Food Gardening

[Bribie G]

Look like lychees, gold mine if they are, absolutely ******* delicious

just let me know when they turn red and will come and pick (err eat) for you

Yes, Lychees.. :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2: they are fattening up really quickly now and on dissecting a couple they are indeed, just starting to form the "rubbery" fruit layer.

I never realised they grew that big, every Lychee tree I have ever seen was a tame looking little thing in rows in a plantation.
I'll need to bird net the bottom branches .

What part of Northern Rivers? There must be a tonne of fruit if it all matures.
The photo shows about a quarter of the tree. Before fruit. Now they are hanging in little bunches.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

You will have to put a sign up Bribie, "No Scrumping"

 

[niftinev]

Yes, Lychees.. :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2: they are fattening up really quickly now and on dissecting a couple they are indeed, just starting to form the "rubbery" fruit layer.

I never realised they grew that big, every Lychee tree I have ever seen was a tame looking little thing in rows in a plantation.
I'll need to bird net the bottom branches .

What part of Northern Rivers? There must be a tonne of fruit if it all matures.
The photo shows about a quarter of the tree. Before fruit. Now they are hanging in little bunches.

lychee tree.jpg

that tree is huge never seen a lychee tree that big, you will get shitloads

Potty mate by the sea ( hop, skip and a jump), tough life but someones gotta do it

 

[niftinev]

You will have to put a sign up Bribie, "No Scrumping"

won't be scrumping just gunna remove so they don't make a mess as Bribie won't like them

nothing better than fresh picked off the tree

 

[Bribie G]

Right, I went through Pottsville a few weeks ago by mistake. Well manicured looking place.

 

[niftinev]

nice quiet place to live, short stroll to the beach and far enough away from all the bullshit

effin glad i got to retire early even though it was forced

 

[Bribie G]

Wow these bastards don't muck about do they

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I will come for a drive for a bucket of lychee's

 

[Lincoln2]

I'll be over before long with some agile little 11 year old lads who like to climb trees.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I to have 10 & 9 yr old lads that like climbing trees

 

[Bribie G]

They are still sour as buggery but when they are edible I'll put out a general alert, rather the tree climbing lads get them than the lorikeets (I've been throwing boomerangs at the lorries and they have got the message that I'm not a nice human - at first I squirted them with the hose but then they started lining up for the cool refreshing spray. Cnuts. Boomerang is something in their racial memory I guess)

 

[manticle]

Just about everything I've planted in my garden is coming up beautifully, almost all from seed.

Two seed types that have so far given me nothing are strawberries and eggplant. Strawberries is no biggie as I can buy a variety of types as seedlings pretty cheaply (have done and continuing to do so).

Any tips on eggplant though? If I can get 6+ year old fenugreek from the spice cupboard to sprout, surely I can grow some eggplant.

Cheers in advance.

 

[Bribie G]

Eggys can be a bugger to grow from seed, I've been trying to get some fresh and excellent quality seeds (as they always are, top of the range) from Eden Seeds to germinate for weeks now, no luck.

I've only ever planted seedlings. Eggplants need to get off to a robust start and bush up quickly because they are mostly perennial, I keep mine going for three years usually.

I believe that they prefer to germinate above 20 degrees, with nighttime temps in Melbourne being a bit patchy at this time of year, maybe consider sowing them in a warm indoor area. I actually have an old fashioned airing cupboard with the HWS in it, I'm going to try that myself as I have Lebanese (bunching) eggplant seeds and the Lebanese are hard to find in nurseries.

ed: hey I'd forgotten you'd moved to Tas, maybe that's the problem at the moment. Wasn't it snowing on Mt Welly recently?

 

[manticle]

Yeah snow last week. Generally pretty warm at the moment but the nights are cool.

I might try some pots indoors with a new batch of seeds.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Did you freeze your strawberry seeds manticle? They generally need to be frozen for a few weeks before you plant them.

 

[manticle]

No. Just in the ground. I'll buy another pack and try freezing.

Do I just freeze the whole pack they are in for a fortnight or so?

Out of interest, what does freezing do?

Grabbed another pack of eggplant seeds and potted them to germinate indoors with a few remaining seeds into one of the garden beds.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

My mother in law is Japanese she grows the best strawberries, when I was in Japan recently she asked me to get her some seed and that is what she did put them straight into the freezer, simulates winter, when I grew my rhubarb from seed she told me to do the same thing with those, as I had trouble growing the rhubarb from seed, every seed germinated.
The eggplant is a member of the solanaceae family so you should grow them as you would tomatoes, the only ones of that family I would grow differently are peppers and chili, I start them off on a heat mat seems to take forever for them to germinate otherwise.

 

[manticle]

My capsicums and chillis have all been ok. Didn't want to rouse early spring but once the weather bumped up a little, all was good. When in Melbourne, they'd just develop from compost like tomatoes or pumpkin if I let it.

I'll try the freezing thing. No real drama - as I said I can buy seedlings easy but get so much pleasure watching the new shoots emerge.
Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Was in Bunnings earlier they are selling strawberry plants 50 cents each, if you do try the seeds again manticle wait until autumn or winter, and let them thaw out for a couple of days when you take them out of the freezer.

 

[Bribie G]

EDIBLE HEDGE

I'm growing an edible hedge to provide masses of leafy greens. Note keg to scale. Sown five weeks ago, half sunlight half dappled shade. Eden Seeds (No affil.)








One section is Green Amaranth, an improved cultivar of "pig weed" - pick the tips, leaves and flowers, chop and briefly steam then serve with lemon juice and olive oil as the Greeks do. It's absolutely delicious and meltingly tender. The more you pick, the more it bushes. Will grow shoulder height. Most of the mature leaves you see in the photo would be tender on cooking.

Danger: if you grow this then forever afterwards Silverbeet tastes like a cruel hoax.

Not to be confused with Red Amaranth that gives spectacular red bunches of scarlet blossoms, called "Love Lies Bleeding". That's edible (grew it at Old Bar) but the green is more suited to the kitchen.

Other section is Malabar Spinach that climbs and sprawls. Overcooked it's a bit slimy but wilted at the end of a stir fry it's Allah's answer to bok choy, or shredded (I'm assured) into a salad it's a good addition to rocket or lettuce.

Two plants will keep a family going.

I have a roll of chicken wire to attach to fence for the Malabar Spinach to sprawl over. Fence is pretty well fecked, hence the hedge to hide it.

Next stage is to do an Amaranth #2 section down to the bottom of the fence at the footpath.

edit: added refs