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Showing 9901 - 9930 of 20128 comments

Lettuce 10 Oct, jalannie (Australia - temperate climate): how popular is this vegetable? an what seasons does it grow in?
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Asparagus Pea (also Winged pea) 09 Oct, Shelli (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): I have my first winged peas growing in my garden....seem to grow quite slowly so far ...but weather warming up now so expect them to grow faster. Mine are still at ground level....lots of photos I have seen online show them climbing.....so assume the will send up growth from middle and start to climb. I just read where it said to pick at 1
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Ginger 09 Oct, Janet (Australia - temperate climate): I bought a piece from supermarket Aus grown do I just put it in the ground whole or do I need to cut it in half , upright on its side etc first time grower all tips appreciated
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Cucumber 08 Oct, Julie (Australia - tropical climate): How can you tell when they are ready to be picked
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Cucumber 15 Oct, Tim (Australia - temperate climate): Anything above 10cm is good. Younger ones have a nice nutty flavour. leave them too long and they become a bit watery and sour.
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Strawberry Plants 08 Oct, Capt. Siphosabafazi Katamzi (South Africa - Semi-arid climate): Kindly advise, I am in in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Where can I buy strawberry seedlings?
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 07 Oct, Jen (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Hello! I'm new to gardening and excited to start a small vege garden along my fence line in a raised garden bed. I'm wanting to plant lettuce, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, basil, rosemary, silverbeet, zucchini, cucumbers and maybe strawberries. Any tips on what to/not to plant adjacent to each other would be greatly appreciated. Also, should I be adding anything to the soil (a mix of dry sandy soil and some potting mix) before I plant seedlings? Thankyou in anticipation! Jen
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 07 Dec, Tom (Australia - temperate climate): Hi Jen, This is a bit late because you are maybe 2 months into your work but I planted a similar garden in raised beds at the start of Sep/16, my first time with most of these plants. Put the strawberries in their own patch because they have different requirements to everything else and will try to invade the surroundings via their runners (stolons). Try to keep stolon production to a minimum unless you want baby plants, in which case let the runners root in separate peat cups and then cut+transplant when they look big and healthy, but not too big because they will punch through the peat and start rooting in the bed where they sit (you can use plastic instead of peat, but the peat ones go straight into the ground when you transplant). I had mediocre fruit production when the strawbs were planted last year but mega crops this year (27 plants). Don't keep them too wet, be on regular lookout for slugs, tear away old leaves which promote rotting and fruit turning, fortnightly seaweed with a splash of fertiliser for the leaves. Rosemary becomes a full-grown bush - put it where you would want a hedge and cut it back twice a year, esp after flowering, to encourage a nice full shape (it will shoot rather vertically otherwise). Rosemary doesn't need much water or fertiliser, I use some slow-release and let rain do the rest except for prolonged dry spells. Zuccs and cukes get quite large, so make sure you allow at least a foot between plants because they come on really quickly from seedling. I got fruit in about 2 months and they are still going now, don't let the fruit sit too long or they can get quite huge quite quickly, tending towards being woody. Zuccs I find can start to yellow when the flower falls off, so keep an eye on that. Also give the cukes some support to climb, otherwise they will just spread like a kind of moppy mess over the garden bed. Basil I did from seeds, they are annuals so just get a packet and put some down about a foot in front of your tomatoes, they do well as companions. The basil can get to about 1-2 feet high if really happy. Capsicums I managed 6 in two rows of 1.2 m, they are quite slender plants and don't need heaps of space like tomatoes or zuccs. These are nearby the tomatoes as they have similar requirements. I also chucked in two chilis that look very happy, consider this as you get capsicum + basil + chili + tomato in one go = a meal waiting. Lastly toms - IMO the most difficult to keep happy. They need more water and fertiliser than the other guys and get wilty more quickly in hot weather. My main tips in my second year with cherry toms is to limit the number of branches you allow, because they will get tall and thick really quickly. I planted mine 1 ft apart but they are a little too close, I'd try 2 ft next time around. You need staking or cages obviously, but in 3 months my toms have gone from 20 cm to about 4 ft, so be prepared for them to outstrip your initial heigh expectations if they are happy. If they are intermediates, they will try to off-shoot at every junction (you can see the baby shoots at the V-intersection between two existing main shoots), so pluck those away everywhere except at the top. You'll also want to thin the tom leaves out because they will get thick and happy and green, but at the expense of fruit. Also remove the lower tom leaves as they can get a bit soggy and disease prone. Buy yourself some garden twine because you'll be at it every week or two to keep the toms supported. I find the toms are quite temperamental, they are prone to yellowing and disease. Keep an eye out for caterpillars, around spring they can come without warning and start putting holes all through your leaves and fruit. I was out daily for about a week in October crushing hundreds of tiny little green caterpillars before they could decimate the plants. Also after excessive water some toms can split, so take those off the vine and refrigerate - eat quickly before they spoil. Any green toms that fall off you can put them next to bananas in the fruit bowl and they'll ripen up nicely. I find my collected unsplit toms last 1-2 weeks in the fruit bowl. Taste is beyond anything in the supermarket! That's my experience, hope it helps. Oh last thing - use good soil to start up, I was filling raised beds so I bought new soil. Next year I will rake in my first year of compost when re-doing the used beds. If you have good soil and it drains, you don't need to do anything else like sand. I used raised beds because I am sitting on clay-type soils with lots of shale under the surface = no good for veggies.
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 10 Oct, (Australia - sub-tropical climate): HI Jen, I'm not an expert, but I've been growing some veggies with various success/failure over the last 4 years in Brisbane. I think most of the plants your putting in like it moist (not soaking) with nutritious soil. Some of your plants will take full sun, but your lettuce may struggle in the jan feb sun. Seedlings are best protected a bit from the ravage of mid day sun, you might want to shade them a bit until they have established themselves. Also, some plants just seem to work better in various garden settings. If I could work out why, i'd be on gardening Australia!! ;-) If something doesn't work in your bed, keep trying with something else. Last year I literally threw in a couple of sweet potatoes onto a large area of unkempt soil. To my surprise they took and grew massive amounts of lovely potatoes. I didn't even try to do anything. Its a good idea to mulch around your plants, to keep moisture in. Good luck .
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 27 Oct, Jen (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Thankyou so much for your reply! Some great tips there.
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Asparagus 06 Oct, Margery Vosloo (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Where in or near Groblersdal can I buy asparagus plants ? It is quite hot here so do I plant them in the shade?
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Angelica 05 Oct, Alison Paulin (South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical climate): I have seeds from autumn this year, if anyone would like to come and pick them up. Apparently they don't last too long, and it would be sad to waste them. The seeds that fell from the plant have made a bunch of seedlings, that are doing really well. Gorgeous plant! I'm in Cape Town.
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Angelica 22 Oct, marinda (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Dear Alison, I am from KZN and would love to have some of your angelica seed. Please advice me how can I get from you and when will be the best time? I can't find anything in the super markets like the cherries? May be they don't supply it anymore to shops? Thank you. Marinda
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Asparagus 05 Oct, Carmela (Australia - arid climate): Which is correct, that male asparagus spears are fatter than female ones or the other way about? Thank you.
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Zucchini (also Courgette/Marrow, Summer squash) 05 Oct, Kimberly (Australia - sub-tropical climate): My husband has just got me to cut all the leaves off the ground and says this will help prevent the mould and produce better veggies - is this true?
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Pumpkin 04 Oct, rebecca (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Hi, my female flowers and small pumpkin are going brown and falling off anywhere in size from and marble to squash ball size. The plant is quite vigorous but have started getting yellow spots on the more mature leaves. have fertilized with granules with trace elements but do I need something else. it is planted in a raised bed near a brick wall.
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Pumpkin 07 Oct, bincy (Australia - temperate climate): Are their enough bees to help pollination? If the female flowers are not pollinated, this fruit drop can happen. Tou can hand pollinate them.
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Watermelon 03 Oct, kwakhe (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Water melon seeds What is the spacing in between when I planting them
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Choko/Chayote (also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton) 03 Oct, Sofie (Australia - cool/mountain climate): I live in tassie, but live on the east coast. I'm really wanting to get some chokos. Please help, thanks
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Choko/Chayote (also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton) 08 Oct, Ben (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Salamanca Fruit Market often have them if you happen to be in Hobart.
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Choko/Chayote (also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton) 04 Oct, Chris (Australia - cool/mountain climate): You can plant any chokos you get from the supermarket. We see them in Coles all the time.
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Potato 02 Oct, Bryan Urquhart (Australia - temperate climate): Told cannot grow Potatoes in Tyres how about growing in 55litre plastic garbage bins with bottoms cut out and Air holes in the sides, do not have a large area to use. Need help before time runs out, Live in Temperate Zone. PLEASE THANK YOU QUICK .
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Potato 04 Oct, Chris (Australia - cool/mountain climate): They will grow fine in bins. You don't need holes in the side. You could just make some drainage holes in the bottom instead of cutting the base right out.
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Potato 01 Oct, Gerry (Australia - tropical climate): Can I grow potatoes in my area Ingham in North Queensland, and if so what time of year.?
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Cabbage 30 Sep, Riesl (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): I'm in Limpopo valley close to Loskopdam. Can i plant drumhead from October to January.
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Chives (also Garden chives) 30 Sep, Balvinder Singh (Australia - tropical climate): Are wild chives and onion weed the same?
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Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans) 29 Sep, Lynne (Australia - temperate climate): My newly planted bush beans are being eaten by something I put pet friendly snail bait what do I do please. ?
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Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans) 30 Sep, Jim (Australia - temperate climate): I have same problem and it was earwigs.Look for them at night.
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Sunflower 28 Sep, Samantha (Australia - temperate climate): I have sunflowers but im confuse what kind of variety it is. Its flower size like my head and the flower sorrounded by small sunflowers like a crown. Just imagine a big sunflower sorrounded by small sunflowers in the tip of petals
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Sunflower 02 Oct, Josie (Australia - cool/mountain climate): I have had the same when I harvested the seeds from the King sunflowers from the season before and planted them. They look mutant !
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Showing 9901 - 9930 of 20128 comments

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