Water Chestnuts

 

This winter I am going to grow water chestnuts in my garden, they are the ultimate permaculture plant, and have long been on my list of food plants to grow. They are an annual sedge growing in water margins and bogs with erect, narrow, tubular leaves half a metre to a metre tall. The plant spreads by a creeping rhizome which, through the summer months, produces additional sucker plants. They are a staple in Chinese cooking, have a crisp white flesh and a nutty flavour and are highly valued as a nutritious food.
Plant in early spring in Melbourne as they need a long frost free period of growth to produce corms. One corm, under favorable conditions can typically spread to become 1m2 of plants, yielding approximately 3 kgs! When planting, the soil needs to be free of sharp sticks and stones which can damage the delicate skin of the chestnut particularly during harvest. Once the stems are 20cm high the soil should be kept flooded with 10cm to 30cm of water throughout the growing period.
Later in autumn the leaves start to yellow and it is at this point that the chestnuts form at ends of the rhizomes. Over the following weeks the leaves die off completely and harvesting can begin at this time. The water is drained off, and the water chestnuts are carefully removed from the soil. I guess I will have to catch and relocate my mozzie grub eating fish during the harvest period! Wash the corms after harvest, and brush them when dry. They can then be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Water Chestnuts can be grown in any sufficiently large container that holds water e.g. bathtubs, wading pools, ponds or Styrofoam boxes. I am going to grow mine in a old claw foot bath tub.

Problems that commonly occur are rot and damage from birds. Or in our case I am predicting it will be from our marauding pony, as he likes eating my aquatic plants. Seed corms may die due to rot if they are planted in a soil that has been freshly fertilised with manure. This can be avoided by adding fertiliser to the soil in the container a few weeks prior to planting, giving the manure time to break down first.
Water chestnuts have a sweet coconut like flavour, and a crisp texture that is retained after cooking. They should be washed well, before peeling. They are great in stir fries and curry's or raw sliced in salads, They also contain antibiotic properties, and are a rich carbohydrate source.

Get our news v

http://permaculture.org.au/2008/11/29/water-chestnuts/
 http://www.diggers.com.au/shop/product/PWACH/WATER%20CHESTNUT.aspx

Natural Play Scapes - Kinder Garden Design

 "Natural playgrounds should be the standard for all our playgrounds. They truly connect children with nature through play and are a sort of classroom for the next generation of environmental stewards." David Suzuki.

 I have offered to do the garden design for our local Steiner Kinder. It  has only been at this site since the start of the year. The garden is new, with some hard landscaping that has been completed recently. Consisting of a sleeper retaining wall, a timber paling fence, a concrete path and a stone walled sandpit.

Garden planting consists mainly of a few existing trees, donated shrubs, trees and herbs planted informally by the Kinder community.

 

Brief; to provide a concept plan for the kinder garden. A deep connection with nature is central to a Steiner approach to childhood. In Steiner early childhood education outdoor free-play in a natural environment is an essential component of the curriculum.
Steiner playgrounds value natural elements to entice the imagination and create spaces of wonder and awe.
   
Client Interview; These are some ideas from the teacher about her vision for the garden. Use plants with Simple child like flowers, provide screening from the road, feeling of fullness in the garden, use of natural materials, garden rooms where children can play, virginia creeper climbing on verandah, a living tee pee made from sunflowers, early autumn colour, plants that reflect the seasons, a timber climbing structure.                                                                                                                                                      
Site Inventory and Analysis; There is some existing vegetation; One mature Eucalyptus radiata? One Callistemon, a Banksia marginata and a weeping Cherry.
Newer plantings include, a lemon tree, fruit trees, tea tree,Buddleias, daisys, bulbs, herbs, seasonal veggies.     
North facing,
Prevailing North wind
Exposed
Busy Road on the North boundary
Soil type, water availability and site measurements are not known yet.
I still determining if there is an existing site plan.

 My initial ideas
 The playground should be less open, with places for the children to get away and play in peace without feeling that they are being watched over by adults.
To divide the area into a series of curved rooms, with different spaces, where the children can escape to while still allowing enough open space for children to run freely.

Screen out all of the boundary fence with plants.
Plant screening climbers such as Hardenbergia violacea along the cyclone fence back boundary to provide screening from the road.
Incorporate existing vegetation into the design, transplanting where appropriate. 
A smooth flowing design that is simple and not too busy while incorporating many of the following features;
A bamboo forest, B.oldhammi
Scarlet runner bean tee pee
Atriplex hedging to divide spaces
Herb/ kitchen garden
Muehlenbeckia complexa tunnel
Tea tree cubby or tunnel
Climber to grow on the verandah Parthenocissus quinquefolia


                                                                               

Tea Tree tunnel at the Ian Potter garden RBGM

Natural climbing frame

Sunflower house

Scarlet runner bean Teepee

bamboo forest at Ian Potter garden RBGM

Muehlenbeckia tunnel

http://earthplay.net/
http://progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/inspiring-waldorf-steiner-natural.html
http://www.naturalplaygrounds.ca/
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/220797/8/Natural-playground-inspires-kids-to-be-more-active

Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jacks

Saffron Milk Cap

Finally the wait is over, the Autumn rains are well and truly here and it is Mushroom season. I have been checking for a few weeks now in our back paddock under a stand of pine trees for the appearance of Saffron milk caps Lactarius deliciosus and Slippery Jacks or Suillus luteus.
I have been foraging and eating these mushrooms for years. They are a wonderful seasonal wild food that are easily found if you know where and when to look. The Saffron Milk Cap is a terracotta orange colour with distinctive darkening rings and reddish-pink gills on the underside. The Slippery Jack is dark brown on top, has a slimy appearance when wet, with bright yellow spongy gills on the underside.

These are both introduced species that form a mycorrizal association with pines trees.
 Saffron Milk Caps don't instinctively look like a mushroom that is edible. When cut they bleed bright orange milk and when bruised they turn green. As for slippery Jacks they just look like slime with a bright yellow sponge underneath.This can be off putting to the uninitiated. Most people would think that this indicates that they are poisonous, not that they are edible and delicious. They are well known in Europe, in Australia they are well regarded but quite scarce, prized by Melbourne chefs and found in farmers markets occasionally. When foraging for these mushrooms, it is better to choose young firm specimens as the older ones are prone to insect damage. Always harvest  mushrooms with a knife cutting off at the base of the stem to ensure a future harvest. I think that  Saffron Milk Caps in particular are such an easily identifiable mushroom, you can't really make an error in mistaking it for anything else. That said, if in doubt, do not eat it!

Slippery Jack cap and Saffron Milk cap underside gills

The Slippery Jack in the middle showing its spongy underside

  

Sauteed Saffron milk caps and Slippery Jack mushrooms, with garlic, onion, kipfler potatoes, spinach and cream. Delicious on Sourdough toast!








Disclaimer: the author will not be held liable for any ill effects resulting from misidentification of mushrooms based on this post.
                                                              

humanform.info/mushrooms/mushroom.htm
http://www.oberonaustralia.com.au/visitor-information/things-to-see-do/mushroom-picking/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactarius_deliciosus
http://www.elfram.com/fungi/fungipics_k.html

May in my garden

 Things are generally very wet and soggy in my garden in the Dandenong Range's at the moment. There is some lovely Autumn colour and foliage, lots of different forms and textures as well.

The first Narcissus has bloomed, I am not sure which species it is. I do love it's simple delicate form and its small white flowers.

Kiwi fruit vine leaves turning
a beautiful golden hue

This large male kiwi fruit vine sprawls over the water tank, and provides a screen on the side boundary fence. This winter I will be planting two female 'Hayward' kiwi fruit near by. With any luck we will finally have some fruit soon.














 
 The beautiful blue grey, green unfurling flower spikes of  Euphorbia characias subsp. 'Wulfenii'
It can be a bit weedy, but I do love it's form, colour and the textural interest it provides.

Echium 'Heroswood Blue' flowers beginning to form. It will be covered with tall candle-like spikes of blue flowers by spring. I love this plant for the drama it adds to the garden.


                      




                                                       

Self sown seedling of Mustard 'Red Giant'. I love it's deep reddish, purple, wrinkly leaves, with pale green veins, margins, and undersides it always looks great in the in Autumn and winter garden.








                   

New Radicchio trevisano leaves emerging through the mulch after an early autumn cut back of the woody flowering stem. I will cover the leaves with a terracotta pot as a blanching cloche to block out the light, this will reduce the bitterness of the leaves when harvested..

Self sown seedlings of Italian parsley and Mustard 'Giant Red'.

                                                                              

Smallest fejoa fruit in the Dandenongs

We have a very old, large Fejoa tree, it performs very poorly, each year I intend to give it a severe prune. However it is doing a marvelous job of screening out the rowdy neighbours so I end up leaving it alone. Maybe a light pruning is the compromise needed.

Bronze Dill seed heads and flowers

 The Dill in the garden has given me a months of joy this year;bronze feathery foliage in spring, towering umbels of yellow flowers all through summer, followed by masses of delicate seed heads in the Autumn.








 

Salvia ulignosa Bog sage co-exists happily in my perennial potato patch, though I think it maybe gaining the upper hand!  Its azure-blue flowers are a beautiful sight for much of the year, while also providing much needed pollinator habitat.

 Broccoli  "Green Sprouting
 calabresa"

This Broccoli ;Green Sprouting Calabresa' was planted as a seedling last spring and has been one of the main stays of the veggie garden this season. I harvested the central head in early summer, then lay the plant over on its side to promote the growth of the side shoots. I have managed to keep it going by cutting off all shoots and not letting it flower, which it would like to do during summer. It should keep me in broccoli until the next lot of seedlings mature in around six weeks time.

Physalis philadelphica Tomatillo

Too late in the season for any of the Tomatillo fruit to ripen now, I did not realise this self sown plant was there and almost weeded it mistakenly as a deadly nightshade. If it had had more encouragement it's fruits may have ripened.

 Tropaeolum majus Nasturtium

Still holding up in the cold weather, I suspect that this may be the last of the flowers for the season.











                                                              

The largest pumpkin of the season.
What more can I say!

The beautiful bronze, feathery flowers of Miscanthus sinensis 'Sarabande'

Australian garlic v's Chinese imported rubbish

  " I know for a fact that some garlic growers over there use raw human sewage to fertilize their crops, and I don't believe the Australian quarantine regulations are strict enough in terms of bacteria testing on imported produce" Henry Bell President of The Australian Garlic Industry.

 Over 90% of the garlic consumed in Australia is from China, 

Bleached, snowy white and 
void of all life Chinese Garlic

 The ‘flood’ of cheap, inferior, chemically treated garlic into Australia in the mid 1990's saw a massive decline in local production. Many farmers moved out of garlic production at the time as they could not compete with the flood of cheap  imports. China has become our largest supplier by forcing down its price through cheap labour, harsh working conditions and often substandard farming practices. 

My Local  Organic Garlic

 In China, chemicals banned in Australia are still being used to grow garlic.

Chinese garlic is whitened with chlorine and sulphur, is gamma irradiated to prevent sprouting and is also sprayed with Maleic Hydrazide to extend its shelf  life and finally, treated with Methyl Bromide and irradiated on entry into Australia.

Local Organic Garlic curing slowly in my shed

 Ethical consumerism and fair trade and 'clean' healthy food are serious considerations, which demand we ask ‘how our food is grown, at what price and who has paid the real price?’ 

In the last couple of years there has been a resurgence in the demand for Australian Garlic, as consumers are becoming aware of  where their food comes from, and how it is grown. Supply of Australian garlic is on the rise as niche growers, many of them who are organic (myself included) are popping up to meet the demand.

      

Biodynamics and a sore arm

Biodynamic Preparation 500 Last week I had my first foray into Biodynamics. The plan was to apply the famous preparation 500 to my garlic crop. The cornerstone of biodynamics is preparation 500. This is made by stuffing cow manure into cow horns, burying those horns over winter, then stirring a small amount of the fermented manure in rain water ( 25 grams of 500 in 13 litres of water for a one acre block is the recommended application rate) for an hour and spraying the resulting liquid in droplets onto the soil. The details of the stirring are important: it has to be for an hour, using the reverse vortex method, where the water is stirred in one direction until a vortex forms in the bucket - and then, when the vortex reaches the bottom, the stirring direction is reversed, creating chaos in the liquid. Again, this works on many levels, depending on who you talk to: this is either a way of attracting cosmic influences into the liquid - or just a really good way of mixing stuff up. Preparation 500 stirring vortex  Having acquired a nugget of the precious brown stuff, ( I did not stuff the cow horns myself, I just bought the end product) I waited for the right conditions; A descending moon, a misty afternoon with a high chance of rain. Things were looking promising!  I had collected the required items; a large stainless steel pot, a wooden stirrer and about 13 litres of rain water.  I approached the task with trepidation, one whole hour of stirring by hand! However, I was past the point of no return, I was committed, it had to be done.  I had suspended a wooden pole from the verandah to aid in the stirring process. With cuppa, biscuits and timer in hand I began. I started stirring using my hand and soon got into a rhythm, creating a vortex, in one direction then the other. I alternated between using my hand and the wooden post, it was a meditative process a bit like tending an open fire, my arm was sore but it was not too bad.  Then to apply to the soil, this took another hour or two. I used a brush and sprinkled the preparation over the field. I had planned to use my organic solo backpack sprayer for the job, only to learn that this was inappropriate as it is made out of plastic, it needs to be stainless steel. Only natural materials such as wood or steel are allowed to be used in any part of the process. So I sprinkled until dark and my pot was empty, it took forever and was more grueling than the stirring process. Plenty of time for reflecting about what and why I was doing all of this!!! My sore arm stirring for one whole hour It was a strange thing, it felt very medieval, a bit like a priest sprinkling holy water to protect the crop from evil spirits or something of the like. My brother said that I looked like a witch and was acting like one too. Maybe so...... 500 is used to improve soil structure and microbiological activity, it stimulates soil bacteria, which promotes soil fungi, which in turn enables  nutrient exchange between the plants roots and the soil. With any luck, I will be reaping the benefits with the 2012 garlic crop. Next thing on my list is to attempt to tackle Biodynamic Composting.