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Showing 4441 - 4470 of 13850 comments

Potato 13 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Look under sweet potato guide on the website. Potatoes you plant in a furrow and then hill up as they grow. Sweet potato you plant in a hilled up bed. Best thing is to have a try.
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Tomato 12 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Read the notes for tomatoes. Plant seeds now and keep in a warm place. After the frosts have finished plant out in the garden.
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Horseradish 11 Aug, Narelle (Australia - temperate climate): In most big supermarkets all around northern Europe and Scandinavia you can find all forms. A container of grated horseradish, from the fresh food section, is fine and doesn't last long enough for me to know its 'use by' date. It's good with lots of unexpected foods and it's particularly good with potato soup (makes it far more interesting) as well as beef, which was created to go with horseradish.
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Tomato 11 Aug, Joanne (Australia - arid climate): Hi, can i sow seeds in my greenhouse or is it still to cold, or can i start tomatoes that are allready baby stage. Jo
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Rhubarb 10 Aug, Jennufer smith (Australia - temperate climate): I live in kingaroy qld ..we have around 36 deg summer and a very small winter maybe 3 frosts..but does get down to 4 deg ..could you tell me the best place to grow rhubarb ..it will be in the ground .. .and how will i know how high to cover with dirt ..ta Jenny .
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Rhubarb 12 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Read the notes above. In warm areas grow it in shady areas and plant 100mm or 4" deep in Sept.
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Ginger 08 Aug, Ken Lloyd (Australia - temperate climate): Hi There, Where in the South West of Western Australia can I buy good young ginger to grow in pots
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Ginger 10 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I don't grow it but would suggest you ask a green grocer or nursery about it. Bunnings might even have it.
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Shallots (also Eschalots) 08 Aug, Peter (Australia - temperate climate): Hi thank you for you advice very informative for us beginners . My wife and I are now retirees and are getting into the veggies and live it we are growing onions of all types for the first time shallots with no bulb having great results so we have planted bought from retailer golden shallots it has 3 thick stems coming from base massive leaves do they fall over like normal onions when they are due to be harvested ? as we don't know when they are ready thank you again peter Oran Park nsw
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Shallots (also Eschalots) 10 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I don't grow onions because they take so long to grow. We can buy onion in the shops for $1-1.50 a kg. The reason I grow shallots (a lot of people mix up shallots with spring onions and even eshallots) is because they are so easy and quick to grow and you keep bulbs from one year for the next year to plant. I planted some on Monday and they are shooting out of the ground today - Thursday - will be eating them in about 5 weeks time. Happy gardening - great rewards from eating what you grow.
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Choko/Chayote (also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton) 08 Aug, Kath ingram (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Id like to grow chokos we live in cooma nsw n was wondering if i would be able to grow them in a greenhouse
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Potato 06 Aug, William Mc Carthy (Australia - temperate climate): Can I plant potatoes in normal potting mix. I have mixed it with perlite and Coco husk for drainage? It's in a 1.2M X 600mm veggie container.
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Potato 06 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Type in different ways to grow potatoes and read. Different ways give different results. You would have to keep the water up and probably use a lot of it.
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Asparagus 05 Aug, Jo Logan (New Zealand - temperate climate): On asparagus - I've just purchased one year old crowns (7 in total). What kind of crop could I expect next year? How many spears does each crown produce?
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Asparagus 08 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I have read so many different things about what to expect. I planted 12 mth old crowns and last year I picked for about 4-5 weeks from 3 plants - I feel I could have picked them for 3 mths. I had massive ferns early this year. I picked about 70-80 spears last year in the 4-5 weeks. You probably have colder weather.
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Rhubarb 03 Aug, Julie Campbell (Australia - temperate climate): Hi ihave a rubbarb plant from a nursery year before last. I'm growing it in a pot semi shade. It doesn't seem to flourish. It usually has 3-5 stalks on it at one time it made it to 10-ia athought i was soon to have a rubbarb pie BUT it is down to one sad wilting stalk-help. What's wrong with it?
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Rhubarb 03 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Are you giving it enough area to grow in - as in nutrients from the soil. You may need a far bigger pot. A regular fertilizing - like each couple of months might help. Any chance of putting it in the ground. Maybe plant a few more. Growing in pots requires a lot more care and attention than in the ground.
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Broccoli 02 Aug, Natalie (Australia - tropical climate): I planted my broccoli at the beginning of June and they have grown very well but so far They haven't developed a head. I fertilised them every two weeks since planting them until a couple of weeks ago when I was told that I had overfertilised them. Is this why no heads have grown?
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Broccoli 03 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): They won't head up until probably 10-12 weeks old. If you used a high % N fertiliser (12-15% N ) then you have over fertilised them (also depends how much you put on). If the plants are very big too much N. Stop fertilizing them and maybe cut the watering back a bit Trial and error. I have planted seeds this year and have had poor results -back to seedlings for me with broccoli and cabbage..
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Radish 01 Aug, Corinne Young (Australia - temperate climate): Can I grow Radishes in pots . Deep pots. I live in Capel , Western Australia.
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Radish 03 Aug, Bev (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Your pot size must be relative to the size of the radish. Radishes come in sizes ranging from 2cm to 30cm & larger !
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Radish 02 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): A better suggestion is a Styrofoam box used for corn or zucchini - if you can find bigger boxes the better - you can grow more at a time. Go to Foodworks, IGA or any supermarket and ask if they have any. Put newspaper, shade cloth or bubble wrap on the bottom - then about 25 mm of small pebble (the beach) - then another layer of paper, shade cloth or bubble wrap with some holes in it. Mix up some soil, sand, compost/manure and potting mix/seed raising mix. Put that in the box and give a good watering. Plant the radish and sprinkle some soil/ potting mix/seed raising mix over the radish. Keep out of the sun until they germinate or put some shade cloth or something similar over them until they germinate. With this free draining soil and shallow soil depth they will need watering each day and plenty of sun. Have 2-3-4 boxes and have a succession of plantings. This method can be also used to grow lettuce and baby spinach - plant very densely and cut the young leaves about 25-50 mm up the plant and they will reshoot - multiply cuttings. You can buy seeds on the internet 100-200 seeds for $1.
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Shallots (also Eschalots) 31 Jul, Michelle (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I planted a number of shooting French Shallot bulbs earlier this year. I now have rows of beautiful plants. Today after checking if any bulbs were below the soil I have discovered that there are no bulbs only lots of plants that look like shallots or green onions. Could you please give me some advice on what may have happened. Also are the stems of the planrs able to be eaten like green onions? Thank you so much.
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Shallots (also Eschalots) 01 Aug, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I have looked up French shallots and they look a bit different to mine. My shallots are a cluster (when mature) of 6-12 segments, lightly attached together. As I pointed out below, if I grow them into the winter (planted Feb March April) they take a bit longer to form bulbs - they stay like a spring onion for longer - straight with no bulb. Left long enough they will bulb up. If I plant say now (August), when they mature in the hotter weather in Oct/Nov they go to bulb very quickly. I don't eat much of the green top but some do eat it. My suggestion is give them time to bulb. I eat them before they really bulb up - we eat them in salads, sandwiches or straight as they are raw.
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Yacon (also Sunroot) 30 Jul, Brenda Kent (Australia - temperate climate): Hi - I too would love to take you up on your offer. I'd love to try growing some Yacon after reading about the great health benefits of it. I hope you still have some to spare. I also live South of the river. Hope to hear from you. Cheers, Brenda.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 28 Jul, George (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Hello, I'm researching information on growing this plant and this site has the most, however after reading all the comments I am a little confused. could somebody clarify some bits please? 1) Most comments and tips agree on that the plant doesn't need any fertilizer but some speak about potassium and manure. If I use whatever is suitable for tomatoes will i hurt the plant or just get a lot of vegetable growth but no fruits? 2)Last year I grew 4 plants and managed to destroy two of them by over-watering (I had them all in pots so i guess draining was the issue). I live on a Greek island and the summer here is pretty hot while we get no frost during winter (the entire month of July passed with temperatures in the range of 30-43C). I grew two more from cuttings planted on the ground and they all seem to do well though I'm experimenting on different sun exposure. The plants I have in pots are under direct sun light for the most part of the day (10 hours min.) while the ones on the ground are under partial sun exposure (4-6 hours a day) though the latter are approximately 1m tall while the first are up to 2m. My problem is that I do not get any blossoms at all. There's plenty of them on the plants but they never get to grow into flowers, as soon as they get thick as a needle they seem to burn out. Do I need to water the plants twice a day or add fertilizer? Last year the plants were less than 1m tall and I got only a single flower which of course couldn't turn into fruit (but at least it was a flower :) ) so I thought I was off to a good start but obviously I'm doing something wrong.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 10 Sep, John W (Australia - temperate climate): Hello George Cape Gooseberries planted in the ground need little or no extra Nitrogen fertiliser otherwise they will grow too much vegetation with very little fruit. Just before or at flowering time you should add Phosphorus - I add half of the recommended amount every 2 weeks. Phosphorus increases the number of flowers. After the fruit starts to form I start adding small amounts of Potassium to the soil or watering with a liquid Potassium - the liquid Potassium is absorbed quicker. Potassium is responsible for making the fruit sweeter or with flowering plants ( roses etc.) the flowers bigger and more colourful. It is a very common mistake that Potassium makes more fruit and flowers - it's Phosphorus that does that. I have been growing Cape Gooseberries for at least 35 years this way so I know by experience and I have experimented with these fertilisers. I also grow not only the usual citrus (10 dwarf trees in pots and some in the ground), bananas, figs, but other fruit like Star Fruit, Dragon Fruit , Black Sapote and I always use the same fertilising procedure with very good results. I grow my Cape Gooseberries in the vegetable garden - 3 plants in a row with 4 x 1.8 metre stakes and thin rope wound aroud the 4 stakes to keep the plants from spreading out over the garden.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 13 Sep, Janet (Australia - temperate climate): Hi John, Thanks for all that info on cape gooseberries. I am amazed at how well the one plant I have grows so well but have been wondering how to support it. I will put in stakes and ropes as you suggest and apply potassium and phosphorus . I am about to establish at least two more from suckers. What an excellent berry to have fresh through the winter months! I will then, when all are fruiting, experiment with preserving. I hope I can find other fruit and vegies that grow so well here.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 01 Aug, Carol (Australia - tropical climate): Lack of flowers usually means the plant is short on potassium. A foliar spray every two weeks will make a huge difference. I have them growing in Australia in the wet tropics (winter 15 to 27C) now in part shade, in the summer they will be better in some shade and make sure they are moist all the time with good drainage
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 10 Sep, John (Australia - temperate climate): Hi Carole Try Phosphorus for flowers or extra flowers and when the flowers appear then Potassium for better flowers and sweeter fruit - I have been doing it that way for 35 years with various common and odd fruit. I do this with all vegetables and fruit which form from flowers such as tomatoes, cucumbers passionfruit etc
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