. The fence collapsed under the weight of weedy vines and rotted. I knew it wasn’t going to be easily retrieved.
The demise of the food garden was sad and coincided with losing both my parents within a couple of years of each other. In deep grief, I ran out of puff and enthusiasm for gardening.
I made that first food garden over 18 years ago when we moved from Sydney to our five-acre property, Forest of Friends, in NSW’s Northern Rivers. I started out with lots of energy and enthusiasm but little experience of the seasons or knowledge of the challenges of growing food in the subtropics.
While other gardeners talked about slugs and snails, I had to contend with possums, bandicoots, brush turkeys, ticks, and triffid-like weeds. Once rainforest, our property was cleared for timber and cattle grazing, so the soil is compacted and lacks nutrients.
We’re in a valley, so I’m also working with a microclimate that’s a little cooler than the coast but better protected from winds compared to the ridges. In the early days, before the trees we planted grew into a forest, we had frequent frosts, which was a shock.
Higher summer temperatures, with many days now well into the 40s, coupled with excessive humidity, make it an impossible season for gardening. The lovely mild winters, bookended by gorgeous autumn and spring, are the golden times for gardening here.
JIGSAW PUZZLE
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Good Organic Gardening #11.3 من Good Organic Gardening.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Good Organic Gardening #11.3 من Good Organic Gardening.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Glamour girls
EVERYONE LOVES A HARDWORKING ISA BROWN BUT GET A LOAD OF THESE CHIC CHICKENS AND FEATHERED FASHIONISTAS
FRIED VEG
IT’S POSSIBLE TO ENJOY A FRY-UP IN A DELICIOUSLY HEALTHY WAY BY TURNING TO SOME FRY-FRIENDLY PLANTS
BEYOND BIG RED
TOMATOES COME IN ALL SHAPES, SIZES AND COLOURS, SO NOW’S THE TIME TO EXPLORE THEIR INFINITE VARIETY
EVEN MORE TROPPO
ANOTHER SENSATIONAL SIX TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR GARDEN — OR YOUR FRUIT SALAD
LET'S STALK RHUBARB
JUST AS TOMATO IS A FRUIT USED AS A VEGETABLE, RHUBARB IS A VEGETABLE COMMONLY CONSUMED AS A DESSERT
FOOD OF THE GODS
THE FLESHY FRUIT OF THE FICUS WAS MUHAMMAD’S FAVOURITE AND BUDDHA FOUND ENLIGHTENMENT UNDER A FIG TREE
MAKING GOOD BETTER
THE IRREPRESSIBLE TV PRESENTER WRITES ABOUT HOW SHE, WITH HUSBAND ANTON AND DAUGHTER FRIDA, TURNED A STEEP HOBART BLOCK INTO A PRODUCTIVE GARDEN
True lily
MANY PLANTS ARE CALLED LILIES BUT IT’S THE MEMBERS OF THE GENUS LILIUM THAT ARE THE REAL DEAL
SALTY BUDS
THE CAPER BUSH PRODUCES TWO DISTINCT BUT EQUALLY DELICIOUS, TANGY MORSELS: CAPERS AND CAPERBERRIES
Ducks on duty
BUSY, VIGILANT, HARD ON GARDEN PESTS AND GENEROUS LAYERS — YOU’VE GOTTA LOVE A DUCK!