Category Regulars

HERITAGE HARVEST

The Heritage Harvest weekend at Sovereign Hill is celebrating the abundance of autumn in an immersive two-day event looking at both food-growing and preserving practices brought to Australia from around the world. The 25–26 May event forms the culmination of the 10-day Ballarat Heritage Festival, which kicks off on 17 May, to commemorate the Victorian town’s rich cultural history.

FUNGI FEASTIVAL

The 2024 Fungi Feastival will run for four weeks between 21 June and 21 July with activities spanning 200km between Eden and Batemans Bay on the New South Wales South Coast – including a course at Pip HQ! From cooking classes, scientific seminars and growing workshops through to truffle hunts, fruiting-room tours and garden-building demonstrations, the full schedule can be found on the event’s website at www.fungifeastival.com.au.

QToys
WOODEN MICROSCOPE

This timber microscope allows curious minds an introduction to the world of microscopy. Measuring 27 cm wide and approximately 17 cm in both height and depth, the lightweight design means it can be used on a table or balanced on a lap. It also features an adjustable-height base plate to let kids achieve optimal focus on their subject.

$53.90 www.qtoys.com.au

If every council supported community-led urban agriculture, what would our cities look like? In Victoria, Canada, the council is getting behind urban food growing because it realises the benefits to the community: promoting health, wellbeing, social interaction and environmental education, as well as increasing food security through the diversification of ecosystems.

The council supports things like urban gardening courses, micro-food forest programs and transformation of grass areas to edible gardens and habitats, as well as the building of rooftop greenhouses. There are no restrictions on beekeeping and urban gardeners can keep up to 15 chickens. The city also helps to make under-utilised lots available for temporary gardens, weaving in edible and pollinator gardening as well as community gathering places into council-managed landscapes. It also offers grants to make this all possible.

While we’re all familiar with honey as food, you might be surprised that its medicinal usage stretches back thousands of years. Honey is a potent antioxidant and anti- inflammatory, and modern research suggests it is useful in countering antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

By combining honey and herbs, you can make a range of potent, safe and delicious natural medicine at home to support your immune and digestive systems, to reduce stress, to treat coughs and sore throats, to aid in wound- care and more.

But good-quality honey is key. In 2018, research found that 18 percent of commercially-sold Australian honeys had been altered, usually blended with a less expensive sweetener.

Is there a difference between cabbage moths and cabbage white butterflies?

While the term cabbage moth and cabbage white butterfly are fairly interchangeable, they’re actually two different species. However when we talk about either the moth (Plutella xylostella) or the butterfly (Pieris rapae), we’re talking about the same problem, because both of them love to lay their eggs on the leaves of brassicas. Luckily for gardeners, both of them are dealt with in the same way.

What’s the best way to deal with cabbage moths and cabbage white butterflies?

They’re more prevalent when it’s still warm, which is usually the time when your seedlings are establishing. The easiest and most effective way is to form a barrier with exclusion netting to stop them getting in to lay their eggs.

We’d love to receive your feedback, questions, ideas or to see if we’ve inspired you to embark on any projects. Email your letters and photos to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au

Mad with mildew

I am 14 years old, I have loved gardening since I was very young when I was growing shop-bought tomatoes and it is a real bonding experience for me and my dad. I’ve always figured out solutions to the problems, be it aphids, mites or bushfires, but I’ve encountered a problem I can’t shake – powdery mildew!

Any tips? I’m about to lose it and pull them all out and replant!

One of the greatest ways we can connect to and care for Country is to observe, watch, listen and understand.

To care for Country, we need to develop relationships with ecosystems. Our Old People did that for thousands of years and have come to understand our Country and how it works. Any chance we get to learn from our Elders and cultural knowledge holders is the chance of a lifetime.

SEASONS AND CYCLES

We need to understand our seasonal cycles and how they are not necessarily related to our calendar year. It might be at the end of August, or it might be midway through spring – it’s not about the date, it’s about what’s happening with species relationships that signal these things.

Apium graveolens var. dulce – apium means celery, graveolens ‘strong-smelling’ and dulce ‘sweet’ in Latin.

ORIGINS

From Sweden to northern Africa and eastern Asia, celery grows wild in salty soils and marshes. There are records of its cultivation in France before the 16th century, and in Italy before the 18th century.

DESCRIPTION

Celery is grown in Australia primarily for its stems which can be blanched by excluding light. However there are many smaller forms that have more flavour than these broad-stemmed ones.

A close wild relative to our modern-day lettuce varieties, prickly lettuce or wild lettuce (Lactuca serriola) is an edible and widely spread weed that is found in most parts of Australia.

Native to Europe, Asia and parts of Africa and a member of the asteraceae family, this winter annual is a good replacement for our common lettuce varieties. It has a stronger flavour, slightly more bitterness and has been used for a long time as a medicinal herb.

Seasonal garden guides for Australian climates. What to plant in Winter including May, June, July, August. As seen in our kitchen garden calendar.

Moon planting

The moon’s phases and its associated gravitational pull has a significant effect on the behaviour of tidal oceans, so it’s easy to understand how the moon can have a similar effect on the moisture in our soils and plants. By planning what you sow to coincide with the phases of the moon best suited to the type of vegetable and how you’re planting, you’ll give yourself a higher chance of success as well as increase your yields.