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Vegetable garden

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awg said:
that sort of damage sounds like possums to me, they do the same thing to my oranges
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Have you seen the possums, awg? I'd thought it would have been these nasty creatures, but since then have put several lots of rat bait out, it has all been taken and there has been no further attack on the remaining passionfruit.
 
Julia said:
Have you seen the possums, awg? I'd thought it would have been these nasty creatures, but since then have put several lots of rat bait out, it has all been taken and there has been no further attack on the remaining passionfruit.
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Rat bait kills possums in large numbers.

Much kinder ways of getting rid of them.

gg
 
Julia said:
gg when it comes to a competition between my passionfruit and a total pest like possums, kindness just doesn't stand a chance.
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I do like passionfruit , too few of them growing this year.

Too many possums, I've got a mob reproducing in my garage rollerdoor.

I reckon they all have some use in the greater concept of Garpalgarden so haven't used the .22 on them........yet

We've had some dreadful pests this year so possums are the least of my worry.

I believe possums are protected by public servants who work 35 hrs per week. A lot of hours left in a week.

gg
 
classer said:
OK I know its not a vegetable but can I successfully grow figs in Townsville?
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from my understanding fig trees are from a Mediterranean climate
they need a long hot dry summer to produce fruit successfully

the humidity in Townsville may not be conducive to their fruit growing healthily
 
classer said:
OK I know its not a vegetable but can I successfully grow figs in Townsville?
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I would agree with jackson that the heat and humidity may be a problem, but you can get around that a bit by the way you design your garden, well whole block actually.

I'm a firm beliver of Property Management Planning. So if you can design an area that is shaded a bit, or can be by planting something faster growing like Carpenteria or foxtail palms, while leaving the area well ventelated, a fig should grow and fruit.

I've seen plenty of them growing a bit futher south mainly from Wide Bay down to the border. There was an old tree in a bit of a mixed orchard on the farm when I was a kid and it gave plenty of beautiful purple fruit.

The trick will be to find a variety that is most tollerant to your conditions.
 
Whiskers said:
I've seen plenty of them growing a bit futher south mainly from Wide Bay down to the border. There was an old tree in a bit of a mixed orchard on the farm when I was a kid and it gave plenty of beautiful purple fruit.
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I can endorse that. My father had a very productive fig tree in Wide Bay.
Healso grew citrus, custard apple, persimmon, jaboticaba, mango, passionfruit,
melon.
 
OK, so now we are 9 months out of a flat with some dirt to plant stuff and we haven't had to buy "greens" for 3 months now.

We had enough brocoli to have one full head every second evening for 2 months - what a success, easy to grow and such a buzz to knock off a whole head of brocoli with a big kitchen knife 2 minutes before steaming or stir frying.

Cauliflower - disaster .... whatever the possums left turned into a yellowey mess

Baby Spinach, great stuff, grows so quick and we have been pulling off leaves for 2 months now, and have learnt to gow a few every couple of weeks for a constant supply.

Lettuce - we now have around 6 varieties that we harvest every couple of nights.

Potatoes - planted around 10 seed potatoes and now have enough for 4 or 5 months, extremely satisfying digging them up - should get 'round to planting more.

Strawberries - more than you can eat - built an enclosure to keep the birds away.

Rasberries, OK, well had a few - maybe next year better

Chillies - enough to last forever it seems, have around 20 plants .... love chillies!

Asparagus - mmmm, just the fern heads so far, yet to see something edible

Chinese Brocoli - these just don't seem to get anywhere, they grow OK, but too skinny and flower too quick ... need some more study

Corn - have some great looking crops, just waiting for the silks to turn brown

Lemongrass - enough to last forever!

Corriander - had a huge crop, now all turned to seed, but haven't had to buy corriander for 6 months. Just waiting on a new batch.

Parsley - did well for 5 months, now too woody and one to seed

Onions, wow, talk about slow to grow, had a nice little crop, very sweet and a little small - trying again.

Spring Onions - they just grow and grow - very cool.

Capsicums - still waiting, about the size of marbles right now. We have around 10 plants.

Ginger - just strating to sprout

Garlic - great success, just used some cloves from the supermarket, had around 20 plants, each clove giving us a whole garlic from each ... amzing what fresh garlic tastes like.

Passionfruit - my 2 x vines are 4 years old now, in a pot but can't get to flower

Apples - 2 x trees (in pots) flowered once but no fruit

Grapes - 2 x vines, in the ground now, still getting over the possum attacks - now netted and growing much better.

Apricot Tree - looks great, lots of leaves but no flowers.

Cucumbers - growing well, have around 60 baby cucmbers just need another 2 weeks.

Rock Melon - around 6 leaves now, probable still a couple of months awat

WaterMelon - see above (rock melon) same....

Tomatoes - you would not believe how many tomato plants we have, we even scrounged around the neighbourhood on clean up day for pots, they are on the balcony, planted in every available spot in the garden, we even have them hanging upside down in 2 liter coke bottles - last count 180 plants, most with fruit - have harvested some of the cherry tomatoes, but still waiting for the larger ones to mature.

Oranges - we got arond 80 oranges last March, should get a little extra next March.

Lemons - stupid thing, all the little lemons just fall off - maybe too much watering

Oragano, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary - still growing - maybe another 6 weeks.

There's a few other odds and sods of edibles, but you are probably bored already..


Just as well the backyard is 90 per cent pavers and a pool, could you imagine what else I could have growing .....

Oh, we do have non edibles too, mabe another 100 plants and trees and a good collection of bonzais and succulents!

Grow your own stuff, it's fun
 
what varieties of chilli are you growing roland?

at the moment I've got these growing (although no fruit yet)

Jalapeno
Bhut Jolokia
Hot Lemon
Cayenne
Numex Twilight
 
We live in a flat, and are moving to a different one, but we have a few basic pots of herbs and stuff.

This winter we have grown:
Chives
Spring Onions/Shallots
Basil
Carrots
Leeks
Parsley
Beans
Peas

The beans and the peas were to most annoying, as evertime they were nearly ready, we had to go away and our neighbour forgot to water them

We do get herbs for our meals virtually every nights, and the odd bit of other stuff, nothing that really saves us money, but it is fun and enjoyable watching things grow.
 
imajica said:
what varieties of chilli are you growing roland?

at the moment I've got these growing (although no fruit yet)

Jalapeno
Bhut Jolokia
Hot Lemon
Cayenne
Numex Twilight
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I have Jalapeno, Thai Birdseye, Cayenne and a couple of varieties that I have forgotten the names of - I purchased seeds online from a guy that had just about every variety there is.

Chillis are great to grow, easy to germinate, fast growing and will produce with just 4 or 5 leaves

The one in the picture is over 5 years old, and I thought I had killed it a few times now.
 

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At the moment we're growing -

Zucchini
Green and Red Capsicum
Four varieties of Lettuce
Onions
Celery
Tomatoes
Beetroot

Assorted herbs; Chives, Tarragon, Oregano, Rosemary, Marjoram, flat leaf Parsley, Mint (almost a weed this stuff), and a real healthy bay tree.

And the most luscious Straberries ever. If all you've ever had is store bought Strawberries, then the difference between those and what you can grow at home is beyond describing.

I agree with the original post. Nothing beats it.
 
Roland, that's a fabulous lot of home grown products. Good for you. You must be in a southern state if you can get raspberries to grow?

Re the passionfruit, they're fairly shallow, wide rooting plants and some varieties don't do well in some climates. e.g. up in Qld here I can grow really well the Panama Red and Panama Yellow but struggle with the black Nellie Kelly which is apparently better in a cooler environment.

New vines do take a while to flower in my experience and often the first dozen of so flowers won't set fruit. But eventually they do. To hurry it along you might try some liquid potash just sprayed or poured from a watering can over the whole plant (not just the roots - it's absorbed through the leaves). Don't water too much. I've killed some with over attention. The most productive I've seen have been ignored.

I've never seen any grown in a pot but don't suppose there's any reason they can't be successful.
 
Found a bug in your garden?

Check out this guide: http://bugguide.net/node/view/60

It's a little American centric, but a great resource. Actually I was hunting around for pictures of what I thought were wasps that I came across near my front tap an d stumbled across the above URL
 
Please dont tell the cops but I have got 2 tobacco plants growing very well in my vegetable patch. Even though it is for personal use it is a criminal act. I have not dried the leaf yet let alone rolled one. Smoking is very bad news and companies that make and sell the stuff are just plain old drug pushers. Users should be able to grow a plant or two.
 
I put few tomato plants this year despite that used to have a lot of heartbreak because of fruit fly and white butterfly caterpillars years back.
Also some Aussie spinach, which when young is on par with delicate English spinach.

Parsley this year, which was always weed like, must have gone on strike or something. I spread a handful of the seeds around, but they are hard to start and can take up to 28 days to germinate. Got some dunked in boiling water to speed up germination, if I killed them there are ones without 'heat treatment' so no worries.

The same fate year back happened to my chilli plants, all died on me, had to go on dried pods for the whole year, got few tiny ones in fruit this year already.

It is good mind escape after dose of intenet too.
 
Husband cries every time there is a paw-paw nearly ripe, only to be snatched by either possums or fruit-bats? Had a plentiful supply of lemons, mandarins and lemonades from our fruit trees - but have had to severly prune them as infected with gall wasp I think. We're not the best gardeners - good intentions, but then forget to spray, water etc. My best success is lettuce grown in pots outside kitchen window and herbs in pots on windowsill - can't forget them as I see them every time I'm at the kitchen sink (which seems to be far too often!), and I pick a few leaves here and there every day or so.

We had a lovely passionfruit vine growing for years, but all the fruit was on the neighbours side of the fence as we obviously forgot to factor in sun direction when we planted it Had a nice trade going with the neighbour for a while there though, he'd supply us with tomatos when he delivered a few of "our" passionfruit.
 
Happy I'm reassured to hear about your parsley. In the past I've had flourishing plants, enough to give away great bunches of it. But in the last couple of months I've planted three lots of seedlings, most of which have died and the few that haven't are looking miserable, despite fertiliser and plenty of water. Is it possible that parsley doesn't like warm temperatures?

My really good stuff was during the Qld winter.

Also had some Sage plants that died, right next to some that are doing OK.
Basil is very good.

Sometimes I think the seedlings are forced into rapid growth by the nurseries and then when they're planted out, they find it all too hard.
 
The most important thing I've learnt is that terracotta pots suck - they dry out so quick that unless you water 3 or 4 times a day you are bound to fail keeping anything but a cactus alive.

My best pots now are 2 gallon plastic buckets we have been buying from Bunnings at $0.89 a pop. Sort of an odd feeling drilling holes in perfectly good buckets, but a similar size plastic pot is nearly $10.00.

If it's gotta be terracotta, or you have a lot of them, then seal or paint them, but think about it - a bucket is great - it's even got a handle which makes moving them around a breeze.

Second most important thing - mulch, if you mulch the top of your pots you will find that they don't dry out, even on the hottest of days. In fact I find I am still getting used to mulching and find I tend to overwater - being used to non mulched terracotta
 
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