grow | beans

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Got a fence?  2 metres of beans growing along it could feed your family all summer, and the kids will love going outside with a basket to cut their own greens for dinner, or just nibble on raw beans as they past.  If you can’t find a fence, no probs, you can grow dwarf beans in the garden in rows.

Both runner types and dwarf types can also be grown in tubs too, though obviously the taller varieties will need a tall tripod about 1.8m is ideal, and they are actually very pretty too, with some purple (‘Purple King’ and ‘Purple Queen’), or yellow (‘Bountiful Butter’) podded varieties available. These are all frost tender, and should only be sown after all chance of late cold snaps are gone.

If you live in a colder climate, then Perennial beans, known as runners, can also be grown. These are cut back each autumn then reshoot in spring from their crown.  The two best known ones are ‘Scarlet Runner’, which has beautiful red blooms, and ‘Borlotti’ which has speckled red beds.  These are both the sorts of beans that need slow cooking to be edible, like kidney beans ‘Canellini’.

Whatever you settle on, beans like an enriched soil with lots of added compost to thrive.  They also love regular watering, hate the wind and dislike being overfed, as they will actually make their own nitrogen fertiliser with their specialised roots.  They produce more and more beans the more you pick, so harvest them continually every 4 days of so to keep the plants productive, and be careful not to damage the bush, which is quite easily done, when you harvest by always using a knife of scissors, to reap your bounty.  Sow seeds now, and you’ll be munching away in 10 weeks time.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | coffee

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Coffee is one of the most loved beverages in the world, with Australia’s consumption at around 55,000 tonnes annually. However what many people don’t realise is that it’s also one of the most sprayed food crops. Fortunately, in Australia we don’t have the pests and diseases that plague it overseas, so growing it here means it’s easy to produce an organic crop. Make sure you plant an arabica as these have the best flavour.

Related to gardenias, they are actually are very attractive addition to the garden and easy to grow.  They have glossy foliage, white perfumed flowers in spring and cherry red fruits appearing in November and grow into a small tree and can be pruned frequently to hedge them or make harvest easier.  Coffee trees can also be grown in pots, and will even survive inside providing the position gets plenty of sunlight.  Coffee trees like a frost free position with well drained, slightly acidic soil and regular fertiliser.

To harvest fruits, pick them whilst they are still bright red.  Next, pulp the berries and soak them for a few days allowing the flesh to slightly ferment and fall off the seed, and change from being slippery to having a grainy texture.  Rinse them out a few times and then lay them in the sun till the husk starts to split and reveals the inner bean, which is now ready for roasting!

tip ….
Got a pest problem with snails and slugs? Try giving them a morning coffee they won’t live to regret!  Mix one part espresso to 3 parts water and spray all over leaves and soil of susceptible plants every week to deter them from your salad crops.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | citrus

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Citrus trees are one of the best backyard fruiting plants.  They are hardy in most of Australia’s population bubbles, provide tasty fruit high in vitamin C just when you need a boost – in winter – to help fight off colds, and grow to fit most backyards perfectly, with the option of containers also open for those who are on the move or have only and balcony.  Add to this their year round beauty, with glossy foliage, fragrant flowers and a dense bushy habit and you have simply a “must have” for the garden.

On the downside, citrus are susceptible to quite a few pests and diseases, and also are gross feeders, so, a regular maintenance plan needs to be put into place in order to have them looking their best, year round. The best thing you can do for your plants to make sure you get plenty of fruits is feed regularly; every few months with a liquid feed like Seaweed solution as well as using a citrus food or extra blood and bone in April will ensure your plant has the goodies it needs to feed you.  Yellowing leaves are an indication that you need to feed. Also, don’t let your plants dry out, especially from bud set to fruit set, as uneven watering is the most likely cause of fruit drop.

In June and July you can trim back any straggly branches, diseased (look for galls, or swellings on their stems), or just neaten up the plant so it stays a manageable size.  You can’t leave it too late to prune, however, as the new growth is what will have all your blossoms, which grow into fruit, so trim late and you’ll miss your crop.

Lastly, if your citrus tree has scale, use a winter oil on it.  The scale will burn off.  Pest Oil sprayed regularly over the growing season will also protect your plant from further scale attack, bronze orange bugs (known as stink bugs), aphids, and also that disfiguring growth caused by citrus leaf miner.

When selecting your citrus, think about what you’re likely to use?  Do you make green curries?  Go for a Kaffir lime.  Like Gin and Tonic? A Tahitian Lime is perfect.  Have kids?  Imperial mandarines are hard to beat or Lemonade trees for fun. And for those who love juicing, what about a Navel Orange.  Most cooks love having a lemon tree…the decisions are endless!

Planting Tips

• Choose a full sun position with at least 6 hours sun.
• Not much space? Consider espaliering, or growing your citrus flat on a trellis.  You might even choose a multigrafted plant that has more than one type grafted onto the same bush.  These are marketed as Splitzer.
• Though most types like a frost free position, a sunny wall will often provide the microclimate they need.
• Growing citrus in pots? Use a slow release fertiliser like Osmocote for citrus which will release gently over the growing season.  Also, pick smaller growing plants sold as “Flying Dragon” which have been grafted onto a dwarfing root stock.  The fruit will taste the same but your plant will be naturally reduced in size, and save you some pruning.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | chillis

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Chillies have become one of the most popular flavours in food around the world, featuring in all sorts of cuisines from Asian to Mexican, Italian and Spanish.  The fruit comes in a wide range of shapes, sizes and colours – yellow, red, purple, orange and indeed vary with their intensity of heat.  Botanically speaking they are actually related to Capsicums, or Bell Peppers as they are known in North America.  The smaller the fruit however, the more intense the heat tends to be, with birds eye chillies ranking fairly high up on the scale and long yellow peppers tending to be sweet rather than hot.

Chillies are an easy annual to grow.  They like a warm, sunny frost free position with good drainage and regular water and can grow happily in pots too.  They are self fertile so you only really need one plant in order to produce fruit, but with so many types available, who can stick to one?  Their size varies in height from 2m tall down to 30cm or so for some of the more ornamental types.  Popular cultivars include Habanero, also known as Scotch Bonnets, Jalapenos and Bird’s Eyes.

To grow your own you can easily raise seedlings from shop bought fruit.  Simply wait until ripe, then cut them open and remove the seeds.  Sow these seeds into a tray of seed raising mix and keep them moist and in a warm spot to they have germinated.  This is in spring for temperate climates but any time of the year in more tropical areas.  Once they are about 10cm tall, they are ready for individual pots or planting out in the garden.

Like any fruiting plant, potassium is required and too much nitrogen can cause excess foliage and soft growth at the expense of flowers and fruit, so be careful not to overdo applications high nitrogen fertilisers like chicken manure.

When your bush is over producing, string up excess and dry them, but be careful to wear rubber gloves as the heat from even this can burn your skin if you accidentally touch your eyes.  The only antidote really is using yogurt to calm the sting.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | pomegranate

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Image from Harvest by MEREDITH KIRTON

Throughout December and January, gardens with pomegranates are lit up by the vermillion shades of these spectacular flowers.  Revered by sultans, these blooms look like their petals are made from tissue paper yet have the colour intensity of embers in a fire.  The highly unusual fruit that follows in late summer and autumn is another marvel, with the many seeds inside, covered with a jelly-like sac of juice, glowing garnet.  The pith that segments the fruit is bitter and inedible, as is the rind.

Pomegranates are tough too, coping well with heat and drought and even cold, with temperate or tropical climates both acceptable.  A tree bearing well should produce about 40kg of fruit and they start to produce fruit from about 3 years of age, and will continue for hundreds of years.  Pick the fruit using scissors or secateurs one if has started to show good colour.  It will continue to ripen post pick too.

Pomegranates don’t like humidity, so need to be lucky to bear well on the coast.  Deep loam is ideal, but their tolerance of sandy, slightly alkaline and even poorly drained soils is testament to their adaptability. Although they are adaptable to extremes, they will bear better crops if not under water stress and fed regularly with either citrus food or chicken manure and blood and bone.

Grown either as a tree or bush, depending on how they have been pruned from a young age, there is also dwarf forms available, though these are grown for their blossoms and ornamental fruit rather than for food and make excellent pot plants.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | basil

By MEREDITH KIRTON

The fragrance of basil has made it incredibly popular for many cuisines and sacrosanct in some cultures; Italians can hardly imagine a tomato without a leaf of sweet basil and Thai curries wouldn’t have the same freshness without a garnish of Thai basil. There are many different varieties such as lemon, purple, Holy or Sacred Basil, Aniseed Basil and bush basil, each with a unique aroma, but still the most popular is sweet basil, which has a lovely fresh green colour and is the ingredient used in pesto.

Basil is an annual herb, which means it needs to be replanted each year in springtime again.  It is cold sensitive, and will blacken if the temperature drops too low. Best planted out in late September into well dug over, organic matter enriched soil with good drainiage.  The seedlings will need protection from snails and slugs which also think this herb is delicious!  Try using a shallow saucer of beer to attract (and kill) them.

Keep trimming off the flowers as they form, which will encourage bushiness and more foliage.  Once they have reached maturity, your bush should be about 60cm tall.  You can let it flower and seed at the end of April, as many baby basils will germinate themselves in your patch the following year.

If you love basil so much that you want to have it all year, there is an answer to your prayers.  Perennial basil will over winter well, and although more pungent in flavour, it is still edible.  The other alternative plant is actually in the mint family, but smells a bit like basil.  Known as Basil Mint, it will grow in any moist spot easily, but can romp and take over a patch.  If you’re worried about a basil mint invasion, grow it in pots.

This February has been very hot and humid in Sydney, so proper storage of seeds is especially important. Seeds need to be kept cool and dry. Before I realised how important this was, my germination rate was very low. Once I planted sugarsnap peas three times in one year, and only managed to grow a few small plants. After that lesson, I now keep my seeds in the fridge, in a Tupperware container. One useful addition to the container is a small envelope of desiccant, such as dried milk, which helps the seeds keep dry. I make my own seed packets out of paper and glue, and on them I write the name of the plant, date of collection and the place that they were collected from. Taking these simple steps keeps my seeds happy and healthy, so the effort involved feels worthwhile.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | berries

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Berries are one of summer’s most looked forward to fruits, with a relatively short season making things like fresh raspberries and juicy mulberries a real treat. If you’re over paying $7 for a punnet of blueberries at Christmas time, or just want to be able to find a strawberry without mould on it by the time you get it home from the shops, then home growing berries is for you. Kilo per square metre, they are also one of the more productive of perennial fruit plants your could plant, with up to up to 5kg of fruit to be harvested from larger bushes like gooseberries and blackberries.

Berries are very climate specific, so it’s important to choose the right type for your area. Cold climates like tableland and mountain areas that get frosts should look at planting boysenberries, raspberries, silvanberries and gooseberries. Warmer areas should try Cape Gooseberries, rabbit eye blueberries, thornless blackberries, mulberries and even some of the more unusual berry-like fruits such as Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) and Brazilian cherry. Both regions can also happily grow strawberries, which, as a ground covering plant, can even be grown in hanging baskets or strawberry pots.

Whatever your choice, every home owner has the ability to grow a delicious fruit platter. The main thing to watch out for is birds, as they too like berries and are quick to pick your prime fruit. Try netting, plastic snakes hung around bushes and even sparkling CD’s hanging overhead to frighten them off.

Blueberries can be easily grown in tubs. They like a low pH of about 4.5 – 6, so using premium standard azalea and camellia mix works well. Feed them in winter then again in late summer with slow release fertilizer and keep them in a partially shaded or half a day’s sun position.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS