Editor's Blog - 4
- 19-4-2010
Sitting in our little western corner of Australia, I'm feeling very safe and glad to be far away from the disruption caused by the volcano eruption in Iceland. It's good to hear British airspace has reopened.
Along with the inability of jet planes to fly people to and from their desired destinations, postage - both business and personal - was delayed, and there were reports that the UK could face a shortage of fresh fruit and veg if they were unable to get flown in from Europe (the test flights went all ok apparently - though I personally would rather wait to be sure!). There's also rumbles from another volcano in Iceland, and what with the tremor at Kalgoorlie yesterday....plenty happening under our feet at the moment.
If UK'ians don't get their usual overseas deliveries of fruit and veg, people who have their own little vegie patch will just do what they usually do: harvest and eat whatever's ripe and ready.
Here is Oz, now (Autumn) is a good time to plant veg for winter picking - Brocolli, Beetroot, Carrots, Garlic (minus any dubious 'bleaching' from overseas garlic to make it white), Broadbeans and lots more. Your local nursery will be able to advise, otherwise there's a wealth of online and other media information to access.
Lettuce, Bok Choy and Silverbeet can be planted year round, and as it grows pick off what's needed a leaf at a time.
The other excellent option is to purchase fresh food from your local farmer's market - generally you can be assured that the fruit and veg at the markets will be reaching you closer to the time that it was harvested as compared to sitting in the hold of an airplane, warehouses, trucks, supermarket etc. This really goes for all food - better for the world to buy close to home. Supporting your local producers is a good option at anytime regardless.
Read more in Organic Gardening from an earlier issue of Flourish about growing your own food, or if you're time poor and need some good advice, Tim Goodard from Your Patch, can set up and maintain an organic vegie garden for you. (We used to have a Your Patch garden and LOVED it - unfortunately have now moved but planning on planting a new small patch.)
What tips do you have for growing your own veg? What's your favourite farmer's market and what can you recommend?
When I went to a nursery (Better Pets & Gardens) a few weeks ago, I came accross a system called an Acme Tank. It holds over 100 litres of water and all I have to do is put nutrient in a watering can once a week and this keeps the plants hydrated and gives them a balanced supply of nutrients. That's it - it looks after itself...just how I like it!!!
I'm growing basil, parsley, silverbeet, capsicums, lettuce, lebanese cucumbers, garlic chives and experimenting with strawberries, pineapples and eggplant.
There is no soil involved which is great as one of my pet hates is sand in lettuce!!!!
This system cost me around $295.00 to buy and will only cost me $13.00 every 3 months for the specific nutrient (Garden Milk) required. I am seeing lots of savings here.
The produce seems to grow so fast and I am constantly picking from it. It is a good sized tank that is transportable and is on my back patio.
Being a very busy career woman, I simply do not have the time to manage a garden let alone grow my own produce...that's why when I saw this Acme Tank I thought I'd give it a go.
Happy growing!