Getting into Bush Tucker

pic: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

Apart from gaining a great tasting harvest, growing an Australian Bush Tucker Garden will help provide food and shelter for local wildlife. These plants are naturally suited to the local environment and so will generally need less watering, no or very little fertiliser and not much in the way of soil improvement. Eaten and used by Indigenous Australians for centuries as a food source and in some cases as a medicinal aid, it is only fairly recently that these powerhouses of flavour and goodness have been considered as a regular addition to the home garden by most. Some plants, like Lily Pilli, Davidson Plum and Lemon Myrtle have enjoyed wider spread moments of popularity but there is so much more to discover and a whole banquet of Bush Tucker that you can plant and cultivate at your place to bring life to the environment as well as your table. Here is a sample of the plants that you can grow at your place right now. For more information I highly recommend the classic: ‘Wild Food Plants of Australia’, Tim Low and for a complete growing, buying and cooking guide, ‘First Nations Food Companion’, Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan is brilliant. 

Warrigal Greens (Tetragonia tetragonioides)

Eat as you would English spinach but raw it can be a little bitter for most so blanch first. The tiny flowers are also edible and look pretty sprinkled on baked goods. Although tolerant of most soils, it will do far better in a moist loamy free-draining medium. Growing to only 20cm in height and spreading out to over 2m, it will do well in either full sun or part shade. Warrigal greens die back in winter and then come back in spring.

Finger Lime (Citrus australasica)


You will need patience as it can take up to 15 years until you are enjoying the caviar-like inner of this delicious fruit if grown by seed and although they can grow from cuttings, the success rate is very low. Most home gardeners fall back on grafted stock obtained commercially which also only attain a height of about 3m. Grow in a wind-sheltered location in full sun to part shade. Most soils are tolerated and fertilising requirements are minimal. Regular citrus feeding at half strength every 3 months will be sufficient for grafted varieties. Keep moist during fruiting and flowering times.

Old Man Saltbush – Tjilyi-tjilyi (Atriplex nummularia)

The seeds and the leaves are the harvestable part of this plant and as the name suggests, imparts a salty flavour to your cooking. Use the leaves like you would any leafy vegetable. A hardy shrub, it will grow 1 to 3m in height and 5m wide and prefers full sun to part shade. Tolerant of most soils and requires no feeding and only regular watering until established. 

Midyim Berry – Midgen (Austromyrtus dulcis)

Growing up to 1m in height (sometimes 2m) and 150cm in width these easy to grow plants are gaining popularity as a super food with their high antioxidant properties. You will be harvesting delicious tangy berries after the first year. Does well in most soils and in full sun or part shade. Watering only required to established and when fruiting and flowering. Feed with a native specific fertiliser as per directions during fruiting and flowering.

Pigface (Carpobrotus glaucescens)

If you go down to the beach today, you will probably see these gorgeous bright flowers and their juicy foliage but you can easily grow Pigface at home as well. The leaves can be eaten raw or roasted and used as a salt substitute. Look out for the fruits that give this plant it’s ‘Pigface’ name as they are delicious with a salty strawberry flavour. The flowers too are edible and look fabulous in savoury-based dishes and drinks. It will grow up to 20cm in height and to around 2m in width so makes a fantastic rockery or edging plant. It can be easily propagated from cuttings, loves a well-drained soil and it will tolerate both full sun and part shade. Water until established and you can hold back on feeding.


Bush Tucker Foraging


I spoke with local Bushcrafter Jake Cassar about the possibility of foraging our own bush tucker. While it seems like a natural thing to do there are a few cautions to be aware of. “There’s heaps of Aussie Natives you can eat when you are out and about and there’s also a lot of introduced plants. As always, you need to be 100% sure of the identification of plants before you eat them as some can make you very sick or even cause death.” Although there are books, phone apps and websites that can assist with this identification process, mistakes can still be made, especially by the inexperienced. As Jake points out, a lot of plants, their fruit included, can look very similar to each other. Additional care must be taken to ensure plants have not been sprayed with chemicals and when collecting you have to be aware of spiders and snakes. Attending bushcraft training or foraging with a guide is a good way to educate yourself about plant identification and safety. “You have to be aware also that it is illegal to forage, even for food, in our national parks.” Jake also cautioned and while you can forage on private land, permission must be granted. With a passion for our environment, he prefers to focus on foraging for introduce species like blackberries, as this helps regenerate our local bush. Some of the local edible natives that are found across the Central Coast include Lilli Pilli, Sour Current Bush, Yams, and Native Raspberries. Jake as a lot of resources on his website and social media and his local bushcraft courses are a great way to learn more about experiencing our Australian bush safely. Find out more at: Jakecassarbushcraft.com

GARDEN NEWS
Our Garden and Flower Clubs need us. Many are in danger of folding as the average age of members now stands at 76. Without younger people joining it is feared that these once popular clubs will be a thing of the past. Garden and Flower Clubs are keepers of plant knowledge, a lot of it local and not found elsewhere so losing them will leave a huge hole in our resources. Most members spend no more than a couple of hours a month on club activities and all skill levels are always very welcome. To find out more about these clubs go to gardenclubs.org.au you might just find one that interests you!

GARDENING PLANNER
Late Summer temperate areas of Australia 
Funnel web spiders are on the move and we are expecting higher than average numbers due to weather patterns we have been experiencing. Shake those boots before you put them on and be aware when working in the garden. This week you could plant: culinary herbs, beans (dwarf and running), beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chicory, cress, cucumber, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, marrow, mustard, onions (spring), parsnips, potatoes (tubers), radishes, rhubarb (crowns), salsify, silverbeet, swedes, sweetcorn, turnip, zucchinis, ageratum, alyssum, boronia, calendula, cineraria, cleome, cyclamen, forget-me-not, lobelia, lupin, marigold, nasturtium, pansy, poppy  (Iceland), primula, stock, verbena, vinca, viola, wallflower

Cheralyn writes the 'DOWN IN THE GARDEN' page for the Coast News Newspaper each week and this originally appeared in The Coast News as below: 

 

Cheralyn Darcey is a horticulture author and along with Pete Little, hosts ‘At Home with The Gardening Gang’ 8 - 10am live every Saturday on CoastFM96.3, on air locally or streaming by asking ‘play coastfm963’

Send your gardening questions, events, and news to: gardeningcentralcoast@gmail.com

 

New Year - New Garden!

Is your resolution to create a garden this year or to improve your skills? Then read on as I have a bunch of resources, tips and inspiration to get you growing! Gardening is a skill that anyone can learn but you need to be prepared for success as well as the challenges.

Believe You Can
I don’t think there is such a thing as a born ‘green thumb’ but rather it’s that some people are more relaxed about gardening and accept the inevitable failures as being just a part of nature and not an indication of their skill. Green thumbs also garden more. They will plant entire banks of annuals, rows of raised veggie beds and then dive over the fence to help their neighbours. More skilled gardeners will also readily spring into action when challenges arise because of their experience and also their confidence in themselves. They are willing to give things a go. Green thumbs often have had gardeners in their families or been around horticulture of some sort in their childhood or youth and that familiarity breeds confidence. This all makes them appear a lot more successful than timid newbies who nurse along a couple of houseplants and a few seedling punnets while wondering if those yellowing leaves are ok. In saying this, I’m not suggesting that those new to gardening invest in hundreds of plants from the start. What I do hope is that you understand that gardening is a skill that is learned like any other craft or endeavour. The more you do it, the greener your thumb will become and your belief in longer term gardening success will grow.

Plan to Succeed
If you wanted to run a marathon you would not get up tomorrow morning and sprint out the door for your first ever 42Kms! To achieve success, you would gather all the information about how to do it, select your resources, create a plan and then train for your first marathon. There would also be many smaller jogs, maybe even walks before you ran that race. You might even enlist the help of a trainer or mentor. So it is with gardening!
Gather information about the types of gardens you would like to create along with foundational notes about your garden space. You have to start with good soil. There is no getting around this and it is paramount to gardening success. Soil can be improved and structure balanced to suit the types of gardens you are planning. Soil testing can be done at home with kits available from your local nursery or many offer this service in store, just ask.
Plants also have different light requirements and one of the major reasons they don’t thrive is that they are simply planted in the wrong spot. Most veggies won’t grow well, or at all, in less than six hours of full sun per day and other plants will shrivel up and die in a couple of hours of direct sun. To help you with plant selection, map out the areas of your garden that receive sun and shade. This will need to be done over the course of a day and to be efficient, because the sun’s position will naturally move through the seasons, a year. You don’t have to wait that long as there are lots of purpose made apps online that will assist you. Look for the terms ‘sun position’ or ‘sun mapping’. Some will need you to use your smart phones GPS abilities but other desk top methods will use your address like the free ‘Sun Calc’ page found at  www.suncalc.org. I’ve tested it out and found Sun Calc is rather accurate and easy to use.

Learn to Garden
Go educate yourself in the ways of the plants you wish to grow! While you can enlist in courses and workshops, and these are a great way to get started, other methods to gather this knowledge include going to plant events because plant people love to talk about their passions and you will also see a vast array of offerings in your area of interest. This experience is both inspiring and educational. To learn just about anything in the garden world, read and watch! There are endless books, magazines, tv shows, Youtube clips and more that are not only about gardening but also types of plants, individual species and specialised techniques. Make sure that the information you find is relevant to your area. Climates and environments change across not only countries but states and even areas and while a lot of general information will still be helpful, you need to top that up with local knowledge, like this gardening page you are reading right now. Connecting with others is a social way to learn and there are lots of gardening groups and clubs in just about every area and catering to all sorts of plant types and techniques. You can find them with an internet search or by asking at your local nursery.

Garden Mentors - Community Gardening
Perhaps one of the very best ways to learn to garden is by joining your local community garden. One of the biggest misconceptions is that you need to be a green thumb or at least very experienced to be a part of one of these wonderful places. In my experience, the vast majority of community gardeners either started off as complete novices or with very little experience but they enjoyed the company, the community and they learned along the way. Skilled gardeners at community gardens love to share their knowledge and they need people to just show up and help do anything from sorting seeds to digging the earth or making a cuppa for the team. All physical abilities and commitment levels are welcome. You will learn to garden in your actual environment and be instantly connected to other plant organisations, ideas and wisdom. To find your local community garden hop on over to: communitygarden.org.au and on the Central Coast we have a fantastic Facebook Page: facebook.com/CentralCoastCommunityGardenNetwork

GARDEN NEWS

pic credit: Treloar Roses
Graham Ross AM, Australia’s most awarded horticulturist has been honoured by Treloar Roses with the naming of a rose after him. This delightfully sweet fragranced hybrid tea rose makes a wonderful cut flower and is also heat resistant. $2 from the sale of each of these roses is to be donated to NextSense (formerly known as the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children).  Over the years Grahame has supported NextSense in many ways including the organisation of many well-known large flower shows at the Institute’s Sydney site and in 1991 was awarded Life Membership of NextSense. Graham is delighted to continue his support of NextSense with the release of this beautiful new rose. For more information: treloarroses.com.au

GARDENING PLANNER
Late Summer temperate areas of Australia 
Make sure you are picking beans daily as this will extend their harvest and if your cucumbers start sending out fruitless runners then snip them off to encourage these to branch out and fruit. 
This week you could plant: culinary herbs, beans (dwarf and running), beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages,  carrot, cauliflower, celery, chicory, cress, cucumber, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, marrow, mustard, onions (spring), parsnips, potatoes (tubers), radishes, rhubarb (crowns), salsify, silverbeet, swedes, sweetcorn, turnip, zucchinis, ageratum, alyssum, boronia, calendula, cineraria, cleome, cyclamen, forget-me-not, lobelia, lupin, marigold, nasturtium, pansy, poppy  (Iceland), primula, stock, verbena, vinca, viola, wallflower

Cheralyn writes the 'DOWN IN THE GARDEN' page for the Coast News Newspaper each week and this originally appeared in The Coast News as below: 

Cheralyn Darcey is a horticulture author and along with Pete Little, hosts ‘At Home with The Gardening Gang’ 8 - 10am live every Saturday on CoastFM96.3, on air locally or streaming by asking ‘play coastfm963’

Send your gardening questions, events, and news to: gardeningcentralcoast@gmail.com