Member's Gardens > Stories from the One Acre Plot > Part 3 June 2006
by Phil Ryan

Vic Calthorpe, a Life Member of BOGI, has been a fount of information and a great mentor to both Marg and myself in our journey to understanding the forces of nature and how we tempt nature when we embrace the organic world of gardening.

“Vic, I’ve got this terrible problem with bandicoots and scrub turkeys.”

I had prepared the ground for my very first planting of rosellas with the best of the best compost, worm castings and fertilizer. I had lovingly planted the young plants at the going down of the sun and had gone home tired and sore, but elated by the thought that these would be good plants, strong and healthy, and would bear lots of fruit. A soak in a bath with some Epsom salts, followed by a good night’s sleep, took care of the aches and pains, and I was up at first light the next morning and off to the plot with a list a mile long of things I wanted to do that day. My first chore each day is to feed the chooks, followed by checking out all the various plants. As one of my teachers, Jade Woodhouse, says, “Observe. Observe. Observe.” And, you know, she’s absolutely right. It’s amazing just how much you can learn about your plants by doing this one simple thing.

Well, hardly a Rosella plant was left standing. They had been up-rooted, tossed to one side with ruthless abandon. All the compost, the covering mulch – the whole area was dug up.

“You see, Phil,” said Vic. “The more you enrich the soil with compost and worm castings, the faster the worms will breed. BUT, in effect, you have erected a neon sign flashing a message to every bandicoot and scrub turkey for miles around to ‘come eat at Phil’s garden where the worms are big and succulent and the blood and bone tastes pretty good too’.”

It was a harsh lesson to learn, but now when I plant out I think about how to protect that plant and act accordingly.

I strike the seeds during the first days of September using seed trays with independent cells. I wash the seeds in a bowl of water. Any that floats after a few minutes I get rid of. Then, while the good seeds are soaking, I make up a seed mixture of one part washed river sand, one part sieved compost, one part perlite. Mix it well and then put this mixture into the cells. Follow this up by giving the whole lot a good soaking. I spread the seeds out on wet newspaper and try and put one only in each cell. Just lay it on top of the mixture. Then I have a jar with dry sand in it and the lid is full of holes – my sand shaker! A light sprinkle of sand over the seeds and that’s it! My mate Mother Nature takes over. (Make a note on your calendar now if you want to grow hardy, tough, drought resister Rosellas.)

The trick I have learned which works for me with growing a successful crop of rosellas is that they love compost – lots and lots of it. So, I dig a hole approximately 40cm deep and some 60cm in diameter, making it into a dish shape with a high rim of soil. I then water this and add a cup of blood and bone, two cups of Organic Extra and then more water. All of this is at the very bottom of the hole, and I mean the bottom. I then back-fill the hole with a rich compost, put in a wooden stake and, once more, another watering. This is now ready for my seedling. Meanwhile, I give my seedlings, which are ideally about 20cm tall, a good soak in a Maxicrop seaweed solution prior to planting. They are then ready for planting. I follow up the planting with a good watering with worm castings. These two steps help to allay transplant shock and give the seedlings a great start. Don’t give them any more water for a good week or more. Keep testing with you’re your finger around the plants and if the soil is moist, leave it alone. Rosellas don’t like wet feet, so don’t over water them or they’ll die. Most young plants die of over watering. When the seedlings grow and the roots hit the fertilizer on the bottom they really take off. My plants can be 2 ½ metres tall and over 1 ½ metres in diameter.

This year’s rosellas have been a good crop in spite of the drought. I planted just over a hundred bushes, using seeds from my best bushes last year.

Being able to accept all the good things and the not so good in this new career of organic gardening is directly related to the amount of personal stories that I have read in various books and magazines over the last five years. The encouragement, first-hand experience, together with the support and friendship of a lot of kind and considerate people has been wonderful and, on reflection, I can’t believe my good fortune. So, now it’s my turn to pass on some of what I have learned and that works for me. Believe me, I’m no expert – just a willing learner. And I love it!