Anise flavoured chervil

If you haven’t planted your chervil yet, now is a good time to do so.  Chervil, Anthriscus cerefolium, is a soft, tender annual herb with dainty, bright green, fern-like leaves and tiny white flowers in umbrella shaped heads. Flowers are followed by long thin black seeds. The leaves have a sweet anise flavour. Plants grow to about 40cm high and 30cm across and you can start harvesting leaves about 5 weeks after sowing seed.

Finely-cut chervil leaves

The creamy white chervil flower

Chervil is in the middle second from the bottom

Chervil thrives in cooler climates and prefers a semi-shaded position in humus-rich soil with plenty of water during hot dry weather. Under a deciduous trees is a good position because it will get shade in summer but sun in winter. If you are worried about it having to compete with the tree for nutrients, then plant it in a pot. Chervil does not like to be transplanted so grow it from seed sown where it is to grow in autumn or early spring. In humid regions plant in autumn. Seed must be fresh as it doesn’t doesn’t stay fertile for long. Also soil needs to be kept moist but not too wet. Leaves turn red and plants can die when they get too much sun or dry out.

Once you’ve got used to using chervil, you will probably want to grow it all year round so sow seeds every couple of months to ensure a regular supply.

The subtle anise flavour combines beautifully with chives, parsley and tarragon to make the classic French combination known as fines herbes. This is used with sauces, eggs and grilled meat and fish. But its also delicious on its own added to an omelette or stirred into ricotta cheese and eaten on a biscuit.

By Penny Woodward, Janice Sutton, Karen Sutherland

It’s tomato season again. So don’t forgot about our beautiful Tomato book, written for Australian conditions.

Tomato: know sow grow feast, written and published by Penny Woodward, Janice Sutton and Karen Sutherland.  This book was awarded the Gold Medal in the House and Garden category of the Independent Publisher’s 2019 Awards (the IPPYs), judged against books from all over the world.  Early in 2020, it shared the Book Laurel from the Horticultural Media Association Australia for the best gardening book in the previous two years. Hardcover. RRP $65, but $60 from this site.

Tomato: know, sow, grow, feast is a hardback book celebrating Australian heirloom tomatoes. These colourful heritage gems are full to bursting with juicy deliciousness and are enjoying a renaissance in Australia today. This book brims with information about heirloom tomatoes, so that tomato lovers throughout Australia can identify, learn to grow and enjoy them.

Tomato explains why a ‘red tomato is red’, why ‘real tomatoes’ taste so good, and why tomatoes are so ‘good for you’. The book also leads both experienced and aspiring gardeners through the practice of organic heirloom tomato growing and explores the history of heirloom tomato cultivars in Australia. It also provides, for the first time, a comprehensive description and extensive illustrated list of the more than 220 different cultivars of heirloom tomatoes available from seed suppliers in Australia today. What also sets Tomato apart, is the book’s extensive list and description of heirloom tomato pests and diseases, painstakingly researched by gardening expert Karen Sutherland, that includes an indispensable pest and disease chart to help gardeners identify and control them.

Uniquely too, for a gardening book, Tomato includes a substantial dedicated cooking and recipe section, where internationally award-winning cookbook author, Janice Sutton, explains not only how to preserve tomatoes and create the perfect tomato passatta, but also delves into the enticing realm of heirloom tomato variety flavours. The cooking section also contains more than 60 delicious recipes (each with its own beautiful full-page image) shared by a raft of talented chefs, cooks and passionate tomato lovers from throughout Australia and beyond – including some of Australia’s most respected culinary icons: Peter Gilmore, Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Sally Wise, Christine Manfield, Mark Olive, Matthew Evans and the Agrarian Kitchen’s Rodney Dunn.

It is for tomato lovers, gardeners and cooks; and all those who love beautiful books.

“This is the ultimate book on tomatoes, brimming with information based on experience. It covers everything anyone ever needs to know about selecting, growing and using the best and tastiest tomatoes in all districts and climates.” Peter Cundall 2018

To find out who wrote what and to read the Table of Contents and see a couple of short extracts from my section, then

Karen leads you through organic heirloom tomato growing, from seed sowing to feeding, pruning and training. She outlines a variety of ways to grow, tells the stories of some passionate growers and helps you keep problems at bay with an extensive illustrated pest and disease section.

Penny chronicles the history of heirloom tomato varieties in Australia and explains how to breed your own heirloom tomatoes. She also details why tomatoes are so good for you, and why a red tomato is red! Finally, Penny lists, and describes in detail, more than 220 different heirloom tomatoes that can be sourced in Australia today.

Janice explores the enticing and diverse range of heirloom tomato flavours, describes in detail how to select, prepare, preserve and cook heirloom tomatoes, and explains how to create the perfect tomato passatta and paste. Finally, she shares more than 60 delicious tomato recipes from renowned chefs and passionate tomato lovers throughout Tasmania, Australia and beyond!

Extract from Tomato

 

Extract from Tomato

From top left: Compost, pea straw, straw, lucerne hay, sugarcane mulch bark and three different stone mulches.

Mulch is an essential element in an organic garden, and now is the time you should be thinking about adding it to your garden.  Mulch is simply a layer of natural material, placed on the soil surface, that conserves moisture, protects and adds nutrients to the topsoil, and guards against climate extremes. It will also keep vegetable and herb leaves clean by preventing them from trailing in the dirt and stop fungal disease spores in the soil from bouncing onto leaves with raindrops.

Adding lucerne hay mulch to a tomato plant in a gro bag.

Shade provided by mulch lessens evaporation, and reduces the need for watering in summer while keeping the soil cool so that earthworms and other micro-organisms remain active near the surface. Mulch helps to prevent the growth of weeds and reduces the need for cultivation, because it prevents soil crusts from forming. It also breaks the velocity of water droplets and increases the openness of the soil surface, allowing water to enter easily, so reducing run-off. As mulch breaks down it adds organic material to the soil, improving the texture and making nutrients available to the microbiome.

The choice of mulch will depend on what is available — possibilities include cut grass, hay, straw, shredded papers, seaweed, lakeweed, leaves, pea straw, lucerne hay, crop residues like sugar cane, woodchips, spent mushroom compost and cocoa hulls. Always try to buy certified organic if you can, or at least ask where it’s come from and if herbicides were used in growing it (see below). If using shredded papers, straw or woodchips, nitrogen may need to be added (in the form of animal manure or blood and bone) because these mulches take nitrogen from the soil as they break down. Hay may contain weed seed that will sprout and cause problems.

Don’t put mulch too close to a tree trunk or it may cause collar rot.

Whatever mulch you use, make sure it is open enough for water to filter through to the soil below and be sure to lay the mulch after heavy rain or water the soil well first. As a rule of thumb, the more open and fibrous the mulch, the thicker it can be. So lucerne hay can be 10cm thick, but sugarcane residue shouldn’t be more than about 3 cm. Tease the mulch out and fluff it up as you spread it around and always leave a gap around tree trunks to avoid collar rot and other fungal problems. In fire prone areas or to fit with a particular design, inorganic mulches such as river stones, crushed rock or scoria can be used, this is especially important close to the house. While these won’t add to the nutrient levels of the soil they will still provide shade, prevent weeds and lessen water loss. In fire prone areas, if your vegie garden and fruit trees are away from the house, I would still use an organic mulch that will break down and add nutrients to the soil.

Lucerne hay provides nutrients as well as the benefits of mulch

Every now and then, pull back the mulch and check that the soil below is damp so you know the rain or water from your hose is making it through the mulch. My favourite mulches for my food plants are lucerne hay, pea straw and sugarcane residue.

Don’t use

• Woodchips from treated timbers, the chemicals used to treat the timber can be toxic both to you and worms and other micro-fauna.
• Hay or straw cut from paddocks that have been sprayed with broadleaf herbicides, the herbicide often stays active in the straw for up to two years and will kill or deform any broadleaf plants you try to grow.
• Carpet or carpet underfelt, they are treated with toxic chemicals to retard fire and kill pests.
• Plastic sheeting or weed matt, because it kills the microflora underneath and prevents water from getting through.

Asparagus spears

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a tough, rewarding, long term vegetable that once established will give many years of delicious, nutritious spears. A perennial plant, it is a member of the lily family (Liliaceae) and has been grown and eaten for more than 2,000 years. If you haven’t ever tried growing asparagus, you probably should, and now is a good time to plant it.

Preparation
The key to really good production is soil preparation and as asparagus can go on producing for twenty years it is worth doing it properly. A friend who grew asparagus for more than 50 years said that her best crop came from the bed she planted over the burial site of her favourite horse! Choose a site with open friable soil and good drainage in a sunny position. If the soil is too heavy then establish mounds or a raised bed. Add a borrow load of manure and compost to every 2 square metres of soil and sprinkle several handfuls of dolomite over the top. Asparagus likes a ph of about 7. Dig the soil well and leave to sit for a few weeks. Remove any weeds as asparagus does not like competition.

Asparagus crown

Asparagus seedlings

Seed or Crowns?
Asparagus can be grown by planting seed or by purchasing and planting crowns. Seed germinates fairly readily but it can take from 2-4 weeks before the seedlings appear and I have found the best way to grow it from seed is to plant into large tree tubes. I fill these with potting mix except for the last two centimetres, which I make up with seed raising mix. Soak the seed in warm water overnight, water the pots well and plant two or three seeds into each pot, water again. Line a polystyrene box with plastic sheet and fill the bottom with about 3 cm of river sand. Moisten the sand. Stand the pots in the sand and move the whole box into a position out of direct sunlight. Keep the sand moist and the pots will stay moist by drawing water from the sand. Once the seeds germinate, remove extra seedlings so that only one remains. Leave these seedlings to grow, produce ferns and then die back.
Crowns are generally purchased in winter and spring and planted out straight away.

Timing
The time to plant seeds, seedlings and crowns depends on your climate. Asparagus spears are frost sensitive but it is otherwise a very adaptable vegetable and is grown from cool temperate regions to the sub-tropics. It is also grown in the tropics, but yields are not as prolific and plants do not last as long. Plant seed from late September to November in cool regions with frosts, from March to September in frost-free temperate and sub-tropical regions and May to July in the tropics. Transplant seedlings and plant out crowns in mid spring in frosty regions, from late autumn to mid spring in frost-free temperate and sub-tropical regions and in autumn and early winter in the tropics.

Purple asparagus

Asparagus flowers

Planting
A single row of asparagus generally results in a longer and more prolific crop because there is less over-crowding. So dig a trench, about 20 cm deep and 30 cm wide, into the already prepared bed and plant the crowns or seedlings 40 cm apart. Extra rows need to be 120 cm apart. For crowns, make small mounds in the trench and spread the roots over the mound so the roots are at an angle of about 45 degrees. Plant seedlings straight into the trench. Back fill with a mixture of soil and compost so there is about 8 cm of soil over the crown, but the trench is still about 10 cm deep. Water well and mulch lightly with pea straw or sugarcane mulch. Mulching can delay the appearance of spears by keeping the soil cooler, but will extend the harvest at the other end of the season. The delay in appearance is a good thing in frosty areas because the early spears are less likely to be damaged by frost.

Ongoing care
Do not harvest any spears in the first year after planting, just allow the spears to grow and ferns to develop, flower and set seed. This means that all the nutrients go back to the roots to keep them strong and help the plants to establish. Ferns can reach a height of 1.5 metres so might need some protection from wind. Every year when the spears start to appear, top dress with blood and bone and protect from snails and slugs. Remove weeds and keep well watered to encourage strong root growth. Asparagus plants are dioecious, which means there are male and female plants. Female plants will produce red fruit in autumn and these fruit should be removed when they appear (unless you want to collect seed) or you may have hundreds of seedlings to weed out later in the year. Some growers advocate removing female plants, believing that they are less prolific. In reality the spears from female plants tend to be thicker but less prolific while male spears are thinner, sometimes too thin, but more prolific. In late autumn the ferns will turn brown and should be cut back to a few centimetres above the soil. Top dress the bed with well rotted manure and mulch with a thick layer of pea straw to keep weed growth to a minimum. My sister, who grows a lot of asparagus, lets the chooks in to fertilize and scratch amongst the plants once the ferns have been removed and only mulches later in the year. She also grows other vegetables, like tomatoes, in rows beside the asparagus. The compost and manure added to the tomatoes helps to feed the nearby asparagus.

Cut just below the soil surface

Harvesting
In the second year after planting, spears will begin to appear in late winter and early spring and continue right through spring into early summer. The idea now is to harvest as many as you can, but leave enough to grow into ferns and replenish the rootstock so that you have strong healthy growth the following year. Some growers only harvest the thicker spears, leaving the thinner ones to grow ferns, these are sometimes called mother ferns. Others harvest all spears for six weeks to two months, and then start leaving some to grow ferns and after about three months let all grow into ferns.
In the third or fourth year after planting out, the asparagus will have reached its maximum yield and if properly maintained will continue to produce for another ten to fifteen years. After this, yields will start to decline.
In tropical regions, you can start harvesting in mid-June and continue through to the end of August. The lack of cold to induce winter dormancy means that plants don’t last as long as those grown in more temperate regions, although drought induced dormancy in autumn can sometimes work as a substitute.

Cutting
When harvesting spears, use a sharp knife and cut the spear when it is about 20 cm long, a couple of centimeters below the surface of the soil. During the height of the season, spears grow much more quickly and in very warm humid conditions can grow more than 2 cm in an hour!

Nutrients
Asparagus is a nutritional powerhouse containing many of the B vitamins as well as vitamin C and other anti-oxidants, potassium, and small amounts of iron. Fresh spears can be eaten straight from the garden or cooked briefly by baking, boiling, steaming, frying or even barbecuing. Finally, if you are one of about 60% of people who’s urine smells funny after eating asparagus, you might like to know that it comes from a chemical called asparagusic acid which metabolises with other chemicals in your body to produce the characteristic smell.

A purple asparagus spear

Varieties available
Green
‘Mary Washington’ is the most common cultivar of asparagus, in both seed, seedlings and crowns. It is high yielding with green spears and rust resistance.
‘Conovar’s Collossal’ is a very old cultivar with thick dark green shoots. Only available in seed.
‘Fat bastard’ an F1 male hybrid with fatter than normal spears. Rust resistant.
UC157 F1 hybrid This green cultivar is the best for tropical regions. Only available as seed.

Purple
Most of the purple cultivars sold in Australia for home gardeners are just called Purple, or sometimes Sweet Purple or Purple Passion.
The purple colour comes from anthocyanin pigment in the stem. Purple asparagus has a high sugar content, so has a mild, sweet taste.

White
White asparagus is just green asparagus grown without light. This can either be achieved by continually mounding soil up around the spear so that it doesn’t break the surface of the soil. Alternativley it can be grown in a polytunnel covered in black plastic to exclude all light. White asparagus is regarded as a delicacy and can be very expensive to buy but I think green and purple asparagus taste much better and doubt that white asparagus is worth the extra effort.

Contacts
For extra information and great recipes go to the  Australian Asparagus Council website

Crowns can be purchased from your local nursery in winter and early spring.

Mail order seedlings and seeds can be ordered from
Diggers, PO Box 300, Dromana, Vic, 3936. www.diggers.com.au
Green Harvest, PO Box 92, Maleny Qld 4552 www.greenharvest.com.au
Four Season’s Herbs, PO Box 110, Exeter, Tas. 7275.www.fourseasonsherbs.com.au

Seeds can be ordered from
New Gippsland Seeds and Bulbs, PO Box 1, Silvan, Vic, 3795 www.newgipps.com.au
Edens Seeds, M.S. 905, Lower Beechmont, 4211 www.edenseeds.com.au
The Lost Seed, PO Box 321, Sheffield, Tas. 7306.  www.thelostseed.com.au

Lemon balm has a delicious sweet lemon flavour.

Tisanes or herb teas have been in vogue in southern Europe since Roman times. The fictional detective Hercule Poirot often needed  a tisane after a particularly trying day. Today herb teas are increasing in popularity with the recognition of the harmful effects of too much coffee and ordinary tea. But aren’t herb teas expensive and don’t they taste awful? Not true! Especially if you grow your own, and can experiment with different combinations. Fresh or freshly dried leaves and flowers taste much better than the often musty plant material of questionable content and origin found in shops. Recent research by New York City high school students using simple DNA techniques, found that several herbal teas contain ingredients not listed on the pack. So if you grow and use your own, at least you can be certain about what you are drinking.

Many herbs can be made into tea but some have unpleasant flavours and others have potent medicinal properties which can be harmful if used in the wrong way.  The herbs described below are safe to drink but, as with all food and beverage, moderation is the key — don’t drink any one herb too often or in too much abundance.

The Herbs

Lemon grass need a well-drained position and plenty of water in hot weather.

Lemon verbena leaves dry well and keep their flavour for many years.

Lemon flavoured teas are probably the most popular and can be drunk hot or cold. Of the three most popular herbs — lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon grass; lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is the easiest to grow. Start it from seed or rooted pieces detached from a clump and it will thrive in any sunny, well-drained position. Often it will self sow around the garden ensuring an abundant supply, pick the leaves as needed and use fresh. Cut back the clump in autumn once the flowers are finished. Lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) grows as a small tree which is deciduous in cold climates. It is most easily grown from tip cuttings taken in late spring and the whole plant needs to be cut back by two thirds in early spring. Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a native of more tropical regions. It needs plenty of moisture in summer and very good drainage in winter. It won’t tolerate heavy frosts but will survive moderately cold winters as long as it is not too wet.
Delicious fragrant teas can also be made from all the mints, perhaps the most refreshing being peppermint (Mentha x piperita). Mints are best grown in big tubs where they can’t take over the garden. A good potting mix, a shady corner and a hard prune after flowering are all they need. Peppermint tea drunk at night increases alertness but doesn’t stop you from going to sleep in the way coffee often will.

Chamomile tea eases stress and tension

Annual chamomile flowers (Matricaria recutita) made into a tea will be remembered by many readers who were given it as children when they had toothache, headache or stomach pains. It is a gentle relaxant and sedative but is unfortunately unpalatable to some people. The flavour improves with familiarity, but you can try mixing it with lemon balm which has similar properties, and a little honey, to mask the flavour. Chamomile is grown from seed and the flowers harvested as soon as they appear. The flowers can be used fresh or dried.

Dill (Anethum graveolens) and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) make interesting anise flavoured teas. Dill is grown from seed planted in spring in any sheltered sunny corner, while fennel is a noxious weed in many regions so it should be collected from the wild. If this is not possible try planting the bronze form which is more decorative and not so invasive. The seed and leaves of both these plants are used to make a tea that is particulary good for indigestion and flatulence and helps to sweeten the breath.

Bronze fennel is less weedy than green fennel and the bronze leaves look great with orange flowers in the garden.

Dill with silverbeet

Several of the classic mediterranean herbs also make tasty and healthy teas. These include rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) , sage (Salvia officinalis) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris). All these plants need sun and well drained soil. Thyme in particular does not like to be cold and wet in winter.
Drying the Herbs

Herbs drying, in a dry airy position out of direct sunlight.

I much prefer herbs for tea if they are fresh, but some are not available all year round so need to be dried. To dry herbs harvest them early in the morning just after the dew has dried from the leaves and hang in bunches in a cool airy place out of direct light. Flowers and small leaves are best dried spread on paper in a similar position, while seed drys well in paper bags. Once dry, seal the plant material into jars or plastic bags, label clearly with the name of the plant and date of harvest and store out of direct light. Check a couple of days later to ensure there is no condensation inside the jar or bag. If there is,  then the herb is not completely dry. Remove it and leave out to dry for a few more days. Don’t keep dried herbs for more than twelve months as after this the flavour begins to deteriorate.

Fresh lemon balm for this tisane

Making the Tea
To make herb tea, first warm the pot,  then add the fresh or dried leaves, pour boiling water over the top and leave to stand for up to five minutes. The longer the tea is left to brew the stronger the flavour will be. The tea can also be made in a cup and poured through a strainer, or a stainless steel infuser can be used. Milk is never added to herb teas.

Refer to the list for the medicinal properties of each herb and have fun experimenting with the different flavours.

Bean seedlings protected from snails and slugs by a copper collar

Snails, snails and more snails. Our winter and spring have been very wet and as a result snail numbers increased dramatically. In my garden I used to find them in every dark corner and under every leaf. Every time I planted out a seed or seedling the fresh, succulent green leaves would provide supper for a snail. Even quite well established plants were disappearing under the onslaught. I had to do something. Over time I tried every recommended remedy, each with only limited success but finally I came up with a combination of solutions that seems to be keeping the numbers under control and protecting vulnerable plants. These tactics also work for slugs. This is the story of my private war waged, often under cover of darkness, on snails.

A few facts
I started with the old maxim of ‘know thine enemy’ and discovered that Australia has more than 2,500 native snails with new ones being discovered fairly regularly. One of the largest of these is the giant panda snail that lays eggs the size of small birds eggs! Dr John Stanisic who wrote the first book on these creatures said on the ABC Catalyst program that although the native snails may be numerous and some may be very big, they are not a problem in the garden as native snails live mainly in rainforests and mainly on decaying matter.

All the snails we find in the garden that feed on fresh green leaves are introduced, so it’s alright to kill them. Just in case you are not sure, the introduced snails generally have two pairs of tentacles, and the native only one pair. The garden snail, Helix aspersa, was accidentally introduced from Europe and is found in cities around the world. They can take two years to reach full size, are hermaphrodites (are both male and female at the same time) but still need two snails to mate. Eggs are laid into damp soil and will take about two weeks to hatch. Snails need dampness to thrive and when it gets too dry snails retreat into their shell and cover the entrance with a thin barrier known as an epiphragm. In this state of hibernation they can last for months without water.

Snails and slugs cause a lot of damage in the garden.

Ducks, help to control snails and slugs

Rounding them up
I have to confess that I don’t like crushing snails. So every time I went out into the garden I had a bucket of soapy water nearby. As I worked I threw any snails I found into this bucket. I explored my garden and found many of their hiding places: in old pots, under wood and on the shady side of the worm farm.  These snails also went into the soapy water. Sometimes if I only found a few and didn’t have my bucket I would throw them into our large pond, (snails can’t swim, although they can go underwater for short periods if they slime down the side of the pond) where they would drown and be eaten by the resident water snails and other small animals in the pond.  I pulled out large leafed plants that I knew harboured snails and moved them away from my vegetables. I’d go out into the garden at night with a torch, or in the early morning just after sunrise, again with my trusty bucket, and catch the critters in great numbers. I left large pots upside down in various parts of the garden and would visit them every couple of days to remove the snails. If I forgot for a few days I would sometimes find 20 0r 30 snails. Don’t even think about throwing your snails over the fence, not only is this not neighbourly, but snails have a homing instinct and will probably make their way straight back (if fairly slowly) into your garden. According to current research snails need to be taken more than 30 m away to stop them from coming home (see the citizen science project).

Trapping them
I also set traps. Bowls filled with beer are recommended. The snails did seem to like them and I caught a few, but we don’t drink much beer and if we do there is never any left over and really I resented wasting good beer on snails. Or if you are a grapefruit eater then leave the skins upside down in an appropriate position and empty out the snails in the morning.

Barriers
By searching out and trapping them I managed to reduce the number of snails, but there were always plenty that I missed. So I now turned my attention to protecting individual plants. Barriers are good. Around seedlings and other vulnerable plants, at different times I used wood ash, saw dust, coffee grounds, diatomaceous earth and crushed eggshells. All of these worked for a while, but it just kept raining and they would be washed away, and the snails snuck through before I noticed. Also, you can’t keep using some of them (like wood ash) for long periods as over time they build up in the soil altering the soil composition.

Sprays
I also sprayed diluted coffee (made from the old grounds) onto the leaves of plants like beans and this worked until it rained. The same goes for wormwood and garlic sprays made by pouring boiling water over the leaves or cloves, leaving to cool, straining and then spraying onto the leaves of young plants. They too were washed off by the ongoing rain. The last straw came while my back was turned and the snails completely stripped a young cherry tree of its fresh spring growth. I needed something more permanent as part of my arsenal.

Spraying coffee onto broccoli to protect from snails and slugs

Use the sticky copper take to make a collar.

Vicks vapour rub and copper collars.
Snails had done a lot of damage to my seedlings waiting to be planted out. So I moved them all onto an old tray table and smeared the legs of the table with Vicks vapour rub, not one snail got past! Now my seedlings were safe until they were planted out. However, the long term solution for all sorts of plants is copper tape. The copper works by giving the snail a small electric shock-like reaction that repels it without killing it. I cut up short lengths of plastic pipe and attached the copper in a complete circle. These collars can be used for many years. Some seedlings (like zucchini and squash) only need to be protected until they are big enough to cope with a little damage, then the collars are removed and used on the next plant, but vegetables like beans can be badly damaged at any stage so I leave the collars on until the beans are finished. Bigger fruit trees can have their own collar around the trunk, but always leave room for growth.

When planting my new cherry trees, I placed a guard with copper tape around each to stop the new growth being stripped by snails.

My resident blue tongue lizard

Snail bait
I never use snail bait unless I have to, and then only the iron based bait that degrades readily and does not harm children or pets. There is recent research though that suggests that regular use may harm some of the micro-flora and fauna in the soil. Also it does worry me though that a snail killed by snail bait may cause problems for any bird or other creature that then ate it. And I am especially worried about the final weapon in my anti-snail arsenal, my resident blue-tongue lizard. So if I do put out snail bait, because none of the other methods has worked or is possible, then I always surround it with a small wire netting cage or a plant pot with the bottom cut out and pushed into the ground, so the lizards and birds can’t get in. My blue-tongue wanders the garden consuming some plants as well as small animals like snails, slugs and beetles. I love to find him basking in the sun and to know that nothing I have put in the garden is likely to harm him. We also have visits from wild ducks, who feed on the snails, and domestic ducks will do the same.

Gregory Moore, University of Melbourne

When it comes to fruit and vegetables, the most common battleground (for parents and public health experts alike) is getting people to eat them. But there’s a battle over semantics too, because many of the things we call “fruit” and “vegetables” … aren’t.

In botanical terms, a fruit is relatively easy to define. It is the structure that develops from the flower, after it has been fertilised, and which typically contains seeds (although there are exceptions, such as bananas).

But while there is no doubt that tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins are fruits in the botanical sense, any linguist will tell you that language changes and words take on the meaning that people broadly agree upon and use. We live in a linguistic democracy where the majority rules.

Hence a tomato is still usually called a vegetable – although many people take pride in calling it a fruit, while overlooking other “vegetables” with similar claims to fruit status. If this makes your inner pedant bristle, that’s just tough – trying telling the nearest five-year-old that a pumpkin’s a fruit and see how far you get.

Berries, by definition, are many-seeded, fleshy fruits which are often brightly coloured. They may have a soft or tough outer skin, but they must be fleshy. Oddly, strawberries and raspberries are not really berries at all, because they originate from a single flower which has many ovaries, so they are an aggregate fruit.

True berries are simple fruits that develop from a single flower with a single ovary. Tomatoes and grapes are technically berries, as are avocados, watermelons, pumpkins and bananas. Citrus fruits are also berries and their flesh is renowned for being acidic, which makes the flavour bitter.

Nuts are generally dry, woody fruits that contain a single seed. However, as you might have come to expect by now, things are not always so simple; the word “nut” is often used to describe any woody fruit. So a Brazil nut is actually a seed, whereas the walnut is botanically a “drupe” – a fleshy fruit with a hard inner layer that often persists when the flesh is lost (other drupes include peaches, mangoes and olives).

We all know fruits are good for us, but why are they typically more appetising than vegetables (certainly to kids)? Fruits are often the means by which seeds are dispersed and so the plant, in competition with other plants, needs to attract the right insect, bird or mammal to spread its seeds. This is why fruits are often brightly coloured and rich in nutrition (or at least high in sugar). It is not just humans who like a flash of colour and a soft, sweet sugar hit.

On the other hand, in the case of many leafy vegetables, plants need to protect their leaves from grazing animals and insects. The leaves are valuable and productive assets and so contain chemicals that are often unpalatable. They may be bitter or very strongly flavoured, which may explain why kids are inclined to stay away from them. Luckily, proper cooking and good recipes can often save this situation.

Now eat your veggies

So if fruits are, with a few exceptions, seed-bearing organs, what are vegetables? Here the definition is less clear, because the word “vegetable” has no real botanical meaning.

To a botanist, if the word vegetable is used at all, it would simply mean any plant, in much the same way that plants are collectively referred to as “vegetation”. So we could apply the term vegetable to almost any part of any plant if we wanted to. Hence the term tends to encompass a wide range of foods, particularly green leafy ones.

Cabbage, lettuce, zucchini and cucumber are all described as vegetables (despite the latter two being fruits), and the term has generally come to refer to a specific group of plant parts that are commonly used as foods in various societies. Of course, different cultures eat different parts of different plants. But, generally speaking, in Anglophone cultures the term vegetable is used for plant materials used to make a main meal, while fruits are typically associated with breakfast or dessert.

Among the group that is loosely classed as vegetables, there are some interesting and diverse structures. Bulbs, such as onions and garlic, are highly modified shoots that develop as fleshy underground organs from which new plants can develop. They are a form of asexual reproduction, a natural kind of cloning.

The bulb contains all of the ingredients required for the production of a new plant, such as roots, leaves and flower buds. The food reserves it contains – usually starch or sugar – allow a new plant to develop rapidly at the appropriate time, hence the sweetness of onions and the fact that they caramelise so beautifully. Bulbs such as garlic can also contain pungent defensive chemicals to ward off insects or fungi.

The flowers and stems of many vegetables can also be tasty and nutritious. The flowering heads of broccoli and cauliflower are prized, as are the stems of celery and rhubarb. Once again the richness and diversity of flavours arise from the different chemicals that the plants produce to protect their valuable assets from the ravages of grazing by insects and other animals.

Tubers are formed from swollen stem or root tissue, and it’s relatively easy to distinguish between the two because stem tubers have buds, or “eyes”. Potatoes are typical stem tubers, whereas carrots are root tubers. All tubers are storage organs and last only a year. They are rich in starch, which is often readily converted to sugar to fuel the plant’s growth.

These plant-nourishing characteristics also make tubers very nutritious for us. What’s more, their high fibre content and homogeneous internal structure mean they can be cooked in a wide variety of ways: boiled, mashed, chipped, baked or roasted – even though you and I might not necessarily see “eye to eye” on which is tastiest (with all due apologies for the cheesy potato pun).

While the definitions may be debated and the words may have different meanings for different people, one thing is undeniable: whichever way you slice it, fruit and veggies are very good for you. So eat up.

Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Burren Perfumery herb garden

The Burren Perfumery was one of the highlights of our visit to Ireland last year. Not so much for the lovely creams, perfumes, soaps and more, that they produce. But for the herb garden. The creams are fabulous too (and we bought quite a few) but the herb garden was delightful. We were there in mid-June, so expected a riot of colour, but it had been a very cold wet spring so the colour palette was more muted. This however allowed us to see the beautiful sculptural stone walls and paving as well as the more subtle coloured flowers and the range of greens, greys and browns of the leaves and bark.

The following is really a photo essay of what we saw with some self-explanatory signs and a few comments from me. Set in the West of Ireland  there is a unique limestone region of outstanding floral diversity known as The Burren. I have written about this wonderful part of Ireland here. The Burren Perfumery is in the middle of this region where 70% of Ireland’s wildflower species can be found. To find out more about the perfumery and their products go to their website

Many of the diverse plants that grow along the roadsides and in the fields of the Burren are in fact medicinal, culinary or cosmetic herbs. You’ll recognise the names if you have any interest in herbs at all, or even if you have just read about them in historical novels. Now you can see some of these in the following photographs.

First of all some more photos of The Perfumery Herb Garden

And now a gallery of some of these mostly native to Ireland herbs.

I love the legend associated with Lady’s Mantle, that if you collect the water droplets from the leaves and rub them into your skin that you will banish wrinkles.

Bee hives in The Burren

The Burren, showing clints and grikes

This beautiful wild region of Ireland is unlike anywhere I have seen before. Located in the north-west corner of County Clare on the west coast, even its Irish name boireann signals the topography, as it means ‘place of rocks’. Covering 250 square kilometres, the exposed limestone is in some places up to 780 metres thick. Since being laid down progressively up to 340 million years ago, these great slabs have been gradually worn away in places, mainly by glacier movement, creating ‘grikes’ (the cracks in the limestone) and ‘clints’ (the blocks of limestone left behind). At the same time, the glaciers deposited rounded boulders in random positions, these are known as ‘erratics’ (see the last photo for and example). I love the names!  This region is dotted with ancient ruins and tombs as well as being a natural paradise.

Clints and Grikes

Poulnabrone tomb

The grikes make perfect sheltered spots for a myriad of different tiny wildflowers to grow. When I was there at the beginning of summer, many of these were in full flower. Many others though hadn’t quite reached their peak after a really cold spring. The pale blue-grey limestone contrasts perfectly with the various greens and vibrant flower colours.

Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum

Wild thyme, Thymus polytrichus

My first sight of this fabulous region was on a visit to the famous Poulnabrone portal tomb, dating back to nearly 6000 years ago. And as wonderful and fascinating as this was my attention was quickly drawn to the plants around me. I wandered off, frequently on my hands and knees, inspecting each plant. My daughter Ellen with wild flower book in hand, reading out descriptions comparing them with the plant I had located. It was wonderful to find many of the herbs I had been writing about, and growing, for years, growing wild in this remote and beautiful place. And if they weren’t the actual plants they were close relatives. I could imagine the people who had constructed the tomb, using these herbs to flavour food or treat ailments.

Primrose, Primula vulgaris

Bloody cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum

These wild plants only survive in the grikes because during winter cattle are released to graze these rocky pastures, this practice is known as winterage. The cattle graze on these mineral rich grasses which is great for their health, but it also stops the grasses from overwhelming the wildflowers that appear in spring. Maintaining this delicate balance is essential to the unique Burren landscape.

Tiny fern, Asplenium species

Burnet Rose, Rosa spinosissima

The Burren contains over 70% of Ireland’s native plant species.  On the pavement surfaces (the clints) grow plants such as wild thyme (Thymus polytrichus), wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia) and wall lettuce (Mycelis muralis), while in the grikes are tiny ferns (Asplenium species) as well as herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) and common violet (Viola riviniana). Other flowers seen were  gentians, milkwort, lady’s bedstraw, harebells, Burnet roses, primroses and bloody cranesbills. And we were even lucky enough to see some orchids, the early purple (Orchis mascula). It goes without saying that this area is protected and these plants should never be picked. If you are interested in them then try growing them at home.

I hope the pictures give you an indication of this beautiful and fascinating place; a place out of time.

Common dog violet, Viola riviniana

Early Purple orchid, Orchis mascula

The Burren, with a huddle of erratics in the middle

Golden and red shallot bulbs can be planted now.

Late Autumn and Winter mean misty moonlit evenings, frosty mornings, rain soaked days. Not the time of year to be planting vegetables you say, and certainly not exotic Asian vegetables or herbs. And you would be right about most of them, but not all. There are some hardy Asian plants that do really well in the cooler months. Don’t forget that although much of Asia hovers around the equator there are some regions that, due to their latitude, height or distance from the sea, experience extreme cold. So plants found growing in these regions are all suitable for planting in a Victorian winter.
The obvious ones are the pungent alliums so essential to Asian kitchens (and any self-respecting Western kitchen too). Garlic, shallots, garlic chives and Japanese bunching onions can all be planted now. Choose cloves of garlic or shallot bulbs from an organic grower so you can be sure they have not been sprayed with sprout inhibitors. Plant just below the surface in well-drained soil in a sunny position. Garlic chives and Japanese bunching onions are best grown from seed and like a position similar to garlic and shallots.

The flowers and leaves of garlic chives can be eaten.

Coriander leaves

Coriander is an essential Asian herb for any serious chef but many gardeners struggle with it. This is because they plant it in spring or summer and find it goes to seed and dies after only a few weeks growth. Try planting coriander seed in autumn or winter, then you will be able to harvest it for many months before it goes to seed.
Several Chinese brassicas can also be planted now. These include Chinese mustard (Brassica juncea) which is an excellent ‘cut and come again’ vegetable or salad leaf that adds a distinct pungent flavour to any dish; also mizuna and mibuna (Brassica rapa Japonica Group) which are similar in flavour to Chinese mustard; as well as Chinese broccoli (Brassica oleracea Alboglabra Group) and Chinese Flat Cabbage (Brassica rapa Chinensis Group) both of which provide green leaves and stems for stir fry and soups right through winter and spring.

Pak choy with Tuscan kale and red mustard.

Red pak choy

A delicious salad plant commonly used in Japan is the perennial mitsuba (Cryptotaenia canadensis). The flavour is somewhere between parsley and angelica and the whole plant can be eaten, roots and all. It grows easily from seed.

Mitsuba tastes like a cross between parsley and angelica

Watercress has mustardy flavoured leaves.

Two water plants that thrive in colder weather are water celery (Oenanthe javanica) and water cress ( Nasturtium officinale). Both can be grown from seed. Also a small piece of leaf and stem will grow roots if left to stand in water for a couple of weeks. Plant the seed or the rooted piece into a pot filled with any reasonable potting mix. Sit the pot into a deep dish and keep permanently topped up with fresh water. Harvest all year round. Water celery has a very strong celery flavour making it suitable for soups and stews, while the juicy hot peppery flavour of water cress is ideal in salads and sandwiches or as a garnish.
As you can see, even though it may be cold and bleak outside there are lots of interesting greens that can be planted in your garden in autumn or winter to add flavour and inspiration to your culinary masterpieces.