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Showing 13411 - 13440 of 13854 comments
Shallots (also Eschalots) 28 Dec, Wendy (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Does anyone know where I can get bulbs of the old-fashioned allium known as Potato Onion? They form little bulbs around the outside of the mother bulb, usually red-skinned, I've heard they're easy to grow, used to be common but are now rarely heard of. Much appreciated.
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Rockmelon (also Canteloupe) 26 Dec, Fay Walker (Australia - temperate climate)
I have the same issue as Steven re my RM plant gone yellow and would love to hear any comments. I live Sydney, Epping(Northern Sydney). Thanks, Fay
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Potato 26 Dec, johnny Mornington penninsular vic. (Australia - temperate climate)
Help! I have about 16sqm of potato plants, all flowering like mad,but I have failed to cover them since they were 12 inches high.The tallest ones are now 1.5 metres high,can someone tell me if I can still cover them and what with?
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Potato 10 Dec, marie williams (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, just read your post, I have seen this before and what they did was to carefully lay the plant over on its side and start building up the earth over it. support it with some earth underneath whilst doing it, leaving the end out to continue to grow. As the plant settles and continues to grow continue mounding up the earth in the usual manner. You might get some more sprouts along the length of the growth your bury. Good luck.
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Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold) 25 Dec, Simon (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Itmay be worth reading up on biodynamics and what they have to say about extra dark green. An even mid green is probably a better sign of health. Besides practicing biodynamics, I use seaweed, some home made compost prior to planting out the seedlings sometimes a little rock phosphate and once or twice throughout the growing season some a little diluted liquid compost. For me it seems to go a more pronounced light green when it is running out of food.
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Okra (also Ladyfinger, gumbo) 24 Dec, nia (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
We live in western sydney and have planted some okra seeds, we prepared the garden bed with about 20cm thick organic soil from a local store. The okra plants germinated in 2 weeks OK. But it was not growing as we expected the tempeature was ranging 29-25C at that time. still they are about 9cm height and I could observe tiny buds on the plant. (after 2 months of planting). Any body help me to find out what went wrong?
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Rosella (also Queensland Jam Plant, Roselle) 24 Dec, Skin (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
The NT Government has this on their Recipe Sheet for Rosella. Rosella Chutney Ingredients: ½ kg Rosella calyxes washed & dried thoroughly, ½ kg cooking apples, ½ kg onions, 2 large chillies (or capsicums), 2½ cups vinegar, ½ cup Worchestershire sauce, ½ cup raisins, 1 dessertspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, ½ kg sugar. Spice bag (1 dessertspoon whole allspice, 1 teaspoon cloves, 2 inch cinnamon stick, combine in clean muslin bag, remove before bottling). Method: Finely chop the rosella calyxes, apples, onions and chillies. Add remaining ingredients and boil together for 10 minutes. Add sugar and boil for ¾ -1 hour, stirring frequently. Bottle and seal in sterilised jars.
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Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold) 23 Dec, Rob (Australia - temperate climate)
the leaves on my silverbeet are light coloured, what can i do to make them dark green?
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Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold) 29 Aug, jaime (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
depends really. is the whole leaf yellow, is it the young or old leaves, are they going dry and brown, or limp and slimey. though its probably a nitrogen deficiency, try seeweed or fish emulsion
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Eggplant (also Aubergine) 22 Dec, kelvin. living in perth (Australia - temperate climate)
When growing egg plants do you have to pinch out the small shoots like you do for tomatoes ??
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Basil 20 Dec, Paul Lehmann (Australia - temperate climate)
Basil is very hard to start from seed but I have found if you have a seed sprouting set and put them in there, they will eventually shoot. Pick out each sprouted seed on a toothpick and place in a pot with wet soil sitting in a tray of water to keep the soil moist. The sprouted seed will take to the soil and you can water as needed.
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Cabbage 20 Dec, slatter (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
igrew the cabbages but they took long to form the head could it be too much Nitrogen that allows leafy growth?.
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Watermelon 20 Dec, Paige (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
My watermellons are in full swing and I have one that was the size of a marble two days ago and now sits snuggly in the palm of your hand. Its running across the ground, but we have strawberries and its getting into the hay and the strawberry plants. Will this effect my watermellons?
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Garlic 18 Dec, Wendy (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I live in Ballarat I planted mine in March and when I pulled some up in October they were like spring onions..so I phoned a grower who told me "Don't pull them up.. they look like that for ages and then they "bolt" and you will get a nice bulb.. which is what has happened.. We have had a cold wet winter and a not much better spring and summer ..I just just pulled some up as the tops fell over.. and still I have 20 plants till going strong.. If you put the cloves in oil please keep it in the frig and/or only cook with it ..as it can produce the botulism toxin in an anaerobic environment and this toxin is destroyed by cooking .. I am wondering now when to plant my next crop so would like to hear from anyone in my area Wendy
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Gourd (also summer squash) 18 Dec, zo (Australia - temperate climate)
I didn't realise people actually ate gourds? I thought they were only for looks. My gourds grew to be quite small. How can I encourage them to grow bigger?
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Onion 18 Dec, Steve (Australia - temperate climate)
Some of my creamgold and red onions are shooting to seed. Some have large healthy bulbs. Should I harvest them now?? Others have virtually no bulb. Can I cut the seed head off and let them continue to develop?
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Cucumber 18 Dec, dennis (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi! steve. when growing cucumbers in a container you must have good drainage the best fertilizer is blood and bone,& superphosphate.when first planted in a 13ltr container about one good handfull of each mixed well in to your potting mix then half a hand full wartered in when you have five leaves on the plant dont worry about to many flowers as the males will drop off and your females will give you fruit dont water the leaves or your will invite disease and white fly.all the best.
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Rockmelon (also Canteloupe) 17 Dec, Tina (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
hi,...i have 2 rockmelon vines growing . they are growing fast and i have fruit starting to form on them already, but the fruit looks like it has stopped growing at the moment and the vines continue to grow.... Can i stop the vines growing so that the friut will grow??? thanks
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Pak Choy (also Pak choi) 16 Dec, Mary (Australia - temperate climate)
I have been growing Pak Choy/Choy Sum in Sydney, Australia for the last 25 years as I am Chinese in origin. The short fat variety Pak Choy is easier to grow. The long green stem Choy Sum is terribly hard to grow. Don't try in summer months unless you protect them under shadecloth. Need to water them at least twice a day or else you will get flowers within days. Use plenty of mulch and organic fertilzer. They grow very rapidly - 30 days before you pick. So you really need to feed them well. If you can get seeds that are 80 days variety (slow growing) you have a better chance.
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Pak Choy (also Pak choi) 22 Aug, Zamilah (Australia - temperate climate)
I'm in Sydney and just bought a punnet of pak choi, for the first time. Where should I plant them, in shade or full sun?
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Coriander (also Cilantro, Chinese parsley) 16 Dec, Mary (Australia - temperate climate)
I have been growing coriandar for many years successfully. Coriandar likes cooler weather. I have grown kilos of them during winter months in full sun position. Needs good mulch and fertilizer and plenty of water. Don't try in summer in full sun unless you only want to collect seeds. I am in Sydney and in summer. I am able to grow some under the shade of sweet corn now since the weather has not been very hot.
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Watermelon 16 Dec, gareth (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
hi i have just been out back and planted some watermelon what type of soil do they need how much room do they take and anything eles i may need ti know
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 16 Dec, Simon (Australia - temperate climate)
Tammi - could be mice or rats, they can do this also. Its happened to me in Perth. Megan - Chillies will only grow vigourously during the warmer months, depending on where you are, they will either slow down, go dormant, or die altogether, depening on how cold it gets, a severe frowst will kill them. Wait until summer, they will flower all over, and give you lots of fruit. If you want a hotter chilli, water them less, let them dry out a little (but not all the way). A stressed plant will give hotter fruit. If you want hotter fruit still, get a different variety. Look for a chinense variety. Gareth - Most people raise chillies in punnets/starter pots, then into medium pots (10-15 cm across at the top), then onto final larger pots or garden beds when they have outgrown the medium one. You can tell when they are ready to be moved as they will have roots coming out the bottom. Julie - feed them with tomato food, probably in liquid form, is pretty good for flowering chillies, also, mulch and compost the soil if you can. Murray - depending on the variety, chillies can take up to 6 weeks to germinate, and they also need warm humid conditions to do so. Chillies are originally grown in warmer humid places, so they better you can recreate this, the happier they are. Keep them moist, (but not wet or soggy), perhaps put half a coke bottle over them to keep the humidity up, put them somewhere warm, they dont need sunlight to germinate, so the top of the fridge will do. When they do germinate, move them to a sunny windowsill or similar until they are ready to be hardened off to go outside. Michael - an NPK ratio of 10-5-10 for when they are growing works well, then 5-10-10 for flowering, if using bought fertilizers. Otherwise, a well composted mix of garden waste should work well, with some animal manure thrown in. Dont forget to mulch the soil to stop evaporation.
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Pak Choy (also Pak choi) 15 Dec, Freya Su (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
You can't! Sow smallish lots every two weeks to get a constant supply. You have to pick the whole vegetable at harvest.
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Beetroot (also Beets) 15 Dec, mark (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
re:john mcentee,cooking beetroot..boil till they slide off big fork when poked,drain,peel(skin comes off easy when hot),slice or leave whole,bottle in sterilised jars (with airtight lid,must be airtight) and cover with secret ingredient then seal.....(SECRET INGREDIENT-in 2 litre jug dissolve 1 cup of white sugar with 2 cups of boiling water then fill with combination of half brown vinegar,half cold water,pour this in bottles untill it covers beetroot,may have to shake bottle whilst filling..goodluck)
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Onion 15 Dec, mark (Australia - temperate climate)
please help,can someone please tell me the correct procedure for drying/storing onions.thankyou and merry xmas to all.
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Garlic 14 Dec, jason (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
hi we have been getting good rain at our farm in newry victoria , what happens if i plant some garlic now, as lm about to head away for 3 weeks over christmas and had some laying about my kitchen used, and its still cool weather?
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Potato 14 Dec, John (Australia - temperate climate)
I am interested in growing spuds in a cage tower. Can anyone tell me if using pelleted fertilzer such as dynamic lifter be as successful as using one of the suggested animal manures? Also, has anyone tried growing spuds in summer and if so with what success?
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Coriander (also Cilantro, Chinese parsley) 14 Dec, John (Australia - temperate climate)
Melina we have been growing coriander for years. Like Jaci above, we just sprinkle the seeds in the garden,lightly cover them and keep the soil moist. Our crop has never failed. It does go to seed fairly quickly but all you have to do is collect the seeds and replant them. Give it a try, I'll be surprised if you are not successful.
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Rosella (also Queensland Jam Plant, Roselle) 14 Dec, lynne m powell (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I recently met a gent who told me that rosellas make a beautiful chutney. Would there be a grower who could share a recipe? With thanks,in anticipation,Lynne
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Showing 13411 - 13440 of 13854 comments
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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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