Category: The Good Earth

Indira Naidoo author of ‘The Edible Balcony’

Indira Naidoo, author of ‘The Edible Balcony’ speaks with Emily and Viarnne about her passion for growing food on her small, yet highly productive balcony in Potts Point, Sydney.

From Penguin: Join popular media personality and foodie Indira Naidoo as she embarks on a mission to transform her tiny thirteen-floor balcony into a bountiful kitchen garden.  She soon establishes a productive urban oasis that takes just ten minutes a day to maintain, yet provides her with an ever-changing selection of fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables.

Featuring 60 delicious recipes showcasing her home-grown produce, plus plenty of practical advice, The Edible Balcony charts a year in the life of Indira’s balcony garden and gives a season-by-season account of the triumphs and challenges she faces.  This warm and engaging book will inspire even the most reluctant green thumbs to channel their inner gardeners and reconnect with nature, while also saving money and reducing their carbon footprint.

Pest Repellent Plants

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Penny Woodward about her new book “Pest-repellent Plants”. Penny is a delight to talk to, her knowledge is formidable and she is passionate about sharing her love for organic gardening. Her book reflects this passion and knowledge with great information and fabulous pictures. An extract from Penny’s website http://www.pennywoodward.com.au/ says it much better than I could.

“This edition is completely updated with new information and new photographs. It covers the philosophy of pest-repellent gardening, that the garden should be a haven for all creatures and plants, big and small, not a battle ground. That sprays that kill (even organic ones) should be a last resort. That gardeners need to concentrate on healthy soil and healthy plants, as well as a diversity of planting, including predator attracting plants. We also need to provide homes and food for frogs, birds, lizards and bats, all of which feed on pests. Then the book looks at masking, repelling and killing plants and their numerous uses. As well as other solutions such as traps, trickery, netting and barriers to keep pests away from our precious plants. And common household items that are organic and can also be used against pests: soap, molasses, coffee, bicarbonate of soda, copper, sulphur and even water, to name but a few. The final section looks at the pests.”

 

So sit back and listen as Michael O’Connell and Penny Woodward explore the natural control of garden pests.

 

The Greening of Gavin

We present part 1 of an interivew with Gavin Webber whose blog “The Greening of Gavin” www.greeningofgavin.com won Alternative Technology Association’s sustainable blog competition.

Gavin is a self confessed “ordinary bloke” who had an epiphany while watching “An Inconvenient Truth”. This set him on the path to reduce his carbon footprint and make changes to his lifestyle to live in a more sustainable and planet friendly way. He and his family have acheived this without compromising their comfort and happiness. More than that, they have been documenting their transition on the very aptly named website,

So click on the podcast and have a listen to this wonderful interview and don’t forget to tune in to the show next month when we will play part 2.

A New Compact Garden Bed

These pictures show the construction of a new compact Garden-bed rebuilt after the installation of a 25,000 Litre tank which wiped out the existing garden bed.

  • First, the excess topsoil from the old garden bed is removed
  • Organic material is added including blood and bone
  • The drip irrigation system is installed and
  • Mulch laid over the whole bed after seedlings are planted

The bed is doing extraordinally well although it is a bit congested.

After six weeks we are harvesting zucchini and the cucumbers are almost ready as well !!
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Aloe Aloe, Talk about Succulent!

Do you want a succulent drought proof Garden? Why not give Aloe’s a try. These succulent plants are highly drought resistant, easy to grow and come in a huge variety of spectactular and beautiful forms from ground hugging rosettes to huge tree like monsters!

Join Michael O’Connell on “The Good Earth” as he chats to Peter Marko an Aloe enthusiast and member of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Australia about his passion for these beautiful and practical plants.

Good Gardening Magazine with Vasili

Vasili chats with Wayne Williams and Viarnne about the launch of Good Gardening Magazine – from garden to table Good Gardening is packed full of down to earth gardening tips and delicious seasonal recipes… it’s unashamedly organic!

There is also a great section for children with fun and educational ideas in each issue, plus celebrity gardens, seasonal planting guides for every Australian climate and so much more.

WWMN is delighted to welcome Vasili to the regular line up on both The Good Earth and What’s New in Review, where he will join us for each edition of Good Gardening.

Yai sou!

In part 2 Wayne and Viarnne extrapolate and discuss veggie beds and spring sowing.  Enjoy the delightful music track ‘Beautiful’ from Cindy van der Ree’s CD ‘Some kind of beautiful’ and check out her vodcast on the Monday Live page. You can see and hear more of Cindy V at http://cindyv.com/

Composting with Vasili

Join Viarrne Mischon and Fran Penna as they chat with Vasili Kanidiadis from Vasili’s Garden about compost

Copmpost is one of the best ways to recycle food scraps and garden clippings and turn them into a rich humus that will help your garden come alive! So come on a fun filled romp through the compost heap as Vasili tells us all about it!!

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