Eco Mineral Boost – A love story

Posted on | June 17, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’ve given some rock dust to a friend to test and he gave it to a skeptical friend who has a 20 year old veg patch. This woman’s patch is turbo boosted with compost and worms and every other organic additive that you can think of – except organic rock mineral dust.

Well she tried the Eco minerals and two months later she is blown away with the results. Apparently, the more organic matter the soil carries, the more eco-orgasmic the results.

Maybe in the future, lovers will give each other rock dust minerals on Valentines day…from that eco-orgasmic roses will grow..

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Rock Dust Minerals – My rhododendron blooms anew!!

Posted on | April 6, 2010 | 1 Comment

I have this old rhododendron plant. The variety is purple splendour and every year it suffers terribly from red spider mite infection. I’m not big on spraying plants as I just don’t have the time especially with a large kitchen garden to tend, so it has suffered in silence.

Anyway, last year I sent away for FCRD rock minerals, mainly for the veggie patch, but I thought that I’d put some on my old rhododendron. The poor old girl is like a sickly stick figure.

A couple of months passed and I noticed in spring that it put on more growth than usual. Excellent but not amazing.

Now it’s autumn and I’ve just realized that for the first time in 20 years there is very little infestation of red spider mite. It’s there alright on some of the lower leaves. But mostly it’s not!!!!!

This is impressive. I know this is anecdotal but you’ve got to consider that this is a well established tree with a well established pattern of disease and the only change of routine it’s had is the application of the rock dust minerals. I guess you can’t go past a good dose of trace elements. My guess is that the silica in the rock minerals has toughened up the plant against disease but I’m no horticultural doctor to say for sure.

The tree is still old and spindly, but it’s a lot healthier and will hopefully be my favourite purple coloured flowering plant for a few years to come.

My name is Riley Jordan and I host a podcast called Dig It Down Under and this has been my Rhododendron Rock dust story.

To buy go to : http://rockminerals.com.au

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Category: Uncategorized, rock dust minerals, soil preparation
Tags: buy rock dust > fcrd > gardening australia > organic fertilizer > rock dust > rock dust minerals > rock minerals > slow release fertilizer

‘How a rare are the plants in my valley’ or ‘The plants are always rarer on the other side’.

Posted on | March 15, 2010 | No Comments

There’s nothing like visitors to bring out the ‘garden show pony’ in one, but how many hydrangeas, roses or daffodils can you show to friends and neighbours before their eyes glaze over? However, bring out the ‘Voodoo Lily’, the ‘Giants Pitcher Plant’ or heaven forbid a’ Gimpy Gimpy’ plant (with a deadly painful sting) and all of a sudden you have everyone’s attention.

So last weekend, along with the others who are eager to impress, I attended the Rare Plant Expo at Tesselaar’s nursery. Right off the mark I was delighted to pick up a handful of ‘Crocus Sativa’ (the stigmas are used as saffron). I have had my eye out for this provider of culinary treasure for a while although I must say that I was momentarily tempted by the very pretty ornamental crocus but I had to fulfill my duty to my stomach first.

Next on the list were ‘Fritillaria’. No self-respecting ‘woods-woman’ would ever find herself bereft of ‘Fritillaria’ bulbs. Unfortunately they were out of the Burgundy coloured variety but I was more than happy to settle for the creamy green bells with ‘inside spotted crimson’ – Fritillaria Verticillata.

My next purchase was rather unexpected when I spied a ‘Ferraria Crispa’. This is one of those slightly grotesque flowering plants that only a photo can describe. More info here. & here

With the bulbs taken care of, I switched to pot plants, the first being an ‘Akebia Longeracemosa’, which is a rare evergreen climber with clusters of lovely fragrant maroon flowers followed by a large ornamental seedpods. That ought to bring in a few ooohhs and aahhhhs. This was followed by an’ Omphalodes – Cherry Ingram’. It is a lovely evergreen ground cover for semi-shaded positions with masses of sky blue flowers. Ideal for under trees. I should get a few “aint that purdy” with this little number.

I concluded that this was sufficient ‘rare’ flora for the day and happily scarpered home to pamper my perennial delights.

This post is mentioned in episode 20 of Dig It Down Under podcast.

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Category: Bulbs, Shade Tolerant Plants, Uncategorized, flowers
Tags: Akebia longeracemosa > crocus sativa > Ferraria Crispa > Fritillaria Verticillata > Omphalodes 'Cherry Ingram' > tesselaar rare plant expo

Hey Mr Frog – would you like flies with that?

Posted on | February 25, 2010 | 3 Comments

While digging up potatoes in the patch today, I dug up this little fella. While it is great that there are frogs in my patch, I’m always terrified that I’m going to skewer one and end up with frog – kebab.

Isn’t this little fella cute as the dickens. He’s a burrowing frog and I promptly put him under straw on soft ground where he could burrow down to get away from the heat of the day.

I did try to look up the local frog database to see if he might be endangered but there were too many frogs to work though and frankly a lot of them look the same. Anyway, he’s safe here. Hey mister frog – it’s dinner time, would you like flies with that??

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Category: Little critters, Uncategorized
Tags: dig it down under. frog > growing potatoes > veggie patch

Dragonfly on Giant Mushroom

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | 1 Comment

You never know what you’re going to find when you go walkabout. This giant mushroom measured about 22cm (9 inches) across! I don’t know what variety it was but it was not edible. As if this wasn’t enough there was a dragon fly laying eggs as it hung from the gills of the mushroom.

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Category: Uncategorized
Tags: dragonfly > giant mushroom > mushroom

New Dig It Down Under Site Upgrade

Posted on | November 23, 2009 | No Comments

I’ve just upgraded the new Dig It Down Under web site. Check it out at http://digitdownunder.com.

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Category: Uncategorized

Avocado trees, their kooky love lives & why to buy grafted trees.

Posted on | November 11, 2009 | 2 Comments

There comes a time in every child’s life when they ask mummy ‘ where do avocados come from?’ Well that’s pretty simple, they come from the supermarket, unless you’re trying to grow them yourself, in which case you’ve got more chance of finding them in the cabbage patch than on the tree. Why?? Avocado’s can self pollinate, but it can be unreliable however pollination is greatly increased if they have the right mate.

You see avocados have an interesting quirk in their pollination cycles. There are type A trees and type B trees. The type A tree has both male and female flowers but one set opens in the morning and the other opens in the evening, making self pollination pretty tricky although not impossible. The type B trees also have male and female flowers but have totally different times when the male and female flowers open and so cross pollination is highly likely when type A and B trees gets together.

This also brings up a conundrum with self sown trees. As we all know, many an avocado pip has sprouted in the compost heap, but how do we know if we got a type A or type B tree? The only way to be sure is to buy grafted trees of known variety. Of course the other benefit of this is having a rootstock that suits your area. I live in a cool climate and the rootstock of my avocado tree is ‘Americana’, which suits my conditions.

Do you grow an avocado tree successfully. What are your tips? Please feel free to click on the comments link and let us all know.

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Category: Uncategorized, drought, fruit trees
Tags: avocado tree no fruit > fruit set on avocado trees > fruiting avocado trees > growing avocado trees > how to get avocado trees to fruit > no fruit on avocado trees

The five Keys to success for under planting roses.

Posted on | November 6, 2009 | 1 Comment

In my last article about under planting roses, I dealt with the stark winter Rose patch, when roses are just pointy sticks sticking up out of the ground. A succession of well chosen daffodil varieties really hits the spot to fill the Rose patch over winter. Of course because the roses are dormant, there are no issues with various fungal diseases building up but come spring and summer this can become a major problem.

How to choose a suitable bedding plants for Rose beds and how to plan for succession flowering.

The five keys to success are;

1. Good air circulation to reduce fungal attack.

2. Plants that will not compete too heavily in the root zone.

3. Plants that are rich in essential oils with antifungal properties are preferred. This includes catmint, dwarf lavender and many herbs.

4. Aesthetic considerations. If your rose blooms are white then you might go with an under planting of catmint which is a silvery leaf and a mauve flower. If your rose blooms are deep red and if the bushes are spaced with a reasonable width between them, then there are some lovely blue salvias that would send up tall spires of flowers to create a stunning effect. Remember to keep air circulation in mind.

5. Succession planting. If you would like a stunning effect year-round in your rose patch and let’s say you’ve planted daffodils for winter flowering, then you might want to consider annual spring/summer flowering plants such as salvias. Perrenial plants that would fill the gap would be yarrow, campanula, catmint and hyssop.

I have this trick whereby I plant bluebells and late flowering bulbs around the border of the Rose patch. When the bluebells are flowering, the daffodil foliage (within the patch) is still lush even though the flowers have gone. This makes for a wonderful effect with the first flush of roses. As the daffodil foliage starts to fail, I plant in annual salvias which then grow quickly to hide the daffodil foliage and the Rose patch fills out in blooms once again. The other strategy that I plan to use it to scatter some yarrow through the patch as it is hardy and drought tolerant and will come up in late summer. I will also plant some catmint as a border so that when my late spring flowering bulbs die down the catmint will take over.

What are your favourite plants for growing under roses? Please feel free to click on the comments link and leave your thoughts.

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Category: Roses, Uncategorized
Tags: companion planting roses > growing roses > how to make a rose garden > under planting roses

Growing, planting and living among the gum trees.

Posted on | October 30, 2009 | 1 Comment

I am the self appointed Queen of planting, growing and cursing under the gum trees. I share my half acre with about 35 x 30 meter tall messmate gum trees. On a windy night when a gale force blast hits the ridge like a thousand hammers, the sound is terrifying.

Growing any plant that is not native to this area can be tricky, particularly with heavy clay soil.

I’ve had a veggie patch here for the last 18 years and while yields are probably down from the optimum, I haven’t gone hungry. Just to clarify, the veg patch is not near the gum trees, it’s right under about 4! Two have been removed recently but it still counts.

The good side of having these trees, is that the sun comes in underneath as they don’t have much of a canopy, so I get the bonus of a good micro climate and frost protection. The bad side is that I need lots of ‘inputs’ into the soil but probably not a lot more than the usual. I break up the surface roots with a fork before planting (every year) and add lots of mulch and compost. I’ve built up the beds at least 20cm above the ground, using sleepers to hold back the compost mix. A no dig garden would also work.

In high summer I have been known to put a fork in the soil at the periphery of plant roots, to open the soil up and I’ve shoved a hose in deep into the soil – about 20cm down. Since the water restrictions imposed by the drought conditions, I can do the same with a bucket of water but a bit of water pressure helps here.

Some other plants that grow well in my garden (apart from the appropriate natives which live with gum trees anyway) are:

Camellias
Rhododendrons
Roses (with lots of compost if clay soil)
Geraniums
Pelargoniums
Azaleas
Magnolia
Salvias
Clematis
Daffodils
Fushias
Luculia
Tree Ferns
Wisteria
Penstemons
Lavender
Winter Sweet
Loquat tree

These are all pretty hardy and as long as they have some compost dug in, surface mulch and water, there’s no worries.

What do you grow amongst the gum trees? Please feel free to leave a comment.

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Category: Gum Trees, Uncategorized, drought, soil preparation
Tags: Azaleas > Camellias > clematis > daffodils > Fushias > Geraniums > growing under gum trees > growing vegetables under the gum trees > Lavender > Loquat tree > Luculia > Magnolia > Pelargoniums > Penstemons > Rhododendrons > Roses > Salvias > Tree Ferns > winter sweet > Wisteria

Mini Fields – Growing tributes for those affected by breast cancer.

Posted on | October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment

I was lucky enough to be asked to sing, along with my good friends Lee and Cheryl, at Cruden Farm. This was all in aid of supporting those people who have been touched by breast cancer. As if this was not joy enough, the venue was at one of the best gardens in Australia – Cruden Farm – home of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

Upon arrival, I was confused as to which of the three entrances to use to get to the backstage area. In the process of exploring all options, I found myself driving through the famous Lemon Scented Gum Avenue. So beautiful.

During the morning morning tea break, I was able to wander the serene and a lush garden-scape, discovering borders full of freshly blooming roses and peony poppies to name but a few.

The walled garden was a favourite with visitors and was rather reminiscent of a monastery garden. Yet again, I walked among the footsteps of Edna Walling, who was involved in the early setup of the garden (and the lemon scented gum drive).

The picture below represents the people who are remembered, supported and honoured on the day. During the ceremony, we all took these pink symbols of women to the lake and planted them. Each figurine had the name of a loved one who had or has been touched by breast cancer.

Mini fields, breast Cancer support and awareness Day. Above is the planting of memories for those who have been touched by breast cancer. In the background, is one of the lakes at Cruden Farm in Langwarrin – Victoria – Australia.

More pix from the day here:
http://rileyjordan.com.au/biography_gigs/?p=80

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