'...we are teachers only in our home gardens, and learners elsewhere.'
Bill Mollisson - Permaculture - A Designer's Manual
Personally, I am also a learner in my own garden.
There are 6 sections, plus a list of plants no longer in the garden, but which were there in the past:
Trees - Vines and Climbers - Shrubs - Perennials - Self-propagating Biennials and Annuals - Annuals needing hand planting
Plants grown in the past
The lists are in alphabetical order.
Important Note:-
- This is an Australian website
References to the medicinal use of herbs are not to be used as a guide for self-treatment. If you are interested in the medicinal use of any herb, you should look for more information in a Herbal Pharmacopaea, or consult a qualified practioner. I can take no responsibility for any problem arising from the use of any plant listed here. The information is basic and anecdotal - a starting point only for your own research.
Design notes
Adelaide's climate is officially 'Warm Temperate', but most of the plants I grow will do well in Mediterranean climates, in the sub-tropics, and many in cool temperate regions. Most of the deciduous trees and shrubs can be grown in regions that have very cold winters. Micro-climates - the creation of very localised conditions which extend the range of plants that can be grown - are an important element of Permaculture Design.
Adelaide's rainfall is very variable, but averages 23 inches a year. Some years are much drier. The evaporation rate is far greater than the amount of rain that falls. I am fortunate, because my block is situated between a large school sports ground, which is well-irrigated, and the river, so that the water from the oval seeps back into the river through the sub-soil beneath my and neighbouring gardens. This gives the area a great advantage.
If deep-rooting trees like stone fruits and apples are encouraged to find their water supply in this sub-soil, instead of being artificially watered, they will survive as long as the school continues to water the sports ground. Shallow-rooting varieties like citrus and avocados can be grown between the deeper rooting trees - they also enjoy the shelter and mulch provided by their deciduous neighbours (Permies call this 'stacking') - and water reserved for them when necessary.
Deep mulch, composed of a wide range of organic materials, reduces the amount of watering that is necessary, as well as supplying nutrients and humus. In the depths of winter, living mulch is encouraged because this gives some protection against frost, as well as eventually providing green manure.
I chose to grow mainly tree crops because the block is only a narrow strip around my tiny 3-roomed cottage, and so situated that no part is in full sun for the whole day. Also, because of the design and placement of the cottage, I need as much summer shade as I can get if the place is to remain habitable without air conditioning. Most of the trees are grown more closely together than would normally be recommended, and I have in fact removed one or two, but the design works well.
Warning! to other Adelaide residents, and anyone whose home is built on reactive clay soil.
DO NOT plant deep-rooted trees close to your house unless you have taken steps to prevent the soil drying out under your foundations.
I am able to do what I have because my sub-soil is deep alluvial silt.
I do not need huge quantities of produce so much as variety and a year round succession of crops, since here there is no season when nothing can be harvested.
This does mean that I do a great deal of 'overhead' gardening. It is made easier by the use of suitable tools, and carrying out tasks little by little, rather than in huge blitzes - this also helps to maintain the carefully nurtured eco-system which has developed here. Birds, insects, reptiles, and small animals are all important elements in the system, so disruption to their habitats must be done delicately and without haste.
If you want more information, and can't find it elsewhere, please contact me and I'll do my best to help. But it may take me some time to reply.
Top
ACACIA - see Wattles
ALMOND
Nuts = protein and calcium, and attract Rosellas and Lorikeets, who noisily protect 'their' crop from larger parrots like galahs, corellas, and sulphur-crested cockatoos.
The beautiful and delicately perfumed flowers attract bees and several varieties of native honey-eater. They are the first blossoms of the season, flowering in mid-winter.
The tree also provides shade in summer, while fallen leaves provide mulch and allow the sun through in wintertime. Prunings can be used for kindling, put through the shredder for mulch, or taken to the local Zoo for fodder.
Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula are famous for their almond orchards, which produce oil and perfume as well as nuts.
APPLE
My apple tree began as a triple-grafted specimen, designed to give me 3 kinds of apple over a long fruiting period. In reality the strong growth of the 'Granny Smith' stock took over, so I got only a few 'Jonathans' and 'Golden Delicious'. I was very short of money at the time I planted this tree - but it was false economy. I should have bought three very young trees, planting them all in the same hole. This is a very successful strategy for small gardens.
In 2002 I cut the strongly-growing tree back to three main trunks, and a friend who specialises in heritage apple varieties grafted these with an early, a mid-season, and a late variety. I have assiduously removed excess Granny growth as soon as it appears, but left the Jonathan.
2003 was a shocking year for apples throughout the State, but the grafts took well, and I did get just a few fruit. In 2004 I had small crops of all three new varieties.
All apples contain vitamin C, and are high in potassium, as well as containing other minerals and pectin.
My grandchildren love the tartness of Granny Smith apples, fortunately they can be stored for a fair while. They also dry well, and are much better for bottling or canning, or making pies, jellies, and chutneys, than the sweeter ones.
Use them in curries, coleslaw, and apple sauce, add to shredded cabbage for a different steamed vegetable dish, and in any dish containing pork or bacon. Try apple slices in a ham sandwich!
The flowers are delicately scented, supplying nectar for bees and birds in the late spring when other blossoms are finished. Summer shade, Autumn mulch, prunings for kindling - like all deciduous fruit trees, the apple is as bountiful as it is beautiful.
APRICOT
Mine is a late 'Moorpark', so I get large fruits in mid-summer, after the early varieties grown by most of my friends have finished cropping.
Apricots are a valuable fruit, containing lots of beta-carotene (vitamin A pre-cursor) and iron. They also dry extremely well, either halved or whole, or make tasty fruit leathers - now marketed (with additives and lots of packaging) as fruit roll-ups!
Eat as much of the fresh fruit as you can, it doesn't last long. Can or bottle a few, for quick pies or crumbles, or to eat with homemade yoghourt, and dry the rest. They also freeze well.
While you can make chutneys, sauces, or jams if you have a huge surplus, dried apricots are a nutritious staple, and take up little storage space. Eat as a snack, or use in casseroles, especially with chick-peas or rabbit. Keep a few stones, and grind the nuts with almonds to give a stronger almond flavour in baked goods. Though harmful if you use too many, a few kernels give some zip to the blander almond.
Apricot trees have a particularly lovely blossom, and supply similar products to other deciduous flowering trees.
AVOCADO
I originally planted 3 avocado trees, a seedling in 1989, and 2 grafted trees in 1991. They were carefully selected, the idea being to give me ripe fruit for at least 9 months of the year. However it didn't quite work out that way!
One of the grafted trees is a large tree with thin-skinned green fruit, (Bacon), the other 2 were smaller trees whose fruit has a black warty skin (Hass).
Bacon started bearing small crops in 1995, and has since fruited reliably every year, though the size of the crop varies according to the weather.
In 2000 I removed the grafted Hass, which was not happy. Subsequent investigation revealed a large piece of concrete slab buried, presumably by the builders, about 6 inches below the bottom of it's root -run! The tree was transplanted to a friend's chook-run, where it receives lots of TLC. I have replaced it with a Bottlebrush or Callistemon
In 2003 I removed the seedling Hass, as it still had not produced fruit, in spite of flowering well, and replaced it with a Pineapple Guava (Feijoa Sellowiana).
Bacon has given good crops in most years, and in some they have been positively embarrassing. Since it is not easy to preserve avocados, except by freezing them as guacomole, I use the surplus for barter and gifts.
The tree loses it's leaves at the beginning of summer, soon after flowering. Both fallen flowers and leaves provide plenty of useful mulch. Avocados are rich in potassium and essential fatty aids - "good oil" - and although high in calories make a much healthier spread than either butter or margarine. They begin to ripen after they are picked, and if unbruised will store for many weeks, even months.
Though there are several Avocado cook-books available, I prefer not to mess the fruit around, but to use them either as a spread, or halved with a little seasoning.
They are shallow rooted evergreen trees, so need to be cultivated as for citrus fruit. Hot dry winds will burn the leaves and strong winds damage them, as well as interfering with pollination, and causing unripe fruit to fall. They do well when sheltered by taller deciduous deep-rooted trees, as long as they are not in complete shade.
While usually regarded as a sub-tropical fruit, some varieties will withstand frost, so if you like avocados it's worth doing some local research. It was widely believed that avocados would not grow in Adelaide, until our State Premier, the late Don Dunstan, acquired some trees and grew them in his own urban garden.
The flowers have a rich vanilla scent, and attract both bees and native birds.
BOTTLEBRUSH or Callistemon.
In October 1999 I replaced one of the avocados with a small bottlebrush.
This is an Australian native tree, now very popular in gardens, as it is evergreen (or rather, grey-green), has a graceful weeping habit, and attractive red or pink flowers several inches in length just like the brush for which the tree is named.
Once established it flowers twice a year, and attracts large numbers of native birds.
A wide range of cultivars are now available, I chose a Callistemon Harkness 'Gawler Hybrid', bred in South Australia, which grows to only 3-4 metres in height.
In late 2007, I planted another Callistemon cultivar in the front garden, a smaller tree with lilac 'brushes', appropriately called 'Lilac Mist'
EUCALYPTS
In March 2004 I planted some small ornamental Eucaplypts about a metre or so back from the front fence, after first removing several branches from the almond tree. I chose Eucalyptus Caesia, a graceful weeping tree with silvery bark and leaves, and rose-pink flowers. Since they are not a bushy tree, I planted a group of three close together. A few metres away I placed a Eucalyptus Forrestiana ssp.dolichoryncha or Fuchsia Gum. This small tree has vivid red calyces, which hang on the tree for much of the year, dramatically releasing brilliant yellow flowers at the base of each pod in summer. I've always thought it was the real Aussie Christmas Tree. Both these varieties are natives of Western Australia.
FIG
Mine is a 'Black Genoa' and has been bearing prolifically since the second year after planting, although the tree grows very slowly. It also tends to sprawl sideways rather than growing upwards, so has to be ruthlessly pruned to force it to grow vertically. Suckers need to be removed from the base of the tree as soon as they appear.
When mature, fig trees develop a broad shady crown, are strong and long-lived, drought-resistant and frost hardy.
They must be forced to get their roots down into the sub-soil while young, and should not be planted near drains, as the root system is very invasive.
Figs are a highly nutritious food - in fact a staple food in Mediterranean regions. As well as potassium, magnesium, and small quantities of vitamins, they are high in calcium and iron. Their high sugar content, as well as lots of fibre, make the dried fruit a sustaining snack. The crop ripens over a long period - young figs appear in the spring before the leaves! - and should be harvested daily, before ants and birds attack the delicious fruit. If you wait until the figs are fully ripe before picking them, you will lose a few to the other inhabitants of your garden anyway, but it's worth it!
When fully ripe, the skin is thin and has lost the abrasive quality of less ripe fruit. Also there is little or no latex.
Fruit may be picked and eaten at an earlier stage without nutritional loss, but the fresh latex and rough skin is hard on the lips and tongue, so they should not be eaten until several hours after picking, and the stem and thick skin at the top removed. You can even peel them completely if you wish, but you lose nutrients this way.
They can be poached in a light syrup, and can then be eaten without problems.
Figs are so prolific they need to be preserved in order to gain full benefit from the crop. They can be dried - blanch them first, to soften the skin - older recipes tell you to dip them in a strong alkaline solution for 30 seconds before blanching - or even poach them lightly in a syrup containing a little vinegar or lemon juice, then drain and dry them as per your dehydrator's instructions.
Fig jam, fig chutney, and figs in fruit mixtures were staple winter stores wherever figs grew, until mass-marketing took over. Jam made with slightly underripe figs sets well, and doesn't need quite as much sugar as jams made with tart fruit. One old recipe, called 'Scrumptious' jam, calls for a mixture of figs, dark plums, and a few passionfruit. It is delicious.
The fig is easily propagated from cuttings, so is an excellent source of gifts or goods for charity stalls.
Fig leaves are good for lining baskets or plates instead of doilies, but not as clothing. The mature leaves are fairly abrasive, so Adam must have had a painful rash as a result of his impromptu attempt at modesty!
Unripe figs can be split and used as a poultice for boils, and the latex can be applied repeatedly (with care!) to get rid of warts.
LEMON
No garden which can grow one should be without a lemon tree.
Since there are some varieties which will withstand a degree or two of frost, and others which will grow happily in a suitable container, the lemon can be grown more widely than other citrus trees. Mine is a Lisbon, which is hardy, bears fruit all the year round, and has large thorns.
The fruit contains a fair amount of vitamin C, and makes refreshing drinks, whether as lemonade, cordial, or simply sliced straight into a jug of water.
Lemons can be kept in a box of dry sand, or waxed, for longer storage. Dried, salted, or pickled, they are used in many Middle Eastern recipes. They make excellent marmalades, jams and lemon curd or cheese. They are added to many jam recipes for their acid content and for added flavour.
Household uses include cleaning the loo, washing windows, and fabric conditioner - use lemon juice in the last rinse instead of commercial products.
Cosmetic uses - Use the strained juice of one lemon diluted in a litre of water as a hair conditioner, while a tea made from the leaves controls dandruff. Smoothing a few drops into the hands after washing them or doing the laundry will take away that 'tight' feeling, strengthen the nails, and reduce the amount of hand cream you need to use. Make hand lotion by mixing the juice with honey or glycerine. I could go on, but not here. Maybe a whole page on lemons one day?! Using lemon peel
MANDARIN
I chose an Ellendale mandarin - an old-fashioned variety, with pips, but large, late-maturing, and full of flavour. Many modern varieties are insipid by comparison, even though they peel more easily and are seedless.
This is a fruit to be eaten fresh whenever possible. It stores quite well, but not for as long as oranges or lemons. Children often prefer mandarins to oranges, because they are easier to peel than oranges, the segments come apart neatly, and they are sweeter.
Excess fruit can be made into jam or marmalade. The peel is very fragrant and is particularly good in sachets or pot-pourri.
Using Citrus Peel
MACADAMIA
The Macadamia, or 'bopple-nut' is a native of tropical Queensland, although it was first grown commercially in Hawaii. The nut, though not high in protein, has a delicious flavour, and the oil is mono-saturated. The shell is spherical and extremely hard, so it's not easy to crack. My original method was to place huts into the holes in a rubber door-mat - the sort with small hexagonal 'cells' - and then use a light hammer to crack the shells. They are then removed from their 'nests' using a teaspoon, and carefully separated from the shell. Take care to remove even the tiniest pieces of shell, as the wood is hard enough to damage your teeth if you bite on it. This method is still useful if many kernels are wanted, but I now have a "B.O.N.K." - Bart's Original Nutcracker - made in Australia, and available from good kitchenware shops. Excellent for small quantities, but the occasional extra-tough nut requires a strong wrist!
The tree is evergreen, and has long tassel-like flowers, attractive to birds and insects. Being a rainforest tree, it does best in the shelter of taller deciduous trees, or eucalypts.
ORANGE
I did not originally intend to plant oranges, as I had two good sources of supply from friends. In 2001, however, one friend moved far away, and the tree in the garden of the other suddenly grew sick and died.
So I planted two orange trees, a Navel, and a Valencia, so that I'll have oranges for as long as possible during the year. It was a while before they were allowed to fruit, but I will have a small crop from each this year, (2008) although neither tree is more than 1.5 metres high. They will not get as much sun as they really need until they have grown another metre or so, and until they are of a good size.
PEACH
Peaches come in a wide range of varieties, and two main types. These are the 'Freestone' and the 'Clingstone', descriptions which are self-explanatory. Varieties can be selected to produce early, mid-season, or late crops. There are also ornamental varieties, with large double blooms, these still usually produce small fruits, unsuitable for eating, but they make good jam.
Some peaches have very rough skins, which need to be removed before eating. This is easy to do, though messy, when the peach is quite ripe. The skin also comes off very easily if the fruit is dipped in boiling water for 30 seconds to one minute, depending on size, and then into cold water.
One of the best peaches of all for flavour is the old-fashioned white, but it is seldom grown now, as when ripe it is so fragile. It needs to be eaten straight from the tree, and literally melts in the mouth! Should you have one of these trees, or find one in an old garden, do take some budding material from it and graft or bud onto suitable stock. It would be a great pity if it died out.
Peach trees are not long-lived, though they produce fruit almost to the point of death. The wood is fragile, and unless the branches are well-supported when laden with fruit, they easily break off.
If you inherit old trees, give them lots of TLC, and be prepared to replace them and/or bud or graft them onto new stock.
I chose an old variety which is still popular and widely available, the ELBERTA. This has large late red and yellow freestone fruit, which peels easily when ripe. The leaves colour beautifully in Autumn.
PERSIMMON
The Persimmon, or Date Plum, is a winter ripening, long-storing fruit. Rich in minerals, vitamin A and fruit sugars, it needs to be fully ripe before eating, as the skin and unripe pulp are very acrid.
A new variety, developed in Israel, known as 'Sharon Fruit' or the Vanilla Persimmon, does not have this acrid quality and can be eaten while still crisp, but I prefer the old-fashioned varieties. Mine is called Dai-dai Maru
The fruit can be picked as soon as it turns a deep orange and develops a degree of translucency, and then either left to ripen in shallow trays, or put in the fridge, where they soften rapidly. If left to ripen on the tree, the fruits will hang for weeks after the leaves have fallen, looking as brilliant as though they were lit from within. Once fully ripe, birds will seek them out from miles around!
The flesh is almost jelly-like, and has the fascinating property of whipping to a stiff mousse in the food processor or blender. This is because of the tannin it contains, even when fully ripe.
The ripe fruit can be frozen, whole, or as pulp. The pulp also makes delicious cakes - use your favourite pumpkin cake recipe.
Drying the pulp needs to be done in cold conditions - even the slightest application of heat seems to restore the astringency even to fully ripened fruit. If you don't live in the mountains, the pulp can be 'freeze-dried' in a freezer or fan-forced fridge. I spread mine on the lids of plastic containers, which make excellent 'trays', each holding the pulp from one fruit, then put them in the fast-cooling section of the refrigerator. When the stickiness disappears, I peel the pulp from the 'tray' and roll it up. These roll-ups can then be stored as for any dried fruit. You can only process a few at a time using this method, so I just freeze the spare fruit whole in the freezer section, and thaw for processing.
One thing needs to be remembered - the tannin in the fresh fruit can result in the formation of an intestinal bolus if too many are eaten at one sitting on an empty stomach. If large, this may require surgical intervention for its removal.
Don't be put off eating this nutritious and delicious fruit, though. This dramatic occurrence only happens to the greedy - or to the starving who suddenly come upon a persimmon tree loaded with ripe fruit!
WATTLES
I have planted several wattles (acacia ssp.) in the last few years. As I become older, I'll be less able to care for annuals or deal with huge harvests from my tree crops. The water shortage is also becoming critical. So native species will gradually replace some of the more demanding plants. Wattles are slow-growing, and it will be some years before these start taking up space and allow me to remove some of the original trees.
The most advanced is the Acacia Fimbriata, a native of Queensland, but quite tough, and with edible seeds. This was a seedling I found in a crack in the sidewalk nearly 5 years ago. In July 2005 it had reached a height of 2 metres, with plenty of ferny foliage. It has been planted to replace the bananas.
Acacia Victoriacaea, the Bramble Wattle, is indigenous to this area, and also has edible seeds. This has been planted in the front yard, near the almond, which, together with some Eucalypts, it may eventually replace.
Also planted in the front garden is a Varnish Wattle, A.Verniciflua which is indigenous to this area and has a long flowering period. This will replace the Pussy Willow which has now been removed, as it is no longer needed to soak up excess water.
Acacia cognata Lime Magik - this is an unusual and decorative variety, with rather weak stems and a drooping habit. It has been planted in the back garden, where I am establishing a number of evergreen screening plants, to replace the vines which used to be on the fence and provide privacy in Summer.
Plant List - Trees ....... Vines & Shrubs.......Perennials .......Biennials and Annuals
Plants Grown in the past
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