Introduction | Wombat News | Awards | New Books | Schedule for the Next Few Months
What to Plant in May | . Bedding Your garden down for winter | . Fruit, Vegies and | Flowers for the Shade | . A Ten Minute (Perennial) Vegetable garden |
What’s wrong with My Novel? | A Few recipes (mostly pumpkin, but also zucchini slice and extremely good orange and ginger muffins)
Introduction
I always forget how much I love autumn. Pomegranates weighing down the branches, avocadoes, the first chilacayote melons- giant vines that bloom as the days cool and produce small zucchini like gourds- quite delicious if you can get them on day one. After that they start to grow into whoppers that can only be cut with an axe or a machete, but good for melon and ginger jam or in stir fries or fruit salads i.e. they don’t taste of much, but the texture is good and they take on the flavours of whatever they are cooked with. Make a reasonable curry, too.
It’s magic looking out my study window now. Every time I look up another tree has changed colour. It’s been such a gentle season that the leaves are clinging to the trees, too, instead of falling prematurely. I don’t think I have ever seen as autumn as beautiful. Yellow poplars and apple trees, flagrant orange persimmon, flaming red maples, chokos dripping from the lemon trees, limes ripe and great velvet spikes of blue and purple, red and yellow salvias.. It’s a pity we can’t slow earth’s orbit to give us four months of autumn and four months of spring, and just a glimpse of the other seasons to make us appreciate the gentle times.
I’ve been deep in World War 1 at the moment, so it’s been good to have a kind landscape beyond the window. It’s a hard time to read about, and even worse time to write about. Every batch of letters or diaries or old newspapers I read brings another horror- starving children waiting outside the factories, begging for the worker’s crusts; a Welsh school where the children went on strike till they were given food… the price of bread (the main food of the poor) skyrocketed with war shortages. And it was still a time when the very poor were expected to starve…
The letters and diaries are heat breaking. Even those who faced it all unflinchingly could write ‘It’s lonely now with all my pals dead.’
I thought I was going to write about the young Anzacs who went to fight. But it has turned out to be a book about women, which I suppose isn’t surprising as I’m one. But I’ve never had a book decide to change itself quite so firmly when I’ve started to write it.
Other news: not much, apart from wombats! Knocked over on my morning walk on Sunday by a mob of yobbos on dirt bikes. It’s a commercial tour company who run dirt bike tours up the valley, on unregistered bikes and with what often look like twelve or thirteen year old riders. I don’t know if the kid who ran into me (Just brushed me luckily, but am still sore) was playing ‘chicken’ and swerved out of control in the mud churned up by the last few times they’d come through, or if it was just an accident. But they might damn well have stopped to see I was okay.
The same mob had been riding without lights the night before- no headlights on most of the bikes so the riders had been following those that had. Not good on a narrow winding mountain road in the mud and dark.
I reported it to the Queanbeyan police, but I have a feeling it got filed in the ‘too hard’ drawer, as they didn’t even take a statement.
Wonder if it’s possible to train ‘defence wombats?’
Wombat News
Augusta has arrived!
She was found up in town, with a raw nose from pushing through garden fences and a few bite marks from the local dogs. All she really needed was good grass and her own wombat hole. We found her a lovely old one down by the creek- ferns around the entrance, small private glades of grass, and no other wombats nearby to object. A wombat paradise in fact. Left her happily snuffling under the pittosporum trees, and haven’t seen her since. But there are nice fat new droppings around, so I’m pretty sure she’s happy.
And Feisty arrived on Sunday afternoon. He’s a timid wombat- his last release was a failure. He just cowered for a few days, refusing to go down a strange hole or explore. He wouldn’t go down the ‘nursery’ hole here behind the bathroom, either, till he’d sniffed it and run away four times. Then on the fifth try he ventured in.
I have a feeling he’s been roughly treated at some stage- he’s been through a few carers. I’ve never known a wombat so scared of people. He runs if he hears footsteps, which is unusual for a hand reared wombat. But he’s munching his oats happily, adores his carrots, and has begun renovations to his hole- there’s a nice pile of rocks and dirt for Bryan to cart away every morning. So fingers crossed he’s a truly feisty wild wombat soon.
And as for Mothball- she’s fat, happy, and totally ignoring us. Which is a good way for a wombat to be.
Awards
It’s been a good month for short listings! In fact nine in one day which has to be a record….
MACBETH AND SON by Jackie French
Shortlisted in the Younger Readers category, CBC awards 2007
THE GOAT WHO SAILED THE WORLD by Jackie French
Notable title in the Younger Readers category, CBC awards 2007
Shortlisted in the Fiction for Older Readers category, YABBA awards 2007
JOSEPHINE WANTS TO DANCE by Jackie French, illus by Bruce Whatley
Notable title in the Early Childhood category, CBC awards 2007
Notable title in the Picture Book of the Year category, CBC awards 2007
Shortlisted in the Picture Books category, YABBA awards 2007
HITLER’S DAUGHTER by Jackie French
Shortlisted in the Fiction for Older Readers category, YABBA awards 2007
DIARY OF A WOMBAT: Shortlisted for the BILBY Awards 2007
THEY CAME ON VIKING SHIPS
Shortlisted in the WAYBRA Awards 2007
And thank you enormously to everyone who voted for the ‘kid’s choice’ books! I am just so grateful. It means a lot!
New Books
Pharaoh : The Boy Who Conquered the Nile came out a few weeks ago . It’s in the vein of ‘They Came on Viking Ships’- adventure, romance but also a glimpse of one of the most fascinating times in history, when humans were meeting the challenge of global warming and a world that was drying up, and coming up with new solutions…like farming, irrigation, writing so that the knew knowledge could be passed on…..
Wacky Families: the most recent book is My Pa the Polar Bear. All families are wacky in their own way. But when your Pa wants to be a polar bear, your Mum dresses up as a rhinocerous and your sister is a tap dancing giraffe your family might just be a little wackier than most.
The Dog Who Loved a Queen: the next in the Animal Stars series. Coming in August!
Schedule for the Next Few Months
Tuesday 15 May, 2007, Allwrite Festival, Adelaide.
May 28 Sydney Writer’s Week Kid’s Big Night out: Parramatta
May 29 Sydney Writer’s Week Kid’s Big Night out: Wollongong
May 30 Sydney Writer’s Week Kid’s Big Night out: Sydney
May 31 Sydney Writer’s Week Kid’s Big Night out: Newcastle
2-4 July SLANZA Conference (School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa)
5 July Adelaide: International Library Association Dinner
August, 2007: Book Week talks in Sydney and Melbourne (just a few) Contact Lateral Learning for details (bookings@laterallearning.com.au).
13-16 September Albany Writer’s Festival, W.A.
17 September: talks and workshop at the Fremantle Children’s literature Centre, W.A.
4 November Open Garden Workshops at our place…rain, hail or drought these will go ahead, even if I have to video conference them from a hospital bed with a broken leg!
What do in May
Prune: Summer flowering shrubs that have lost their leaves; cut back grape vines as leaves die from mildew or cold. Cut back ornamental grasses too. Most die back in winter and can look messy.
Watch out for: Slugs and snails as snail eating lizards grow sleepier.
Spread: The contents of your compost bin, so you can fill it with prunings and perennials that die back in winter.
Plan: A rose garden to plant this winter; a hedge of fruit trees; a scented plant beneath your bedroom window; a tall native tree for the birds.
Harvest: Rose hips for winter teas and syrup…every rose bush will produce some hips, and as long as they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or fungicides you can use them in cooking, or save the seeds to plant in spring. Roses too can be grown from seed! The seedlings probably won’t be like their parents, though- each one will be an adventure!
Take cuttings: Snap off a bit of wood as long as your hand, cut off nearly all the leaves, dip the end in ‘cutting powder’ from the nursery, then plant the cutting in a mix of half sand, half potting mix, so that half of it is below the soil. Water well, then tie it pot and all in clear plastic bag and leave in a warm, semi shaded spot. When the cutting starts to grow take off the plastic bag, and keep moist for another six months to a year. Then plant it!
What to Plant in May
Frost-free climates
Plants to eat: Just about anything can be grown now! Put in lots of mixed salad leaves, apple cucumbers, basil, butter beans, huge New guinea beans, coloured capsicum, Chinese cabbage, chillies, chokos, sweet potatoes, long oval eggplant, melons, okra, rosellas, pumpkin, shallots, sweet corn, tomatoes. Try above ground beds for parsley- the roots may rot in hot damp soil.
Plants for beauty: alyssum, calendula, cleome, coleus, gerbera, petunias, phlox, salvia, torenia, zinnia,
Cold to Temperate:
Don't be tempted by blue sky and warm breezes. If you live in a very frosty area stick to onion seedlings and broad beans and lots of seedlings of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.
Plants to eat: seeds of radish, onions, winter lettuce, silver beet, spinach, broad beans, peas, snow peas, winter lettuce, spring onions, parsnips, fast maturing Asian veg like tatsoi, pak choi and mitsuba. Seedlings of beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chicory, leeks, lettuce, leeks, onions, spinach.
Plants for beauty: seeds of alyssum, calendula, lunaria. Seedlings of Californian poppy, evening primrose, gazanias, primulas, pansies, polyanthus, Iceland poppies, viola.
Harvest: potatoes, year rounders, strip corn stalks for 'baby corn'. root vegetables are good now after the first frost- much sweeter
Fruit: early mandarins, limes, pomegranates, late apples, late Valencia’s or early navel oranges, tangeloes, citrons, kumquats, tamarilloes, early kiwi fruit, late passionfruit high up on the vine, late raspberries, late strawberries if grown on a high garden away from early frost, olives, persimmons if the birds haven't finished them, feijoa, bananas, avocados, banana passionfruit and other passionfruit high on the vine,elderberries,medlars, olives, melons, guavas
Bedding Your Garden Down for Winter
Don't mulch
Mulching stops roots freezing- it insulates them. It will also increase frost damage to the leaves above. So choose- frozen roots or frozen leaves. Instead of mulch, plant ground covers around your frost sensitive plants- like marjoram or dyers camomile or very early bulbs that will provide living insulation.
Plant thickly
A better alternative to mulch is just to plant very thickly, so that the leaf cover both insulates the roots and other plants around. I keep masses of foliage turnips and radish and parsnips in our garden over winter- far more than we need- just to help protect the other plants around.
Crowded broccoli plants and crowded silver beet plants in our garden continue to produce long after the 'spaced' ones have stopped.
Don't clean up the garden
Leave those corn stalks, radish going to seed and patches of weeds alone. The weeds probably won't seed or run about till spring anyway - and they'll protect the soil and help insulate your plants.
Gardeners who recommend you spend your peaceful winter months 'tidying up the garden' just have a fetish for straight rows and nice chocolaty bare earth. This may help their spirits but won't help the garden. Gardens are wasted on people with a passion for sweat and blisters. Gentle pottering and a bit of contemplation are more effective than maniacs with mattocks.
Pests
In most areas there are few pest outbreaks at this time of year. But you may have over wintering populations, especially of fruit fly and Codlin moth, and any remaining fruit or windfalls should be rigorously checked to prevent an early pest build up when the weather warms. This is also a good time to think about planting to reduce pest problems next year.
If you have apple trees let parsnips or other umbellifera go to seed now and spring up wild around the orchard to reduce Codlin moth infestations. This is extraordinarily effective, though I don't know the mechanism- whether the flowers attract predators or inhibit the moths. Tansy planted under apples is also supposed to reduce Codlin moth, but I haven't found it works here- in fact pungent tansy just seems to make fallen fruit less attractive to wombats sheep etc, and uneaten fallen fruit is the best way to breed Codlin moth.
Hardy Plants for Shady Gardens
Shady gardens can still be productive colourful and capable of withstanding infinite neglect. Most gardens have large areas of shade: the compacted dull side of the house where no one goes, areas under trees or next to high fences. As our garden grows I find that more and more of it is shaded - and more of it is planted out to shade loving species, with vegies, flowers and herbs productive under the fruit trees.
Shade Tolerant Fruit
Many plants will grow - or survive - in the shade, but not flower or fruit. Grow these on pergolas or trail them upward as much as possible, so that the tops reach the light. Tomatoes, for example, are unlikely to fruit in even semi-shade, will grow with this treatment - at least in hot to temperate climates. They can be trained to grow on a trellis by continually pruning the lower branches and tying the top ones to the trellis.
NB: Generally the hotter the climate the more shade many plants will tolerate. Conversely in cold areas they will tolerate less shade.
Alpine strawberry - doesn't send out runners, grows from seed - look for good tasting varieties - some are bright red but taste like cardboard.
Apples - surprisingly shade tolerant, but fruit when they hit sunlight.
Apricot - shade tolerant in temperate to hot areas, but won't fruit without direct sunlight.
Bamboo - some species but beware as they may become weed.
Avocado - will grow in semi-shade - in fact needs semi-shade to establish - but fruits best with at least some light.
Bilberry
Cape Gooseberry - will fruit in quite deep shade in temperate areas or in cool areas next to a warm wall.
Chilean Wineberry - like a raspberry with yellow berries, very hardy, fruits in temperate areas in medium shade.
Babaco - like a small not so sweet pawpaw. Will tolerate -6 C though it will lose its leaves and fruits in the semi-shade of deciduous trees.
Brambleberries - thornless blackberries et al. Will grow in shade or semi-shade in warmer areas, but only fruit with at least two hours of daylight.
Blackcurrant.
Chilacayote melon - will ramble up and down trees, grows in shade but needs sunlight to flower and fruit.
Elderberry
Feijoa - shade tolerant but won't fruit without some direct sunlight (and often a pollinator too).
Gooseberry - light shade only.
Hazelnut - light shade only.
Hops - will twine happily through trees.
Kiwi fruit - will twine through trees - and into your bedroom if you let it.
Loquat - will grow in semi-shade in warm areas, needs sunlight to fruit.
Monstera deliciosa - frost free areas only.
Mulberry - in hot areas only and needs sunlight to fruit.
Passionfruit - will ramble through trees.
Raspberries - light shade only in hot summers.
Strawberries - hot to temperate areas only and they won't crop as well.
Tamarillo - will grow and fruit in semi-shade, but fruits best with some direct sunlight.
Quince - warm to hot areas only, fruits best with at least two hours of morning sunlight.
Walnut - shade tolerant when young, won't fruit without direct sunlight.
Herbs in the Shade
If your herbs look dull rather than glossy, if their leaves are small and they seem to be literally 'shrinking' they need more sun. Transplant them or prune back foliage above them.
Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) - See 'Salt Tolerant Plants'.
Aloe vera - Needs semi-shade in tropical areas.
Basil (Ocimum spp) - Most basils will grow in semi-shade in temperate to hot areas.
Bay (Laurus nobilis) - This slow growing aromatic tree is often grown as a pot plant in semi-shaded spots in temperate to hot areas. It is best grown where it gets morning sun.
Bergamot (Monarda spp) - The perennial common bergamot (bee balm, Oswego tea - Monarda didyma) with its spectacular whorls of flowers - traditionally vivid red, though cultivars now range from white though all shades of pink and purple, will tolerate semi-shade to shade in temperate to hot areas.
Betony, woundwort (Stachys officinalis) - Betony needs moist, fertile soil and either full sun or partial shade. It won't tolerate dry exposed sites. Once established in the right spot betony is incredibly hardy. Betony often self seeds. It is said to protect a house from evil and to provide sweet dreams if you sleep with it under your pillow.
Borage (Borago officinalis) - Borage grows anywhere except in a swamp, though it does best in deep soil - otherwise tall, well grown plants have a tendency to fall over and may need staking. It tolerates semi-shade but does best in full sun.
Chamomile, dyers' (Anthemis tinctoria) - This bushy, dull green, incredibly vigorous mounding plant tolerates both heat and frosts, full sun or semi-shade and well drained soil. Avoid over watering.
Chamomile, perennial (Anthemis nobilis) - The perennial Anthemis nobilis, or Roman chamomile does best in moist fertile soils . It will tolerate semi-shade in cool to temperate area; in subtropical areas it MUST have semi-shade, preferably the broken light under trees. Annual chamomile needs full sun.
Chives (Allium spp) - The most common kitchen chives are Allium schoenoprasum - small tussocks that gradually thicken to large clumps with pretty purple flowers in summer. Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are flat leafed, hardy plants, tolerating more frost before they die down in winter than most other chives. Chives will grow well semi-shade in temperate to hot areas - it's the heat they need more than the light.
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) - Tolerates almost any soil in sun or quite deep shade. Coltsfoot can become a weed and is best grown in a pot half buried in the soil if you don't want it to spread - especially in moist spots. Coltsfoot has been used for coughs, asthmatic and bronchial troubles but may cause liver damage. It is best to use alternatives.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale), Russian comfrey (S x uplandicum) - Comfrey tolerates semi-shade in temperate climates. In subtropical and tropical areas it needs regular watering in the heat and does best with semi-shade.
Elder (Sambucus nigra) - These small trees or largish shrubs will grow in warm semi- shade.
Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) - These plants prefer full sun and fertile soil (and can become immense under these conditions) but will also tolerate poor dry soil and semi-shade and grow quite well by the side of the road. Evening primrose sets hundreds of seeds and can easily self sow and become a weed (I haven't bothered actually sowing any for years now).
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) - Tolerates semi-shade in temperate to hot areas, but if you want a tender sweet swollen base it is best grown in moist, slightly alkaline, fertile well-drained soil in full sun. If you just want the leaves - or are growing red (bronze?) fennel - stick it in the semi-shade under a tree and it will happily self seed.
Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) - Tolerates semi-shade in temperate to hot areas.
Garlic (Allium spp) - Will grow in the semi-shade under trees in temperate to hot areas, but may not flower. Or ramsons under trees
Ginseng, American (Panax quinquefolius) - This is one of the true shade lovers. Ginseng needs cold winters, warm to hot summers, semi- to dense shade (the harsher the light the more shade needed), masses of well-rotted organic matter in the soil and excellent drainage and moisture - in other words, ginseng is extremely temperamental and if not perfectly happy will die. Once you do manage to give it optimum conditions it will thrive - and in its native area is a hardy wild plant.
While ginseng can be grown from pieces of fresh root, I've never seen one for sale in Australia. Seeds should be sown in spring, after winter chilling. Fresh seed may not germinate for eighteen months, and even when seed is stratified you may find that some germinates and starts growing while other seedlings appear from the same lot of seed next spring. Keep the seedlings in reliable shade (even half an hour of full sun can wither them) - and most important KEEP THE SNAILS OFF. Snails appear to prefer ginseng to almost any other plant.
Ginseng seedlings grow very, very slowly and for the first year will remain as a single shoot with three small leaves with another two leaves appearing the following year.
Extremes of climate can cause ginseng to die back before winter. Don't throw them out. The hardiest thing about ginseng is its root and it may very well shoot again next spring. Ginseng may also shoot in early spring and be cut by late frosts. In this case the root often rots. Ginseng is perhaps the most celebrated of all 'tonic' herbs, hailed as an aphrodisiac, an aid to longevity and sporting prowess and many other attributes.
Gotu Kola, Indian ginseng, Wild pennywort, Pennyweed (Centella asiatica)
Gotu kola needs moist soil and semi-shade though it will grow, but not thrive, in full sun. The better the soil the large the leaves. It will grow in a sheltered spot in cold areas and vigorously in subtropical or tropical areas, where it an be an excellent ground cover for a damp place. Like ginseng, Gotu kola is valued as a tonic extraordinaire, as an aphrodisiac, an aid to longevity, to increase disease resistance, recover from sores, wounds, illness and to help maintain mental and physical vigour in old age and under stress. The active ingredient, asiaticoside, is reputed to stimulate regeneration of damaged tissue. It may also be carcinogenic and large doses may lead to liver damage.
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) - Tolerates semi-shade.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) - Lemon balm grows best in moist rich soil and partial light shade, especially in hot summers, but will tolerate drought, sun and exposure. It dies back after severe frost but recovers with warm weather and reseeds easily, so easily that lemon balm can become a weed.
Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus) - Lemon grass tolerates semi-shade in hot areas, or if grown in semi-shade in pots on a hot patio or warm windowsill.
Marjoram and Oregano (Origanum spp) - Both marjoram and oregano are vigorous, fragrant matting plants with tall flower stems. Both tolerating full sun or semi-shade; oregano can become a weed in moist areas or near wet forest. The golden leafed form needs direct sunlight to maintain its bright colour.
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) - Marshmallow will grow under trees.
Mints (Menthus spp.) - Most mints tolerate semi-shade. We grow them as a carpet under trees. Vietnamese mint (Polygonum mentha) is not a true mint, but likes the same moist conditions. It tolerates light frost but heavy frost kills it. It will grow in light shade in warm areas to full sun in cooler districts. In humid areas choose a rust resistant culinary mint cultivar.
Mint bush (Prostanthera spp) - These bushy shrubs have dark green to grey green very fragrant leaves and spike like groups of purple, pink, mauve or white flowers at the end of branchlets. Mint bushes tolerate all but very heavy frosts and in hot areas they are best grown in semi-shade or with morning sun only. In temperate to cool climates they accept semi-shade happily. They prefer an acid, well drained moist soil but will tolerate dryness.
Parsley, Curled Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) - Though not as drought or cold hardy as flat leafed parsleys, common parsley will accept semi-shade in temperate to hot areas. Japanese or Perennial Parsley (Cryptoaenia japonica) will also grow in semi-shade in temperate to hot areas or in a pot in cool areas on warm paving or patio.
Marsh or Bog Sage (S. uliginosa) - This has the brightest display possible of almost glowing blue flowers arranged in long spikes through most of summer in either full sun or semi-shade.
Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba) - Salad burnet forms a small, ferny, fragrant clump with a strong cucumber scent. It will grow in dry sandy soil as well as more fertile loam in either full sun or semi-shade.
Soapwort, Fullers wort, Latherwort, Tapestry Plant, Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis) - Accepts semi-shade to quite deep shade in temperate to hot areas - see Hardy Herbs.
Sorrel (Rumex spp) - Both cultivated sorrels do best in semi-shade, with moist, fertile soil for the best tasting leaves
Vietnamese mint (Polygonum odoratum) - Vietnamese mint grows best in semi-shade, though it will tolerate full shade or full sun in cooler areas. It needs masses of water. Vietnamese mint will be knocked back by severe frost but usually recovers.
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) - This grows well in semi-shade. See 'Wet Gardens'.
Woodruff (Asperula odorata) - See herbal carpets.
Kawa kawa (Macropiper exelsum) - Maori remedy for a wide range of complaints, used as a general tonic, for wounds, toothache and skin conditions. Needs deep, fertile, moist soil, plenty of well-rotted organic matter and broken light above.
Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) - North American herbal remedy for a wide range of complaints. Needs moist, well-drained soil, preferably with broken light.
Pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa) - Leaves and roots used for respiratory problems and needs dry, sandy soil in full sun or semi-shade.
Goats' rue (Galega officinalis) - Sprawling, bright green perennial used in cheese making, has been used to promote milk flow and in conjunction with other treatments for diabetes. Needs moist fertile soil tolerates sun or semi-shade and can become a weed.
Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) - Delicate looking, sprawling annual or biennial used as a weak sedative or for skin problems or as a gargle. Needs moist, fertile soil, tolerates semi-shade and full sun, a pretty ground cover but self-seeds enthusiastically and can become a weed.
Ramsons (Allium ursinum) - Perennial garlic-flavoured ground cover. Needs moist, fertile soil and semi-shade.
Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) - Leaves used for respiratory problems. Needs moist and semi-shaded soil, otherwise tolerant.
Sweet flag (Acorus calamus) - Root used in scent making, pot pourris and has limited medicinal use. Needs rich, moist, fertile soil, only flowers when grown in or on the edge of water.
Vegetables in the Shade
The amount of shade your veg will tolerate depends on your weather and climate. In hot summers here our lettuce grow well in the dappled shade under the kiwi fruit pergola, in spring and winter they just seem to fade away.
The only way to know what will grow in your version of shade is to try it. The following are a starting point only.
Asparagus (semi-shade)
Celery (in temperate to hot areas - we grow celery under our kiwi fruit pergola in a tub by the kitchen door, very handy, with basil, garlic, chives and mizuma.)
Dandelion
Garlic (hot areas only and filtered light in temperate areas)
Jerusalem artichokes (dappled light)
Lamb's lettuce
Leeks (hot summers only - good under deciduous trees)
Lettuce (hot summers only)
Mizuma (Japanese salad green or green veg)
Onions (filtered light in hot areas)
Parsley
Potato (hot summers in dappled light under trees or pergolas)
Silverbeet (dappled light in hot areas; ornamental chard and other chard varieties are more shade tolerant than the common Fordhook Giant.)
Spinach - English (dappled light in hot areas)
Tomatoes (dappled light in hot areas)
Hardy Colour in the Shade:
Ajuga (plum coloured leaves rather than flowers)
Arum lily
Autumn crocus (cool areas only)
Begonia spp.
Bauera rubioides
Calico bush (Kalmia latifolia)
Coleus spp (variegated foliage rather than flowers)
Columbine (Aquilegia spp)
Clivea, Kaffir lily (Clivea spp)
Daylily (Hemerocallis spp)
English bluebell (Scilla spp)
Erigeron, Seaside Daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus)
False iris (Dietes bicolor)
Fuchsia spp and a huge range of hybrids
Hypericum calycinum (Rose of Sharon)
Helleborus spp (winter rose)
Hosta, plantain lily (Hosta spp)
Hovea acutifolia
Hydrangea spp
Impatiens, Busy Lizzie (perhaps the most floriferous of all shade lovers)
Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis)
Kopsia (Kopsia fruticosa)
Lily of the Valley ( Convallaria majalis - cool areas only)
Wood Lily (Trillium chloropetalum)
Shade tolerant roses eg Shady Lady, Madame Alfred Carriere
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum )
Violets (Viola spp)
Vinca minor
Climbers for Shady Spots
Most of these will grow in the shade, but flower only once they reach some sunlight.
False sarsaparilla (Hardenbergia violacea) Tolerates sun or shade and any climate)
Jasmine (Jasminum officinalis - take care it doesn't become a weed)
Ornamental grape (Vitis coignetiae) Incredibly tolerant except of heat (no further north than Newcastle for a good autumn display) and humidity.
Red flowered honeysuckle
Wisteria (wisteria will grow but not flower in the shade. Plant in in a shady spot and let it climb to the sunlight and then flower)
Hardy roses for Dappled or Semi-Shade
Brandy (apricot)
Carla (pink)
Gay Princess (Pink)
Gold Medal (Yellow)
Maria Callas (hot pink)
Montezuma (orange pink)
Blue Moon (blue)
Iceberg (white with pink edges in hot climates)
Oklahoma (Rich red)
Scarlet Gem
Queen Elizabeth (pink)
Lili Marlene (rich red)
Hardy Miniature Roses for Shady Areas
Green Ice (white, pink and green - exceptionally hardy)
Mary Marshall (pink)
Lavender Lace (pale mauve)
White Simplicity (white)
Ko's Yellow (Gold)
Climbing roses for Shady Areas
These will grow but not flower in the shade - but when the rose reaches the sunlight above house or tree level it will flower wonderfully.
Albertine (salmon pink)
Altissimo (red)
Black Boy (deep red)
Cecile Brunner (sweet pink)
Climbing Iceberg (white)
Madame Alfred Carriere (soft creamy pink)
Mermaid (Creamy yellow)
Paul's Scarlet Climber (scarlet, naturally)
Yellow Banksia
Sweet Scents in the Shade
Daphne (Daphne odora)
Gardenia (Semi-shade in hot areas - full sun in cold climates)
Honeysuckle (lonicera spp)
Jasmine
Port wine magnolia
Mandevillea (tolerates semi-shade in hot areas)
Wisteria (wisteria won't flower in the shade but will clamber up to sunlight)
Flowering Annuals for Semi-shaded Areas
* will tolerate slightly deeper shade
# will naturalise in shady areas
Ageratum
Aquilegia, columbine
Bedding begonia
Coleus (probably won't flower but the foliage is usually attractive)#
Bellis perennis#
Forget-me-not#
Heartsease#
Impatiens* (perennial in frost free areas)
Lobelia
Snapdragon
Primrose
Primula*#
The Ten Minute Vegetable Garden
A vegetable garden is the proud product of lots of work and perpiration. . Right?
Well, not exactly.
With a bit of planning, one hour planting, another hour maintenance each year and a few minutes watering each week, you can have an abundant veg garden with something to pick every day. Impossible? No way.
What you need are low maintenace veg, ones that keep growing year after year, or reseed themselves easily. Some of them grow happily in pots; others need a garden of their own, and most can just be tucked into an odd corner of an existing garden.
Amaranth. There are several amaranths around, including the purely ornamental flowers. Buy leaf amaranth seeds, Amaranthus giganticus, for your ten minute vegetable garden and plant them spring to late summer. Amaranth is tall (up to 2 metres) , sturdy, drought, heat and cold hardy, with bright red flowers. Pick the young leaves for salads or boil them as a green veg. . Amaranth is an annual; but seeds itself all too readily ! Plant them anywhere there is some bare space- they'll grow in sun or shade, though the plants will be smaller in shade.
Artichokes. We grow these lovely silver leafed plants in hot dry corners of the garden. They grow from seeds sown spring to mid summer or suckers of last year's plants. Pick the young flower heads- the artichokes- in spring.
Jerusalem artichokes. These are definitely for a corner of the garden- full sun or semi shade- that you'll never want to use for anything else, as once you have Jerusalem artichokes they are difficult to get rid of! Plant tubers in spring t (buy them in autumn or winter at a good fruit shop and keep in the crisper till spring) and they'll grow into 2 metre tall flowers heads, like small sunflowers, which is in fact what they are. The tiny ones left in the soil will grow into next year's crop. In winter when the plants die grub up the knobbly roots; scrub well, don't peel and bake on an oiled tray till tender . NB: too many make you flatulent.
Asparagus. I've planted these in our flower beds; we eat the new shoots in spring and enjoy the ferny leaves in summer. I prefer home grown seedlings, planted spring to mid summer, to 'crowns'- one or two year old roots dug up in winter, as they are both much cheaper and hardier.
Scarlet runner beans
These are a climbing perennial bean, with bright red flowers all summer and autumn. They don't bear well in very hot weather UNLESS you grow other plants along their roots to keep them shaded, and water well. Plant seeds from spring to mid summer; make sure the roots are well covered with soil each winter when the tops die down, or they'll rot. Pick the beans when they are no more than finger size, or they'll be tough.
Lovage- this looks like a small, wild perennial celery. it gives a meaty, celery flavour to soups and stews, and young leaves and stems can be stir fried or tossed into salads. Grows well in pots.
Watercress keep this in a pot under your tap so it says moist. Good in salads, sandwiches and soups, but a bit too peppery if you use too much.
Garlic chives. These are TOUGH, and unlike common chives don't die down in winter or shrivel in heat and drought. They are flatter and coarser than common chives, but great in stir fries, sandwiches and salads where you want an onion/garlic flavour. Grow well in pots.
Spring or bunching onions (Allium fistulosum). I rarely bother growing ordinary onions. If we want an onion flavour I pick a bunch of these and chop them fresh into salads or sauté till soft for other dishes. The clumps grow larger year by year, and tolerate sun or semi shade. Plant any warm time of year. Grows well in pots.
Salad burnet. This is a lovely little ferny perennial herb that tastes sweet and nutty in salads or stir fries. It's supposed to give a cucumber flavour to drinks, but doesn't unless you have a strongly cucumber imagination. Grow in full sun. Grows well in pots.
Bronze fennel A lovely froth of red leaves. Chop the young ones into salads or sandwiches, but only if you like aniseed. I add finely chopped leaves to potato soup or potato cakes, and just a little in stir fries. Sow any warm time of year. Grows well in pots.
Warrigal, New Zealand or native spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides) This rambling veg grows like a weed, tolerates heat and drought, and is used just like spinach, though because of it's high oxalic acid content should be boiled for three minutes each time in two changes of water before eating. Makes a great cheese and spinach pie. sow any warm time of year. Grows well in pots.
Mitsuba, Japanese hornwort, Japanese parsley (Cryptotaenia japonica). This is mostly grown as an annual, but its really perennial- and will reseed itself happily too, coming up in bare spots all over the garden. It's like a very coarse parsley- chop the leaves and stems, and use in salads or stir fries or anywhere you would use chopped parsley. The more you pick the more tender new leaves you get. Sow any warm time of year. Grows well in pots
Dandelion: look for the large leafed salad varieties- they have larger, more tender leaves than the common weeds! Dandelion leaves are sweetest in spring, but you can blanch them by putting an old flower pot or box over the leaves for a week,- this makes them lose most of their bitterness, and the leaves will be larger and more tender too. Sow any warm time of year. Grows well in pots
Sorrel: loves acid soils and spots where nothing much else grows! It will grow in full sun or semi shade. The leaves are sour, rather than bitter, but a very little gives a tang to salads and I was served a stunning sorrel soup a few years ago that I've made a few times since- just half a dozen leaves pureed in 2 cups of chicken stock, with a dash of cream, served hot or cold. Sow any warm time of year. Grows well in pots
How to look after your 10 minute vegies
Every spring (or winter for the asparagus) mulch them WELL with good quality lucerne hay or compost or other high quality mulch. Sprinkle on a complete plant food like Dynamic Lifter. Cover any weeds with more mulch.
Then in summer toss on slow release fertiliser. Water once a week in dry times, though all the plants above should survive without watering- they just won't be as productive till it rains.
Then pick, cook and munch, and give yourself a nice pat for your forethought and organization as you gaze out at what may well be the most productive veg garden in your neighbourhood!
What’s Wrong with My Novel?
Like every other author’s mail box ours gets stuffed with manuscripts, with requests to read them/ comment on them, .and the (usually) unspoken plea is ‘help get them published.’ (Occasionally the plea is explicit- ‘I need to have the book out by next January as I am going on long service leave’ or even, once, a covering letter from the author’s psychiatrist saying that publication was essential for the patient’s wellbeing. (Which did make me wonder slightly about that psychiatrist).
So…let’s say you have sent an mss, unsolicited, to any author. Your mss has already been rejected twice. What’s wrong with it?
Do you want an honest answer? Really? (Few people do.)
Nothing. It just isn’t good enough…good enough to be published, anyway.
Okay, it’s possible to make long lists of what might be done: sharpen the characters, make them less of a cliché, add more dramatic tension …but what that really means is that the story just isn’t gripping enough to make anyone keep reading. Well, except your mum…and your best friend...and your writer’s group and the kids you’ve tried it out on at the local school, because after all listening to ANY book is better than doing maths…
A few of us were talking the other day about how hard it is to give feedback on the mss sent to us- partly because it just takes so much time, but mostly because in most case we just don’t know what to say (I think perhaps we get a poor selection of mss too- those who know a bit about publishing sent their books to publishers or agents or manuscript appraisal services, not to authors they’ve never met.)
It seems heartless to be honest and say ‘there really is no chance of this being published no matter what you do to it’. It’s not bad… but it’s just not good ENOUGH. And I don’t think you are capable of writing a book that will be published, either- at least not without many years of hard work on your craft.
Maybe it’s a hangover from writing essays at school, this idea that there are ‘wrong’ things that can be corrected, which will turn a bad book into a good one.
Sorry- I don’t mean to be discouraging to any would be writer reading this! In fact if you ARE reading this you probably have thought hard and deep about the craft of writing. The people am writing this for will never read it al all. But at least I have got off my chest the guilt I feel when I write each cowardly letter, giving a trace of false encouragement when there should be frankness instead.
A Few Recipes (mostly pumpkin)
Orange and Ginger Muffins
(very good for cold autumn days)
200 gm butter or marg
quarter cup milk
1 cup brown sugar
1 tb orange rind
1 tb powdered ginger
3 eggs
2 cups self raising flour
half cup almond meal
half cup orange juice
orange syrup (See below)
Beat butter, sugar, ginger and orange rind; add eggs one by one; add flour, milk, orange juice and almonds. Mix gently.
Bake in greased muffin pan or paper cases for about 35 minutes at 200C till light brown on top. remove from pan. Pour hot syrup over the hot muffins.
Syrup
1 cup castor sugar
two thirds of a cup orange juice
one third of a cup water
Combine all the syrup ingredients in a pan; simmer and stir till sugar dissolves.
How to peel a pumpkin.
If you doubt your wrist power, don't bother - cook it with the skin on, then take it off later - or eat it. Some skins are delicious and good roughage (others are sharp, tough and horrible).
Otherwise bung the pumpkin in a very hot oven for a few minutes to soften the skin, cool and peel.
The best way to cut a pumpkin like a Queensland Blue or Jarrahdale is to stick it on the bench, stick a knife in the centre - like stabbing an enemy - then press downwards rather than cut, so the knife slides though one of the grooves in the pumpkin.
It is more complicated to write about it than do it.
Pumpkin Fruit Cake Mix
Pumpkin is best in autumn: sweet and firm and deep orange.,
1 cup mashed pumpkin
125 gm butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
500gm sultanas, or mixed fruit(I prefer just sultanas)
2 cups self raising flour
Line a large tin with two layers of baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs one by one; then pumpkin, vanilla, fruit, then the flour.
The mixture should be quite moist, but if is seems too dry(Which it may be if the pumpkin is dryish) then add a little milk or water.
Pour the mix into the tin; bake at 200C for one hour or till it's brown on top and a skewer comes out clean.
This cake is rich, moist, and very very good.
Pumpkin and Turmeric Risotto
half cup basmati rice
3 teaspoons turmeric
1 Spanish /red onion, very finely chopped
1 cup pumpkin, peeled and cubed(tiny cubes)
5 tb ghee or margarine
juice half a lemon
2 cups chicken stock or water
salt if necessary; black pepper
Melt butter in pan on VERY low heat; add onion and rice; stir till onion is soft(Add more ghee/margarine if necessary); add turmeric; stir for another three minutes; add other ingredients; simmer till rice is soft; add more stock/water if necessary. Add salt(if desperately needed only) and pepper when you take off the heat.
This is excellent.
Pumpkin Curry
Pumpkin is both sweet and meat in a curry - and good.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoonful: cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, chilli to taste (I use two chopped red chillies for a medium hot curry).
2 cups peeled chopped tomatoes or 1 can tomatoes
2 cups chopped pumpkin - choose a firm finely grained one
2 onions, chopped
12 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Cook the onions and garlic slowly in the oil till soft, add the spices and stir well for a few minutes. Don't let them burn. Add the other ingredients and simmer till the pumpkin is cooked.
For the best flavour leave the curry in the fridge overnight and reheat the next day.
Zucchini Fruit Slice
185 gm butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 and three quarter cups plain flour
1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
1 cup chopped dates
half cup chopped sultanas
half cup chopped walnuts
half cup coconut
2 cups grated raw zucchini
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs; mix in other ingredients. Spread into greased and floured tray; bake at 200c for 30-40 minutes. Test with a skewer. Cool a little before turning out of the tray. Cut into slices with a sharp knife while still warm, but out of the container, so help prevent crumbling.
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