Darling downs

All posts tagged Darling downs

Ahhg…the Veges are going to Eat Me

Posted by gardenpathfood on September 11, 2013
Posted in: Community Gardens, Links to other sites, Places to Visit. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I walked in to a vegetable patch recently that definitely appeared positively carnivorous. The vegetables were so healthy and aggressive they could eat me.IMAG0415

I took a little detour to visit historic Jimbour Homestead, (on the Darling Downs, Qld) http://www.jimbour.com/  and walked in to their heritage designed vegetable plot.  It has to be Heritage Design to conform with the wonderful old homestead but in spite of this restriction the growth on the plants is spectacular. The garden is spray and artificial fertiliser free, but the extraordinary growth can probably be attributed to great soil to start with (This is some of the best soil on the downs) and lots and lots of free organics from the bull paddock, since Jimbour is also a working cattle property.

The gardeners have also become really excited about different vegetables and  have at least four varieties of kale for example all growing together and looking amazingly decorative.

One of the most ornamental of the plants had to be the artichoke and this plant is a silver, grey architectural perennial that would look amazing in a pot, or in any spot in the garden, even if it didn’t have the advantage of also growing food.

For information on how to grow and eat artichokes, I will be following this site as soon as I can lay my hands on some plants. http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/4796/how-to-grow-artichokes/page/all

If you are holidaying in Queensland, then be sure to come as far west as Jimbour and visit one of our most historic, (after all Leichhardt left from here on his expeditions), beautiful and now culinary (ily?) exciting spots.  It is well worth your time.

One Tough Capsicum

Posted by gardenpathfood on February 13, 2013
Posted in: Autumn foods, Eating Seasons, Food, Health, Links to other sites, Spring foods, Spring Jobs, Summer foods, The plants in my garden, Winter Foods, Winter Jobs, Work Season. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

‘I had a little capsicum’,  and I still do.

This little capsicum has been in the garden for almost two years and spent most of last winter hibernating beneath a refrigerator box, but even then, it still produced the odd fruit. It has continued to fruit all through summer, just as it did all last summer.  It produces just enough to keep us going and since we eat them on salads and in stir fry and in casseroles, that it not a bad effort for the one little plant.Capsicum

And, it has produced babies with a little help.  I talked about that at http://wp.me/p2tNt0-32

The Gardening Australia website http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1866669.htm suggests that capsicums are indeed perennial, but usually we treat them as an annual. I sometimes wonder how much of what we assume as home gardeners comes from commercial agricultural practices and how much we need to relearn to be really effective home vegetable producers.  The garden is really your best teacher for this so just get in there and give it a go.

The capsicum is also an attractive little plant, so given that it is actually a perennial and that it has lovely glossy green leaves and can have bright green, red, yellow or orange fruit, it is a plant that you could easily use as an ornamental in a spot in which you can protect it  in winter.  That is, if you get frost as we do.They grow easily in a pot and this probably ideal as the plant can moved in and out of shelter in winter for an all year round boost to both your food dishes and your immune system.

Raw capsicum  contains high levels of Vitamin C and also  beta carotene which converts to Vitamin A, a great immune system boost.

Phoenix rising

Posted by gardenpathfood on October 17, 2012
Posted in: Autumn foods, Autumn jobs, Eating Seasons, Food, Spring foods, The plants in my garden, Winter Foods, Work Season. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Like a phoenix rising…well not from the ashes but I do decapitate them.

Commercially leeks are usually plucked out roots and all but I cut them off with a sharp knife just slightly below ground level, and they regrow. Normally I let those go to seed to produce babies somewhere in the garden.

Although my leeks, particularly the regrown ones are not as long as commercial leeks (look at the climate I live in), each one I cut usually provides the two of us us with all we need for an additional steamed vegetable.  Instead of letting this one go to seed, I will see if we can cOctober Gardenut it and go for a third use.

I love the look of leeks and onions in the garden.  They provide structure, colour and texture.

Even pure vegetable gardens can be amazingly  decorative and look so different at the change of season but I also love the look of edible plants in the decorative garden.  See my next post.

Location

Posted by gardenpathfood on May 30, 2012
Posted in: Background Information. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

One of the first factors that you need to think about in establishing a garden of any sort is your geographic location.    My garden is on the Western Darling Downs in Queensland, Australia, and we are caught between a monsoonal wet summer/dry winter and the dry summer/wet winters of further south.

In summer, temperatures can reach 40 degrees, while overnight in winter can be minus 3.

So we get frosts, sometimes even black frost.

We get heat, sometimes dry, sometimes humid and we usually have a dry and windy spring, just when our water supplies are so low that we have very firm water restrictions.

My current property is on sandy red soil, that has been farmed for melons and grapes for a long time.  Not too much goodness left in it, and I’m not sure there ever was a lot of moisture holding capacity.

It is an interesting place to create a peaceful, lazy gardener’s garden.