Plants as Food
12 Jun
0
19
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 12th June 2025
If you love alliums (of genus Allium) — onions, garlics, leeks, shallots, chives, and garlic chives — but are unfamiliar with society garlic, you may well need to become acquainted!
The name ‘society’ garlic comes..
11 Jun
0
22
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 11th June 2025
Some strong winds recently snapped at the base a bunch of canes growing at an angle out of a tall concrete pot. Decision made: it’s processing time!
Sugarcane is typically processed anywhere between twelve and eig..
11 Jun
0
18
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 11th June 2025
Introduction to the Structure of Sugarcane
Sugarcane is super easy to propagate — possibly the hardest part is deciding which of the three different ways suits you best!
(There is a fourth way not covered here, an..
01 Jun
0
53
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 1st June 2025
Botanical Bits
Botanical name: Smallanthus sonchifolius
Family: Asteraceae (the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family: includes daisies, sunflowers, Curio sp. succulents)
Growth: Herbaceous (no woody stems)
..
06 May
1
109
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 6th May 2025
On Bulbs
“Bulb” in the botany world has a very precise meaning — it is the underground stem (yes, stem) of a plant, made of fleshy leaves and used for food storage during dormancy.
A bulb is an organ. Other plant or..
09 Mar
0
416
Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
First published 9th March 2025
One night I grabbed a normal-sized garlic bulb for dinner, and found it to be impossible to separate any cloves from it — the entire bulb turned out to be a single clove!
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos
copyrig..
07 Jul
0
8669
Title image above is copyright © Optimate Group Pty Ltd
First published 7th July 2022
Part One covered how I was inspired by three composting concepts to fill a raised bed which would always be self-fertile. The end result was essentially a hybridisation of Esther Deans’ no-dig garden and sheet mu..
06 Jul
0
4031
Title image above is copyright © Optimate Group Pty Ltd
First published 6th July 2022
My go-to method for filling a raised vegetable or garden bed was inspired by three composting concepts that weren’t quite the hot composting method per se, but which came close for the purposes I needed — that of..
07 Aug
0
2854
Title image above is copyright © Optimate Group Pty Ltd
First published 7th August 2021
My background is microbiology and biochemistry, but I developed an intense interest in botany much later, and wow, that discipline just does your head in, as investigating what exactly a fruit is reveals!
(Just..
24 Jul
0
2076
Title image above is copyright © Optimate Group Pty Ltd
(This article was originally published 8th December 2020 here on our Jujube Tree Nursery site.
First published here 24th July 2021.
Edited to include the public domain image below, of a flower’s anatomy, not available at time of original post...
18 Jun
0
7094
Title image above is copyright © Optimate Group Pty Ltd
First published 18th June 2021
Mints belong to the genus Mentha, and 24 species are recognised. Mints readily hybridise and around 15 different cultivars and varieties are recognised.
Mints can tolerate a range of conditions, but always do be..
13 Mar
0
2597
Title image above is copyright © Optimate Group Pty Ltd
First published 13th March 2021
Your own bay laurel shrub not only gives you immediate access to fresh bay leaves whilst cooking, but also access to year-round, free, safe-to-handle insect repellant!
The leaves of the Bay Laurel (Laurus nobil..
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