Are you growing blueberries in your organic garden? I’ve got a few blueberry plants growing in 10″ pots. We’ll be moving soon, so I didn’t want to put them in the ground and I was curious to how well they’d grow and fruit in pots.
I potted them up into the 10″ pots about 6 months ago - so early spring here in South Australia. They really took off ( I always fertilizer - with organic slow release pellets - when I pot up ) over spring, were flowering in summer and we had a nice handfull of fruit from each plant late summer. Not bad for plants that are only about a year or 18 months old.
I think one of the reasons they did so well, given that they need a pH around 4.5 to 5, was that I added pine needles as a mulch around the top of each plant (being careful not to get the mulch too close to the stems). Then each month or two I throw coffee grounds (not hot!) on top of the pine needles.
So every time I water, some acidity is watered through the pots, keeping the soil beautifully acid - just the way blueberries like it. I’ll probably refresh the pine needles when I put them in the ground, once we move to our new property, which I’ll tell you about soon.
Blueberries are a superfood - they are extremely good for you, so if you have the right climate, give them a go.
Just by the way, both rhododendrons and azaleas love acidic soils too, so you can use this method on them and they’ll really reward you for your time.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: fruit on March 25th, 2009 | 7 Comments »
One of the first things you’ll want to do when you start organic gardening is to set up some irrigation. It really saves you sooooo…. much time, and water in fact. You can include a timer tap to your system and know that you are giving your vegetables a deep watering, which is exactly what they need.
Below is a photo of a new patch where I wanted to expand my veggie garden. I actually put in a few things before we got around to putting together the irrigation, but we installed it long before summer hit hard.
The irrigation system is quite simple and easy to install. I think that’s always (almost) the best way to do things. Simple is almost always best. Just in case you’re wondering, the frame and wire setup is for my scarlet runner beans.
And below is the irrigation we put together for the area. The main plot is irrigated in a rectangle and several areas set out behind the trellis in cross sections for curcubits (pumpkins, cucumber, melons and zucchinis).
I’m not sure how much time I save, but I know it’s a lot. And with the tap timer I never have to wonder if I forgot to turn the water off.
If you’re starting out with your own organic vegetable garden, you might like to look at my e-book “Organic Food Gardening Beginner’s Manual” for more step-by-step tips to get you started on the right foot - so to speak.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: vegetables on March 18th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The most beautiful herb that I have flowering in my organic garden at the moment is the garlic chives. Their clusters of dainty white, star-shaped flowers are just gorgeous. They seem to be hardier than my ordinary chives - they’ll tolerate drought and frost in my garden. So it’s great to have them available to throw in some scrambled eggs or just to garnish even.
Aren’t they pretty. They look great amongst the other herbs in my garden. Of course you could grow them in a flower bed too.
Some other herbs that are flowering (or have just been) are my tansy, curry plant, chives, pink rosemary, some of my lavenders and golden oregano.
My tip for today: plant some herbs 
They give in so, so many ways and most are quite easy to grow.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: Herbs on March 12th, 2009 | No Comments »
This past week has been such a delight after the massive heat wave we had last month. So many days of 40 degrees or so in a row can really take it out of you!
Thankfully we also had some rain during the week, that the ground just sucked right up - so to speak. I think all living things breathed in a deep sigh of relief, even though the rain was brief. I know my garden suddenly looked greener and healthier for having been rained on.
Alas it was too little, too late for many plants here. Many (most) of our tomatoes and capsicums got burn marks on them. So we had a lot that were un-saleable at the market, but we still use them ourselves.
Some of our herbs shrivelled, went crispy and turned up their toes. Except for the real stayers… basil and kale loved the heat and the parsley liked it OK too. But the watering of my potted plants was a bit much to keep up.
Phew…. I’m so glad that summer’s behind us. I just love autumn, the cooler weather, the changing colour of the leaves and landscape. And taking of cuttings to create all those little, new plants. Yes, it’s wonderful to be a gardener!
What’s going on in your garden?
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: Uncategorized on March 7th, 2009 | No Comments »
I’m a strong believer in organic gardening (as you might have guessed) and one technique I love to use is Companion Planting. Basically, planting groups of plants together that help each other in some way. Often it’s to confuse insects with a vast variety of smells or textures.
Some plants benefit others by attracting pollinators or detering nematodes. You get the idea. Anyway, a “Go Organic Club” subscriber sent me in a few photos of the companion planting he’s got happening in his organic garden.
He’s got lovely combinations of vegetables, flowers and herbs. Thanks Robert Esparza for sharing your garden. I really appreciate it! Your veggie plot looks really healthy.
Give companion planting a go. I’m sure the benefits are measurable mostly by the healthy, tasty produce you get from garden.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: companion planting on February 26th, 2009 | No Comments »
Here I go ranting about herbs again! Parsley has to be one of my all time favourites. And it’s a herb that most people like and it looks good on your plate or in a sandwich or on your scrambled eggs. Do you grow it in your organic garden?
It’s quite an easy plant to grow. If you use a lot of parsley then it pays to have several plants. I grow both curley parsley and the flat leaf (Italian) parsley.
Here’s a photo of some young curley plants I’ve got growing.
Parsley will grow from seed, but it takes a long time to germinate - between 5 & 6 weeks (plant in spring). So don’t give up, just keep those seeds moist! You can save your own seed if you let some of your plants flower. They get quite straggly, but I don’t mind that.
Also, parsley are biennial, which means they go to seed in their second season. So if you plant some every season, you’ll always have oodles of parsley at your fingertips.
They are not really demanding plants. If you’re picking regularly like I do, then you’ll need to fertilize (organic fertilizer of course) every month or so and just keep the water up to them - especially in really hot weather.
I believe parsley is good for helping reduce high blood pressure, so if you have this problem you might want to ask your naturopath about it.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: Herbs on February 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
yes, I love herbs. I must admit, I’m hooked. Just imagine how dull life might be without them!
One lesser known herb that I’m really getting into now (and wanted to share) is Lebanese Cress. There’s some debate over the botanical name, but take a look at my website plant profile to see what it looks like if you don’t already know.
I love using it in salads. It’s so pretty, not to mention unusual looking for a salad herb. And it tastes just like juicy, fresh carrots! Bonus!
Anyway, take a look at it here, then try and get a plant from somewhere. I love them so much that it’s my plant of the week at my market stall tomorrow at the Barossa Farmer’s Market. So if you live close, come and grab one.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: Herbs on February 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Kale is a member of the brassica family - along with cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, rocket and others. It’s a vegetable I’ve overlooked til this year. Not sure why. But don’t you just find that there’s always another vegetable or herb that you’ve never grown before? Somehow you just weren’t aware of it?
I must say, I’m really impressed with this under-valued vegetable. It is really easy to grow and seems to laugh at our 40 degree C days. It really loves the heat. And it seems the more we pick it, the healthier and faster it grows.
I mean, just look at those healthy leaves! I can’t believe it really - everything else (except the basil, which is also loving the heat) has either suffered massively with the heat or turned up it’s toes and died. Not the Kale - it’s gorgeous.
The only problem we had was with aphids, but we kept squirting them off with the hose and they have been aphid-free for some time now. Besides, they don’t do that much damage and you can wash them off when you’re preparing it to cook or pull off the small part of the leaf that they were growing on.
Kale is delicious quickly fried in a little olive oil with onion, or included in a stir-fry.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: vegetables on February 15th, 2009 | No Comments »
Last year in February I transplanted three tiny raspberry divisions (take a look at the original post) along a fence in quite sandy soil. I just wanted to update the original post to show how much they’ve grown in just one year.
It has really surpassed all my expectations for it - other than we didn’t get much fruit this year as we had a really hot spell and it suffered a little…. again, sandy soil. :-( Plus the chickens are allowed to free range in the area to the back of this fence from mid afternoon each day and they tend to dig into the sand to make dust baths right where the raspberry’s growing.
The main thing to remember with raspberry plants is to cut off the canes from the previous growing season, as the it only fruits on the current seasons canes.
It’s lovely to have some berries growing along a fence in your organic garden. While you’re wandering around admiring your efforts, you can pick a few berries to delight your taste buds.
As well as raspberries, you could try loganberries, thornless blackberries, marion berries, youngberries or boysenberries. They all grow in a similar fashion.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: Uncategorized on February 13th, 2009 | No Comments »
Have you tried growing eggplant in your organic garden? They are just as easy to grow as tomatoes… maybe easier. They enjoy the same conditions as tomatoes, capsicum and chillis, because they’re all in the same family.
You can see here that we’re growing in quite sandy soil. They are OK with that as long as the water is kept up to them - especially on hot days - and you fertilize (organically, of course) regularly.
Unfortunately with sandy soils, when you water it leaches the nutrients from the soil, so you need to replace them regularly to keep your plants growing healthily and producing fruit.
Again, they are another vegetable that benefit from a long growing season and won’t tolerate frosts. So plant them in your organic garden as soon as the frosts have passed and the ground has warmed. They’ll reward you with glorious dark fruits for several months.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Filed under: vegetables on February 10th, 2009 | No Comments »
Hi, I'm Julie. I hope you get inspiration from my blog and come back often for great tips and organic gardening info. For more info about me, 
