Plant it, grow it, use it, eat it! Here's our favourite resources on growing all types of good things – from microgreens to oak trees.
See below for planting guides, how-to's, books and resources, as well as interviews with amazing growers to get you inspired…
If you live in a cold or temperate climate, Spring can be a bit slow when it comes to starting seedlings. Here’s how to make DIY Glass Cloches for Early Spring Plants. When I look at all my little seedlings, slowly putting out their first leaves in my greenhouse, all I can see right now is…
There’s many different ways you can get mushrooms growing where you live, and which method works best for you will depend on various factors, as with growing anything… your time, space, budget, climate and so on. BUT as we all know, mushrooms will find a way. Nearly always. So it’s just a matter of figuring out…
Eat your foraged greens, wherever they may be. Anyone for a seaside sandwich? Sea lettuce is easy to find and forage, and it’s packed with goodness. In NSW (the regulations in other states vary slightly), sea lettuce is the one and only seaweed that normal folks may forage and harvest in it’s live form, straight…
Enokitake are a delicious wild mushroom that’s a great addition to any food growing system, so we were excited to find them growing unannounced in the black currant patch at Melliodora. Time to encourage and cultivate! Talk about stacking functions. So David was taking Nick through the process of pruning the black currant patch recently,…
If you live near the coast, seaweed can be a fantastic resource to forage for fertilizing your garden. There’s lots of easy ways to use it to increase the health of your soil, and your veggies and flowers too. First of all, check the local regulations where you live around collecting beach-cast seaweed. Collection is…
The future of small scale organic farming belongs to those who are willing to find a way to grow, regardless of where they begin from. Linda Machon is a perfect example of a farmer who has made the most of what, and where, she has found herself. The concept of the multi-enterprise small farm makes…
Seaweeds stand alone as an incredibly nutritious, regenerative resources like no other – and for many Australians, they’re right on our doorstep. Here’s the basics of foraging, drying and eating a few of them. Firstly, the question that I’ve been grappling with of late… what’s with Aussies and their seaweed? Our continent has incredibly diverse algae,…
Here’s four stories from across the planet of growing mushrooms in the city, using waste products and offcuts to make nutrient dense food. Great examples of growing where you live, using what’s around you to nourish your community. These four urban mushroom farms are in very different situations – Exeter UK, Vienna AT, Milwaukee USA, and Perth AU. They’re…
Pumpkin seeds. That bit in the middle of this fine Autumn and Winter food. So good! Save them, eat them, plant them. Here’s how to do it. The humble but oh so tasty pumpkin is a part of the cucurbits family, and is a signature staple for all autumn eating ’round these parts. The seeds,…
Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy is a book that will get you excited about fungi, whether you like it or not. That’s because, aside from being a competent guide to the technical aspects of mushroom cultivation, it’s a book that is literally sporulating with enthusiasm for the world of fungi, in all its forms. Don’t want to…
Its a strange thing, how simple tools like compost, forking techniques and biointensive plant spacings might just shape our futures. And also, not so strange at all. The killer thing that we love about biointensive growing is it’s attention to ensuring immediate productivity, while ensuring long-term soil health. In permaculture design, this is embodied in the…
‘Can I have two big packets of grass seed, please – I’ve got a lawn to grow’ are words I never thought I’d say. But here we are, de-gardening, trying to leave no trace of our home-grown food bowl. Such is the nature of permaculture renting. We’re out of this place in a month. I…
Compost. It brings health and diversity to your soil, holds moisture in at a greater rate, diverts needless landfill and is something I’m finding, you can get quite geeky about. If someone had told me fifteen years ago that I would be enjoying shovelling compost as much as I do now…well, I suspect I would…