Member's Gardens > Stories from the One Acre Plot > Part 9 December 2006
by Phil Ryan

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with the delightful garden maestro, Annette McFarlane. I was asking her about the sort of damage that stink bug beetles can do to your plants as I had been inundated with the pest, plus another black beetle with a shiny green coloured underbelly, which can move very quickly when detected.

Annette said that this black beetle, like the stink bug, is a sap sucker which feeds mainly on young leaf growth, especially those new leaves on citrus, but to be extra careful if you pick and squeeze one of them as they can squirt you and if this liquid gets into your eyes it will be very painful. The damage these sap suckers do is not always readily apparent, but the hard evidence is there in a few days time as the young, tender growth starts to die. Annette said that when she is out and about in her garden ‘shadowing’ her plants she packs a small, loaded gun on her hip! Its full of white oil and, as quick as lightening, she draws and zaps these sap suckers right between the eyes! So, as of right now, I, too, will pack a loaded spray gun of white oil and do what Annette advises! But, a word of warning, DON’T spray white oil on meyer lemons or cumquats as they will drop all their leaves. I did one year and got one heck of a shock. So much to learn I’ll need several lifetimes to take it all in!

The amount of seed pods on the three year old Queensland wattle has this shrub groaning with the sheer weight of numbers. I have never, ever, seen a shrub so fully loaded with seed pods. So, my antenna took notice. Mother Nature was saying something. Just what, I don’t know yet. In the meantime, however, the birds are having a feeding frenzy on this seed. The king parrots and the white cockatoos are the most regular visitors. It takes a lot to stop me doing this, that and the other, but everything stops as I stand and look in absolute awe at just how truly beautiful are these ‘king’ parrots. How fitting and so aptly are they named. I hope the birds will hurry up and finish off this food bonanza as I want to prune the wattle by about a third, but then again I’ll miss their presence. The branches I prune will be used to create a coarser mulch to cover the compost and mulch that is already around the fruit trees and which, I hope, will deter somewhat the attention and activities of the bandicoots and scrub turkeys. One can only live in hope.

All the various swales, trenches and ditches that I have put into The Plot since I first started this organic garden have all borne the best results. The unseen flow and the amount of water that is trapped underground and working its way right through the whole area of The Plot is truly amazing, especially when you consider this is the fifth year of a horrible drought and one of the worst in living memory. And here I am blessed with a bumper crop of beautiful pawpaws. They, like the other trees, must be getting their water from this source as they only get a limited amount from me. However, I spray all these trees on a regular basis with a variety of sprays – fish emulsion, seaweed, comfrey tea, worm juice – anything that will give them a good feed and keep them healthy.

Peter Sauer’s (BOGI’s fruit tree expert) advice re pruning passion fruit vines has proved a winner for me. Select one of the vine’s main stems. Follow it back to its base and cut it. Wait a week and you will see the dying parts of the vine, which are then very easily removed. It’s a very simple, time-saving idea, and most successful. So, thanks Peter. My passion fruit are into their second fruiting this year with lots of flowers and fruit, which will make a very welcome addition to our Christmas fare this year. Oh, by the way, NEVER prune a passion fruit (or just about anything else) on a full moon. It could very easily bleed to death, as the water table level in the ground is raised by the drawing power of the full moon. Think ‘high tides on the full moon’ – so the best time to prune is on a waning moon.

I’m late planting this year’s rosella crop. In past years I have tried to plant out the seedlings before the end of September but, as mentioned in last month’s article, I had my slight set-back with my precious seeds. Sadly, it’s a November planting this year, so I’ll have to keep a close watch on these seedlings and nurse them through any bouts of blistering hot weather that may come our way. Also, October saw my energy tank running on nearly empty following my involvement in the wonderful BOGI Fair. Which reminds me of the little ditty:-

People spend their health to gain their wealth.
They toil, they work, they slave.
Then they spend their wealth to regain their health.
And all they get is the grave.

Another challenge for me has been to put all my pot plants into white foam boxes. I first put some drain holes in the bottom of the boxes, then a layer of wet newspaper, followed by about 10cm of sawdust. Lastly, in went the plants in their pots. Come watering time the water drains through the pots and it wets the sawdust and so keeps the very bottom of the pot moist. The difference in the plants has been quite amazing. They love the effect of this moisture yet they’re not sitting in water, which would rot their roots. They don’t dry out as quickly as they did previously and I’m saving both on time as well as precious water, which is a real bonus for me. Another thing I’ve found is to avoid trying to put too many pot plants in the one box. It’s far wiser to give each pot plant a little extra space and not jam it up against the next pot. By doing this you create the all important air flow around your plants. They can then breathe in their own un-crowded space. This action will also hopefully negate any fungal problems.

With the warmer weather, the growing season for the cassava plants has arrived. Apart from several plants in the ground, I have several growing in large pots. I have placed a house brick in the bottom of these pots to stabilize the plants as they grow to some two metres or more tall. These potted cassavas then make great shade barriers for protecting young plants from the full force of a hot summer’s day. All I have to do is position the pot of cassava on the western side of the young plant to ensure it doesn’t get scorched by the hot sun. Tapioca, of course, comes from the cassava root. Cassava stands up very nicely to the drought conditions, has deeply lobed leaves not unlike the shape of the pawpaw or the fig leaf, and these leaves combine to make a thick canopy of solid, protective shade. It is also great to add to the compost heap, can be used as a cut and drop mulch, and the chooks love it too.
The other welcome arrival for this period of really hot weather is the Ceylon spinach creeper. I have just potted up some seedlings that had self sown from last year’s crop. Its timing is perfect as this plant can take the place of lettuce for salads over the really difficult summer months. This plant is also known as Ceylon salad leaves and Malabar spinach. To me its taste is nothing like the taste of spinach. We, like others before us, simply call it ‘Ceylon greens’ and it is stacked full of vitamins and minerals. It will grow well in a large pot or in just about any type of soil. It’s happy when it can climb, so, with a pot, put in a couple of stakes tee-pee fashion and away it will go. It doesn’t require a lot of water and can take full sun. By nipping out the tips of the runners it will send out more side shoots and thicken up into a really healthy, bushy plant which can be harvested daily. The more you pick, the better it likes it.

Talking about salad greens, a friend’s son refers to them in a most distasteful manner. He calls them ‘rabbit food’. I was able to point out to him just how fit and healthy rabbits are; they have energy to burn; they always look slick and sharp; live contented lives; and get on extra well with the lady rabbits.

May your smile linger longer and your eyes dance with joy as you remember the good times of yet another year of being a gardener.

Merry Christmas!