I wonder if you can see this? It was stunning to see but hard to photograph. This is looking from my verandah down at the gum trees in the early morning light, and they are covered in cobwebs! Hundreds of them. There’s a major convention of spiders happening at our place. And we have no mozzies. No sign of the mozzie plague that is supposedly happening all over Australia…
I’ve learned, if I lose a variety, the best insurance is a fellow gardener who has kept the gene line going.
I thought I might share this little trick with you, because it took me a ridiculously long time to think of it. It’s such a simple little trick, but it saves so many failures.
Isn’t sex an amazing thing? That chromosomes split and crossover to create a totally new and unique being? Not once, but every single time, so that every single life is totally unique. Which means that, when I find a good variety, that works well in my microclimate and is resilient in the context of the little ecosystem that is my garden, I try very hard to remember to save seed.
If I had just one pot to plant now, what would I be planting in it?
One morning in 2000, I came out and every single seedling I’d planted the day before had been dug up. It was the beginning of the end for a style of gardening that had served me very well for over a decade.
This post is the basics of growing, storing and cooking beans. Beans are one of my real staples – super easy to grow, prolific, a good source of protein, soluble fiber, folate and a whole range of minerals, and the basis for a big range of recipes