Two hours south of Perth, Dalyellup is a semirural outer suburb of Bunbury on the edge of the Indian Ocean. With beaches to the west and Tuart Forest to the east, it’s a thoughtfully planned, fast-growing neighbourhood.
Donna, a hairdresser, and Kev, a former haulage contractor who now works in forestry, own a half-acre property in Dalyellup. Its alkaline soil is ideal for their 600m2 or so of tropical edibles and Mediterranean fruit trees.
Donna grew up on a dairy farm in Brunswick Junction to the northeast, while Kev’s family raised cattle in Northumberland, near the Scottish border.
Chances are the couple never imagined they’d be growing dragon fruit, let alone harvesting 450 of the quirky-looking exotics as they did last year.
It was in 1985 that Donna started gardening on five acres at nearby Stratham. She grew vegetables and raised chooks and a lamb, then went on to study soil nutrition.
After that she started growing mangoes, snake beans, corn and sweet potato as well as Carpentaria palms, vinca and every colour of frangipani. It was good preparation for what was to come.
FRUIT SALAD
Here in Dalyellup, with Kev’s help in grafting and propagating, she’s broadened her repertoire to include dragon fruit and, thanks to her biological father Jimmy Dawson, jujube or Chinese date.
Regarded as an authority on Ziziphus jujuba, Jimmy’s one of the biggest producers of the rare fruit, a high-fibre, low-calorie drupe, rich in vitamin C, that tastes a bit like an apple and is considered a superfood in China.
この記事は Good Organic Gardening の July - August 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Good Organic Gardening の July - August 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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!