BRISBANE’S SUSTAINABLE HOUSE AND GARDEN

Review ‘Eat your garden’, by Leonie Shanahan

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:29:40 +1000

Review: ‘Eat your garden’, by Leonie Shanahan; Publisher: PI Productions Photography; ISBN 9780975217764; 2010.

“If they (children) grow it, they will eat it”.

Schools are where Australia’s gardening culture is most rapidly developing, and this is thanks to children. Why? They are generally more keenly aware of 21st century global environmental issues than many adults realise and they want a better future.

If you’re a beginner gardener or a parent and you and your child would like to learn about gardening, ‘Eat your garden’ is for you.

Successful gardens need sound foundations, and this work will become an essential daily reference for running or establishing either a school or a home vegetable garden.

This work successfully merges permaculture with organic gardening, and years of personal, practical advice from a gardener who has been involved in every aspect of school and home food growing.

The plentiful illustrations inspire and inform, the information is concise, and all the plentiful tips and tricks are easily followed. There’s even a month by month garden maintenance guide.

This is not just a ‘how to do it’ guide, it’s a Shanahan synthesis of ‘how to do it well’ and ’understanding why it matters’ guide. A valuable and refreshing read.

For further information contact Leonie Shanahan at: www.EdibleSchoolGardens.com.au

Jerry Coleby-Williams
14th July 2010

How can I avoid buying plastic bagged potting mixes?

Fri, 4 Jun 2010 07:50:56 +1000

Question
Hi Jerry,

I don't know if you remember me...I've seen you at lots of Save the Mary things and on Gardening Australia, which I love!

I have a vege and herb garden in pots and need to find a soil solution. Presently I buy bags of potting mix at Bunnings, choosing one that's free of fertiliser etc. I mix in worm castings from my worm farm and a measure of Mcleods soil improver. But the end result doesn't retain moisture all that well and my plants don't thrive...I want to find a more sustainable way of doing it, and to end up with a mix that's better than what I’m currently use too. I'm really conscious of the plastic consumption from buying small-ish bags, the morality of buying from a chain store, the transport miles, etc. And I want to nurture my plants with perfect soil too.

Warmest regards
Tilly x

Answer
Hi Tilly,

1 A bag of certified organic potting mix can become a reusable 'grow bag'. Pierce drainage holes in one flat side, then slice out the upper side out and you've got a growing container;

2 Being fairly durable plastic, the empty bags can be reused many times. I reuse them to separate viciously spined plants from ones I can handle without gloves when tidying the garden;

3 Only certified organic potting mix won't contain industrial chemicals, such as wetting agents and ‘slow release’ (sic) fertilisers. Expect potting mixes made to Australian standards to also contain industrial chemicals;

4 Old-fashioned gardeners and nurseries used to use sieved soil gathered from under lantana thickets as it's of excellent quality, and has a high level of organic matter and nutrients, but it’s not pathogen free and so should not be used for germinating seed, seedling raising or striking cuttings;

5 Premium quality home garden soil can also be used for potting established plants, but pathogens will limit its use in the same way as for sieved lantana soil;

6 If you can get a back order copy of ‘The Organic Gardener’ magazine you can read my article on ‘straw bale gardening’, which describes how you can generate various grades of mulch and also create your own potting mix from decomposed bales. They decompose using natural summer rainfall. That method requires space and time to do. The picture above illustrates some fully decomposed sugarcane which takes five to seven months to form in my Brisbane garden. As the section of bale in contact with the soil decomposes it is heavily fed on by earthworms, which fill that section with worm castings. Set out in August, around March this lower layer can be carefully gathered, sieved and stored for use as potting mix;

7 You can bulk order loose, unbagged potting mix from landscape suppliers and store it in a compost bay for future use;

Purchased potting mixes are primarily based on bark, so they never retain moisture for long. Certified organic potting mixes will be the most fully decomposed and therefore retain the most moisture. But you’ll still find that when bark-based potting mixes become very dry they are difficult to re-wet. Plunging pots in water for a few hours works well.

You can improve moisture retention of potting mixes by adding some pulverised cow manure. And you’ll find that mulching potted plants using chopped sugarcane, or chopped teatree mulch, will extend the period between watering.

Jerry Coleby-Williams
4th June 2010

Sloppy ABC Reporting Could Harm Threatened Species

Wed, 26 May 2010 09:47:38 +1000

Letter to the editor, ABC News on line:

“Regarding 'Unwelcome bats just won't beat it', mere sensational reporting isn't journalism.

This report is misleading, and factually incorrect.

The presence of starving, and stressed flying foxes outside their normal range is currently a result of famine in their natural range.

The famine is a result of rainfall affecting the suitability of their primary food sources of native fruits, nectar and pollen from plants.

Anyone or any organisation that does harm to threatened species protected under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) could face prosecution.

I encourage anyone, including the ABC, who's interested in understanding and learning what is happening in the real world to contact Bat Care Brisbane:
ph: (07) 3821 2341, email: info@bats.org.au, website: www.bats.org.au

Jerry Coleby-Williams Dip. Hort. (Kew), RHS, NEBSM, MAIH
Executive member, Queensland Conservation
Director, Seed Savers' Network
Patron, Householder's Options for Protecting the Environment
Patron, Queensland Early Childhood Sustainability Network &
Horticultural Editor, 'The Organic Gardener' magazine
26th May 2010”

Visit the Giant Kitchen Garden at Queensland Home Garden Expo

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:18:53 +1000

Be sure to see the Giant Kitchen Garden during your visit to Qld Home Garden Expo. See the fantastic organic display garden, take in one of the many talks and demos, join one of the garden rambles and peruse all the sites displaying a range of organic and sustainable living products.

Learn from the Experts
Jerry Coleby-Williams will open the programme on Friday with a talk titled “Building
Blocks for a Small, Beginner's Organic Garden” a must see if you are just starting an organic garden.

Jade Woodhouse joins the programme on Friday and Saturday and one of the talks Jade will be presenting is “Harmony of Soil Fertility, Design & Plant Layout “. Also see her talks on worm farming and composting.

Other Lectures and Demos include:
Sean Morrow: Creating Native Bird and Frog Habitats;
Robyn Ford & Rosina Buckman: Edible Perennial Plants for the Subtropics;
Sonya Wallace and Janet Millington: Introduction to Permaculture;
Sandra Nanka: The Value of Herbs in Your Cooking;
Dee Humphreys: Edible Weeds & Herbs;
and much more.
For more information visit www.homegardenexpo.com.au

Queensland’s Flying Foxes are starving - again

Fri, 21 May 2010 08:07:00 +1000

Pictured: driven by famine, a black flying fox drinks nectar from my banana flowers before sunset

Bat Conservation & Rescue Qld President, Louise Saunders, is alarmed by the large number of reports about hungry flying-foxes staying by food trees through the day and not returning to their camps.

“This is of huge concern as bats will stay by food trees until the food runs out. They will then be too weak to fly further afield and will die in people’s gardens like we saw in the winter of 2007. This is starvation”, Louise said.

“This current starvation crisis is in relation to the decrease in available food especially the lack of nectar flow in eucalypt and other nectar producing plants. Other wildlife groups are also experiencing increases in the number of lorikeets coming into care. With the low night time temperatures the nectar feeders, flying-foxes and lorikeets, are unable to find enough food to sustain them”.

“This year’s shortage of food for flying-foxes had seen mass mortalities of Little red flying-foxes near Mackay and also at Charters Towers”. We are also hearing of shifts in the range of Grey-headed flying-foxes with reports of bats in South Australia and also in Tasmania. These are historic movements, bats are hungry and in search of new food resources”.

Members of the public are urged to report any flying-foxes they notice alone during the day. Medical authorities advise people not to handle bats but to call for assistance from experienced bat handlers. If frightened or in pain they have the potential to bite or scratch.

Louise Saunders advises “Please report bats found alone through the day as this is not normal behaviour, we can save them if reported in time. Be compassionate and humane, please do not use netting during these seasonal downturns hungry bats will be caught if the netting is not erected properly. Our volunteers are trained in the rescue and care of bats so please call us as soon as possible for assistance”.

Important information:
Neither you, nor your pets, can catch diseases from living near a bat colony or from bat urine or faeces. Less than one percent of bats may have Australian Bat Lyssavirus, a preventable but potentially deadly disease. It can only be contracted from a deep bite or a scratch from a bat. An effective vaccine is available, so anyone bitten or scratched by a bat must contact Qld Health to obtain this vaccination immediately. There is no known risk of contracting Hendra Virus (equine morbillivirus) from a bat. All human cases have been contracted from contact with horses. Bat carers have very close contact with bats and no one has ever contracted Hendra.

For further information and for any rescue assistance call Bat Conservation & Rescue Qld’s rescue helpline on 0488 228 134. Visit our web site to find out more about these amazing mammals: www.bats.org.au

Bat Conservation & Rescue Qld inc. Rescue Mobile 24hr: 0488 228 134
Enquiries B/H Only: (07) 3821 2341
Information Message: (07) 3321 1229
Website: www.bats.org.au