Hello, SE QLD native gardener here!

Scratchet

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Hello everyone, pleased to be here.

I'm Scratch, and I'm just starting my garden, from Scratch!
I do everything the long slow way, from sewing, woodwork, my car, and now finally my garden. My focus on native plants exclusively, for traditional diet and supporting wildlife & pollinators in our region. As well as for textiles and dyes.

Hoping to enjoy the community atmosphere and make plant friends from the region and surrounds.

be well and enjoy your work! This my chikins with bunyanut, they love them :)


Hello, SE QLD native gardener here!
 
Welcome! I am just getting set up on a block of land in SE QLD as well, so once I have cleared some of the acres of lantana I hope to plant more native plants, especially ones that are edible in some form or another, so I hope you'll keep us up to date on what plants you have chosen and why (and where to source them!)
 
Welcome! I am just getting set up on a block of land in SE QLD as well, so once I have cleared some of the acres of lantana I hope to plant more native plants, especially ones that are edible in some form or another, so I hope you'll keep us up to date on what plants you have chosen and why (and where to source them!)
Hi, and welcome yourself (if you're not originally from this part of the country)! If you're local, still congrats on your block.

I feel like lantana clearing is a bit of a rite of passage, one in which I have never partook. I'm 4305, so if you're ever having a working bee give us a shout.
I've got a bit of clearing to do myself, in a much less grande scale. Lots of pest tree's, and asparagus ferns. But slow and steady forging sanity quarters.

As for plants, absolutely. I'm looking forward to going to some local seed and plant swaps too. I'm making it a habit to sow far more seeds than I need just for the purpose of trade or gift.

But from the beginning, since it is SE QLD, if you have the space, I would be remiss in not suggesting Bunya pines (like from my pic). They take a long long time, but they're a glut of produce when they drop cones. the discarded husks create a hel-luva-lottaa mulch, and the shells produce tannins, for use in whatever you'd use tannins for. I use them for dying.

It's also the home-turf native food, and culturally significant so you can't go wrong. The environment will thank you for it. Last bumper crop was dec2021-2022, so next gen. seedlings will be around 2year old now. Or wait for the next harvest season due end of 2024, or 25 (it's a 3-4 year cycle).

I'll be rearing around 20-30 seeds next season as part of my reforestation contribution. Hopefully will have many available if people want them.

from this load we got a 50L wheelbarrow full of nuts in shell. Mostly milled into flour, but also things like potato bake.
Hello, SE QLD native gardener here!
Hello, SE QLD native gardener here!
Hello, SE QLD native gardener here!
 
Wow I've never looked into the Bunya pine but it looks like a great thing to grow, thanks for the pics! I'm not sure how things are going to go this summer (it's supposed to be a scorcher and high risk of fire across my block) so will probably wait until after summer before doing any sort of planting in earnest. The block is 100 acres so definitely have the space for it.

I live near Brisbane at the moment but the land is not far from Toowoomba. Thanks for your offer of help! I think I'm at the point now where I've done enough by hand, the next step is going to be looking at some kind of heavy machinery. I am thinking I will need to build underground anyway to deal with the fire risk so will need a machine to dig that, so if I can get some kind of fork attachment that I can drive through the lantana scooping it up roots and all then hopefully that will make short work of it. I just have to do it in sections so I don't remove all the habitat for the small birds in one go, and find something native I can replace it with. Apparently lantana is high in potassium so makes great compost, so hopefully with luck I will end up with a large supply of compost for the veggie garden.

Where do you find out about local seed/plant swaps? I don't think I've ever heard of anything beyond local markets that usually have a few plants for sale.
 
Welcome to the forum @Scratchet !
That looks amazing! Do you have past experience with gardening?

Thanks! As for gardening experience.... Yes, and no.

I work in my mums yard for her since always, and my job is as a Gardener. I spend a lot of time doing plant nerd and culture study on plants/ environment and habitat; ethnobotanical science.

However, I think gardening as work is very different to gardening personally. Especially since many/most client gardens are aesthetic or status gardens (neutral tone), it's mostly mass planting out formal gardens with little variety. Then maintaining with pruning/mowing/weeding/mulching etc.. Which of course is vastly different from functional gardens, informal gardens, purposed gardens, food, habitat, biotope, wildlife, revegetation etc. etc. etc. you know what I mean.

So I feel, even with all the book learning in the world, I've still got little practical experience, so I consider myself a novice. Still making all the rookie errors now that I have my own space to work in :)
 
I would agree. My grandfather-in-law was a horticulturist, but in reality he knows little about growing plants in a more intimate fashion. He knows how to grow bulk, plant large gardens, etc, but he knows little about growing at home. Having the experience from work helps a lot, surely, but it's definitely not the same.

That's the best way at looking at it. I've been gardening for probably almost 3 years now, but I still feel like I only started yesterday. I feel like there's always more to learn, even on plants that I've had since the beginning.
I am what I consider to be an "experimental" gardener. I enjoy experimenting on my plants, more than getting any produce from them. I love taking cuttings and seeing how they react in different environments. I like to see how far I can push my plants and what traits they might start to exhibit. I've killed more plants than most, probably, but I do feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge through this. The plants that I do keep with the intent of keeping them healthy and thriving do really well, probably because I've seen what DOESN'T work. And it also makes it less sad if a plant ends up dying; it's a learning process.
 
G'day and welcome. I've written a fair bit on common native edibles so feel free to check those out. Cheers.

PS: I grew up in 4306. Know the area quite well, even though I've been away for long. Many hours spent fishing in Chuwar and Lake Manchester/Wivenhoe.
 
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Thanks! As for gardening experience.... Yes, and no.

I work in my mums yard for her since always, and my job is as a Gardener. I spend a lot of time doing plant nerd and culture study on plants/ environment and habitat; ethnobotanical science.

However, I think gardening as work is very different to gardening personally. Especially since many/most client gardens are aesthetic or status gardens (neutral tone), it's mostly mass planting out formal gardens with little variety. Then maintaining with pruning/mowing/weeding/mulching etc.. Which of course is vastly different from functional gardens, informal gardens, purposed gardens, food, habitat, biotope, wildlife, revegetation etc. etc. etc. you know what I mean.

So I feel, even with all the book learning in the world, I've still got little practical experience, so I consider myself a novice. Still making all the rookie errors now that I have my own space to work in :)
G'day and welcome. I am a newbie and live SE Qld but am focused on the vege patch growing. Have some wicking beds and some raised beds utilsing different methods of soil methodology. Cheers
 
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