FGG Newsletter January 2023

🍅Food Garden Group newsletter - January 2023🍅 

 We like to grow what we eat 

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In this January 2023 Food Garden Group newsletter: info about food garden visits planned for January, February and March, last month's visit in words and pictures, free-of-charge seeds in our Seed Box, Food gardening in La Niña and more.

Happy new year!

'Happy New Year' I said at the start of the January 2022 newsletter, and then I wondered out loud what 2022 might bring ................ 

Was there going to be any improvement in the COVID situation in 2022? The answer, we now know, is 'yes, the situation did improve, but it's not over yet'. Food garden visits were resumed in September and there was no need to stop them again. Fingers crossed for the rest of the season!

Was Russia going to invade the Ukraine? Now, one year later, war in Europe is a reality. May peace be restored in 2023 to a nation that has endured so much and that has been so resilient!

Then I asked myself who in 2022 was going to win our group's Golden Tomato Award. And the answer is that the weather in 2022 was such that, no one in our group (as far as I know), except John Pelham with his carefully nurtured overwintering tomato bush (well done John, that was a master stroke!), was able to produce a ripe tomato before the end of the year! That has never happened before.

May we see in 2023 further steps in the right direction with COVID, an end to war wherever it is raging, and some real (rather than token) progress with the world's most urgent problem - climate change.

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This month's food garden visit

Our group visited FGG member Denby's garden at Lindisfarne in 2016, so I was hoping to persuade her to have the group over for a second visit at some point, but when Denby told me that she was about to put her property up for sale, and that her garden looked better than ever before, I realised that the moment was now, or never.

On Sunday 22 January at 10.30am you will be welcome in Denby's garden at Lindisfarne for one last look.

About her garden Denby wrote:

When I purchased the property in 2013 I planned to establish a productive food garden.  I had only dabbled in vegetable growing at that stage and I am very appreciative to this group for the knowledge, seeds and plants that I have obtained from my involvement.

 

The only food producing plant in the garden in 2013 was a lemon tree which is still alive but not particularly happy.  Wallabies were an issue and a front fence was quickly constructed which has proven successful, although the occasional bandicoot and rabbit visit the garden. The block is reasonably steep, with retaining walls that largely determined the position of the food garden beds.  

 

The main weeds that I have had to battle are twitch and sorrel.  The bark paths around the vegetable beds are lined with a layer of black plastic which has proven to be very successful in keeping the weeds out of the paths.

 

My food garden now consists of several fruit trees (nashi, pear, apple, apricot & plum), four large vegetable garden beds, a strawberry patch, kiwi fruit yet to bear fruit, and a “berry cage” that houses thornless blackberries, currants, blueberries and raspberries.  

 

I have lime, lemon and lemonade trees in pots.  I have kept them in pots due to lack of a sufficiently warm or sheltered spot in the garden.  Herbs are dotted around the garden and this year my zucchinis and pumpkins have been planted into the flowerbeds where they have done well in the past.

 

I changed my diet to plant-based a few years ago and this is now reflected in the vegetable garden.  I like to grow a diverse range of cruciferous and leafy greens and aim to keep myself in a constant supply all year. Spinach and silver beet aren’t favourites, so kale, cos lettuce and Asian greens can usually be found.  Most of my vegetables are grown from seed and I enjoy collecting seeds at the end of each season.  

 

I have achieved my goal to have a productive food garden and I preserve surplus produce by freezing (berries, beans, corn), dehydrating (apples, pears, nashis, apricots, parsley, oregano, thyme and rosemary) and pressure-canning (mainly tomatoes). 

 

My house is currently on the market and I have quite a few food plants in pots ready for my next garden.  The fig trees, blueberry bushes and citrus will all be very happy to finally be in the ground.

Contributions for morning tea, the produce table and seed box will be much appreciated!

Please RSVP to foodgardengroup@gmail.com if you would like to attend.

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Last month's food garden visit in words and pictures

In December we made our way up the side of a hill for the visit to Belinda and Daniel's garden at Dynnyrne. The lushness of the landscape, the overcast skies, the view of the forested hills across the valley, and the architecture of the home, all contributed to the feeling we were in the Alps. Find out more here.

Thanks to those who came for making this another very enjoyable food garden experience and for your contributions to the produce and morning tea tables. 

Many thanks to Belinda and Daniel for opening up their great garden and providing us all with inspiration and fresh ideas for our own gardens.

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Food garden visits planned for coming months

Sunday 19 February    Anna & Marcus's garden at Margate
Sunday 19 March        a food garden at Mount Nelson cared for by Robin, Tracey, Michael and Linda

Each visit will be advertised in this newsletter at the start of the month the visit is in. At that time you can RSVP, not before. To avoid disappointment please RSVP early in all cases.

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Seed Box update

Seed Box coordinator Elizabeth gave me the following list of seeds that will be available free-of-charge in the Seed Box on the produce table at the next food garden visit:

Basil/basil cinnamon Broad Beans Bush beans Beans - 24 year old Beans - French climbing Beans - Purple King Beans - Molly's Zebra Beans - Giant of Stuttgart Capsicum Romany Carrot Chive/garlic chives Chilli Collard greens Corn Eggplant

Fennel - Florence Kale – Russian Red Lettuce - loose leaf, Cos Lovage Manglewurzel Parsnip Peas Pumpkin – Qld Blue Spinach - perpetual Spring onion Sunflower – giant Tomato - Pink Bumblebee, Camp Joy Turnip Watermelon - Baby

If you would like to contribute seeds, that would be great! Please just add them to the Seed Box during a food garden visit. Please write on the packet the name of the seeds and when they were harvested (if you know).

If you can't be at the next food garden visit, please contact Seedbox-coordinator Elizabeth and arrange to drop off or collect seeds at her place. Her email address is elizamt54@gmail.com. Thank you Elizabeth!

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Food gardening in La Niña

This might well be the title of a future blog post on the Food Garden Group blog, because there are a lot of lessons that can be learnt from the successes and failures most of us are having in this season's Tasmanian climate.  

Unless you have a hothouse, heat-loving crops are all touch-and-go. The weather is so different now that, for instance, after years of growing pumpkins successfully, I am not sure that I will have any ripe pumpkins at the end of the season. What's left of summer might be too short and we might not get enough hours of sun and warmth.

I am going to watch my pumpkin, and when they finally have some male flowers after numerous female ones, I am planning to help the process along with hand-pollination. Even then, with everything around a month later than normal, I am not certain of the outcome.

So how do you recognise female and male flowers? And how do you hand-pollinate? Read Why don't my pumpkins have any pumpkins? on the Food Garden Group blog. And if you want to know more about pollination in general, and that of tomatoes and sweetcorn in particular, have a look at Better pollination, bigger crops because there are things you can do to increase your crops.

It is great to see that the cool and rainy weather has led to better than normal results for other crops.  Green vegetables, peas and broad beans have loved the rain. Berries of all sorts too have been more successful than in drier years, and because they were ripe around a fortnight later than normal, there were plenty of berries for Christmas.  In our garden we had the best raspberry crop ever. 

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Subscribing to this newsletter

This newsletter is usually published on the first of the month, except in May, June and July when we take a winter break. It keeps everyone up to date with food garden info, what happened last month in the group, and what the plans are for this month and beyond. 

To make food garden visits enjoyable and informative for those who come, and to avoid overcrowding, all food garden visits are subject to RSVP. To get in, it is best to RSVP in the first few days after the newsletter comes out. Those who come regularly are of course very welcome, but we also love meeting new members. Don't think that, because you have never been before, it is not worth RSVPing because you won't get in. RSVPing early is the trick!

Many new Food Garden Group members read our blog and contribute to our Facebook page, but are hesitant when it comes to visiting a food garden. However, this can be the most rewarding experience of all, because you learn so much from informal chats with other gardeners, seeing other gardens first-hand, and you may go home with produce, plants and seeds that you never before considered for your garden. Some plants I got from food garden visits are not even for sale in nurseries!

To improve your chances of getting a positive response to your RSVP, subscribe to our newsletter ....

1. Go to https://fggtas.wordpress.com
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4. Confirm subscription when WordPress sends you an email. If you forget this, you are still not subscribed.

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Thanks for flying Food Garden Group! 

Max Bee

The Food Garden Group is affiliated with Sustainable Living Tasmania.