Water. A real blessing and the source of all life, especially in this dry land.
What a difference a few years makes to the recovery of the land following the severe bushfires of 2000 and 2001. A friend visited our block this week after a few months away. He commented just how much greener everything was following the decent rains we've recently gained. We'd noticed this ourselves over the last 5 years too through the worst drought the east coast of Australia has experienced in recorded history.
The wattles seemed to be the first to recover, taking advantage of any rain that fell to shoot up 2 metres in less than 6 months. Not bad for essentially sandy soil without much in the way of nutrients. Almost impassable to walk through. You have to hack your way through like an 18th century explorer. These saplings proved useful for repair of our garden fencing to keep out the wildlife, providing you used them green. A bit of wattle without the daub. Within a few days, they had lost their moisture and their flexibility. The leaves then contributed to the mulch on the garden.
The dam is still maintaining a fairly constant level too despite its minimal incoming drain. This will be improved over the first few months of 2009. The more water you catch, the more you can use and the more that is available for the fauna.
stay green for now
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
ice cream bean plant
The "ice cream bean" has been promoted on ABC gardening Australia recently. We have been growing this fascinating large bush for several years and have a few small bushes for sale at $25.00 AUD each plus postage. When the tree fruits it has large pods encasing white pulp, which looks like cotton wool covering black seeds. You ONLY eat the white pulp, not the seeds. The cottonwool -like pulp tastes like ice cream. This tree is a native of Brazil.
Some people refer to this as a bush, but it is more like a spindly sparse tree, with thick drought resistant leathery leaves , which are reddish when young and turn to a darker green. The tree can grow to about 5 metres with a spread of 3 metres, in just 5 years! We find it ideal as a shade tree near windows, easy to manage, allows air flow and hardly needs any trimming.
It has taken a while for the local animals possums and cockatoos to try them out, but now they are eating them all and not leaving any for us! Below are some photos. contact us at sampsms at ozemail dot com dot au.
We have listed this plant on EBay as buy it now.. Hurry while stocks last..
Congratulations! Your item is listed for sale.
View your listing: Ice cream bean plant - 320329154576 listed buy it now to 9.2.09
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