Complete Organic Fertiliser - Suppliers

Complete Organic Fertiliser (COF) is the name given by Steve Solomon (former seed farmer and publisher of food gardening books) to a mix of organic ingredients that he tailor-made to improve  Tasmanian soils.  This blog post documents some of the Tasmanian businesses that sell ready-made COF in  February 2019.

Avocados in Tasmania

The popularity of avocados has gone through the roof in Australia in recent years. Tasmanian home gardeners are now buying young avocado trees, but there is not a lot of local knowledge that tells us how to grow them in often-cool Tasmanian conditions.  I tried to find someone who grows avocados successfully locally, in the hope to learn a trick or two.

Vegetables this Winter

It is December - early summer! Why would you think about your winter garden at this point in time? It’s because some winter vegetables are best sown now. It’s also because starting on time will be a key to success!

Starting out Keeping Bees

Keeping bees improves pollination in your food garden in a big way, and it is great to harvest your own honey.  But where to start if you are a total novice?  I talked with Food Garden Group member and beekeeper Avril B, with the aim to help those interested in following in her foot steps.

Acid or Alkaline?

Your soil may contain all the elements for optimal plant growth, but if its acidity/alkalinity level is wrong for what you grow, plants will not be able to access the elements, or they may get too much. This blog post covers how to measure acidity/alkalinity, and how to adjust it, if it needs adjusting.

Why Green Manure?

Many of us only have a small food garden, so why would we ever grow a crop, and then chop it to bits and leave it on the ground, or dig it in, before it has given us a crop? Why bother?

Start of Season workshop 2018

It was the start of Spring 2018, time for a Food Garden Group’s Start of Season workshop.  The topics of this year’s presentation by Christina Giudici were propagation, seed raising mixes, potting soils, rooting hormone and biochar. This blog post documents some of what Christina covered in her workshop.

Controlling Pear and Cherry Slugs

Last season during food garden visits I saw many fruit trees devastated by Pear and Cherry Slugs. Ideally action against this pest begins in winter and if continued during the season can result in complete removal of the pest, and a return to healthy leaves and good crops.