Susan is aiming at restoring her acquired banana farm to better health. The steep slopes are being planted with seedlings of other fruit trees, especially mango and avocado seedlings. She has stopped all spraying and is planning for certain plants to overwhelm weeds.
The steep slopes are prone to erosion especially in the high rainfall of the Coffs Coast.
Macadamias grown from the nuts are being propagated for adding to the biodiversity of a food forest.
This mature mango helps to retain the steep slope.
A wild native raspberry flourishes. Some find these fairly tasteless but others enjoy the taste. Be careful to control the runners.
Coriander, in the vegetable garden, flowers and attracts useful insects.
Fennel grows well at this time of year.
Silver Beet produces more when the outside leaves are regularly picked.
This Jack Fruit has been producing fruit for some years. With no extra irrigation it is surviving the very dry weather....
.... and producing fruit.
This joey was found in the pouch of its mother, killed on a road. Here he attempts to climb into a non-existent pouch
These gluten free pumpkin, feta and sun dried tomatoes were enjoyed at afternoon tea.
Irene grew this whopper of a pineapple. The size surprised us, our climate not being really subtropical.
Hong Kong Taro is a smaller variety of taro. Irene had brushed off the soil gently, and brought the taro to the boil in cold water with salt and five spice powder.
She simmered the covered pot for 10 minutes then left the taro in the water to cool. This made it easy to peel the taro which tasted like a waxy boiled potato. The boiled taro would make an excellent 'potato' salad. The taro could be stored unpeeled in the 'fridge for a week.
As usual we shared plants and seeds from our seed table.
The new vegetable garden is well mulched in this dry weather.
The early ripe fruit on this peach tree is because of the north facing slope and our latitude.
We plan for our next garden visit to be to Bellingen's North Bank Community Garden on the second Thursday of November, November 8.
The steep slopes are prone to erosion especially in the high rainfall of the Coffs Coast.
Macadamias grown from the nuts are being propagated for adding to the biodiversity of a food forest.
This mature mango helps to retain the steep slope.
A wild native raspberry flourishes. Some find these fairly tasteless but others enjoy the taste. Be careful to control the runners.
Coriander, in the vegetable garden, flowers and attracts useful insects.
Fennel grows well at this time of year.
Silver Beet produces more when the outside leaves are regularly picked.
This Jack Fruit has been producing fruit for some years. With no extra irrigation it is surviving the very dry weather....
.... and producing fruit.
This joey was found in the pouch of its mother, killed on a road. Here he attempts to climb into a non-existent pouch
These gluten free pumpkin, feta and sun dried tomatoes were enjoyed at afternoon tea.
Irene grew this whopper of a pineapple. The size surprised us, our climate not being really subtropical.
Hong Kong Taro is a smaller variety of taro. Irene had brushed off the soil gently, and brought the taro to the boil in cold water with salt and five spice powder.
She simmered the covered pot for 10 minutes then left the taro in the water to cool. This made it easy to peel the taro which tasted like a waxy boiled potato. The boiled taro would make an excellent 'potato' salad. The taro could be stored unpeeled in the 'fridge for a week.
As usual we shared plants and seeds from our seed table.
The new vegetable garden is well mulched in this dry weather.
The early ripe fruit on this peach tree is because of the north facing slope and our latitude.
We plan for our next garden visit to be to Bellingen's North Bank Community Garden on the second Thursday of November, November 8.
