Gardening

From ACT GreenGuide

In Canberra, a lot of us are blessed with sensibly sized gardens, big enough to grow fruit and vegies in – even tiny little patches of dirt can produce more than you’d think! Definitely enough to take a medium-sized bite out of your food bill. And even if you have no garden, you can still have a window-box with some tasty home-grown herbs.

And if you do have a garden, become aware of the ecosystem in your backyard. When approaching your garden it is good to look at the big picture. Draw a plan of the garden and map the areas that receive the most shade or sunlight, what the slope and aspect is and any other natural features. How do the characteristics of the area affect the whole. Gardening doesn’t have to be a strain on your life. It is one of the most balancing activities around combining physical labour and nurturing. Knowing that you can provide for yourself and your friends and appreciating the origin of the tomato in your salad adds to your food and how much you appreciate it. Simple design methods such as companion planting, no dig methods and composting or worm farming can create a fairly low maintenance garden that can give you more than you need.

It doesn’t matter how big your garden is or how often you move, you can still grow some of your own vegetables and herbs. It is worth doing because there is infinite pleasure in eating what you grow, it reduces inefficient transport of fresh vegetables, helps wildlife and diversity in your backyard, and makes your household more self-sufficient. Plant native trees and shrubs about you; pull out any noxious weeds you can identify like Blue Periwinkle or English Ivy - you can go to the Canberra Environment Centre and ask for pictures of noxious weeds, or check the website http://spirit.com.au/envoz/weedweb/weedlist.htm. If you are lazy, let your grass grow tall to house insects and some birds, or replant native grasses, which have all but disappeared from our local area. In confined spaces, use pots to grow herbs and vegetables. Ask at your local garden store for advice, or read The Canberra Gardener (1991), published by the Horticultural Society of Canberra, Inc.

The natural, powerful recycling processes that occur in nature when dead plant matter decomposes on the forest floor are what we need to achieve in our backyard garden. Having a compost pile is an excellent way of recycling organic waste into good fertiliser for your garden.

ADAM & EVE - composting principles and benefits.

Aliveness: compost is a living system.

Diversity of ingredients is the key to good composting.

Aeration is essential for a fast-working, sweet-smelling compost.

Moisture for the “living” compost heap to work well.

&

Energy gains for your plants result from composting.

Vitality of your garden and your energy.

Environment benefits as we all reduce our kitchen and garden “waste” and give back nutrients to our depleted soils.

The Sydney Waste website has fantastic tips on composting and worm farming if it’s not working out how you like it http://www.wastenotwantnot.com.au

Worms

Worms are the secret gardeners behind any successful garden. They produce rich fertile soil; they dispose of food scraps and anything that was living (except meat); and they are great for your compost. Worms and house worm-farming kits can be bought locally in Canberra. Look in the Yellow Pages under “Worms”.

• Worms eat their own weight in a day
• Worms eat paper and cardboard (if soaked in water). The water will then contain animal glue and can be used to stick up posters praising worms.
• Worms eat all kitchen scraps barring meat, and will self colonise your compost if it has an open bottom to the soil.
• Worm castings (manure) is PH neutral, and so will not burn your plants
• Given ideal conditions, worms double their population every six weeks.
• Worms in compost are ‘Reds’ and ‘Tigers’. Reds are also good for fishing, but Tigers smell bad to fish.

Bug control - Alternatives to bugocide

Worried about bugs eating your vegies? Before reaching for the toxic deathspray, remember the word ‘cides’ means ‘killer’. Try to avoid accepting lifts from these or inviting them into your home, instead, use some of these approaches:

• Encourage birds in your garden - feed them in winter if you live in a cold climate.
• Plant “protector” plants among the other vegies you’re growing. Garlic, chives, onions, sage, savoury, and thyme all act as guard plants. Pyrethrum and marigolds repel many insects.
• Collars: To stop hatching larvae from burrowing into the soil surrounding your plants, use ‘collars’ made of stiff paper, heavy plastic or tar paper. Cut a piece a foot square and fit snugly around the stem of your plant, on top of the soil. Affix with paper clip.
• Netting: Fine netting placed on the garden bed will protect seedlings from chewing insects, keep cats and birds away and prevent flying insects from laying eggs. Cheesecloth is suitable material.
• Go outside with a torch at night and pull anything that looks nasty off your precious vegies.
• Half-bury small containers of beer in the ground to attract slugs and snails. Mix the captured critters into your compost pile. An extra-strength mixture can be made by adding molasses or brown sugar to the beer. This method has not led to successful beer crops as of yet.

There are some home-made concoctions which can help repel insects and diseases in the garden:

• Mash up 4 chillies, 4 onions and 2 bulbs of garlic and cover with water. Let stand for 24 hours and strain off the liquid. Add more water to make 2 litres, and use as a general-purpose, non-toxic bug spray.
• Soak one part dry animal manure in ten parts water for 2 hours. Strain and spray the liquid on plants to combat potato blight and other leaf diseases.

Some commercial concoctions are more friendly than others, such as:

• Pyrethrum dusts and sprays: Generally considered effective against most garden pests such as caterpillars, millipedes and aphids. Be careful to minimise inhalation.
• Diatomaceous earth: (Often sold as cat litter) Made from the skeletons of tiny organisms, this dust controls pests by causing dehydration and death. Can be used indoors and out. Please follow the manufacturers directions.

Earth Works run a course which covers composting, worm farming, practical recycling skills, and communication skills. It includes a full day workshop of composting, worm farming, and no-dig-gardening, and a full day field trip to see how waste is managed in the ACT. You commit yourself to a community outreach program and also meet people who have great ideas on how to “Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle”. For more information, contact the Earth Works co-ordinator, Nayra Rusan, on 6207 5812.