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36 Articles

With winter well and truly upon us, it’s the time of year when many of us think about planning new beds—or the whole garden—for the warmer growing season, which, let’s face it, is just around the corner. So we have a bit of a planning theme this issue with features on raised beds, creating a garden entrance and making the most of sloping sites. I have to say one of the nicest garden entrances I’ve seen in a while was in the backyard of Toni Salter, one of our gardening folk this issue. Pictured above, it was an archway formed with two heavily cropping snake bean plants. No doubt Toni has some other seasonal plant gracing it over winter. As for the most fundamental aspect of garden planning and maintenance—the soil—our backyard…

JO IMMIG Jo is an environmental scientist, photographer and writer. She has worked in the environment movement for decades and is co-ordinator of the National Toxics Network, an organisation dedicated to creating a toxic-free future. She has written many articles for magazines and is the author of two books: Toxic Playground and Safer Solutions. POP YOUR BALLOONS Nobody wants to be a party pooper but, seriously, balloons are serial killers. Deliberately released into the air at celebrations and ceremonies, or innocently tied around gateposts to signal a children’s party, balloons are up there with plastic bags and fishing gear as one of the biggest threats to marine wildlife. About 95 per cent of balloons rise up some 8500m, where they expand in the thin cold air, become brittle and shatter into spaghetti-like pieces that…

What’s hot RIGHT NOW

MELISSA KING Melissa is a horticulturist, TV presenter and writer. She has been a regular on Gardening Australia, Melbourne Weekender, Garden Angels and The Circle. She currently appears on The Garden Gurus and has launched an online show, The Gardenettes. She has written for top magazines and newspapers and is author of the book Garden Feast. TOMATOES FOR SLICING & SAUCING You might think it’s early to be talking about tomatoes, but if you live in a cooler area, then August can be a good time to get a head start with tomato seeds. Start the seeds in a greenhouse or indoors with enough heat and light and they’ll be raring and ready to be potted and planted into warm spring soil. Here are two of the best for slicing and saucing. ‘Nonno’s…

What’s hot RIGHT NOW

THE TROPICAL CHERRY

The acerola is a small fruit tree or large shrub that ticks a lot of boxes provided it’s growing in a warm climate and in a sheltered spot. It doesn’t like cold and can be damaged by strong winds, but in a warm, sheltered garden it’s a winner, with pretty pink flowers reminiscent of crepe myrtle and shiny red edible fruits that give it the common name of Barbados cherry. The common name also hints at its origins. While found in the Caribbean, it is also native to tropical and subtropical zones in Mexico, Central America and South America. In its native growing area it is a host plant for many types of butterflies. If space allows, grow acerola as an edible evergreen hedge, which can be pruned to around 2–3m high. Where…

THE TROPICAL CHERRY

The citron is part of the huge citrus family but it isn’t grown for its good looks—or even its flavour. It’s a bumpy lemon-yellow fruit with thick rind and pith in comparison to its small amount of flesh. The fruit, which is produced mainly in late winter and early spring, is about the size of an orange or small grapefruit. It’s believed to be an ancestor of the lemon. (Indeed, its English name means “lemon” in most other European languages.) The citron is native to Asia but is also grown throughout the Mediterranean. It looks inedible but the thick white pith turns out to be sweet, while the flesh is bitter. The finely chopped rind and pith can be added to marmalade or used as a candied preserve. It is widely used…

Berries that aren’t berries

These days there’s a lot of science backing claims about the health benefits of adding a variety of berries to your diet. They deliver vital vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre to your body, all while tasting luscious and being low in sugar. The joy of growing your own berry crops is that, not only will they be super fresh, organic and readily available to harvest when in season, but they also fruit quickly and can be grown in small gardens or even pots. A lot of fruiting trees and vines can take quite a few years to start producing good crops, but most Rubus species will start cropping within 15 months or so. BOTANICALLY SPEAKING … You may be surprised to find that most of the fruit we know as berries, including those in…

Berries that aren’t berries

Sweet heirlooms

For plantaholics, winter is a time for new beginnings; a season to re-evaluate your garden, rip out or transplant things that just aren’t working and establish exciting new areas. So if you’ve always dreamed of creating your own backyard orchard, now is the perfect time to do it. With so many bare-rooted fruit trees on the planting menu this season, you’ll have a whole fruit salad of varieties to choose from. I LIKE TO WATER IN BAREROOTED TREES WITH A SEAWEED-BASED PLANT TONIC TO PROMOTE STRONG, HEALTHY ROOTS AND SETTLE PLANTS INTO THEIR NEW HOME. STONE FRUITS If you plant just one apricot variety, make it a ‘Moorpark’. We had a ‘Moorpark’ apricot tree in my childhood garden, so for me there’s a real nostalgia associated with this classic apricot. I used to…

Sweet heirlooms

THE HEADACHE PLANT

Botanically known as Tanacetum parthenium (syn Chrysanthemum parthenium), feverfew is a delightful short-lived perennial growing to 60–100cm. Its bright-green foliage is deeply lobed and fern-like in appearance and has quite a pungent scent to it. The flowers appear as terminal clusters of small white, yellow-centred daisy-like flowers. They can be readily used as a cut flower and are often featured in cottage-style gardens. There is also a double white-flowering form and a golden-foliaged form. Feverfew can be easily obtained as small plants from garden centres and online. It’s also easy to grow from seed. If you let your plant go to seed it will happily self-seed in the garden. HISTORY Feverfew originated in south-eastern Europe and has now naturalised in other locations around the world, such as North America, Australia and other parts of…

THE HEADACHE PLANT

THE INSTINCTUAL PARADISE

Meet James (left) and partner Philippe, dedicated fruit growers with an impressive collection of rare fruit trees on their beautiful property at Lillian Rock, near the Border Ranges National Park in northern NSW. When they arrived there some 18 years ago, they planted a jackfruit tree. Now there are many jackfruit tree varieties producing an abundance of this unique juicy fruit that tastes like bubble-gum. About eight acres of the 125-acre property are cultivated with fruit trees and gardens. The couple buy their trees from Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery and Forbidden Fruits and also grow from seeds they have collected from various places. Here’s just a sample of what they have growing: Atherton oak, which is similar to almond; yellow, black and meme sapote; carob; lemonade; achacha, a small orange fruit from…

THE INSTINCTUAL PARADISE

THE LAND OF PLENTY

Sometimes a quarter-acre suburban block is all you need and this one in Belmont, Victoria, with its cool-to-Mediterranean climate, provides most of its occupants’ food requirements. Goshen Watts, who describes himself as a full-time dad, part-time permaculture designer and keen rock climber, also manages a micro market garden and is involved in Geelong Organic Gardeners and the Transition Towns project. He grew up in Geelong and helped his mum Julie with her vegie garden, but he got serious about gardening himself in 2006. Four years later, he embraced permaculture. “Industrial agriculture and its associated use of oil, water and chemicals is not sustainable,” says Goshen, whose colourful website Watts Permaculture is worth reading on all things organic and sustainable. “Growing your own food or purchasing locally is healthier and better for the environment and…

THE LAND OF PLENTY

Pulling up in front of Toni Salter’s neat suburban home, you’d never guess what miniature Eden lies behind the two-storey brick house. Toni started gardening when she first got married 26 years ago, so she’s pretty good at it by now—so good that her business name is The Veggie Lady. She runs general gardening workshops and offers therapeutic gardening programs in her lovely backyard in Currans Hill, southwestern Sydney, where the climate is cool temperate with hot summers. “I’ve spent the last 20 years teaching people how to grow their own produce at home and it’s really rewarding,” she says. “We all learn from each other and I always pick up tips from other gardeners attending my community classes.” Toni moved into running therapeutic gardening programs largely because of her own experience. “I’m…

JULY 2018 Winter is all about nourishing, warming brassicas and root vegetables, along with rich herbed tomato sauces. Lighten up your dishes with peas and winter greens. AUGUST 2018 Moving towards the end of our official winter, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your soil for your spring plantings and starting them from seed. New moon First quarter Full moon Last quarter When the moon is waxing from new moon to full moon, it is increasing light and drawing sap flow upwards. During the waning from full moon back to new moon, light decreases and sap is drawn downwards. This movement of sap flow has an influence on how well new plants will grow. There are four phases, each lasting seven to eight days. Sowing, planting and taking cuttings should not be done in the 12 hours…

COOL & HIGHLANDS JULY Artichoke, asparagus, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, endive, fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, lettuce, mustard greens, onion, peas, radish, shallots, snow peas, spinach AUGUST Artichoke, asparagus, broad beans, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard greens, onion, parsnip, peas, potato, radish, snow peas, swede, spinach, turnip TEMPERATE Artichoke, asparagus, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, celeriac, celery, endive, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, onion, parsnip, peas, potato, radish, rhubarb, snow peas, spinach, spring onion, sugar snap peas Artichoke, asparagus, beetroot, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, celeriac, celery, Chinese cabbage, endive, fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mizuna, mustard greens, onion, pak choy, parsnip, peas, potato, radish, rocket, silverbeet, snow peas, spinach, spring onion, sugar snap peas, turnip SUBTROPICAL Artichoke, asparagus, beans, beetroot, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, celeriac, celery, endive, fennel, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke,…

Ginkgo biloba is one of the oldest living trees. Charles Darwin called it a “living fossil” because ginkgo fossils have been found dating back to the lower Jurassic age, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Ginkgo biloba is the only species of ginkgo in existence today. Botanically speaking, it’s a unique tree; in fact, it’s so different from other modern trees that it stands alone in its own little category. It’s dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female trees. Female trees produce wrinkled, apricot-looking fruit, which produce a foul smell when they rot, so for this reason male ginkgos are the plant of choice. It’s a long-lived tree that can grow up to 25m tall but is smaller in most garden situations. When the tree is young it has an upright, rather…

TIMELESS BEAUTY

A sacred lotus in flower is a truly spectacular sight. It’s an aquatic perennial with a long and beautiful history in our gardens and consciousness. In Egyptian times the lotus flower was revered as a symbol of creation and rebirth and today it is still a sign of awakening to people throughout the world. Its flowers, fruit and foliage have even been immortalised on canvas in some of history’s greatest works of art. Broadly speaking there are two types of lotus: tropical varieties and perennial temperate ones. To look at them, you’d be hard pressed to spot the difference, but as you might expect, perennial types go dormant in the winter and pop up again in spring, while tropical varieties grow throughout the year. There are taller lotus that can reach up…

TIMELESS BEAUTY

Celeriac is a very odd-looking vegetable—it looks kind of like celery with an identity crisis. That’s because it is celery with an identity crisis! This plant is actually a variety of celery grown for its swollen root and stem (technically a bulbous hypocotyl), which has a crisp, fresh celery taste and can be eaten raw or cooked. It is also often described as a leafy turnip. The stem is packed with lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and may be useful as an anti-inflammatory. It is low GI but high in dietary fibre, so it can be used as a starchy alternative to potato. PLANTING & GROWING Celeriac is grown very much like celery. It is usually grown from seed planted in late winter, spring and early summer. It can take several weeks to…

THE CREEPER THAT NEVER SLEEPS

The choko vine is usually given little thought, care or attention, which makes it the ideal plant for a lazy gardener. Once the plant of choice to grow over the backyard dunny, today it disguises the shed or is left to spread carelessly over the back fence. If wild doesn’t work for you, it can be tamed and grown on a trellis at the back of the vegetable patch or along the boundary fence. Despite its generous growth and abundant fruit, the choko is a much-maligned vegetable. Many people dislike the flavour and texture of chokos while for some they bring back bad memories: like rabbit, chokos were used as a handy, cheap food during tough times such the Depression of the 1930s or during WWII. Even without bad childhood memories, chokos are…

THE CREEPER THAT NEVER SLEEPS

Okra is an odd-looking crop that forms on a plant related to hibiscus, mallow and cotton. It’s native to areas around Ethiopia where it has been cultivated for thousands of years. Once the flower is fertilised it forms a swollen, green, ribbed edible pod. The tapering finger-like shape of the pod gives okra its common name of lady’s fingers. When the pods are cooked they become mucilaginous or gluey, which helps to thicken as well as flavour soups, stews and Cajun gumbos. When okra flowers, its relationship to the hibiscus family is clear: the flowers look like hibiscus blooms, large and cream to yellow with red centres. As it is so attractive in bloom, this is a vegetable to grow among the flowerbeds for a splash of summer colour. The variety called…

THE ÜBER TUBER

One of the most satisfying times in the vegie garden is taking a garden fork and gently pushing it under a clump of potato plants. Lift up the fork and, as the soil falls away, you’ll discover a mass of potatoes. It is a moment to savour. Some will be large, others small, but for flavour there’s nothing as delicious as boiled, mashed or baked homegrown potatoes. Those planted now may be ready to harvest for Christmas dinner. The potato is a long-growing crop that takes four to five months to produce a full-sized harvest. Potatoes are usually planted in August but hold off in very cold and frosty areas. Frost can burn the leafy tops of potato plants, but plants generally recover if the frost is light. In a warm climate, a…

Precious petals

Peonies are among the world’s favourite flowers, but these beautiful blooms only grow really well in cool and mountain climates—even in cold areas they can be a challenge. In warm climates, admire peonies as cut flowers but don’t succumb to planting them in the garden. While there are many peony species and varieties, two types are grown in gardens: the herbaceous peony, which produces the much-loved peony bloom; and the tree peony, which is a tallish plant with a woody stem. Both have large blowsy rose-like flowers. Peonies are often called “peony roses” but they are not roses. The common name comes from the many-petalled shape of the flower and the rose-like colours of red, bright pink, pale pink, coral and white. Many herbaceous peonies also have a spicy fragrance. Popular varieties include…

Precious petals

It’s only natural

It makes sense to have a few natural remedies you can use on your poultry, but most should be viewed as a preventive rather than a treatment. The rule of thumb with poultry is that if they look ill, they’re likely to be at death’s door. A sick bird needs the best treatment possible. This may mean a visit to the vet and mainstream pharmaceuticals. Natural remedies can be very effective in maintaining good health, but no sick bird should be allowed to suffer because their owner has lofty ideals and doesn’t hold with conventional treatment. We can keep our ideals intact by maintaining healthy birds. Start with vigorous, disease-free birds and keep the flock closed. Adopting someone’s cast-offs is sure to introduce problems. Health is maintained by good nutrition. A balanced ration…

It’s only natural

Get the soil to do the work

There’s a saying: “Gardening requires lots of water, most of it in the form of perspiration.” Without doubt, digging through heavy, wet soil in cold weather can dampen any gardener’s enthusiasm, but it really doesn’t have to be that way. Gardening can be energy efficient and enjoyable if we undertake the right tasks and share the work with nature. We often overlook how amazing nature really is. Plants have been growing on this planet without human intervention for the past 460 million years, so clearly nature has evolved some rather remarkable systems to support plant growth. If we want to work with nature, we need to ask ourselves how we can support these existing natural processes that support plant growth, and leverage them for our benefit. TEAMING WITH NATURE In the ecological design…

Get the soil to do the work

Make your bed up

The case for raised beds is, in the first instance, one of simple accessibility. Just as hospital beds are adjustable up and down for the ergonomic convenience of nurses, wardsmen and other workers, a raised garden bed is easier to work on, requiring less bending and kneeling. The obvious payoff is efficiency. You can work for far longer on a raised bed without breaking your back and, if it’s wide enough, you can also sit on the edge of the bed while you work. Or have a tea break and survey the fruit of your labour. TV presenter Sophie Thomson, in her book Sophie’s Patch (reviewed last issue), makes the point that raised beds can effectively age-proof your garden: “While people are fit and active, it is easy to garden; however, as…

Make your bed up

Gardening on the edge

Whether it’s meandering hills, steep slopes or an undulating block, it’s possible to create a beautiful garden in all kinds of steep and hilly places. Sloping or hilly sites are more prone to dry soil due to exposure and water run-off diluting soil nutrients, and they can be challenging to access in order to maintain them. Whatever you grow will need to be hardy, sun-loving (unless the hill is in a shady area) and low maintenance. But, keeping this in mind, you can still grow a diverse range of edibles or ornamentals. Of course, you can also tame the hilly landscape by constructing a series of level beds terraced with sleepers, gabion walls, rocks or concrete blocks. Blooming perennials flowing over rocks make a dramatic display. Or add a multi-level deck that…

Gardening on the edge

Make an entrance

A garden entry tells a story. How you allow yours to unfold is up to you. From vintage door gates to a beautiful garden arbour, an abstract Corten entry or a pretty pathway lined with blooms, there are many different ways you can make a signature statement. So what is a garden entry? It can be many things, but essentially it’s a point of transition from one area of the yard to another or from the street to the garden. As well as creating a warm and inviting welcome, a garden entrance can serve many purposes. It can segment a space into garden rooms or highlight a focal point like a statue or piece of garden art. It can frame a space and paint a picture in broad brush strokes or in…

Make an entrance

Things to do in JULY

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES Winter can seem a chilly time to be outdoors, but the cold weather brings benefits as it reduces pest numbers and encourages deciduous productive plants to form good flowers and fruit. For a productive but trouble-free vegie patch over winter, concentrate on fast croppers like snow peas and Asian greens along with more traditional crops such as English spinach and lettuce. Keep everything growing well with organic liquid fertiliser applied weekly. Broad beans will flower and fruit once the coldest winter weather is over. In cold zones there’s still time to plant broad beans. Most pests and diseases take a break over winter, but the cabbage white butterfly may be about. Handpick and squash the green caterpillars. In areas with wet winters, also check for snails and slugs. Use traps, scatter…

Things to do in JULY

Things to do in AUGUST

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES Late winter is a changeable time. Cold spells can rapidly give way to bursts of warm, spring-like weather. Where late winter is frost-free it’s safe to plant out summer vegies, but where the weather remains unpredictable, delay planting out frost- and cold-sensitive vegies such as tomatoes until spring. To get a head start, sow cold-sensitive seeds now but move seedlings into larger pots until conditions stay warm. In frost-free zones plant basil, beans, eggplants, cucumbers, capsicums, pumpkins and zucchini. Seeds and seedlings that don’t mind the changeable weather include snow peas, lettuce, spring onions, silverbeet and herbs. In cool temperate areas there’s time to plant broad beans. Give them some support as their brittle stems are easily broken by wind and rain. In all areas plant potatoes. Use virus-free seed…

Things to do in AUGUST

FRESH AND LOCAL

In season JULY FRUITS Apples, avocados, bananas, cumquats, custard apples, dates, grapefruit, kiwifruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, nashi, olives, oranges (Navel), papayas, pineapples, pomelos, pineapp quinces, rhubarb, strawberries, tangelos VEGIES Asian greens, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, fennel, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, okra, onions, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkins, shallots (eschalots), spinach, shall silverbeet, spina swedes, sweet potato, turnips, witlof In season AUGUST FRUITS Apples, avocados, bananas, cumquats, grapefruit, kiwifruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, olives, oranges (blood, Navel), pawpaw, pineapples, pomelos, rhubarb, strawberries, tangelos VEGIES Asian greens, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, fennel, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, okra, onions, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkins, silverbeet, spinach, swedes, sweet potato, turnips, witlof SEASONAL TIP Even the Brussells sprouts haters will get a real taste for them cooked this way. Cut them in half lengthways and drizzle…

FRESH AND LOCAL

Garden to table

Images & recipes from HEALTHY THERMO COOKING FOR BUSY FAMILIES By Olivia Andrews (Murdoch Books RRP $35) Photography by Jeremy Simons Olivia Andrews is a recipe developer, food writer and stylist for some of Australia’s most prestigious food magazines and TV shows, including delicious, SBS Feast, MasterChef, Destination Flavour and The Biggest Loser. Most recently, she founded the hugely popular recipe kit delivery service, Marley Spoon. This book follows her first health-food title, Whole Food Slow Cooked.…

Garden to table

The New Pea & ‘Ham’ Soup

Introducing my lighter, fresher, quicker AND healthier take on a traditional classic pea and ham soup. How many more reasons do you need to give this version a try? The soup base can be frozen for up to six months in an airtight container and then finished off just before serving. Top the soup with feta instead of prosciutto and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock to make it a vegetarian number. Makes 4 serves Preparation time 10 mins Cooking time 10 mins INGREDIENTS • 1 leek, white part only, roughly chopped • 2 garlic cloves • 250g starchy potatoes, peeled & roughly chopped • 2 tbsp thyme leaves • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve • 1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock • 2 zucchini, thinly sliced • 500g fresh or frozen peas • 1 large handful…

The New Pea & ‘Ham’ Soup

Cauliflower Pizza

What’s not to like about cauliflower pizza? The base isn’t fragile, it’s an easy way to get more vegetables into the meal, and it tastes better than a lot of the gluten-free options I’ve tried—it’s a win-win! It’s surprising just how strong the base is, so feel free to get creative and load up the toppings. Makes 2 Preparation time 20 mins & standing time Cooking time 35 mins INGREDIENTS • 1kg cauliflower, cut into florets • 50g parmesan cheese • 1 tsp dried herbs such as oregano, Italian herbs or rosemary (optional) • 2 eggs • Pinch dried chilli flakes (optional) • Pizza sauce • 1 buff alo mozzarella ball • 1 large handful basil leaves • 200g rocket leaves METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 220°C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. 2 Chop the cauliflower in batches for 5 sec/speed 5.…

Cauliflower Pizza

Moroccan Lamb & Apricot Stew

The tartness of the dried apricots really makes this dish—their flavour goes so well with the full flavour of the lamb and all those vegies. Harissa isn’t too hot, but feel free to leave it out if you prefer. If you intend to freeze this, I suggest adding the apricots and vegies after thawing and reheating. But it will still be good, either way. Makes 4 serves Preparation time 15 mins Cooking time 1 hr 25 mins INGREDIENTS • 2cm piece ginger, peeled • 1 red onion, peeled & quartered • 1 large handful coriander, stems roughly chopped, leaves reserved • 1 tbsp ras el hanout spice mix • 1 tbsp olive oil • 600g lamb shoulder, cut into 4cm pieces • 400g pasta sauce or tinned chopped tomatoes • 1 tbsp harissa paste (optional) • 75g dried apricots, halved • 300g cauliflower, cut…

Moroccan Lamb & Apricot Stew

No-Bake Carrot Cake

This is the easiest cake because you don’t even need to turn on the oven. I often get looks of confusion when I tell people that it’s entirely raw. Not only does it taste good, but the texture is surprisingly similar to a cooked cake. In an airtight container or well wrapped in the fridge, this cake will keep for up to 5 days. Perfect with a cup of tea. Makes 6-8 serves Preparation time 20 mins & standing time INGREDIENTS • 140g walnut pieces • 750g carrots, peeled & roughly chopped • 125g almond meal • 245g (1 ½ cups) pitted dates • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg • 2 tsp ground cinnamon • 1 tsp ground ginger • 90g (1 cup) desiccated coconut • 4 tbsp sultanas • 1 cup labne • 2 tbsp maple syrup METHOD 1 Chop the walnuts for 3 sec/speed 4.…

No-Bake Carrot Cake

PLANTOPEDIA By Adrienne Barman, Allen & Unwin, $29.99 Subtitled A Celebration of Nature’s Greatest Show-Offs, Swiss-born artist Adrienne Barman’s follow-up to Creaturepedia is a beautifully illustrated compendium of 600-plus plants. Barman divides them into often-whimsical categories such as “the homebodies”, “the magical”, “the prickly” and “the stinkers”, each section featuring full-page colour cartoon drawings of the plants under discussion, all side by side in their natural habitats. There’s also an appendix on leaf shapes, a glossary of simple horticultural terms and a full index. With a minimum of text, it’s the perfect young person’s introduction to the wonderful world of flora. CIBI By Meg & Zenta Tanaka, Hardie Grant, RRP $50 Japanese cuisine is a byword for fresh and healthy, not to mention artfully presented. This attractive book is about home-style cooking as exemplified in…

PICK OF THE CROP

ORGANIGROW—ON FREE RANGE Misleading “free range” claims have led to a deep feeling of mistrust by consumers. Government standards have now set an upper limit of 10,000 birds per hectare, but this is meaningless as there’s no definition of what that means: a producer can have half a million birds in a dozen sheds, all cheek by jowl in the corner of a 50ha property. The best way to avoid bad practices is to look for certification by Humane Choice. Organic certification is also useful but beware the larger producers: they can also be misleading on their stocking densities and ranging. You can check Google Earth for the farm producing the eggs you buy, including mine. I only run around 600 chooks per hectare. If you can’t see a producer’s sheds,…

PICK OF THE CROP

COMMON NAME: SKIPPER BUTTERFLY SCIENTIFIC NAME: OCYBADISTES WALKERI SOTHIS FAMILY: HESPERIIDAE Is it a butterfly or is it a moth? Well, actually it’s a skipper and it’s grouped with the butterflies because it is diurnal (active in daylight), whereas moths are nocturnal. Yet it has a stocky, hairy body like a moth and is not as vividly coloured as most butterflies. But it’s certainly not as drab as most moths. This little cutie is also known as a dart, so named for its quick darting, jerky style of flying. This particular species, one of around 3500 in total, is common in eastern and southern Australia, especially in grassy areas. Its caterpillars like to eat the leaves of grasses, reeds and shrubs, while the adults usually feed on nectar so are pollinators, especially of…

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