tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232286888143199092024-03-16T12:09:53.665+11:00The Food Garden Group BlogMax Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-77640928915089564882024-02-25T18:34:00.012+11:002024-02-26T17:56:55.917+11:00Large Tomatoes on Show!Would you love to grow large tomatoes, but wonder which good-tasting varieties do well in Tasmania? This blog post shows the varieties that Food Garden Group members put forward for the 2024 Golden Tomato Award, a description of the variety, and where to get seeds and seedlings if commercially available.Ross T. picked this 560 gram amazing fruit in his garden on 18Feb24Here is the impressive listMax Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-16416931912950343382024-01-21T12:39:00.005+11:002024-02-03T19:07:05.434+11:00Tomato Care & RepairMost tomato plants are like demanding prima donnas. Everything needs to perfect all the time, otherwise they will play up. Add to that Tasmania’s fickle climate and you find that even the most experienced food gardener struggles at times. This blog post might help you make things ‘just right’ for your tomato plants or improve things if they tell you that they are not happy.How to make the most Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-29030969206746474222023-11-18T18:14:00.008+11:002023-11-18T18:32:25.760+11:00Make the most of your CucurbitsCucurbits are members of the Cucurbita pepo plant-family. Cucumbers, zucchinis, pumpkins, squash, marrows and melons are all cucurbits. They all need very similar soil and climatic conditions and need to be treated in much the same way to be a success.Cucurbits love warmth and sunshine. They hate cold conditions. Frost ruins cucurbits. In Tasmania grow cucurbits in the most sheltered spot in yourMax Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-66252880646475947032023-10-16T12:30:00.003+11:002023-10-16T14:54:42.892+11:00Buying soil for veggie bedsGrow healthy soil and you will have healthy vegetables is the motto of many food gardeners, so, when starting a new veggie bed, people want to buy the best soil they can get. Many food gardeners, however, have been disappointed with the quality of soil they bought. The aim of this blog post is to give people a few ways of checking the quality of soils before buying, so they can make the best Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-24912234914532394572023-08-03T17:54:00.005+10:002023-08-14T11:23:46.547+10:00All About SpudsGrowing potatoes can be quite rewarding, especially when you eat your own home-grown potatoes fresh from the garden. This blog post will help you producing a nice crop of good-size potatoes, perhaps even more than once a year!What? - What should I use as seed potatoesIn theory you can use any potato to start off a new potato plant. However, the best potatoes are those that are not too big orMax Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-42417207924348156192023-07-21T14:36:00.011+10:002023-07-21T18:17:03.491+10:00The Case of the Mystery Apple TreeWhen Food Garden Group member Avril asked me in August last year how her apple tree could have two types of apples without it being grafted, I did not foresee that this would lead to one of the more unusual Food Garden Group blog posts to date. Do you like reading detective stories? Do you like eating apples? Would you like to find out more about apple varieties and growing apples? If so, you Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-59461167679763022842023-02-16T14:12:00.008+11:002023-02-22T14:50:33.590+11:00Medicinal Herbs in the Food GardenWhen a few months ago our group visited Belinda Robson’s garden at Dynnyrne, we noticed a great variety of herbs and were impressed by Belinda’s knowledge on their use for both culinary and medicinal purposes. Belinda also encourages particular weeds, which are harvested and used as medicines. Most of us grow and use herbs for cooking, but know little about their uses beyond the kitchen. I Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-14244054028533541602023-01-20T14:21:00.004+11:002023-01-22T17:57:37.017+11:00When Rust blows inRust is a fungus that manifests itself as yellow, red or rust-brown speckles on leaves and stems of plants. Rust loves wet warm conditions and is hard to get rid of once you have it. This blog post shows examples of Rust and offers organic strategies for containing it. Rust on broad beansRusts - plural, because there are thousands of varieties - are pathogens of order Pucciniales that are Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-66282950540804387952022-11-14T17:55:00.016+11:002023-08-14T12:35:53.233+10:00Fruit & Vegetables from South AmericaThere are at least ten South American vegetables and fruits that can be grown in Tasmania. They are all worth considering because they are nutritious and add variety to your diet. Quite a few of them are rarely available in Tasmanian shops and markets. This makes it even more worthwhile to grow them yourself. Want to know your tomatillos from your tamarillos and tomatoes? Keep reading ...Two of Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-36271045243762913272022-09-06T14:45:00.026+10:002022-10-05T09:32:41.506+11:00Beneficial biocharBiochar is one of many organic substances that can be added to soils to make them more fertile. What is it? What does it do? Why is it worth using it in addition to organic fertilisers? Where can you get it, or how can you make it yourself? What is biochar?Charcoal is, to use the official definition, a carbon-rich solid material produced by thermal decomposition of organic material in the Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-84493446698114266252022-05-25T15:01:00.003+10:002022-05-25T17:22:39.403+10:00Renewing an old raised garden bedSometimes you just have to start afresh. Jan R. gave an old tired raised garden bed a new lease of life, and look at the result! She took photos along the way, and explains what she did.1. Completely empty the garden bedVegetables had not been growing well in this bed in recent times, mainly because the soil had been in it for too many years, so I emptied the raised bed completely, put someMax Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-79173525958827695622022-04-22T09:41:00.083+10:002023-12-27T15:44:32.345+11:00Pest-Control Quick-GuideDo you have a pest in your food garden, but you are not sure what it is, or you don't know what to do about it? Here is to-the-point info and photos that give you the answers!There are many insects, gastropods and fungi in Tasmanian food gardens. Therefore this blog post will be a work in progress for some considerable amount of time. Initially the more common pests will be covered. Then more Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-31461323879238438912022-03-14T12:25:00.037+11:002024-01-18T14:43:40.988+11:00Homemade Pest Control SpraysMake simple food-garden pest control sprays at home, so you avoid the nasty chemicals that are present in many commercial products. These 'old as the road' recipes cost very little and have been effectively used by generations of food gardeners, without putting anything that is too poisonous to humans on your produce or in your soil.Scale on a lemon treeBelow you will find sprays for the Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-34109652314965861462022-02-21T17:08:00.011+11:002022-02-25T09:59:33.836+11:00Compost heap and worm farmWhat are the benefits of having a compost heap in your food garden? And how do these benefits compare with having a worm farm? So why do some food gardeners have both?In this blog post I look at worm farming and backyard composting - not the composting of large heaps of organic material at farms, nurseries and municipal tips. How do the two processes compare?Backyard compostingIn a Max Bee 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/08390208223626922439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-15152036207049352892021-12-09T17:43:00.001+11:002021-12-09T17:49:14.592+11:00A Taste of BeekeepingIn a recent FGG workshop participants joined experienced beekeepers Frank and Laura in an inspection of two well-established hives and two newly collected bee swarms. It was a fascinating afternoon that gave us a very good insight into what beekeeping is all about. I am not sure what Frank and Laura had planned for the day before the Food Garden Group’s Introduction to Bees workshop, but Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-54222090849193012602021-11-05T17:09:00.006+11:002022-09-06T13:54:16.795+10:00Backyard BiocharIn the Amazon basin of South America heavy rains leach soils of nutrients very rapidly. Local Indians found that adding charcoal soaked with beneficial liquids prevented this. This soil additive is now known as biochar. Ready-to-use biochar is not cheap. In this blog post Food Garden Group member Dirk S. explains how he makes biochar himself, at no cost.There are many articles and blog posts Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-49958498595724003582021-10-09T12:01:00.011+11:002022-08-24T10:41:05.245+10:00An inside look at the Botanical Gardens tomato saleEvery year the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) in Hobart produces quality heirloom tomato seedlings on a semi-industrial scale for its annual sale in October. This year I joined nursery-horticulturist Margot White and an amazing team of volunteers, and found out how this is done, and what home gardeners can learn from this process.Caring for 8000+ tomato seedlings in the lead to the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-54644794199447372232021-06-17T17:17:00.002+10:002021-06-17T17:21:06.264+10:00Adding a Raised BedRaised beds can be very useful in the vegie garden. This blog post discusses the various options that are available and how to go about positioning, making and filling a raised bed.Why Raised beds?There are two reasons why beds raised above ground level can be preferable over using and working with the soil that is there in your vegetable garden:Strain - No matter how young or old you are, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-46394659539750098972021-03-07T15:52:00.020+11:002021-03-17T10:51:04.543+11:00Quick Guide to Pruning Fruit TreesHere are short to-the-point tips for pruning of Apple and Pear, Apricot, Citrus, Fig, Loquat, Peach and Nectarine, and Plum trees.An apple at the end of a spurThese tips were written for non-espalier fruit trees, but a lot of the info also applies to trees that are espaliered.Thank you Max K, Steven F, Richard K, and Laura R for your feedback on drafts of this blog post!Terminology:Most fruit Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-35253565757561204172021-02-09T10:14:00.018+11:002021-07-19T16:17:06.105+10:00Veggie Patch Basics - 7 (Feb-Mar)This last article in the Vegie Patch Basics series discusses what to do in your food garden in February and March, plus what to do at the end of the season to get ready for the next one. This article completes the one-year Vegie Patch Basics series, an introductory look at growing vegetables, that started in April last year.This Veggie Patch Basics series assumes that the reader is a novice Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-69492243698054928892021-01-25T12:33:00.000+11:002021-01-25T12:33:51.361+11:00Handling organic materialsGardening improves the health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally, of millions of people around the world. But some gardening practices can in rare cases makes people ill. This blog post aims to make you aware of how to best handle soil, mulch, compost, manure, hay and other organic materials. If you follow a few rules, then handling these materials will be very safe!I began to look intoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-44121190363732065362020-12-02T10:47:00.020+11:002021-07-19T16:29:53.663+10:00Veggie Patch Basics - 6 (Dec - Jan)The December to January part of the food garden season is a busy time in the food garden. Veggie Patch Basics - 6 covers this period and aims to help you make your food garden even more productive and successful.Pink Eye potato flowersThis Veggie Patch Basics series assumes that the reader is a novice vegetable gardener, but the series may also be of interest to those with more experience. It Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-41701169424387320052020-11-20T11:16:00.006+11:002020-11-29T12:33:32.012+11:00Deep hay mulching 3 years laterThree years ago I put together blog post What is deep hay mulching? It is a great way to save water and improve soil fertility. Recently someone on the Food Garden Group Facebook page wanted to know what those who used the method three years ago had learned. I decided to find out. Here is the result.To find out what deep hay mulching is please read What is deep hay mulching?Judy K in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-89461996900700521672020-10-24T17:19:00.005+11:002021-02-13T18:18:53.998+11:00Fruit - ApricotsApricots are at their best when picked ripe and eaten soon after, and that means that ideally you have your own apricot tree. Add to that the fact that most shop-bought apricots are grown to look appetising when displayed rather than taste well, and you have two very good reasons why every food garden should have an apricot tree!photo 1: Moorpark apricots This is a blog post in the Fruit-series Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-623228688814319909.post-79402920208853828902020-09-24T11:25:00.027+10:002021-07-19T16:26:27.579+10:00Veggie Patch Basics - 5 (Oct-Nov)Spring opens up great opportunities for growing vegetables, but the tricky Tasmanian climate makes timing really important. This fifth post in the Veggie Patch Basics series covers the October - November period. It aims to help you decide what to grow, and when to sow and plant it.This Veggie Patch Basics series assumes that the reader is a novice vegetable gardener, but the series Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0