Sustainable Gardening Tips for May

Welcome to the May newsletter. I’m looking forward to showing you a few ways I’ve been building healthy soil and retaining moisture in my garden. It’s been dry, hot and windy for months. So protecting our soil health is a big priority. Dead, dry dirt grows unhealthy stressed plants. Keeping it covered with mulch is vital.

Sustainable Gardening Tips for May

I’m sharing ways to save money and garden more sustainably with mulch without buying it. Sure, you can go to your landscape yard, nursery or hardware to buy bags or get mulch delivered in bulk. However, if you want to save money, why not consider all the potential materials you could use as mulch from your garden or neighbourhood?

Dig into my latest article How to Mulch Your Garden for Free. There’s a barrowload of creative ideas on organic vs inorganic mulches plus 5 mulching tips. Here’s a sneak peek! I hope you get some valuable insights and inspiration.

Organic free mulch materials - Top Left: Dead leaves | Top Right: Nut shells | Bottom Right: Corn Husks | Bottom Left: Pine cones and needles

Organic mulch materials – Top Left: Dead leaves | Top Right: Nut shells | Bottom Right: Corn Husks | Bottom Left: Pine cones and needles

What to Plant Now in Subtropical SE QLD

May is our last month of autumn. We experience cooler days and nights, lower humidity (yay!) and fewer pest insects. Hopefully, perfect growing conditions if we get rain. It’s the ideal time to plant winter crops. Download your May Gardening Tips PDF for planting suggestions, tasks to do in the garden this month and issues to watch out for.

The Vegetables Growing Guide is a reference chart to help you grow 68 of the most popular vegetables in Australia and New Zealand climate zones. Includes information on companion planting, making compost, soil and moon planting.

What to Plant Now in other Locations

Click here for what to plant and when. Or visit Gardenate.com (USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa)

Subtropical Planting Guide

PLANT PROFILE: Yarrow

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a flowering edible and medicinal perennial herb that grows year-round in most climates. In subtropical QLD we sow in autumn.

Edible and medicinal herb pink Yarrow in flower

According to a review of Yarrow’s medicinal properties, the most medicinally active part of the plant are the flowers although the leaves are also used. Yarrow has been found to intensify the medicinal action of other herbs taken with it and helps eliminate toxins from the body. Studies confirm it has analgesic properties, is an anti-inflammatory agent, is used to control bleeding, blood clots, lower blood pressure and purify blood. Yarrow is used for colds, chicken pox, circulation, cystitis, diabetes treatment and many other ailments. It’s a wonderful addition to your home pharmacy garden as a first aid plant. Yarrow is one of the 72 herbs covered in the Herb and Medicinal Plants Growing Guide.

Likes:

Seeds require light for germination and a temperature of 18–24°C (64–75°F).
At least 3-4 hours of sun or partial shade in hot climates.
Will do best in compost-rich, well-drained soil but is tolerant of poor soils within a pH range of 5.5–7.0.
Regular moisture until established but will tolerate dry conditions when mature.

Dislikes:

Poorly drained soil and poor air circulation as these conditions can contribute to powdery mildew.
Too much shade affects flowering.

What’s Been Happening in My Garden?

April has been a busy month as I always look forward to the start of autumn! Cooler temperatures make gardening more comfortable without high humidity. This is the best time of year for planting so many crops so I don’t waste time. I aim for a diverse variety of foods that we most love to eat. Lots of salad ingredients, leafy greens, tummy-filling root vegetables like potatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, peas and beans, broccoli, kale, cabbages, garlic, leeks, onions and of course tomatoes, eggplant and capsicum. A rainbow of fresh ingredients to pick daily including cool-season herbs like coriander and dill. I change the menu to incorporate these new flavours. Soups, curries, stir-fries, salads and roasted or marinated vegetables are a few of our favourites.

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Anne Gibson2023-06-04T13:12:52+10:00Categories: Newsletters|Tags: Healthy soil, Medicinal plants, Mulch, Soil, Yarrow|2 Comments

How to Grow Turmeric Tips

Turmeric, Curcuma longa is an edible, medicinal, attractive self-pollinating perennial plant. Turmeric is worthy of a place in everyone’s garden, even in a pot. I believe it is one of the most healing herbs you can grow and use for preventative health benefits. It’s a member of the ginger family and is known for good reason as the Spice of Life!

Where to Grow Turmeric – Likes and Dislikes

Turmeric is a rhizome (root crop) and is planted from a piece of turmeric rather than seed. It prefers a well-drained, consistently moist compost-rich soil in a partial to full sun location. Turmeric thrives in warm, humid subtropical and tropical climates protected from strong winds and frost. In these conditions, turmeric will grow with just morning sunshine. However it benefits from shade relief in intense heat, especially over hot summers.

If you are in a cool climate, plant it in a full sun position with maximum warmth. Avoid wet or waterlogged soil or the rhizomes can rot. Turmeric is sensitive to drought or drying out completely. Avoid frosty conditions or heat stress.

How to Grow Turmeric in a Container or Garden Bed

Turmeric is very well suited to growing in large pots (35L or 9 gal). Perfect for renters, those who don’t want to dig to harvest and small space gardeners.

Use a nutrient-rich, moisture-holding potting mix and a thick layer of mulch. I have several in pots that just keep producing year after year with very little effort required to maintain them. The quality of the potting mix makes a HUGE difference, so don’t skimp.

If planting into a garden bed, improve the soil with plenty of compost and mulch. Turmeric is a hungry feeder! So prepare the soil well with nutrients (rock minerals and trace elements). Make sure the soil is well-drained so your crop doesn’t rot.

Turmeric is grown from plant material. Start with a large healthy organic turmeric rhizome. Ideally, it will have roots or small knobbly bits that are starting to shoot. The larger the original rhizome, the more energy the plant will have to grow and produce more turmeric. Makes sense right? So don’t skimp on your planting material! Sow 5cm (2″) deep and 15-20cm (6-8″ apart).

How to grow turmeric tips: Turmeric rhizome ready for planting new buds or eyes

Propagate a new plant from an organically grown turmeric rhizome

Always put a plant marker in the garden or pot. It’s easy to forget your dormant turmeric plant is there sleeping! You can lose it while it’s snoozing, accidentally damage it or forget to care for it. So label it well!

When to Plant and How to Feed Turmeric

Turmeric is planted in early spring. If you sow at other times, don’t expect a flush of growth! It may stay dormant until warmer soil temperatures arrive. Turmeric will take around 8-10 months before the leaves die back and it is fully mature in winter. This is when it will have produced a full ‘hand’ of rhizomes that look like little ‘fingers’.

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Anne Gibson2023-10-11T05:46:56+10:00Categories: Health and wellness, How to Grow|Tags: Herbs, how to grow, Medicinal plants, Root crops, Turmeric|1 Comment

Plants for a Survival Food and Medicinal Garden

If you are concerned about food security, there’s never been a better time to grow a survival food and medicinal garden. There’s no need to worry about buying fresh food if you grow your own groceries in your ‘backyard supermarket’! Your own food garden not only saves money and time but also provides peace of mind and nutritious fresh ingredients.

When you live sustainably, you don’t have to rely totally on supermarkets always having full shelves, just for daily basic needs. Living simply and eating a plant-based diet rich in nutrients and healing compounds can help to promote good health and a strong immune system. Connecting with nature via a food garden may help relieve stress, bring joy and a feeling of control by growing at least some of what you eat.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates

How Plant Defences Can Help Humans Too

Plants naturally have their own in-built defence mechanisms – phytochemicals – that help them resist pest and disease attack. When we eat healthy, nutrient-dense organically grown foods, our immune systems benefit too! I’ve found that a diet rich in fruits, herbs and vegetables provides energy, health and wellbeing.

“Phytochemicals are biologically active, naturally occurring chemical compounds found in plants, which provide health benefits for humans as medicinal ingredients and nutrients (HASLER & BLUMBERG, 1999). They protect plants from disease and damage, and also contribute to the plant’s colour, aroma and flavour. In general, the plant chemicals that protect plants from environmental hazards such as pollution, stress, drought, UV exposure and pathogenic attack are called as phytochemicals (GIBSON et al., 1998; MATHAI, 2000). Recently, it has been clearly shown that they also have roles in the protection of human health, when their dietary intake is significant (SAMROT et al., 2009; KOCHE et al., 2010).”

Why are phytochemicals important for you? Because as you can see from the above research studies, they have high value in terms of their protective properties. When you grow your own food, you can be sure your plants are raised in healthy living soil, devoid of chemicals and high in nutrients. These plants, in turn, can then provide you with optimal health via their nutrients.

If you have a lawn, turn it into lunch! I helped one of my clients turn her front yard into a productive edible food garden in just 10 weeks – enough to share with her neighbours. You can too!

Starting a Survival Food and Medicinal Garden

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Anne Gibson2023-08-02T13:45:38+10:00Categories: Grow Your Own Food, Health and wellness, Plant Selection|Tags: Food security, grow your own food, Medicinal plants, Phytochemicals, Phytonutrients, Small kitchen garden, Survival food garden, vegetable & herb gardens|1 Comment

Gardening Tips for February

The last few weeks have created a lot of uncertainty around the world with the threat of a pandemic. It’s a timely reminder to reflect on our health, how sustainable our lives are and whether we can feed ourselves from our home gardens or are dependent on our global food system. So, this month’s newsletter focuses on practical and positive ways you can support your health with nourishing foods and herbs.

Gardening Tips for February

Here in subtropical SE Queensland, Australia, we’re still in the thick of summer heat, humidity and rain. Last month we were in drought, had bushfires and dust storms, and now it’s too wet in many areas! Soggy soil, high temperatures and humidity create the perfect environment for many fungal diseases like powdery mildew and root rot. Not to mention the increase in hungry insects like grasshoppers and caterpillars feasting on the new growth!

Subtropical SE Queensland – What to Plant Now

If your water tanks are full and soil moist from recent rains, it’s an ideal time to sow seeds to raise seedlings ready for autumn planting and put in the last of fast-growing summer crops. Or sow sunflower seeds as microgreens for fast-growing protein-rich ingredients. Citrus, pumpkins, tomatoes, summer spinach varieties, spring onions, herbs and cucamelons are growing like crazy in my garden. With a move to a new garden soon, I’m taking cuttings in the new moon cycle so they strike roots quickly. You can propagate your garden for free in this way.

READ Gardening Tips for February for what to do now in SE QLD, pests to watch for and more. (Download PDF)

Subtropical Planting Guide – a laminated perpetual guide to the 5 seasons in SE QLD

For other locations, read my article on what to plant and when.

Grow a Medicinal Herb Garden to Build a Strong Immune System

One of the reasons I grow my own food and specifically, a wide range of herbs, is because a Home Pharmacy Garden is the first place I ‘shop’ to support my family’s health. I believe there’s never been a more important time to focus your energy on the medicinal properties of the plants you grow. Herbs, in particular, help support a healthy immune system with phytonutrients like vitamins and antioxidants. (more…)

Anne Gibson2020-11-15T09:54:26+10:00Categories: Newsletters|Tags: Garlic, Herbs, Home Pharmacy Garden, Medicinal plants, microgreens, Onion family, seeds & seed saving, sprouts, Vitamin C|0 Comments

How to Grow & Use Nasturtiums

Have you heard the saying: “Be nasty to nasturtiums“? There seems to be some truth to this, because these low-maintenance carefree herbs thrive in a poor, dry soil without a lot of water – or work. This makes nasturtiums a plant of choice for many thrifty and busy gardeners!

How to Grow and Use Nasturtiums – Edible Flowers with Multiple Uses

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Anne Gibson2022-11-25T12:05:46+10:00Categories: Colour & Fragrance, Herb Gardens, How to Grow, Vegetables & Herbs|Tags: Companion plants, Flowers, Herbs, how to grow, Medicinal plants|23 Comments

20 Reasons to Grow this Amazing Herb

Do you grow herbs? They can provide a whole heap of benefits from culinary to medicinal uses and even a splash of colour and fragrance. Some flowering herbs like nasturtiums really earn a special place in the garden because of the added value they provide. So check out these 20 uses for nasturtiums – they may surprise you!

20 reasons to grow nasturtiums

Colourful nasturtiums are one herb that’s easy to fall in love with. This plant is an absolute winner in my book. Whilst many think of nasturtiums as just pretty flowers, these attractive herbs have an amazing array of benefits to offer you.

There are several types of nasturtium. The one I can never get enough of in our garden is ‘Tropaeolum majus’ (commonly known as Indian Cress). Not ‘Nasturtium Officinale’ that grows in water and is often referred to as watercress!

Nasturtiums – More than just a pretty face!

Aside from stealing the limelight in any garden with their dazzling display of colour, nasturtiums are one of the most multi-functional plants you can grow. They are an ideal plant for every survival food and medicinal garden.

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Anne Gibson2023-03-13T18:12:26+10:00Categories: Colour & Fragrance, Herb Gardens, Vegetables & Herbs|Tags: Beautiful gardens, Companion plants, Flowers, Herbs, Medicinal plants, Nasturtiums, Pest management, vegetable & herb gardens|12 Comments

Sustainable Gardening Tips for May

Sustainable Gardening Tips for May

What to Plant Now in Subtropical SE QLD

What to Plant Now in other Locations

PLANT PROFILE: Yarrow

What’s Been Happening in My Garden?