General Gardening
Some experiences with gardening in south east Queensland.
- Dwarf Mulberry - We put this in our terrible soil years ago and give it literally zero care. Good crop of berries every year.
- Tomato - Grow in winter and spring. Summer probably too hot.
- Perpetual Spinach - Not actually spinach, it's a beet. Great in self-watering pot, needs lots of water. Top up with nitrogen fertiliser I guess every 3-4 months.
- Mint - Almost a pest it grows so much. Keep it separate from other stuff. Once in soil it won't stop growing unless the soil ecosystem completely dies too. Easy to propagate.
- Basil - Either goes yellow or black and dies. No idea what I'm doing wrong.
- Garlic - Too hot and humid for summer. Try again at start of winter.
- Dwarf Lychee - From the garden expo in Nambour, put in 75L pot
- Dwarf Mandarin - From Bunnings, put in 75L pot
- Blueberries - From Bunnings, four different Southern Highbush varieties
- Avocado - Still sprouting from seed like this
- Self Sufficient Me - Mark in Bellmere Qld, heaps of fantastic info and same climate
- eatyourgarden - Richo in South East Qld, some good info on soil care and preparation
- Epic Gardening - Kevin in California, great info on urban container gardening, buy his book too
Our house soil is absolute rubbish, all hard clay and builder's rubble. We pull up stubborn weeds with concrete dust on them!
If you dig down into that sort of soil, you just make a clay "tub" for water to sit in, the water doesn't drain away. I think it would take years of tilling and adding compost/manure/worms to convert that sort of ground into useful soil.
Raised bed gardening solves that by letting you add your own good soil and control it.
- https://birdiesgardenproducts.com.au/product-category/original_range/
- https://birdiesgardenproducts.com.au/product/raised-self-watering-wicking-bed/
- Self Sufficient Me video about wood in raised beds
- Self Sufficient Me video about raised beds in small spaces
- Self Sufficient Me video about Birdies wicking bed
You can also grow some stuff in pots depending on what it is. Herbs are fine in 10L to 20L pots. Small edibles like tomatoes are fine in 20L to 50L pots. Dwarf fruit trees want at least 50L, preferably 75L or even 100L.
- Queensland Gardening Pages - Messy organisation but good. The calendar is useful.
- Companion Planting - some plants help (or hinder) other plants growth:
- https://thumbnails-visually.netdna-ssl.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-companion-planting_5330a18970e25_w1500.png
- http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Companion-Planting-FTFA.jpg
- http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MWt5yjy7y4o/UJKnngKJx6I/AAAAAAAAAiA/43n58UU1sCU/s1600/Companion+planting.jpg
- http://www.gaiasorganicgardens.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/09/Companion-Planting-Guide-site.jpg
- https://thumbnails-visually.netdna-ssl.com/companion-planting_526e8b285156b_w1500.png
- https://www.windowbox.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Companion-Planting-Chart-WB.jpg
- Coffee Grounds as mulch scientific research paper
These places post their trees, so you aren't limited to just what's around you.
- Daley's Fruit Tree Nursery - Kyogle NSW
- Fruit Tree Lane - Helidon (near Toowoombah) QLD
- JA's Herb Nursery - Taromeo (west of Caboolture) QLD
- Lush Plants - Bundaberg QLD
- Yalca Fruit Trees - Nathalia (near Shepparton/Echuca) VIC
This is a wiki of useful advice I commonly give or have seen on places like StackExchange and Reddit. Sometimes I will link directly to useful posts, sometimes I will make a page on here and curate content.
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