February 2003

The Daley News

 

Hello again. My empathy for all those keen gardeners who are wedging their greenthumbs into their pockets. If you are lucky enough to still have a good water supply I am happy to let you know that our current stock is the best that we have had available for a long time. Not only have we been able to gain some growing time and have excellent size on all our trees but we have managed to increase the range to include many specialist items that have been hard to find in recent times.

Our Special Feature for the Month
Integrated Pest Management for your orchard

 

There is a season for everything and every seasonal variation brings about a new macro and microcosm in our gardens for us to observe. Environmental stresses on our plants can present us with a range of challenges. Water stressed plants are generally more susceptible to pest problems and we can often find ourselves in overdrive stretching to solve one problem after another. This article aims to equip you with a tool bag of options for pest management as well as increase your inquisitive curiosity for the fascinating micro cosmos within our gardens.

Integrated Pest Management is an approach to the monitoring and managing of pest activity in your garden. This strategy encourages you to observe the lifecycles of the insects in your garden and employ a variety of pest control methods in combination, to maximise your effectiveness while minimising your chemical applications. Within an IPM program you would consider all available management options including:
Varietal selection of plants in your garden
Cultural and seasonal variations
Biological control methods
Chemical or Organic Applications
Cost and Energy Analysis

While IPM involves more time and attention to your insect populations, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages in the long term. Advantages include a more wholistic and sustainable approach to your garden; slower development of resistance to pesticides within the pest populations and cost benefits by minimising your application requirements.

By carefully observing and understanding the life cycle of the insects that are busily reproducing in your garden, you can be selective and strategic with your applications and inputs to maximise their effectiveness.

Utilising biological controls in your garden is a very effective method of management. This can range from planting particular flowers and herbs as attractants for beneficial insects through to the release of reared beneficial organisms (predatory insects, parasites etc.) that will assist when natural population levels are low. Such strategies are particularly helpful when adverse seasonal conditions (such as a drought or sudden changes in temperatures or weather patterns) disrupt the natural balance of beneficial and pest insect populations.

Monitoring your insect populations and accurate identification is a vital component in this approach and with a few simple tools you can quickly understand all the pieces of the puzzle. A small hand lens and a good guidebook will become your close companions.
We can highly recommend Judy McMaugh's "What Garden Pest and Disease is that?" It offers clear identification with their great illustrations and organic and chemical solutions to every garden problem. This book is available through Daleys Nursery this month at a special price of $41.95, (usually $54.95) with every mail order purchase .

The newly released second edition of "The Good Bug Book" is also a valuable resource providing details of all the biological pest control organisms available in Australia as well as an informative section on general IPM. This book is available from Bugs for Bugs for $38.50 plus postage Ph 0741654663
More information can be found at www.goodbugs.org.au

Green Harvest Organic Garden Supplies offers a range of natural pest management products such as their Good Bug mix, a seed packet of mixed herbs and flowers that provide habitat and nectar source for many beneficial predatory insects. See their website for further details of their products www.greenharvest.com.au

Our Plants of the Month;

Our new Perennial Vegetables and Spice Plants-

Taro - Colocasia esculenta

Taro is a staple crops of the Pacific Islands and is also very popular throughout many parts of Asia. The delicious tuber can substitute potato in almost any dish, baked, boiled or made into chips. Its very ornamental heart-shaped leaves make a great spinach when lightly steamed. While the plant prefers moist soil, it grows well in both full shade and full sun.

While in the Pacific Islands ( the place of origin for the Taro) there are hundreds of different varieties, in commercial production we generally see two main cultivars, which to simplify the diversity have been separated into:
Taro Pacific- a large tuber, sometimes reaching up to 3-4 kg.
Taro Supreme - a Japanese variety. A prolific producer of small tubers about the size of a childs fist. For more information on the Taro see

Tumeric - Curcuma domestica

The thick, cylindrical rhizome or underground stem of a tropical plant belongs to the ginger family. Finely grated it adds many health benefits and a brilliant yellow colour and earthy flavour to foods such as Indian curries, rice and vegetarian dishes. Fresh Turmeric is lightly aromatic and slightly peppery, the flavour is pungent and bitter.

 

Turmeric is a primary ingredient of Curry Powder. Used heavily in Indian Cuisine such as legumes, beans, and vegetable dishes. That wonderful ballpark mustard also contains turmeric as a colouring. To make yellow rice, use one teaspoon to colour one cup of raw rice.

In the garden, the luscious leafy plant produces a spectacular flower that will stop you in your tracks, making a great ornamental feature in a subtropical garden. The foliage will die back in the winter indicating it is ready for harvest

The Curry Leaf Tree - Murraya koenigii

Fresh leaves from this tree are an indispensable ingredient in Indian cooking. The leaves are almost unknown in the West because they lose most of their flavor when dried. They have a distinct, spicy curry-like flavor and odor.

The tree prefers warm temperatures with full sun to partial shade. It highly ornamental and very successful as a potted specimen tree.

From our Exotic Fruits Section -

Chinese Raisin Tree -Hovenia dulcis

This fast growing tree would make a great feature tree and curious talking point in any garden. While its attractive deciduous foligae will bring it to you attention, the unusual fruit will capture your eye, protruding from the trunk of the tree. The thick fleshy fruits are particularly sweet when dried and somewhat raisin-like in texture. No doubt that you will be satisfied to eat them as they appear on the tree but if you have the patience you can dry them and substitute them for Raisins in any sweet dessert. The timber of this tree is aslo favoured for use in floorings, furnishings, instruments and utensils

For more information on this intriguing tree see www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/raisintree.html

I
The trees listed above and many more are available at Daleys Nursery. See our website at https://www.daleysfruit.com.auand go straight to the shopping trolley to order these plants or call in and see Emma at the Nursery for more information.

This months recipe, brought to your from Robyn Francis's 'BUSH FOOD COOKBOOK' is inspired by the abundant cropping of Bunya nuts falling around us this year.

Bunya Rice Pilaf

Ingredients: 1cup long grain brown rice 1 cup long grain white rice 2 tblsp. Macadamia nut oil 4 cup boiling water 1 tsp ground cinnamon myrtle 2/3 cup chopped bunya nuts (boil before chopping) 2 tblsp chopped macadamia nuts 1 tsp. Freshly ground Tasmanian Mountain pepper 1/2 cup riberries Salt to taste Method: Heat macadamia oil, add Cinnamon Myrtle, stir quickly and then immediately add brown rice. Stir oil through rice to coat grains and add choped bunya nuts. Add boiling water, turn down heat and simmer for 7 minutes. Add washed white rice, macadamias and riberries. When water comes to the boil, thurn down heat and cook with the lid on for 15 minutes. Stir and serve.

Enjoy!!

Have a break. Come and visit us.

Over the last 12 months we have seen an increasing number of people coming from out of area to visit our Nursery. Many fruit enthusiasts are coming from as far south as Melbourne and as far north as Rockhampton. We welcome regular visitors from the Sunshine and Central Coast areas. A survey of the last 6 months has shown more than 50% of our customers have travelled more than 200 km's to see us.

Firstly I'd like to thank all those people for their remarkable efforts to come far and wide to find their Fruit Trees. It is such a pleasure to serve such an enthusiastic and committed community of gardeners. Secondly I would like to extend the welcome to all our other customers who have kept the idea to visit us in the back of their minds, waiting for the right opportunity.

There is no doubt that the Northern Rivers area provides much temptation for a weekend away and holidaymakers. The list of places to stay and things to do is abundant. I would like to introduce you to one special place not to be missed should you need a place to stay. Hillcrest Guesthouse provides both lushious bed and breakfast accommodation and self-contained cottages that are nestled in to the foothill of Mt Warning. Winner of a multitude of Tourism awards, this quiet and homely place of rest will offer you all the unexpected little touches to make you feel like most important guest of the year.

Clive and Tracy, the hosts of Hillcrest, offer such attention to detail that I just couldn't pass them by for a high recommendation. For more infomation check http://www.hillcrestbb.com

Should you be coming from a far, you are more than welcome to give me call at the Nursery and I can offer some other recommendations of places of interest.

Hot Weather - Hot Topics - Water is it

I have no doubt that every person on this gigantic continent is able to recognise the significance of water in our daily life from those that are experiencing floods in Northern Qld, to the people of eastern Victoria that are begging for the clouds to come and ease the work of the tired firefighters as well as all of us in North and West NSW that are having to bath in dust and wash our cars with wind alone. I'd like to finish off on a lighter and brighter note with a poem sent in to us here at the nursery from a customer waiting for rain.

Planet of Water
There's moisture on a sweating brow
Silver drops on round green leaves
Tears of laughter, tears of pain
The soothing fall of steady rain.
Torrential downpours and coursing gutters
Wide brown flooding and raging rivers.
There's hail, thick snow and frozen lakes.
And glaciers, ice cubes and small snowflakes.
Deep wells of water from hidden springs
Mountain brooklets and waterfalls.
A lake, a billabong, a pond, a pool,
A stream, a creek, a river cool.
And beneath them all the great deep seas
Toss and swell and lap the lands
Of our Planet Earth.
Its never as far away as we think.

Next Issue

Click to view previous Fruit Tree Newsletters