what are you growing and where?

[paradisi]

I know there's an old thread - about 12-18 months old - so I thought I'd start another one.

We live at Dicky Beach on the Sunshine Coast. The climate is sub-tropical, a wet winter and supposedly dry summer. It's the equivalent of the USA zone 10ish. No frosts and the lowest temp we get is normally 8 celcius on a few winter nights. We have our little place and a duplicate granny flat out the front for my old mum.

The total garden area in our part (and a bit of the nature strip) is between 280-300 square metres.

Here's what we are growing, sorry I don't know the varieties of many of the plants because I got interested in planting before I got interested in what I'm planting:

Lychee
Custard apples - two from seeds
fish tail palm - remnant of the old garden, over ten metres tall
stag horn fern - very large - saved from a demolition site
various mosquito breeders - bromeliads
monsteria deliciosa
cycads
mary mckillop native thingy that sandra bought - a callistomen
valencia orange
mandarin - from seed
lemon - eureka??
yakon
sweetsop
soursop
red grapefruit
grapes - red globe and pinot noir
theobroma cacao
salacca edulis
mango - from seed
ice cream bean tree
kafir lime
pawpaw
nectarine
calamondin
several magnolia
mock orange
jabacotiba
grumichama
peanut butter tree
several roses
cumquat
feijoa
olive
passionfruit
granadilla
noni
pineapples - the shop bought variety and the red
several camelias and gardenias
native gardenia
many ferns (old garden remnants)
a couple of pencil pines (garden remnant)
stone pine
taro
sweet potato
pumpkins (jap)
lady finger bananas
blue java bananas
several frangipani
budhhas hand citrus
seville orange, blood orange, lemonade citrus from seed
bush lemon
native citrus - citrus australasica I think - again seed grown
loquats
norfolk pine (going next christmas, getting too big to hang christmas lights on)
avacado - hess seed
lemon myrtle
cardamom
several palms - gifts we just couldn't throw out
a perrenial mini egg plant
perrenial capsicum - looks like a scotch bonnet chilli, but very mild unless you eat the seeds
black chilli - perennial
and the fruit and veg - several varieties of tomatoes, lettuces, chinese vegetables, silverbeet, and beetroot,
the herbs - chinese five spice, ceylon spinach, thyme, oregano, several types of basil and mint, gotu kola,
and twenty or thirty other things growing that I don't have a name for yet - mostly saved from the garden before I built our little system.

There's chooks - they have two runs - a small one about 10 square metres around the lychee and custard apples, and the larger 60 square metre run around most of the citrus.

I know I will have forgotten some, but I'll find them when they fruit. I'm mad for collecting fruiting plants and currently have too many on order and most are too tropical for this area, but I try them to see how they go.

The theobroma cacao is struggling, but the salacca edulis seems to enjoy its piece of garden. I've got some mangosteen, kindang maprang and jendik (Baccaurea polyneura) seeds coming to see how they grow here.

One fruit I'd really like to try and get hold of is the borojoa patinoi - I know it's very tropical but I like to try things out of zone. If you've got any coming into seed and would like to help, please pm me - - It may take a while before I can convince customs all is ok with these, there's a 10 page form to fill in because they've never heard of them yet.

So - what do you have on your property??

[Cosmic]

In what way is the cacao struggling? How old is it? Is it in the ground? Do you have any pics of it? I am trying to grow it myself.

[paradisi]

the leaves are browing and falling off and it's barely grown since I planted it last year. It's about 30cm tall.

No pics at the moment.

Just checked it - all the leaves have come off in the blow we had last night so I'd say it's an ex-theobroma.

[memyselfiau]

Here I am in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, 200k east of Melbourne. - coal mining, power station area.
I have just restarted my garden, having spent a little time moving, deciding where to move, deciding not to move again...
I got excited and bought a whole lot of seed on ebay for things I have often wanted and had trouble getting, and other things I never heard of before.
I got some bushfoods and several interesting herbs, as well as a variety of tubers and leafy greens.
Today, I sowed seed for tomatillo, 2 types of tomato, elderberry, goldenberry, and wild strawberry. Will sow more later this week.
I have been digging over and weeding the bed used by the little children last year for their 'picking tomatoes' and strawberries, and have tidied up the espaliered apple and olive trees.
I have also planted out queensland arrowroot (don't know how it will do, but who knows?), oca, perrenial leeks and yacon. I have potted up a couple of pepino, so I can move them to shelter next winter.
Wow, it sounds good!! and looks better. I also have the third of a group of ongoing compost bins starting to fill. I rent in town, so no chooks, but I am planning to get guinea pigs shortly.
lots of fun, and the weather is encouraging.
We used greywater last summer, so the ground is really ready for planting, lots of worms and nice and dark.
Sally

[rhancock]

Gosh, thats a very impressive list!

My list is a little smaller, although I'll put the chooks at the top of the list- eggs are the only thing we are really self sufficient in.

Other than that, I've got:

potatoes
tomatoes
salad leaves - rocket, mustard greens, pak choi,
beans
pumpkins
sweet potato
broccoli
NZ spinach
shallots
lemon
grapefruit

and I'm not going to include the 100 year old mango tree, although I am nurturing some self seeded saplings.

My mother in law suggested we plant a mulberry tree, anyone in SEQ have any experience?

[JoanVL]

Break off a woody twig from a nice mulberry tree and stick it in the ground. With some water it should grow. BUT, best not to put it where squashed mulberries won't be appreciated, eg hanging over your neighbours place. If it overhangs an old wonky iron roof, dropped mulberries could ferment in puddles and make birds drunk (honest - it happened at our last place)
It also brought out the worst in my (then) 8 year old lad. He decided squashed mulberries looked like blood, and used them to make realistic battle scenes with his plastic toy soldiers. Years later I was still digging up mutilated bits of plastic soldier.
But I like a nice mulberry pie: I can't grow rhubarb here - a soul food from my native Yorkshire - so I make do with mulberries.

[rhancock]

Thanks for the tip. I just need to find a mulberry tree! I don't think I could remember what they look like, although I spent a lot of my teens romancing girls under a mulberry tree allegedly planted by Shakespeare!

I miss rhubarb too! We used to pick it growing wild from old allotments when I was a child.

I was planning to plant it in an open area in the chook run. My only real worry is whether it'll grow too big, but I figure by the time the mulberry is big, the mango will be dead and gone, so I think it'll be ok.

[Cosmic]

In Brisbane south e/w. House block about 700m2
Started it about or just over two years ago at the beginning of severe water restrictions. It has had a bad impact on the growth rate and many plants have been lost. We get a water tank any day now. Ordered it over a month ago.
The front yard is a dry zone as we figure to have everything requiring minimal water in one place.
Have a herb spiral. It's kind or empty as it was recently rebuilt. The very back is the orchid and chookpen combined.
The plants curently growing in the yard are:

two olive trees
Several coffee trees
chocolate vine
artichoke
fennel
eggplant
sweet potato
roses(I use them in my garam masala)
raspberry(I hope it comes up or it has died again!)
elderberry(trying to make a hedge out of it and wine later,mmm)
yam(hopefully the dieoff is normal right now?)
curry leaf tree(I propagate these)
mydjim
citron(buddhas hand-the feature plant on top of the herb spiral. )
cinnamon
various common herbs
neem
lemonade
lemon meyer
blood orange
common orange
lime tahitian
kafir lime
galangal
davidson plum
comfrey
finger lime
round bush lime
quandong(still very small as i grew from seed)
wattle seed
ginder
tumeric
icecream bean
cotton
apple
fig
bay tree
candlenut
pea eggplant on the way
spagetti squash
sugarcane (black)
black bamboo
pineapple guava
lemon myrtle
cherry guava
comquat
wax jambu
kang kong
lotus
two types watercress
bunyas(in pots)
cardomon
taro

other little things too

Wow, writing it our makes it look like a jungle. It dosen't look like that at all though. It looks sparse and dry(except for right now after the rain). I always feel like the garden is getting nowhere fast. We still aren't eating dinner from it. I am going to try hard for veges this spring with the water tank. The last year has just been using watering cans to try and keep what we have alive.
I will take a photo maybe this weekend.
We have a before photo with makes me feel like a difference has been made.
I have probably missed a couple of plants.
The plan is for the yard to eventually be a self sowing food forest. We hope to keep this property even if we aren't living in it and rent it to people who want to live in a food forest.
We hope to be out of the city but still take care of this property every now and then but this is a long way off.
I didn't expect to write this much but you can talk about your garden forever.LOL.

[cathy]

I am impressed by the huge range of trees you have in such a small area paradisi. We only moved here about a year ago so we are in a slow build up phase - trying not to overdo it and find we can't manage. We are on a bit over 7 acres, but only about 1 acre of grounds - the rest is under avocado trees that are part of our neighbour's commercial orchard. We are not as far north as you, so our climate is between temperate and sub-tropical. Dryish, mild winters (but hopefully cold enough for our low chill deciduous fruits) and warm, humid summers). Main worries are fungal/mildew problems due to humidity, caterpillars and fruit fly. We are contemplating building a fully netted enclosure around our soft fruit trees, but until then we plan to bag the fruit at least in this, their first year since there may be none anyway!)

So far we have:

Fruit Trees:
Avocadoes (pre-existing mature trees)
Orange (pre-existing large Valencia, 1 yr old Navel)
Lemon (1 yr old Eureka)
Lime (1 yr old Tahitian)
Peach (new)
Apple (Fuji, Pink Lady, new)
Plum (Santa Rosa, Mariposa, new)
Almond (self-pollinating papershell, new)

Perennial/long lived:
Asparagus (some 1yr ago, another lot just planted - all 2yr old crowns)
Capsicum
Chillis various
Eggplant
Cape Gooseberry (Ground Cherry)
Strawberry
Coffee (from seed - tiny and till in pots)

Herbs:
Rosemary
Fennel
Dill
Basil
Oregano
Pineapple Sage
Thyme
Stevia
Garlic Chives
Coriander
Lemon Balm
Mint
Peppermint
Ginger
Lemongrass

Annual Vegies:
Tomatoes
Spinach
Silverbeet
Beetroot
Broccoli (Sprouting and heading)
Chick peas
Broad beans
Pak Choy
Rocket
Corn (planned for this spring)
Pumpkin (butternut)
Zucchini (last year - terrible powdery mildew problems...)

Water Plants:
Water Chestnut (just planted - experimental)
Water Cress (well... just about to sow to put in with water chestnut)

Currently no animals. We have talked about chooks, but one of our neighbours keeps them and we get eggs cheap or swap for veggies. We are also a bit reluctant about the responsibility for animals if we go away etc. (If a tomato plant dies when you go on holidays it's sad, if a chook dies it's cruelty!) But we will - it's just not at the top of our list right now. No pets - but many welcomed visitors. A group of wallabies who graze our grassy areas (and fertilize it for us). Many, many birds who come to the water bowl and the grevilleas. And a skink who lives in our lounge room.

Well, that ended up being longer than I had expected!
Cheers
Cathy

[caldera]

wow, very inspiring

i would love to see pictures

I have moved back home to our family nursery where i grew up to learn the art of growing food, propagating fruit trees, planting seed, ecological restoration and environmental activism

Kyogle has sub-tropical climate, yet we get frost and just had a really cold one last month (minus 7) http://picasaweb.google.com/pdaley33/FrostJuly2007

the rainfall has been below average for about 15 years, but I reckon the Border Rangers has kept the clouds bringing water in, as the river has never stopped and the dams have never gone empty

we live on the Richmond river and have 3 Dams and our neighbour has a really big dam that we could rely on if need be.

The soil is alluvial chocolate yum-yum, haven't done soil tests, it has good structure and smells so tastey at the moment i nearly ate some today!

we prepared our orchard by deep ripping and mounding + set up hail netting ... it lies on a slight north-east slope which gets good light from the sun

after this last week of rain, the soil is bouncing with life and the frogs are singing songs of delight. the birds are out and about again, and the sea eagle flew by this afternoon to remind me of the vision/bigger picture of life, the universe and everything.

In the Orchard:

on the south western side we have our sub-tropical/evergreen trees which all got absolutely frazzled by the 19th of July Frost, they are big enough that most of the hardier ones will shoot back

stuff like the santol, tamarillo's, star apples, ect are not looking good.

only time shall tell

* my favourites

Avocado's
Acerola *
Atherton Rasberry
Babaco
Bay Tree
Black Sapotes
Boysenberries *
Brazillian Cherry
Canistel
Capulin Cherry
Carambola *
Cherimoya
Cinnamon
Custard Apple's
Dragon Fruit
Feijoa's
Governors Plum *
Green Sapote
Grumichama's *
Guava Mexican Cream *
Jaboticaba
Jaboticaba Yellow
Jackfruit's
Kerriberry *
Longon *
Loquat *
Lychee
Mamey Sapote
Mango's
Miracle Fruit
PassionFruits
Paw Paws *
Peanut Butter Fruit
Rasberry *
Rollinia
Santol
Sapodilla
Star Apple
Sweetsop
Tamarillo
Wampee *
Wax Jambu
White Sapote

and on the north-eastern side we have the Deciduous Fruit Trees, some of which are in full flower atm (the plums look absolutely magical at night time with a lamp, when all the insects are silently going about their lives)

Apple's
Apricot's
Blueberry's *
Cherry
Mulberry's
Grapes
Kiwi Fruit's
Fig's Chestnut
Nashi *
Peach's
Peachcot
Persimmon's
Plum's
Pomegrante's
Pear's

plus we have lots of Pecan Tree's that are fed by our poo and wee

Next to the Orhard is my new garden which I have been preparing over winter and planting over the past week.

This area is about 25x10 meters and i aim to grow as much of everything as i can, I have created raised beds and with the soil that is mixed with Kikuyu grass i am mounding it and adding cow poo and covering black plastic to rot down ready for planting.

Oregano
Silverbeet
Curry Tree
Lemon Grass
Strawberry's
Marigolds
Nasturtium
Basil
Tomato
Chili (Cayenne)
Beetrot
Parsley
Brahmi
Curry Leaf
Climbing Bean
Sunflower
Coriander

And my old garden (which my pop grew vegies in most of his life), is on the other side of the nursery near my parents house

In this Garden I have

Beetroot
Celery
Yacon
Dwarf Peach
Cucumber
Corn
Carrot
Ginger
Lettuce growing wild
Bok Choi
Pak Choi
Snow Peas
Silverbeet rainbow
Spinach
Cauliflower
Finger Lime
Paw Paw (frosted)
Babaco (frosted)
Chili's (Frosted)
Cabbage
Asparagus

And spotted about the place, around the nursery and around my folks house is:

Ceylon Hill Gooseberry
Dwarf Lilly Pilly (not so yummy)
Giant WaterGum (syz. francisii)
Blue Lilly Pilly (syz. oleosum)
Brush Cherry (syz. australe)
yummy lilly pilly's include
Riberry (syz. luehmanii) and
Syzygium "Cascade" (Super frost hardy) mix between Luehmanii x wilsonii
Midjim Berry's
Cedar bay cherry (surived -7 frost : )
Blue Flax Lilly (Dianella Caerulea)
Native Tamarind
Davidson Plum
Macadamia's
Cherry of the Rio Grandé
Olive's
Mango (severe frost damage)
Loquat
Casava
Bunya Nut
Walking Stick Palm
Native Ginger

Native Figs that grow on the riverbanks include Ficus obliqua, Ficus superba, Ficus coronata and i have eaten morton bays before, Ficus Macrophylla ... all are edible, the yummiest being coronata and obliqua. in one small area, 3 different species of fig have strangled some Black Tea Treas, and it is a beautiful place to get grounded and just "be". the birds love it too


Creek Lilly Pilly, Native rasberry and Plum Pine also grow on the richmond river, both of which I have appreciated eating

We have also got some old citrus trees spotted around the place and a new Citrus Orchard was planted out last year.

It's a big long list, yet some of these trees rarely get fruit as we are always getting bud-wood and cuttings from them, and the frost has knocked us back a bit. having said that, there is ALWAYS something to eat in the orchard.

In my new garden i aim to grow as many different species of edible or medicinal plants as i can possibly fit, plus some chickens when i get around to making another pen.

next year i hope to cycle up to Borneo and taste some of the tropical delights that grow in one of the worlds oldest eco-systems, of course i will stop by tropical north qld and do some woofing.

Great time to be alive, challenging, exciting and abundant times.