Our kids’ patch winners for this issue are Hettie & Poppy Knight from Raworth, NSW, you’ve won a copy of the 2021 book Bee Detectives, written by Vanessa Ryan-Rendall and illustrated by Brenna Quinlan. It’s for any aspiring bee detective who wants to learn how to attract native bees to their backyard and we’ve got another one to give away next issue.
SHOW US YOUR GARDEN
Adelaide/Kaurna country, South Australia
Name Asha Potter-Khatri
How old are you? I’m eight years old.
Describe your garden
We have 19 fruit trees and bushes in our garden and a small grassy area where I like doing cartwheels. Our garden is pretty and green and there are lots of flowering plants. We are visited by lots of birds who nest in our garden but our dog sometimes chases them. There are many insects like monarch butterflies and bees, as well as worms, ants, slugs and snails.
What do you grow?
Passionfruit, limes, lemons, oranges, pomegranate, strawberries, beans, chickpeas, potatoes, apples, pears, plums, olives, figs, nectarines, apricots, peaches, guava, lilly pilly, peas, mint, dill, broccoli, spinach, eggplant, sunflowers, capsicum, chilli.
We have banana plants but we haven’t had any bananas yet, also we have an avocado tree and macadamia tree but neither have had fruit yet either.
What’s your favourite thing to do in your garden?
I like planting things, looking in the worm farm and making things in my mud kitchen from the garden.
What do you enjoy eating from the garden?
I eat everything we grow but my favourites are strawberries, passionfruit, pomegranate, oranges, peas and fresh chickpeas.
MAKE YOUR OWN HANGING BEE OASIS
By Emily Gray, Permaculture South Australia
Here’s a great hanging planter that will keep your local bees happy in the heat!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Hanging basket frame and
fibre lining
Good-quality potting mix, worm
castings and slow-release fertiliser
Plastic liner (recycle your
potting-mix bag)
Plants
Small bowl or dish
Rocks or pebbles
DIRECTIONS
1 Line your hanging basket with plastic to prevent the soil from drying out.
2 Cut some drainage holes in the bottom of the plastic lining.
3 Blend the potting mix with worm castings before filling the basket and adding slow-release fertiliser.
4 Plant trailing varieties of flowering seedlings around the the edge of your planter – we used strawberries – and water in well.
5 Place a shallow dish in the centre of the basket, add some rocks to give the bees somewhere safe to land and drink from, and fill with water.
6 Hang somewhere sunny and don’t forget to keep the dish full and the plants watered.
