Gardening Naturally

2009-07-16T14:02:00.001+10:00

Little Green Grubs

2008-12-03T08:51:00.000+11:00

In Summer those little green grubs will gobble up everything. To get rid of them I use a combination of 3 methods. Find them and squish them, spray pyrethrim or dust with Derris dust. To be honest the pyrethrim is the most effective and safest to use. The Derris dust is ugly on my plants and it blows everywhere if it is not completely still.

You have to be vigilant removing the grubs because they will destroy your cabbages and other soft vegetables and flowers.

Container Gardening Ideas

2008-12-02T08:50:00.006+11:00

There are loads of ways to grow your favourite plants but what if you are short of space? Container growing is the only way. Here a video on container gardening to give you some starter ideas.

I will be posting more information on this site for container gardening and gardening for apartments.

Sprouting Sprouts

2008-12-01T15:13:00.002+11:00

A food garden cannot be complete without the growing of sprouts. They are so yummy and nutritious. Not to mention very easy to grow.

The manual sprouters are good but you have to be diligent and soak seeds 1st and also rinse on a regular basis. That is fine but I have discovered the most wonderful auto seed sprouter that will not kill your budget.

They are available on line from www.tohealth.com.au - their service is fantastic.

I can't live without my auto sprouter now. The sprouts grow in 1/2 the time the do in a manual sprouter!

Sweet Strawberries

2008-12-01T07:57:00.003+11:00

Strawberry time is here and they are easy to grow in the garden or in a pot.

There are some great varieties around so take a trip to a few good nurseries.

The key is don't transplant your strawberries and completely cover the crown, mulch well regardless of whether they are in a pot or garden and keep moist.

To get the sweetest biggest and reddest strawberries place them in the sun for the majority of the day. This will get the sugar levels up.

How to Grow a Vegetable Garden

2008-10-31T10:23:00.001+11:00

A terrific little ebook has become available. Will help get you started on growing a vegetable garden.

For only $1.24 you cannot go wrong.

For more information Click Here

Weed it out

2008-10-15T15:15:00.002+11:00

Don't let the weeds over-take your garden. Not only does it look horrible but the weeds take important nutrients from your plants and if you leave them go you just make more work for yourself later.

The best controls are:

mulch with a quality mulch, not wood chip as it leeches the soil of nutrients, use lucerne or sugar cane
if you see a weed pull it out, do this daily if possible

Don't use pesticides!

Killing Snails

2008-10-08T08:12:00.000+11:00

Snails are a destructive force in any garden. Killing them is the only way to protect your delicate seedlings and plants.

We have found that coffee grounds are perfect. They fertilize the garden and kill the snails. Apparently it is the caffeine in the grounds that kills them. It is not an instant thing. It can be a couple of days before they feel ill and die so you have to be patient.

If you don't have coffee grounds get your local coffee shop to save them for you. Take them a container to fill up for you.

Now this method does not kill slugs. I have not found a natural way to kill slugs yet. So sadly you may have to resort to the pellets after the rains.

There is one more method but it is one that is out of your control and dependent where you live. Lizards. The bigger ones will chop on the snails whole - very tasty.

Fertilizing with Worms

2008-04-14T16:42:00.002+10:00

I use "worm wee" to fertilize my garden. The thing is I don't know how concentrated it should be. I usually fill a 2 litre container half water half "worm wee". Any suggestions out there?