All recent comments/discussion

Showing 12361 - 12390 of 13855 comments

Kale (also Borecole) 08 Dec, Mario Mariani (Australia - temperate climate): Does Kale grow wild as an introduced plant throughout the Temperate zone? Is it sold in markets and supermarkets in Australia?
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Kale (also Borecole) 26 Jul, Mel (Australia - temperate climate): Mario, i just saw established kale seedlings at bunnings for under $3. I am sure that being the big corporate being they are, they will have kale in most of their stores :) I am wondering whether it is a good thing to plant now though? (Late july)
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Eggplant (also Aubergine) 08 Dec, Roz (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I've tried growing corriander from seed without success during November straight into the garden bed. Do they need any special requirements to get seeds sprouting other than watering to start with? Is November not a good time I've given them a partial shady position to guard against the scorching summer sun and have been pretty consistent with watering. I felt I prepared the soil well by mixing cow manure compost existing soil coconut fibre for moisture retention blood & bone and some lime left it for a week or so then planted seeds. My eggplant seeds did not come up either so I have put in seedlings from Bunnings. What am I doing wrong?
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Eggplant (also Aubergine) 15 Mar, Wendy (Australia - temperate climate): Hi Roz, I too couldn't get coriander to grow when planted in summer but when I planted in autumn over the winter I got so many I didn't know what to do with it. So I now plant only over the cooler/winter months as I suspect they just detest heat.
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Cucumber 08 Dec, Fiona (Australia - temperate climate): H Katya, Your cucumbers sound like they have mould. I make some chamomile tea and when cooled, spray it directly onto the leaves. I also use it on tomatoes and zucchini. Works perfectly! I do it about every 10 days. Didn't know about it last year - wish i did!
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 06 Dec, Simon (Australia - cool/mountain climate): I was given a chilli that is red, round, about 15cm in circumfrence and about 7-8 cm long (Looks like a small capsicum), fleshy. It has black seeds, rates an 8 on heat metre (Tried a bit for lunch and it is nicely fairly hot). I was told I could grow from seeds, grows about 8 feet high, has purple flowers and if I get it through the first winter it will keeo producing as it is apparently a cool/cold climate variety. I was told it was from the Andes. What variety is this, he didn't actually tell me and I probably won't be back at those markets to ask.
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 08 Dec, Alice (Australia - temperate climate): The variety is a Rocoto chilli under cap. Pubescens. They have black seeds and can survive cold weather. This is actual chilli tree thus can last many years
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Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold) 03 Dec, Raelene Mcmahon (Australia - cool/mountain climate): hi i have just started planting silverbeet, which i havent never grown before. do you have any ideas when to harvest it Raelene
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Rosella (also Queensland Jam Plant, Roselle) 02 Dec, Eric Gall (Australia - tropical climate): I have two types of rosella plant. One has large seeds, and not much flesh. They have different types of leaves, and the fruit is shaped differently.The pointed fruit variety is easier to seperate the flesh from the seeds and has more flesh. More jam
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Zucchini (also Courgette/Marrow, Summer squash) 02 Dec, Adam (Australia - temperate climate): Claire, I would really like to know the answer to the rotting issue, mine start growing well and then some grow fully then some rot on the top, I want to know how to stop the rotting.
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Garlic 02 Dec, Julie (Australia - temperate climate): Pete and Wendy, you might be right about the fertiliser. It was planted on time, and we had late rain, right through spring, so plenty of moisture. Though I thought it got enough feeding, the bulbs did turn out smaller than usual - very disappointing! But when I stopped watering and let it dry it had formed cloves. Not so the large garlic - I've given up on that. More like a leek with a bulbous end. Oh, well, better luck next year!
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Potato 02 Dec, Graeme (Australia - temperate climate): Mary, I'm growing potatoes for the first time this year and the heat knocked mine around as well. However, with plenty of watering and the cool change we've had this week, they have come back.
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Chives (also Garden chives) 30 Nov, Kelly (Australia - temperate climate): ive got regular and garlic chives and there prob the easiest herb-plant ive grown.they grow great in direct sunlight as long as u water daily.i have it outside and it pretty much looks after itself.Ive grown from seedling as well as from seed trays.Seed trays they tend to grow quicker i found. Also i jave planted mine in september.
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Cucumber 30 Nov, Tony Williams (Australia - temperate climate): I'm growing "Bush Champion" cucumbers and they are now starting to produce fruit, I've never grown cucumbers before and am wondering when is the best time to harvest them.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 29 Nov, geoff (Australia - cool/mountain climate): cant wait till my corn is ready, its looking great and is growing fast. however i have side shoots coming off of them so that some of the stalks have up to three shoots at 45 degrees from the base. should i remove them or let them grow.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 28 Nov, Annalisa (Australia - sub-tropical climate): My corn is going great! Planted irregularly, but minimum 5 plants together (I have two separate patches). I've harvested 3 ears, tasted like no other corn I've eaten - so fresh and delicious!!! Yellow leaves = not enough water perhaps? Otherwise it's the soil that needs to be better. Ants mean an unhealthy plant - better soil fixed that for me (first round ants were a problem). As for taller plants, I know a friend who planted corn bought from punnents, they ended up short. My sweet corn I planted from seeds (found them cheap at a dollar store, funny enough) and they are as tall as I am. They are also quick harvest seeds - only 8 weeks! From seed in ground to corn at the dinner table :) So easy.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 27 Nov, Mark Southcombe (Australia - tropical climate): I live in SE Queensland & have had ongoing ant problems for the past 10 years. I've tried Ant Bait plus many other hearsay theories & nothing seems to work. Earlier this year I started a veggie garden & have noticed the ants making a beeline for my sweetcorn. I spoke to a market gardener & he recommended a 'you beaut' Garlic & Chilli spray. To which was sprayed liberally on all parts of the plants in the morning & later that same day, the #€@ ants were back. Can anyone give me a tried & true method or am I in charge of a pointed stick, with which to push excrement up a steep gradient ?
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 28 Nov, John (Australia - arid climate): Sorry you are having so much trouble. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) applied to the base of each corn stalk will stop them as they stick to the greasy surface. This may not be practical if you have a lot of plants. Putting pepper along the rows of very small seeds like carrot stops them from 'pirating' the seed but whether this would halt their advance on your corn I do not know. Trust this helps.
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Garlic 27 Nov, Pete&Wendy (Australia - sub-tropical climate): We have been growing organic garlic on the Sunshine Coast for nearly 20 years Garlic that is falling over and not forming full bulbs can be caused by late planting, lack of nutrient, either from invasive tree roots, or not enough fertiliser. Lack of moisture can also cause this. The "round" is still either edible or will still grow a bulb the following season. For Garlic that is reshooting this can be caused by planting seed stock that has been "long cold stored" 1degree will cause this to happen. For growing garlic in the warmer climates, variety is important. Try and get a variety that is climatised to our warmer winter. Garlic likes it cool. A trick a customer told me was he gave it a frost by mulching it with a bag of ice regularly!
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Garlic 05 Jun, Janelle Jeffery (Australia - arid climate): Just wondering can I plant garlic bulbs early winter ? I live outback NSW
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Potato 26 Nov, adam synnott (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Teashy, potatoes often resprout after a shock like that, have faith, and they could be okay. In my climate, they often get frosted off completely, but then come back from the dead. Mary, potatoes have a really hard time in the tropics/sub tropics. I think there will be some years when there is just too much against them. This year seems to be a bit hotter than normal, so maybe they have a few too many bugs this year, combined with the unusual heat, it could just be a year to concentrate on other crops. If you plant them in the shade, they will do a lot better. It isn't too late to plant some fresh ones, and don't put them in direct sunlight. They are quite tenacious, and will grow in quite low light. The reason they didn't develop more taters is, as you rightly point out, that they just didn't have the time to grow to their full potential.
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Potato 26 Nov, Mary (Australia - sub-tropical climate): My potatoes were eaten by the big ladybirds and grasshoppers. The recent heat finished them off. I dug up some today and there was a small number of developed potatoes but not as many as there should be. Is this because they did not get to flower? I grew them in old plastic garbage bins and filled them with mulch as they grew. There was no potatoes until I dug down to the dirt so what is the point of "hilling" them?
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Tomato 26 Nov, Freyja (Australia - temperate climate): We are growing veggies for the first time and have started with tomatoes, pumpkins and zucchini. Of our eight cherry tomato seedlings - five are growing ok but slowly, two are hardly growing but look otherwise healthy and one has grown a little but looks a bit sick and slightly yellow. Two Black Krim seedlings seem ok, just slower than I had hoped. I'm feeding them seasol and am about introduce seasol powerfeed. They were planted into a well prepared bed with mushroom compost, cow manure, lucerne hay and premium garden soil. Does the sick one have a disease? Should I remove it? Also I think one of the pumpkin seedlings might have powdery mildew, do I need to remove it? Thanks, Freyja
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Rocket (also Arugula/Rucola) 25 Nov, Kathryn (Australia - temperate climate): I'm no expert gardener, but I planted seedlings of rocket in the vegie patch about 4 yrs ago. I picked leaves whenever I needed them and pinched off anything looking like flowers and just dropped them in the gdn. The second yr, the plants were not very active, but I left them in - mainly thru laziness. Since then, they just keep producing. Not massive plants, but enough to meet our needs. A bit of mulch, water and occasional manure, but really they haven't had much care at all and they are better now than they have ever been. This yr, there are now numerous seedlings - very strong-tasting and robust plants. Good luck. Kathryn
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Artichokes (Globe) 24 Nov, Dianne (Australia - temperate climate): we have planted artichoke for the first time and have had great success. we are coastal midwest. We have 2 plants and each plant has 3 artichokes. Is this unusual?
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Artichokes (Globe) 12 Oct, Juan (Australia - temperate climate): That sounds about right. I get anywhere up to 5 from each plant, but they get smaller later in the season (still good to eat, just pick them while they are still
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Beetroot (also Beets) 24 Nov, Barry Walker (Australia - temperate climate): I planted some beetroot about a month ago. End of October. I live in Penrith NSW. How long will they take to be ready for picking/eating?
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Basil 23 Nov, Bridget (Australia - temperate climate): To be honest Damooo, i have no idea. I'm a novice herb gardener and just purchased a punnet from a local outlet...
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Cucumber 23 Nov, StanK (Australia - temperate climate): Hi Katja, to control mould spray with a mixture of 8 parts of cow's milk and 2 parts water.
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Mustard greens (also gai choy) 23 Nov, Erna Stein (Australia - temperate climate): I have been growing mustard greens as a salad vegetable for a couple of years and simply love them. I have been starting them off from seedlings from the nursery however this year I've had trouble finding healthy seedlings and would prefer the convenience of growing them from seed. However I haven't had any luck in finding seeds. Can anyone tell me where I may be able to purchase them from?
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