All my babies and seeds.

Tim C

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I will attempt to list all the seed I have to propagate, divided into Bush Tucker and Other Lairy-ones.
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This is my heated greenhouse.
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Quandongs, Blue Quandongs and Peaches. The mesh is to stop the Pygmy Possums/Native Rodents digging them up- Little buggers. They seem to love nuts/kernels.
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Garden beds. A little frost. Worst one here for 20 years.
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Scrub with a view over the valley. All area to the left is also irrigated, as is the house surrounds. And a dripper line through the scrub for some trees and stuff that needs shelter.

Bush Tucker-
Quandongs, Blue Quandongs. Rough Currant(coffee-berry), Mountain Currant, Native Currant (all Coprosmas), Purple Appleberry(Billardiera), Kangaroo Apple, Native pepper/capsicum(Solanum), Mountain pepper, Native pennyroyal, Wild pommegranite (Capparis), Peanut tree, Finger lime (green,pink,red). I will also get some Muntries.

Others-
Cumin, Coriander, Parsley(curled and Italian), Basil, Thai Basil, Purple Basil, Spearmint, Creeping Thyme(will be my lawn), Sage, Oregano(2 types), Stevia, Licorice herb, Bay Tree, Silverbeet(Bright Lights-multi colour), Tree Spinach(Chenopodium), Purple Asparagus, Autumn Olive, Carrots(Purple Haze, Purple Dragon, Atomic Red, Lubyana yellow,Solar Yellow), Purple King Beans, Broad Beans (mainly for green manure), Purple podded peas, Dwarf Butter Beans, Roma Tomato, Pink(?)Tomato, Woolworths(?)Tomato, Italian Tree Tomato, Long Red Eggplant, Red Tamarillo, Mixed(variety) Chilli, PasillaBajio(brown mild) Chilli, Sweet Banana Chilli, Mild Jalapeno. Capsicums-Red,Orange,Yellow,Purple, Bulls Horn, Ozark Giant. Violet Sicilian Cauliflower, Romanesco and Early Purple Broccoli, Spaghetti Squash, Green Tint squash, Blackjack Zuchinni. Strawberries-black,blue,pink,purple,green,yellow,red/purple,pineapple and climbing/running. Chestnut Trees, Arabica and Robusta Coffea. Probably others I've forgotten, and a couple more on my watch-list.
Warrigul Greens and Pigface are feral here, along with the portulaca which had overtaken everywhere, and Ruby Saltbush. Kurrajong do well here, so I hope the Peanut Trees will too.

Ornamentals are Zinnia, Giant Dahlia-flowered Zinnia, Button Cactus (Lophophora). These do well in a hot climate.
Privacy screens are Moso Bamboo, Timor Black Bamboo, Giant Bamboo and Male Bamboo. They will need lots of water here. Our rainfall is meant to be 12 inches, but we only get 8 inches. Thank God for the irrigation!
Also I have a shadehouse on the south-side of the house.
As with all bush gardens some plants will survive in some places. Any collected seed will be genetically tough, but with some cross-pollination. There will no doubt be failures, but you can't say I put all my eggs in one basket!

This is as close to civilisation as I ever want to get, thank-you-very-much!(The green shack in the background is derelict.)
I just can't seem to relate to society-in-general. They must all be dysfunctional, I'm sure!:crazy:
....Yes.... my other 35 personalities concur. I will now go and play my banjo!!:hysterical:
 
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Tim C

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And all these in the last couple of weeks-Phew! The whole of the above garden area is now cleared to the back fence, plus more, with some worked and planted, but I've gotta dig up some more ground !!
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I gave up trying to list them all... I just put ID tags in as I plant them. 9 Basil varieties(lemon, lime, clove, vanilla, licorice, dark opal, sweet, Genovese, Thai), every herb imaginable, weird and wonderful veg.....a dozen tomato, maize and chilli varieties. 3 types of beetroot, beans, beans and more beans,red leaf, mixed leaf, four seasons and perpetual lettuce, giant brown onions (Russian Eksibishon), purple and American flag leeks, Dutch, Burpless and lemon cucumbers, yellow crookneck, yellow and blackjack zucchinis, green squash, Delicata, orange and sweet marrow(Chinese) pumpkins. Bok choi Pak choi Wong bok. And on, and on, and on......My main concern now is appropriate companions, or at least keeping the haters apart..Strangely I have higher germination with Chinese seeds than Qld. grown heirlooms. Must be too cold here still. I'll just put 'em all in and see what pops up. Still more seeds arriving every day. I just can't help myself when I see something interesting.
 

Mark

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That is one impressive food garden setup Tim! Truly amazing and beautiful! I love the way your raised beds blend into the Australian bushland - obviously a lot of work has gone into your property.

If you could share with us how this growing season goes with all your seeds etc I'll be very grateful and your leaning towards native bush foods is really interesting!

That's a great little hot house and I was hoping you'd show us your electric blanket heater. :cheers:

I'd like to write a blog post about this if you don't mind? I'll use the information in this thread and just your first name if that's OK?

Awesome :)
 

Tim C

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No probs Mark. It's all about utilising what you have or can get cheap/free, or re-purpose.
 

Jenni

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I love your little green house fantastic...

The ice on the fence brings back memories I used to live in country NSW and remember waking up to the fish pond frozen over and the icy grass snapping under your feed as you walk on it.

Ok... now you have me excited... I want my own seed collection...

The Australian bush is just beautiful... what a great outlook you have. Keep posting bush food info, very interesting and want to plant some in my vegi patch... (Once I build it..)

At least all that digging keeps you fit...
 

Tim C

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Just waiting for a bit more growth and I'll update the progress...I'm still planting- corn, melons and curcurbits now. Blue, purple, green, yellow, orange,- red and yellow moon and stars watermelons. Nutmeg, mango, casaba and piel de sapo melons. Corn in red, black, purple, white, Glass Gem, yellow and blue popping varieties. Delicata pumpkin, Yellow Crookneck squash, yellow and blackjack zuchinni, button squash. Dutch, Burpless, white and Lemon cucumbers. And more herbs for making Absinthe, plus ethnobotanicals. 4 timed watering stations now....:)
 

Tim C

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Out weeding today, and got a few more nice little surprises. 7 Tamarillos up! I had given up on them. 2 Quandongs up. A Moringa tree. The big fruited tomatoes from the local shop were up in 4 days! The Red cabbages and purple Brussel sprouts I thought had a low strike rate are still coming through, as with most of the earlier planted Basil varieties. Good germination with most herbs, however re-planted some Epazote today. Mugwort, I read afterwards, should be cold stratified, but they're up and away. Every colour of strawberry, except white, have at least one per pot. Weeding the styro box with Faye Alberta peaches, I noticed a couple of surface seeds swelling and greening. Another 7 chilli varieties planted today, plus Sugar-beet, Purple Choy, Perrennial lettuce, scattered sunflowers of different types and Zinnias for the bees and aphid-herders(ants). And Tree Spinach(Chenapodium Giganteum) is all up too. Bloody beautiful looking stuff, with a pink tinge in the centres. Tomorrow I will plant Jack beans, Scarlet Runners,Yellow Mangel Beet, Cylindra beet, Hyssop, Lovage and Wong Bok(Chinese cabbage). Yesterday was Wild Dagga, Intoxicating Mint (Lagochilus Inebriens) Goji bush and Styrian hulless pumpkins (Pepitas). The day before was 4(of11) corn varieties, 2 Watermelons(orange flesh and yellow moon and stars), and Purple podded peas. Dear old Mums saving all her jars for me for the preserves, but there's gonna be a lot of dried stuff too. If worst comes to worst, I'll make some alcohol out of some old stewed fruit to get more jars!:cheers:
Keg no.2 in the fridge tonight- Coopers draught with 20g per 45L extra hops- it will have to be exceptional to out-do the Lager with 30g. Dad was up the other night and we had a couple before tea. At 70, he doesn't drink as much as he used to, and he's an opinionated old so-and-so, (I s'pose I'm tarred with the same brush:dunno:) , but I value his opinion, He said it was not like the homebrew he tried as a young bloke, and compared it to Coopers Mild( I only use 650g{x2} sugar). Needless to say, tea was a bit later than his normal time. (Just to clarify. Out in the sticks we have breakfast, dinner and tea, not breakfast, lunch and dinner.) He brought Turkish sausages-absolutely FANTASTIC! They had pine-nuts and currants and God-knows what else in them. I'll be keeping an eye out for them, for sure!
 

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Big day in the garden for you Tim!

I have to do some serious weeding tomorrow (had a busy weekend and couldn't get into the garden). Weeds are amazing through spring here especially with some early summer rain.

It's pretty satisfying when you get some good seed germination. I've been trying to strike some rosella seed from last year but I'm not having much luck unfortunately. ..
 

Jenni

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Thats so cool tim. Sounds like you had a fantastic day. So many wonderful things in your garden. I bet your dad is a character and has lots of great stories to tell.. Maybe you could post a few here sometime? I love a good Australian autobiography.
 

Tim C

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Big day in the garden for you Tim!

I have to do some serious weeding tomorrow (had a busy weekend and couldn't get into the garden). Weeds are amazing through spring here especially with some early summer rain.

It's pretty satisfying when you get some good seed germination. I've been trying to strike some rosella seed from last year but I'm not having much luck unfortunately. ..
Yeah, I have some Rosella seeds on the way too, maybe it's warm enough here? Also Strawberry Guava and might get some fejioas- they should at least take- I've seen them growing at Naracoorte, and it's bloody cold there! Did you know Rosella comes from Africa?(according to Wikipedia) I always thought it was an Australian native.
Yeah I do about an hour a day weeding just to keep up on the Mustard weed- I'm sure it sprouts and grows overnight!!
 

Mark

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Did you know Rosella comes from Africa?(according to Wikipedia) I always thought it was an Australian native.
I did know that but only after researching it like you when I first started to grow it. I also always thought it was an Australian native and was quite surprised to find it's actually African! I'm thinking I started my seeds too early this year (it's still a little cool through the night) but I might just have some dud seeds. We really like rosella jam.
 

Tim C

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Never tried it, but sure it will be worthwhile. My Tamarillo seeds have been in the ground nearly two months. I read they take 3-4 weeks to germinate. They grow them in NZ, so it shouldn't be too cold here. Also read that one tree will keep a whole family in fruit most of the year, so I will definitely have a surplus!
 

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They can suffer from the cold (even though nz grow them well) and get leggy if you let them. It's a good idea to dead head the trees at about 6 feet imo.
 

Tim C

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The second round of Tamarillos I planted have just started sprouting-5 weeks. That's fresh seed and 21C ground temp. They do have a beautiful flavour, so with the amount of trees I have now, Tamarillo wine will be on the menu this autumn.....
 

Tim C

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I'll leave it up to your discretion Mark. I suppose if it's not garden-related, it's really irrelevant to the thread..........
 

Mark

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Done Tim!

Tamarillo wine will be on the menu this autumn.....
Be sure to make another thread about this in our recipes section please if you get the chance!

Tamarillos is one of my all time favs :) My trees only last about 3 years max though, but that's ok.
 

Tim C

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Here's a garden update with some pics...
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Faye-Alberta peaches.
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Mugwort and Borlotti beans- I didn't realise they were climbers-whoops!
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Russian Tarragon
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Rats-tail Radishes
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Coloured carrots and Tree Spinach. Very pretty stuff.
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Southern Giant curled mustard, Hamburg Parsley, and the bare patch is/was Purple Brussell Sprouts. A Borage plant in the middle, cuppla sages and a stray mint- could be spear or native mint.
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Rainbow Silverbeet around the edge. Purple Broccoli, Purple Cauli and Romanesco. Hopefully the shade will retard it bolting to seed.
camera 136.jpg Some tomatoes (Roma) finally flowering. camera 137.jpg Mixed lettuce and All-seasons in the back.
camera 138.jpg Tatsoi, a Potato-leafed Tree tomato, and some little Yellow Stuffers. camera 139.jpg Capsicum/Chillis.
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This stuff is yummy! Cinnamon Basil.
camera 141.jpg One of many Malabar spinach. camera 142.jpg One of many Scarlet Runner beans.
camera 143.jpg Black, purple and Glass Gem corn. camera 144.jpg Part of my dripper run of Curcubits.
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Kangaroo Apple. These were slow germinaters, like the Tamarillos.
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Pigeon Pea. I have early and late varieties, yellow and purple(? or red?) flowers.
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Bay beans (Canavalia Rosea)
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Wong Bok, Sugarbeet, Red dandelion Chicory, Red-veined Sorrel, Cylindra Beetroot, Pak choy. Giant(Chinese) Sweetcorn, 3 varieties of spuds, Nutmeg Melons, Yellow fleshed moon and stars watermelon, Lemon cucumber, Purple-podded peas and Red Borlottis. Delicata pumpkins and perpetual lettuce as well.
Got my quarterly water bill the other day-$348.05. Very reasonable considering the amount I have been using to germinate in this heat. 43c/KL unfiltered(Irrigation Trust) versus $2.32/KL for corporate water here:)
That's nearly a 6X mark-up for filtered water. Something only the government could achieve.
 
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Mark

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Magic update Tim!

How does that Kangaroo apple taste? I see it's more of a temperate plant so it probably wouldn't grow too well in the subtropics hey?

The tree spinach looks nice - I've just started some Egyptian spinach in seed raising trays it likes the heat apparently.

Faye-Alberta peaches - so they grow true to type?

Lots of great healthy looking greens and that shade cloth should help a little I reckon.
 

Tim C

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This one is S. laciniatum- not to be confused with S. lanceolatum, which is a highly poisonous plant from Sth America. S. aviculare (NZ and Aust.) is also known as Kangaroo Apple, but is also poisonous. Apparently it's closely related to bush tomato, and likewise a desert plant. So the heat shouldn't worry it. I'm just surmising it will be bitter and bland, but ok when fully ripe then made into a chutney or dried. When I get some fruit, I will find out myself..
As far as I'm aware all stonefruit grow true to type. Citrus may not, but even the grafted ones produce a reasonable number of true-to-types, however with some variants. It's just that commercial growers seek a dead-set true varietel for orchard establishment. Finger-limes and other limes breed true, as do wild oranges, but mandarines, tangerines, tangellos and lemons can be a bit hit-and-miss like oranges.
I just looked up Egyptian spinach..Interesting. You can make jute rope/sacks out of the fibre.

Fay-elbertas( I just checked the spelling) are a free-stone peach. Dark orange flesh and very sweet. And massive. Those seedlings are grown from the seeds out of some of the peaches I cut for drying for the neighbour in Feb.:)
I never get sick of peaches.
Like I say, we are lucky with our climate here. I got some dark cherry seeds today.We can even grow them here, because of our cold, but short winter.... and I have raspberry seeds, but I notice that under the gumtrees, there are berry bushes already growing from bird droppings- not sure if they're black/boysen/rasp berries, but they would be a modern thornless variety. Same with Asparagus - must be 2o plants in the front yard alone. And my purple asparagus is also a 100% strike-rate(from seed). So now I will make mounds everywhere there's a plant, for a small crop next year.
Once everything is up and away I can cut back the water a bit. Also go to drippers in some spots. But it is amazing what sprouts with a bit of water. Even after 5-6 years without. Some bulbs and daisy-type bushes, and others, have also appeared out of nowhere.
 
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Mark

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When I get some fruit, I will find out myself..
Ok, look forward to hearing how it tastes then.

As far as I'm aware all stone fruit grow true to type.
Really? Well, there ya go! Yeah, you get the cold there we can only grow the low chills here.

I just looked up Egyptian spinach..Interesting. You can make jute rope/sacks out of the fibre.
I tried growing it early this year but I started the seed too late (in autumn actually) and it needs hot weather to strike. I have about 6 small seedlings coming up at the moment. Once it gets going, I'm hoping to use it like a cooked green - it's supposed to handle hot humid conditions really well.

And my purple asparagus is also a 100% strike-rate(from seed).
I started some purple asparagus this year from crowns (Bunnings) - never tried growing it from seed but I will!

Yep, your garden is rocking mate with lots of great stuff and quite a few unknowns (to me anyway) very interesting. :cheers:
 
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