Many of you will be familiar with the bright red, fruity tasting hibiscus tea but it is likely that, like me, you didn’t know anything more about it. Roselle is a species of Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) that is native to West Africa. It is a perennial tropical shrub, that has now been widely spread throughout the world. It does grow in more subtropical areas - but often as an annual plant. Of course I had to try growing it. I bought a couple of seedlings and put them in two different … [Read more...]
Growing Sunflowers for Seed
Finally I have had success growing sunflowers for seed - when I wasn’t trying! Ten years ago I posted on my first attempts at growing sunflower seeds and have failed in my on and off attempts since then. This year I grabbed a punnet while I was at the garden centre and put them in a fairly inaccessible part of the garden just for the joy of seeing the sunny blooms and watching the bees and butterflies on them. Imagine my surprise when I saw birds starting to feast on them and … [Read more...]
Growing Pineapples at Home
This is my experience of growing a pineapple at home and the inadvertent production of a fascinating biological curiosity. I have always loved the idea of growing my own pineapples and had heard that you can grow them from the top leafy part of a pineapple. For a long time I kept my eye out for a pineapple with a leafy top so that I could try it out. Unfortunately all the pineapples that I have come across for many years now have had the tops removed such that they were very dead and brown … [Read more...]
Growing Myoga Ginger
Myoga ginger is a relative of the ‘regular’ ginger that we use most often in the kitchen. It is a woodland plant native to Japan, China and South Korea. While the leaves look quite similar, the rhizomes (roots) are not edible. It produces thumb-sized edible flower buds that are pinkish-bronze colour and go on to develop yellow flower petals. These flowers are quite unusual in that they are produced from the base of the plant. They are produced in early autumn and are easy to miss if you don’t … [Read more...]
Growing Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
Pekepeke-Kiore is the NZ native Lion’s Mane Mushroom and I had never even heard of it a month ago, let alone contemplated growing it. I have recently become very interested in functional mushrooms and their health-promoting benefits. Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine, let medicine be thy food” and I had come across several recipes for using various mushrooms. Most of the favoured mushrooms are only available as powdered supplements here so I was keen to see if there were any … [Read more...]
How to Propagate Moth Orchids
White moth orchids (Phaleanopsis spp) are an absolute favourite indoor plant for me. I love their clean simple elegance and long flowering time and, if you find the right spot for them, they will continue to reward you with flowers for years to come. I always wanted to have masses of them but they are so expensive to buy and there didn't seem to be any way to propagate them. I read that you could take leaf cuttings if you exposed the cut edge to steam to induce growth. Someone might have … [Read more...]
Growing Turmeric At Home
Turmeric is a cousin of ginger, a perennial plant that is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Like ginger it is the rhizomes (roots) that are used for cooking and as a medicinal herb. Turmeric is known for giving curry its bright yellow colour. Having successfully grown ginger in my garden, I was very keen to try growing turmeric at home when I saw a plant at the garden centre. Although the plant is subtropical/tropical, it does grow in semi-shade and seems to do reasonably … [Read more...]
Growing Mushrooms at home
Ages ago I tried growing Oyster Mushrooms and found it quite easy and satisfying. I do prefer button mushrooms or brown 'flats' though so this year I decided to grow them instead. The kit was from the same company so I was quite surprised to find the process seemingly much more complicated and taking a much longer period of time - there were pages and pages of instructions that were a bit daunting. There are 2 separate incubation stages: firstly to get the mushroom spawn established in the … [Read more...]
Growing and Enjoying Globe Artichokes
Globe artichokes are basically a giant thistle that comes originally from the Mediterranean area. They are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in the world and were eaten by the early Greeks and Romans - although why you would think to try eating a thistle I don't know. Still they must have been onto a good thing because artichokes have remained part of Mediterranean cuisine for thousands of years. The edible portion of the plant is the young flower buds before they open up to become … [Read more...]
Growing Asparagus at home
Growing asparagus at home has been a long time dream of mine but it needs a fair amount of space in a permanent home so I haven't previously been able to justify allocating precious space for it. However, now that I have expanded my edible garden somewhat, it is such a joy to be able to harvest my own asparagus. I grew mine from seedlings but you can buy dormant crowns in the winter or grow it from seed. It needs a nice sunny, well-drained spot with lots of organic matter like sheep pellets … [Read more...]
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