Macleaymac's Edible Backyard

Joined: 26/04/10 Updated: 26/04/10 Frost:
Location: Macleay Island

About My Edible Backyard

Why Macleaymac Love's Edible Plants

I am a senior plus. A retired TV cameraman / director who did heaps of gardening programs. :-)) We live on a small island 15 mins off the coast at Redland bay in Qld. Our soil on a 1000m2 block is very sandy and acid.It lies east west . We usually have fairly consistent rainfall and showers off the coast and rarely suffer any storm problems. Hail from the south usually stops before it gets here. 

 Six years ago we built here ourselves and cleared the land from original rough bush and trees. I immediately dug in large quantities of any and all old grass clippings and decayed plant material to bring the ground up to par for planting. Sometimes followed the mowers that did the roadside and raked up that grass and composted it.Also added organic fertilisers and 100 bags of potting mix, over a 2 year period. We have the advantage of great afternoon sea breezes from the east most days so it's fresh and lovely year round.As we are not open to the sea on the east side we do not suffer from salt burn etc on the plants.

Basically fruit etc in qld is so cheap it's not really worth growing. However we have a Kensington mango that is coming in to its own this year and has been pruned to 2 metres high.That caused it to have many branches down low. It's been a big challenge keeping it free of disease and leaf sucking insects. All looking good in Autumn 2010. Also have banannas that are looking very good after addition of a cow/chicken/mushroom compost. They are like lady fingers but a bit larger and the herbs (trees) grow about 2.5 metres tall.

I have about 250 potted plants that I sell as well. These are mostly grown from the seeds,cuttings and divisions of existing plants on our block which is extensively planted. We are fond of Rosella jam so have those bushes planted as annuals. (6 pots in 2010 off 2 bushes). We have about 20 goldfish in an outdoor pool and I add the green algae from that to our large compost heap. It's a traditional one with all the kitchen scraps and plant and lawn cuttings.WWW Wonderful Wonder Worker, long before the net was invented.  

 

 

Comments

macleaymac says... [5112 days 10hrs ago]

By using heaps of compost and seaweed and organic fertiliser, this growth and maturity has been achieved in 4.5 years

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Fruit Tree Forum Contributions

Macleaymac Forum Contributions
Growing boysenberries - Logan berries are totally delicious. Like all the berry plants they profit with a cold snap when setting the flowers.Not sure about the extreme cold of the ACT but I have known areas with heavy frosts to have magnificent berry crops so I guess it's all O..5098 days 3hrs
Dragonflys - have suddenly become a fan of dragonflies. Catching mosquitos? Can they be trained for this? How many does one catch in a day? Can they be bred in captivity? Wow there's a whole global industry waiting on this Aussie discovry...5098 days 3hrs
Dragonflys - Amanda. Of course Qld'ers know that very strange things happen in WA. LOL We have had a large flight of dragonflys again this year too. Not tied to any event though. It's fairly usual in Brissy till about late April early May. Several different varieti..5112 days 11hrs
Mango tree not fruiting - Nothing has been said so far about applying gypsum. This is applied liberally in the spring (hopefully when there is water around) as mangoes need calcium...5373 days 1hrs
Cant find white pomegranate treeseeds in australia - Hi all pleased to say that of six cuttings I planted, I had a 50% strike. Possibly one more, I'm not sure if it will make it.Seems they strike very easily in our sandy soil. I will take 50 more and see how we go.There is not too much doubt in my mind th..5440 days 8hrs