Bootlace Garden of mystery .... or .... other stuff I am growing

[Harry Bootlace]

Ill try and keep track here as new things go in, 

 

JUST PLANTED:

Papaver somniferum

 

Nicotiana tabacum

 

Never tried to grow either before, had poppies by accident. Tobacco will be interesting.

 

Plenty of fruit, vegetables and herbs.

Oranges, mandarins, lemons, Grapefruit, Lime,. Avocado, Olives, Bay,

sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, silverbeet, rocket, land cress, carrots, potatoes, lettuce(s)

basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, mint,(s) chilies, and more I forget,

 

just planted corn, wild garlic, collard greens, beans, kale, quinoa, oh I forget now.

 

lots of edible weeds I leave in (and use).

 

I also have some Acacias (just happened to be in the yard)- HUGE- but I doubt ill ever "use" them..

 

Looking to get a range of "useful" plants filling the gaps, food, medicine and FUN plants.

 

I dont eat meat, so I plan on basing my food around my garden as much as possible.

 

Its a hobby. 

[MongyMan]

Great stuff Harry love a good food garden

 

MongyMan

[Carnage]

yea that mint , it grows like a weed at my house. Out back theres more wild mint than Milk thistle.

Mint loves to grow.

I transplanted some wild mint into pots from the ground and left the pots on the dirt garden bed.

3 weeks later i lifted the pot and had to yank 6-8" long thick roots out of the ground that came with the pot and they wouldn't tear off.

love mint.

[Harry Bootlace]

yeah, slowly im replacing all bare soil with mint and parsley and (edible) things so no room for useless weeds. 

Mint is amazing as you say, i take cuttings, put in a glass of water, a week later full of roots and plant somewhere new.

gotta get rid of the lawn also. hate it. maybe leave one patch for the whipper snapper to play on.

 

and thanks also mongyman, I hadnt heard about that mongy stuff, but looked it up last night, wow, amazing, 

 

on a side note, as a teenager my friend had a book from the 60's, little yellow self published HOW TO GROW DOPE book, and in it they reckon you could graft dope to hops, and it would grow like a vine, look like hops and smoke like weed.

 

Anyone ever hear of this? (I know they are related)

[Matanuska Thunder]

yup, Ford Fairlane did the grafting thing... there is a thread here somewhere

I also use mint as a ground cover, works a treat!

Vietnamese mint is an odd one, but one of my fave's to grow

[itchybromusic]

sounds great mate 

can i suggest looking at plants to attract 

the beneficial insects , most of these insects

have very small mouths so require small flowers 

to be able to do there thing & protect your garden 

https://youtu.be/iX9mQNswJrw

[sunshineoldfeller]

good luck with the tobacco in Perth.  probly too dry nowadays.  usedter grow around Garratt road when I was  kid --- and here and there in the moister spots in those older subburbs.  East Perth for example.  how about putting up some photos?  enjoy!

[torrietree]

Sounds like a wonderful garden.

 

 

With your sweet potatoes how did you get them started? Cut a runner from an established plant or grew a root from a piece of sweet potato? We've tried both ways with no joy so far.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Harry Bootlace]

yup, Ford Fairlane did the grafting thing... there is a thread here somewhere

I also use mint as a ground cover, works a treat!

Vietnamese mint is an odd one, but one of my fave's to grow

 

(re grafting) oh thanks, Ill look, it would be amazing if it worked.

 

At the moment I just have "normal" mint and chocolate mint, but Ill get more.

 

 

 

sounds great mate 

can i suggest looking at plants to attract 

the beneficial insects , most of these insects

have very small mouths so require small flowers 

to be able to do there thing & protect your garden 

https://youtu.be/iX9mQNswJrw

 

Its a huge garden, well established, we moved in in January, old owner built the house 30 odd years ago and was a gardening nut, apparently it was a full time job for him and his son looking after it, I dont have the time they did, or energy, but I can keep it alive, just not so neat.

 

So, theres flowers everywhere, all sorts, but Ill look at the link thanks. We certainly have a lot of bees, they love the parsley, which is going to seed (and over 6 foot tall)

 

 

 

good luck with the tobacco in Perth.  probly too dry nowadays.  usedter grow around Garratt road when I was  kid --- and here and there in the moister spots in those older subburbs.  East Perth for example.  how about putting up some photos?  enjoy!

 

have new retic going in tuesday, the yard is too big to hand water, anyway, I hope they grow, but who knows. Ill get photos soon. Its a terrific garden, we have an 11 month old and he will LOVE it when he is bigger for cubbies and hiding out/exploring.

 

 

Sounds like a wonderful garden.

 

 

With your sweet potatoes how did you get them started? Cut a runner from an established plant or grew a root from a piece of sweet potato? We've tried both ways with no joy so far.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

hmm, I dont know they were here when we got here, and after they died back in winter, already have taken up and cover about 15 square meters, they are the purple skinned, white flesh variety.

yesterday I found a stray one growing and I dug up and moved, I am not sure if it liked it, seems very sad today but hopefully it takes off in the new location.

 

one thing I noticed though, for the amount of space they use when they are going, not a very big amount to eat. When i saw the patch I thought we would be giving away 10's of kilos of them, but they were kinda few and far between. saying that we had enough to last the winter and spring.

 

OK, I know threads are boring without pics, so Ill get some. The poppies and tobacco and some other veges etc I just planted the seeds so nothing to show there

[Ford Fairlane]

Sounds epic Harry, it must be nice to move into a olace with such a well established garden.

 

Re. Grafting, i haven't grafted to hops, but have also heard it works, so give it a go if you can, it would be great to see the results. I have mucked around grafting multiple strains onto a mother plant with good results. But unfortunately, I lost both my multi strain mums. But, I have a bunch of seedlings on the go now, so will be doing it again soon.