Libertia peregrinans a weedy terror

Getting in to spring, at last and what a gorgeous day it was today, so am getting a bit more inspired to get going on this 'blooming' blog with more rigour.

Now I was enjoying today's  sunshine that Melburnians hanker for, after, what for us has been a real winter  (with nights where it's got down to four degrees or less... ouch - that is cold for us, and our houses weren't designed to take such low temperatures). I was out there planting a new grevillea, and I noticed how the Libertia peregrinans is simply taking over the garden (and will post a photo here shortly). It's a strappy plant found commonly in nurseries, emanating from New Zealand, that is drought tolerant, and pretty, but not being native to this country, one needs to bear in mind that these exotics have a habit of taking over! I also read that this species is under threat in New Zealand, so may be it's encoded in its genes that when it gets to a new country that it should go forth and populate. Don't ever rely on nurseries to be mindful of weedy plants unless they are certified with someone like Sustainable Gardening Australia! Weedy plants are for sale and widespread in nurseries.

So, it pays to look up the weediness habit of exotics before you plant them  (in more extreme cases they are known as invasive species), because you will end up paying with all the cutting back you will need to do, and also the constant digging up of those self-seeded stalks, as I'm finding all over the blooming garden.  

And weeds are not supportive of bio-diversity as they compete for water, soil, nutrients and light against all the good guys, which means the plants that would help sustain the wildlife may be placed in jeopardy. Indeed, I was watching the 7.30 report and the wombat is dying out in this country merely because the onion weed has spread and is outnumbering the natural grasses, so it's diet is disappearing.  A good cause to support.

training wheels for trees ... sort of

An article I was reading in the Melbourne Leader (local) newspaper this week, reminded me that I had been contemplating what it would be like to to be a guide dog puppy trainer, until I remembered that I have two cockatiels, and perhaps it wouldn't work so well. Well, lo and behold, for those who are unaware, trees need training wheels too!

Those readers who live in Melbourne can look up this site, Tree Project Forest whereby people can volunteer to grow some seedlings even on their balcony or in a small garden, and then give them up at the appropriate size, so that these can be replanted in the country, and therefore will ultimately go to benefit the rural landscape.

As this blog is particularly interested in the connections we make in our city landscapes with water and rural eco systems, it seemed apt to post this on here.

To help reforest rural Victoria go to:

http://www.treeproject.asn.au/

Vegies and fruit suppliers

Wow, was reading in the Age this week that of the producers of vegetables grown in Australia that the main supermarkets source their vegies from only 7-8 suppliers. Won't quote the source as am speaking in really general terms here.

Of course the two largest supermarket chains are the main green grocery suppliers in this country. This means that if we allow this green grocery monopoly to prevail, this could have huge implications for the types of vegies and fruit available in this country, as those few growers will have huge control over the seeds that are chosen and essentially over what we eat.

Broad acre farming is already a worrying thing, but this means bio-diversity is at stake here (pardon the pun .. garden stake!).
Let's remember the smaller grocers, and avoid doing alll our grocery shopping from the larger stores. What I personally do is mix it up. I don't doubt that there are some products you can only get from supermarkets!

Sustainable Gardening Design - What is it?

To build or not to build. That is the question.  In my meanderings I came upon some 'outdoor space' videos, where the broadcaster talks up building walls with hedges.  These can be quite good for biodiversity, especially if it's a hedge which attracts pollinators. I was very happy to see this.

Bio-diversity is becoming the buzz word!  This means what we have outdoors should aim to restore the natural balance, and retain symbiotic relationships that all living things have with each other.

Build if you must, but what is de rigeur is:

(1) For those who don't have much space, go for a crazy paving or a  mixed paving and planting area, which can look smart (or rustic) depending on the types of pavers used.  Then have some planters around and trellises for vertical gardening (beans, snow peas, tomatoes), or espaliered fruit trees along fences or plant vines over a pergola for shade.

(2) Allowing for water absorption on-site, and trees

Water can stay on site due to vegetative bio-mass or it can run-off to stormwater pipes (due to hard surfaces, water being deviated from roofs to drains). Run-off causes contamination which also causes algal blooms in our waterways (fertilisers contain nutrients that end up contaminating our rivers, lakes, and ground-water.) (Think Gippsland Lakes - crustacean industry is in the doldrums because of cyanobacteria in the blooms.  Broad acre farming has responsibility in this too, but this is the food most of us eat.) Use organic fertilisers and benign soaps for cleaning surfaces outdoors.  Lawn can capture a lot of run-off too.

(3) Allow for a mix of  trees, bushes, herbaceous plants, grasses and ground-covers for carbon sequestration and shade and greater bio-diversity to attract different types of bees, butterflies, birds which are insect-eaters, nectar-eaters and seed-eaters.

(4) Leave sticks, hollow boughs lying around if you can, to encourage the bigger critters, who will help keep the pests down eg slugs, snails.

(5) Purchasing timber only when you know where it's coming from. If you are unsure where the timber is from, contact your local wildlife group or Green Peace - Good Wood Guide, Friends of the Earth web-site or such like who can give you sustainable sources to buy from. For eg it's better to use a treated pine for your decking and retreat it using an ACQ (less toxic) treatment than to cull Indonesian and Malaysian rain-forests of their rapidly disappearing hardwoods.

If taking down the timber means taking down endangered animals that is irreversible theft from nature! The trees can grow again, but the animals won't, if the parents are dying out.)

(6) Practice companion-planting in your produce garden.  Look up key-words like 'lure plants', crop-rotation, green manure.

Q,R, S, T, U, V etc Sustainability Alphabet Soup

Decided to refer to this as a Sustainability alphabet soup.  Dot-points. We greenies have a tendency to be too long-winded in what we say!  A person designing their Outdoor Room or Garden can mull over this alphabet soup before making any decisions.  

Q is for ...... err .... Queen Elizabeth, and her family who are avid produce gardeners
R is for Resources -  always check the Source, Rainforest source (A big no no), Reclaimed or recycled source, Roof Gardens.
S is for Soil erosion and Salinity, Shade Trees, Stormwater discharge and the impacts
T is for Top-soil (all the vital living beings within it) and Towns in Transition (Totnes, UK!)
U is for Urban Heat Island Effect
V is for Vertical Gardening (Produce, Ornamental, air-cooling, indoor or outdoors, horticultural therapy)
W is for WSUD (water sensitive urban design), Wind-breaks, Waste (from building works), Worm wee, and Worms.
X  is for ....  err ... help.  
Y is for ... Yard ...  have to come back to that one, too.
Z is for Zoning in the garden eg hydrozoning, plant-stacking (shade for plants)

J, K, L, M, N, 0, P ... sustainability alphabet

J is Juice, Jams/chutneys from your produce patch or balcony
K is for kool kid-friendly kitchen gardens
L is for Leacheate (Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), herbicides, timber finishes, chemical pesticides, high nutrient fertilisers, vehicle residues etc)
M is for Merbau/Kwila and other habitat significant exotic timber species (to be avoided!)
N is for Native Hedging and native formal design (Oui ... c'est tres possible)
O is for Organic fertiliser, Organic soil, Orangutans ('Orrible Merbau decking!).
P is for Pollination,  Pebbles and Paving (glare/heat factor, active waterway source:?) and Perfectly 'ppropriate Permeable Surfaces (permeable paving, porous concrete etc).

Readers feel free to add more in the comment box.  Merci beaucoup.