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Wednesday, December 23, 2020
These are tropical ‘cherries’ from a Grumichama tree. These came from a small tree stuck in a 50cm pot for the last few years. They’re delicious - sweeter than a strawberry guava and without the slight grittiness that some people get from guavas and feijoas. Grumichama comes from southern Brazil which has lots of Gondwanan cousins to Australian species in the Myrtaceae. Grumichama is essentially a Brazilian Lilly Pilly. This specimen survived -2 c in the Burnley Nursery two winters ago so I’m calling as do-able for most of Melbourne. My specimens came from @daleysfruit as tube stock #grumichama #eugeniabrasiliensis #myrtaceae #plantsofbrazil #newfavouritefruit #plantit #trysomethingnew #urbanorchards
Monday, December 14, 2020
Lotus time of year. The perfume will always remind me of swimming in crocodile free Kimberley waterholes Apologies to all Tryophobics out there. I can’t remember the name of this cultivar which doesn’t full open like the classic model #nelumbonucifera #lotusflower #tryophobia #australiannativeplant #surprising #edibleplants #bushfoods #indigenousfoods #novelcrops #panc #asianplants #sacredplants #sacredflowers
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Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Abyssinian Bananas into their second growing season with rampant Malabar Gourd/Shark Fin Melon as sprawling ‘living mulch’. There are melons on these already, it’ll definitely need cutting back at times during summer #abyssinianbanana #enseteventricosum #enset #malabargourd #sharkfinmelon #curcubitaficifolia #livingmulch #mulchmadness #rampantplant #photosynthesis #soakinguptherays #ithinksummerishere #plantsofethiopia #plantsofmexico #agroecology #unusualedibles #novelcrops #panc #perennialedibles #urbanagriculture
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Saturday, December 5, 2020
It’s a rescue! I can reveal that @fruitnerd Thanh Truong was my connect this year for giant African Yams . However in a shock confession he has revealed that he kept one lonely tuber to himself. After a brief struggle this neglected sprouting monster is now safely rescued, soon to be planted into the growing Yam community at Burnley #africanyam #dioscoreacayennensis #westafricanfood #sproutingyam #giveitback #thestruggleisreal #adealisadeal #honourthecode #connect #novelcrops #panc #thanksasalways #teamvietnam
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
This is Cassava SM150. @bluesgirlbecsta and I have inherited a collection of Cassava varieties from the Monash University Botany Department (story for another day). Meanwhile SM150 is very unusual with beautiful, distinctive foliage. Cassava is a heat loving perennial which grows optimally between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius so it thrives in summer and then it dies when outside in Melbourne at the faintest hint of a cold night 😑. It’s the staple carb crop for about 1 billion people globally who eat the starchy roots. I’ve managed to keep them going in an unheated polytunnel by ruthlessly droughting them for 4 to 6 months from autumn through spring. They’re so robust that they’ll happily sit in pots as dried sticks for this period and then come back to life when re-watered in October. So root production is limited in our climate but some communities love eating the (thoroughly cooked) leaves. So the aim here is to have Cassava at least available for leaf production in summer and to look good shimmering in the sun on 40+ degree day #cassava #manihotesculenta #cassavaleaves #tropicalplantsinmelbourne #polytunnelgrowing #perennialcrops #novelcrops #panc #plantsofsouthamerica #indigenouscrops #edibleornamentals #urbanagriculture
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Saturday, November 28, 2020
You say Ladybug and I say Ladybird and they say...”God’s Little Cows”. Last week a colleague told me that in Polish Ladybirds are called God’s Little Cows. I “fact checked” this claim and it’s true. They’re also called this in Gaelic, Spanish and Russian 😳. But in English there’s a religious connotation too because ‘Lady’ refers to the Virgin Mary who wore a spotty (red?) coat apparently (not a Bible scholar - forgive any inaccuracies here). Side note/tangent: this Ladybird name research led me to discover that the German expression for ‘comfort food’ is ‘grief bacon’ (“kummerspeck” literally ‘grief pork fat’). The Ladybird for comfort food is Aphid #ladybird #ladybug #godslittlecows #typeofbeetle #notabug #coleoptera #coccinellidae #predatoryinsects #beneficialinsects #theyeataphids #carrotflower #comfortfood #griefbacon #kummerspeck #germanlanguage #zeitgeist #mood
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Tuesday, November 24, 2020
In February this year I finished my report and plan for the Collingwood Children’s Farm. One of my recommendations was for the Farm to employ horticulturists and to convert the small Barn paddock into a market garden. Making recommendations was the easy part. For the last 9 months the Farm’s staff led by Sim @spokeandspade have wrangled this market garden idea with patience and focus as Covid forced the Farm to close to the public. Sim and the team killed off the original pretty ratty pasture, sowed winter oats as green manure, and are now putting in their first crops! Follow @collingwoodchildrensfarm and @spokeandspade for updates #collingwoodchildrensfarm #urbanagriculture #socialfarming #communityfarm #cityfarming #marketgarden #horticulturist #pandemicproject #superimpressed #greatteam #gettingstuckintoit #consultantslife #recommendations #itactuallyworked #handyhints #yarrariver #birrarung #alluvialsoil #wecanhavenicethings
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Sunday, November 8, 2020
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
These are stem tubers of Mashua, a type of Nasturtium. They’re an ancient crop from the Andes in the same indigenous agro-ecosystem as Potatoes and Oca. They’re slightly hotter than radishes raw, less so cooked. The small leaves aren’t so hot and have a much nicer flavour than ‘normal’ Nasturtium. Mashua is not heat tolerant so in the past I’ve grown it in the shade. Grown as an ornamental in Europe for its tubular flowers #tropaeolumtuberosum #mashua #lostcropsoftheincas #novelcrops #panc #stemtubers #shortdayplants #nasturtium
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Friday, August 14, 2020
Happy World Lizard Day everyone (August 14)! Here’s an avatar of myself from a bygone age with a Blue Tongue Lizard at Eagle’s Nest near Inverloch #bluetonguedlizard #bluetongueskink #tiliquascincoides #worldlizardday #longago #pastavatar #ageingprocess #closethippy #catchinglizards #herebedinosaurs #dinosaurcoast #eaglesnestinverloch #southgippsland #prepandemic
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Sunday, August 2, 2020
Malabar Gourds on their way to @fruitnerd for making Shark Fin Melon soup (follow him for great recipes and fascinating insights into the life of a wholesale fruiterer!); these giant gourds/melons can be stored for up to seven years . Their young shoots are delicious. Four plants grew 70 melons this year and although zapped by frost they’ll probably re-shoot. These are monstrous in their spread and will grow up and over trees. You have been warned #sharkfinmelon #malabargourd #curcubitaficifolia #plantsofmexico #shortdayplants #weighsatonne #specialdelivery #novelcrops #panc #perennialvegetables #burnleyfieldstation #pandemicgardening
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Sunday, July 26, 2020
For many years I took students on an all day excursion to visit different types of green space across suburban Melbourne. We would always come to this spot at the Glen Iris wetlands, constructed by Gardiners Creek in 1991 as part of a compensation package for building the Monash Freeway through the Valley. As a kid this was our Upper Volga, at the limits of tolerance of even non-helicopter 1970s parenting but good for occasional freerange adventures, putting coins on the train tracks, walking up storm water drains, throwing rocks at rats etc Anyway then they built this wetland, bike paths etc. You weren’t formally invited to contemplate electricity coming into Melbourne from the La Trobe Valley here. In actual fact there used to be and an alarming piece of interpretive signage warning about the dangers of exotic Mallard ducks mating with native Pacific ducks. Worrying about the sex lives of ducks is now out of fashion and the sign at this view point is about frogs. Belated thank you to former student @laurakate_t for saying that she like the ‘juxtaposition’ of the powerlines and nature here back in 2012. (I always remember student contributions and do full attributions when I use them in future classes - mostly 😬) #gleniriswetlands #powerlines #constructedwetlands #juxtaposition #oncewasferal #childhoodadventures #reflection #interpretivesignage #browncoal
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Monday, July 6, 2020
Aliens in our midst. These specimens of Agave americana variegata sit in garden beds on the Brunswick St side of the Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy installed in 2011. Long, long ago during a brief but virulent natives-only phase I used to detest these plants but now I love just how over-the-top they are including the variegation #agaveamericana #variegatedagave #looklikealiens #alienplants #kangandkodos #thesimpsons #theyrealreadyhere #tinfoilhat #gothicplants #sculpturalplants #desertplants #mezcal
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Thursday, June 25, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
On the tools mate! First in an occasional series on former students working in horticulture. Here’s @georgiemoyes weeding the indigenous grassland at Burnley and adding in a few forbs (wildflowers). The substrate here is crushed gravel based on the low/no fertility theory of helping stress tolerant indigenous plants deal with the mostly exotic competitive species that love fertile soils. It also helps that scraping off the top soil before planting removes millions of weed seeds #onthetools #highvizlife #gainfullyemployed #graduateemployment #urbanhorticulture #appliedecology #ecogardening #ecologicalgardening #restorationecology #novelecosystem #weneedgardeners #peopleinthelandscape #urbangreenspace
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Wednesday, June 3, 2020
It’s Oca time. Also called New Zealand Yam even though it’s not from there nor is it a (true) Yam. It is on the other hand delicious and easy to grow #oxalistuberosa #oca #newzealandyam #stemtuber #tasteslikepotatoes #easytogrow #lostcropsoftheincas #novelcrops #panc #prettyvegetables #gnarlyveg #abitdifferent #plantsoftheandes
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Saturday, May 30, 2020
Pumpkin squad: Queensland Blue and Kent #pumpkinpicking #queenslandblue #kentpumpkin #justanotherpumpkin #autumnharvest #wheelbarrowfull #notforhalloween #eatthelot #makesoupnotwar
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Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Freshly dug ‘Evangeline’ Sweet Potatoes (except for a few stray purple Northern Star). Evangeline is an orange fleshed bush variety that produces tubers in around 90 days as opposed to the usual requisite 120 days for most types. These are all from plants grown from cuttings inserted vertically into the ground. My untested hypothesis is that this helps produce torpedo shaped tubers that descend vertically 🤔. The gnarly tuber at the bottom right is the same variety but planted out from a pot in its second year. The preexisting tuber has continued to grow but in a cracked and bizarre way #harvest #autumnharvest #sweetpotatoharvest #ipomoeabatatas #backyardveggies #urbanagriculture #homegrown #homegrownveggies #homegrowncarbs #covidgardening
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Saturday, April 11, 2020
A productive planting of Rhubarb and three types of Taro (and some stray Hostas in pots - also edible). This is ‘down the side’ at my parents, a mysterious and confounding zone for domestic horticulture and rarely considered for edible gardening. This area has maybe 2-3 hours of direct sunlight at the height of summer, wedged between two houses. But there’s no overhead shade so plenty of useable photons bouncing around for plants with large leaves. Anyway, the proof is literally in the pudding as the Rhubarb has been magnificent this year and the Taro corms will be harvested in May through July #downtheside #rhubarbpatch #taropatch #colocasiaesculenta #foodgardens #lowlightgardening #photons #soundsscientific #ecophysiology #agroecology #urbanagriculture
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Friday, April 3, 2020
Bitter Melon are seriously bitter but somehow become moreish and yummy over time. Trust me on this one 😬. Anyway they look fantastic in the true sense of the word and also self-sow in late spring from the inevitable rotten fruit that fall to the ground in autumn #momordicacharantia #bittermelon #curcubitaceae #acquiredtaste #foodasmedicine #reallygoodforyou #uglybeautiful #asianvegetables #selfsown
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Sunday, March 22, 2020
Friday, March 6, 2020
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
It isn’t easy being green when you’re a Queensland Blue Pumpkin. Big crop on the way, loving the summer rain and, dare I say, the power of weed mat 😬#queenslandbluepumpkin #bigaussie #cucurbit #summercrop #notripeyet #fruitnotvegetable #cognitivedissonance
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Monday, February 3, 2020
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