Member's Gardens > Stories from the One Acre Plot > Part 7 October 2006
by Phil Ryan

I didn’t realize just how much “the big dry’ had got to me. What with all the media coverage pounding away day and night it’s no wonder I was feeling down. The plot was drying out and I knew it was beyond my efforts to save it. Five years of hard work and trying to protect and drought-proof all the various shrubs and trees would be lost. Nothing short of some good, steady rain – several inches – to soak into this dried out land, plus a week of overcast, mild, soft days to keep the moisture in the ground and in the air, would turn things around. But it could come too late to save the plot.

Then the miracle happened. On Wednesday, 30th August 2006 the rains came – three beautiful days of rain, completely out of the blue and totally unexpected for this time of the year. The plot received nearly three inches over those three days and, better still, the following week was overcast with lots of heavy rain clouds and the air was so thick with moisture you could just about cut chunks of it with a big knife. What a relief it was to have the pressure-valve eased. It was so uplifting to be able to throw off this dark mood of despair and pending loss. You would swear that I had an extra two motors in my body. This rainfall bonus was better than winning the lottery. Talk about being excited, I got giddy just thinking about all the jobs that were now possible to do before the really hot weather arrives in November. One of the hardest lessons I have to learn is to discipline myself. Start a job and finish it and don’t get side-tracked, because every which way you look you see yet another job, another challenge, another mouth to feed, another weed to pull before it starts to seed. The list of temptations is endless. There is so much to do and I’m learning that the best way is to simply complete one job at a time. It’s a hard lesson for me to keep learning!

Four of my Mary Washington asparagus crowns have burst forth with some amazing growth, so it all looks very promising. But the best news is my success with the tree paste. Remember earlier in the year I wrote about making up this highly nutritious tree paste and painting it onto the trunks of my various fruit trees? Well, I did the job in mid August. I didn’t paint all of the fruit trees as I wanted to make a comparison just to see if this magic potion really did work. I painted some pawpaws and mangos, but mostly citrus, plus two avocado trees that were looking the worst for wear with this drought. The ‘you beaut Phil’s tree paste’ went on reasonably well. I kept adding some liquid seaweed to thin it out. The finished job came up very blackish looking, so it was easy to tell which trees had received the beauty treatment. Well, about a fortnight later I was doing my rounds of the plot ‘shadowing’ my plants, and there for all to see and marvel at – gosh almighty! It worked! It really worked! All the plants that received a painting with this ‘you beaut Phil’s tree paste’ were positively glowing with radiant – incredible, but true – growth! The comparison was there easy for anyone to see! Next year I’ll paint every tree! This paint formula is the new ‘viagra’ pill for all trees and shrubs. World copyright pending!!

As to ‘the further adventures of the green manure exercise’, you’ll recall I was very keen to try this experiment and so enhance the fertility of the soil in the Rosella patch. Well, about the only pleasure I got out of that exercise in futility was to observe the variety of migratory birds which flocked yet again to dine out on this Italian rye grass seed. All the obstacles I put up to try and stop them from eating the seed failed. Hungry birds and wildlife are no match for my puny efforts. It was like using a feather duster against an elephant. Ah, well, I’ve got that idea out of my system. It seemed a good idea at the time.

Pinching out the flowers and tiny fruit off the young fruit trees is a sad and sorrowful task for me. They all look good and healthy and so full of life it seems such a terrible waste and it hurts to have to do it, but its paramount in protecting the health, stamina and well being of these young fruit trees. Its good gardening practice and essential if you want to enjoy good quality fruit and have a healthy, robust fruit tree in the future. Next year it will be their third year and then all will be revealed as to how good a fruit each tree can produce.

That’s one of the important lessons I am learning on my journey into the world of organic gardening. You need lots of blind faith and trust in the future in this gardening business. Understanding the how and why takes time and building up a bank of worthwhile experiences takes patience, which has to be one of the great cornerstones to understanding the love and joy of gardening. It’s a very precious gift and, as the Chinese proverb says, “nature, time and patience are the three great physicians”.

Angela Davis, BOGI’s hardworking seed bank Director, received a surprise windfall seed purchase from me recently. I purchased eleven packs of Rosella seeds from her seed bank. Yes, I know I have stated previously that each year I religiously save the seed from my best producing tree of that season and I did do all the required actions – bagging the dried seed pods and hanging the bag in a dark, dry place. Time to do a spot check on these little darlings to see how many had opened and shed their precious seed. Nothing. Not a single seed to be found. What I did find was a neat hole in the paper bag. A very hungry, adventurous rat was hungry enough to climb onto the rope holding the bag that was slung over the roof beam in my tool shed. It would have had to have crawled down the rope to start chewing into this three ply thickness brown paper bag to get to my precious seeds! Lesson Number One: NEVER use a large, solid looking paperbag that has had sugar bagged in it previously. No matter how many times you checked that there was no sugar left in that bag, it’s the smell of sugar that still permeates the used sugar bag! The Rosella seeds would have been the main course and dessert would have been the licking of the inside of the bag. Ah! That’s the taste of real sugar! So, next time I’ll use a brand new bag and then, after sealing it, I will put it in a large tin which will have one of those annoying child proof, hard to jolly get off lids. Oh! By the way, can rats use tin openers?

I’m keen to try out ‘the pestguard bag’ that Green Harvest have produced and that John Box is selling at the BOG Shop. It could just be the ideal protection I’m looking for to protect my fruit from fruit fly and lots of other predators. The bag is 30cm x 30cm with an attached tie. The white see-through, gauze-like fabric, which has a 20% shade factor, lets in air, water and foliar based fertilizers so you don’t have to remove the bag when you are spraying. It’s a light weight, spun, bonded polypropylene that is UV stable and, best of all, I can see through it, unlike the paper bag, so it will be so much easier to monitor the growth of the fruit and how fast its ripening. Another plus with this bag is that it should give me a few years of productive use, be it on the tomatoes, capsicums, mangoes, pawpaws and every other fruit that I can bag and save.

With such a short winter this year I had trouble getting my cauliflowers to set. Everything else about the plant was good – too good, in fact. So, I asked Vic Calthorpe what he thought my problem was. “Too much growth in the plant’s leaves. Strip off 30%, bend over a few leaves to protect the flower and you should get a result.” Thanks, Vic. By the way, Vic has agreed to be the BOGI veggie Judge at this year’s Fair. Tall, handsome, full bearded, he will cut a very imposing fine figure of a Judge. He and John Box would be two of the most knowledgeable and experienced gardeners you could ever wish to meet and now is your chance. See them at their respective stalls at the Bogi Fair. Its not in their nature or their DNA to not want to help you solve a garden problem, especially if you have just bought something from them! The best time I find to ask a question is when they are handing out your change – you’ll have their undivided attention!!

Good luck and happy gardening.