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Broccoli, cabbage, green onions - we are in between the last of the winters and first of the springs - hopefully the frosts are over. Looking like another long, hot, dry year. The cereal and canola crops around here are now being cut for hay; no hope of enough moisture to take them through to harvest.

roll on retirement and time to do this stuff!

Flo Apart from total fire ban days (extreme fire risk) it is quite legal for a bonafide traveller to light a fire to cook a meal here. My friend recently had their bathrooom rebuilt (for disabled use) and wound up with no hot water in the hand basin, hot water in the toilet cistern and no power to a...

Yes, looking at the pics in the links Flo posted they are definitely a different species; apart from the general leaf shape etc. mine seem to be much woody-er and more upright. I might sneak a sample into the National Herbarium and see what comes back.

Fire, billy, camp oven, BBQ plate - what more do you need?

Ina Your question prompted a quick check of Herbarium records here; I always thought our nettles were "ferals" from Europe but it seems they (this particular common species) are actually native to Oz and NZ (Urtica incisa). Very similar to the common European species (U. dioica & U. urens - which ha...

If you can get fresh bracken croziers, rub on the juice
Here are pics of the carefully designed and nutured companion planting process. I picked the cabbage and ate it last night - sound, solid and sweet.

I guess its just one of those things that worked this time - I might try it again, perhaps with some lettuce? Too early here for most moths etc. although aphids, mites etc. should be there. Flo - GA, I have never had a real issue with nettles, they sting at first, itch for a few minutes and then OK ...

Hi all In autumn I planted a small plot of baby cabbage and baby broccoli - I had never grown these before so put in only 6 of each to try. Both suffered from serious whiptail (never had this before either) so I dosed them with Moly and gypsum and they sort of recovered. Basically abandoned the atte...

Bernard
Try floatiing oil on the water (olive canola etc.) Mozzie wrigglers (and others that hatch into air breathers) need to breath from the surface - the oil layer creates a barrier that stops them from reaching air. The old technique was to use Kerosine but any floating oil should work.

Really Ina? Which book immediately pops into mind if you ask yourself which one would I keep? I also have shelf upon shelf of books; I am one of those people that actually wears (good) books out and has to replace them. My immediate choice was a very early edition of Dickens "A Christmas Carol". Any...

Ina - I don't think I could find a bottle of spirits of spirits in Oz for $25. 50p? ouch - ours is 21 cents Au (12p?) but, most of our spirits are imported so there are other fees and taxes associated with the import. - the only local ones are from small "boutique" distilleries and cost a fortune. H...

Is it something to do with how we grew up? I know I will throw out anything without an obvious use whereas someone else in the house has a weird attitude to disposal of "stuff" Someone else will quite happily dispose of an antique oak dining table that has been in the family for 3 generations yet ar...

Our leaders index the excise (tax) on alcohol every six months based on inflation; not a huge rise every timemore like a slow, insidious creep. Excise is based on the volume of alcohol (proof) in the product; Beer receives a lesser tax per quaff than spirits - Wine has been treated differently to en...

I'm not sure GA - at first glance I would have said Californian or Perennial thistle but if you had this then you would certainly know it - it reproduces by seed and perrenial roots (or pieces spread in cultivation) - difficult to get rid of once established. From what I can see of the plant form & ...