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Green Thumbs Beat the Blues
Curb the social isolation blues by growing a vegetable garden at home
Before it was condemned by Australians as the worst year in recent history with devastating bushfires and now a pandemic, 2020 was declared the International Year of Plant Health
by the United Nations General Assembly.
In the current climate of social isolation, potential for illness and staying at home to #stopthespread, growing healthy plants - particularly vegetables - can be hobby with many wellbeing benefits.
From a splash of colour to brighten the walls of your home, to the fresh air and sunshine that comes with a backyard garden, and the nutrients of home-grown produce that you don’t have to compete with panic-buyers for, a healthy vegetable patch is the perfect ‘isolution’ for people staying home - young and old.
So, what are the best vegetables to grow now and in the coming months, and how do you manage the fruits (or rather vegetables) of your labour?
What to grow
Tomatoes:
Because of the beautiful and frequent Queensland sun, tomatoes, which are normally grown in hotter months, can grow almost all year round in the Sunshine State. If you’re growing tomatoes from seeds, seedlings should break through the soil from 7 – 14 days, with plump produce ready for harvest in a few months. If planting established saplings, produce will be ready sooner.
Due to their height, tomatoes should be planted with a stake or trellises. As the plant grows, secure it loosely with gardening twine or old stockings. Prune the vine into a single stem to structure the tomato’s growth. As a natural protection against insects, you should companion plant tomatoes with basil.
Basil:
While basil can be grown successfully in an herb garden, studies have shown it grows better when planted with tomatoes. There are a number of different varieties of basil including Thai, lemon, sweet and bush. Each one has different flavour profiles and intensities. Basil will retain its flavour better if you pinch off the flowering tips.
For the freshest produce, cut the leaves for immediate use. Once the plant starts to die off, pull out the bush and hang it upside down to dry out. The dried leaves can be finely diced for cooking.
Capsicum:
Similar to tomatoes, capsicums grow best in sunny areas with good drainage.
They only need a small stake to grow straight, and the stem should be secured as it grows. From planting, capsicum can take up to 3-months to grow produce.
All capsicums are green. However, for the best and sweetest flavour, wait until the produce has ripened fully and changed colour (to red or yellow) before harvesting. To protect the plant and encourage regrowth, cut off capsicums at the stem rather than pulling them out.
Carrots:
Grown from seeds, carrots look and grow best when planted in rows. When the bright green shoots of the seedlings are around 5cms (2 inches) tall, usually around 3 weeks from planting, replant your carrots to a distance of 2cm (a little under an inch) apart. When the shoots are 15cms (6 inches) tall, replant again to a distance of 5cm (2 inches) apart. This will prevent crowding and promote growth.
Produce can be harvested as needed but remember to cut off the green tops immediately otherwise they will keep drawing moisture, making the carrots dry. To protect your carrots from insects, companion plant with rows of onion or garlic.
Onions:
If planting onions from seeds, you’ll have to plan ahead. Onion seeds grow best in seed raising mix, with the seedlings being moved into a vegetable garden once they’re around 8cm (3 inches) tall. Seedlings can be planted straight into the garden. For the best results, create a trench and lay the seedlings down, covering their roots with soil. Within a few weeks, the onions will be upright and growing strong.
Onions are ready for harvest when their tops are yellow and starting to die. This takes around 6 months, making onions a long-term investment. Spring onions have a much shorter harvest time. They usually shoot within a few days of planting, with produce ready in around 2 weeks. The trade-off is, less fragrant spring onions aren’t as effective as a companion plant for carrots.
Watering
Remember to water your vegetable garden often and thoroughly. Keep an eye on the weather reports and if rain is expected, hold off watering so as not to over-water your crop, with can lead to the underground produce rotting.
Weed management
Weeds, both native and introduced, are a problem in all kinds of gardens and lawns throughout Australia. Weeds can degrade the soil by competing for the nutrients, space and water your vegetables need to grow big and strong.
A combination of an organic herbicide (one that is safe to use around edible plants) and manual weeding, all undertaken on a regular basis will generate the best results for keeping weeds under control. Hoeing your vegetable garden once a week will help stop weeds that haven’t seeded yet from taking root. Hand weeding is required once the weeds have seed heads. Make sure you dispose of the weeds and seeds completely into the rubbish bin (not into compost heaps or the rest of the garden) to avoid transporting the weeds further.
With produce ready for harvest starting in a few months and through to the end of winter, get your green thumb going and you’ll have a bumper crop of healthy vegetables ready to make delicious soups, stews and roasts in no time.
Don’t have what you need to start a veggie garden at home?
Not to worry! There’s no reason to leave the house with many garden suppliers now offering home delivery. Search online and order your seeds, bulbs, fertilisers and tools from a company like Garden Express, Australia’s largest mail order garden supplier.
Check out Gardening Australia's tips for growing winter soup vegetables in the video
below.
The Board of Southern Queensland Landscapes recently met in Toowoomba. In addition to the Board meeting, Board and Executive worked through updating SQ Landscapes’ strategy. Company Secretary Pam Murphy highlighted the importance of the latest Board meeting and what it means for the company’s future. “The updated strategy will help SQ Landscapes deliver sustainable natural resource management (NRM) outcomes that improve the lives of people in regional communities now and for the future,” Pam Murphy said. “We’re excited to continue delivering value for our region and build Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities across Southern Queensland under the guidance of the Board,” Mrs Murphy said.
Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start
When Sophie and Adrian McInnerney began adopting their “paddock to plate” experiment into their lambing business, they quickly discovered how a new and exciting approach to running their enterprise transformed their resilience and soil health. Multi-species cover cropping was the answer, and now their business has become a diverse enterprise that has embraced variations in livestock feed and crop rotation, building riparian fencing, and investing in healthier soils. This has opened the young couple to new opportunities to create new revenue streams, protect their business against natural disasters, drought, and prepare for economic hardships. Their property, “Bellhaven Brook”, located just an hour east of Goondiwindi, was the site of Macintyre Ag Alliance’s latest Multi-Species Cropping Field Day. With the support of Southern Queensland Landscapes (SQ Landscapes), the event aimed to promote the McInnerney family’s new land practices, offering an opportunity to educate land managers in the region of new ways to strengthen their property and enterprise. SQ Landscapes’ Goondiwindi-based Project Delivery Officer Keith Walker joined land managers for the workshop and highlighted how multi-species cover cropping could pave the way to rebuilding healthy soils and farming enterprises. “What was great about visiting ‘Bellhaven Brook’ is that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand this stuff. The idea is to just try and experiment like the McInnerneys did,” Keith Walker said. “These cover cropping systems are all about building your experience, experimenting and slowly developing a healthier and richer soil profile; which is the basis of all businesses; cropping and grazing alike.” Mr Walker said. “It was interesting to see the range of people, the ages from young and old, and the differences in enterprises. It’s a reminder that this genre of agriculture is starting conversations,” he said. “It’s all about implementation on the ground and getting the results for less money and experimenting with what people are doing.”
Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.
Fire is crucial to maintaining our landscapes. That’s according to fire practitioner Robbie Williams, who accompanied Southern Queensland Landscapes earlier this year to bridge fire practitioner knowledge with First Nations Peoples across the southwest. Robbie has since returned to the region - this time accompanied by members of our Charleville team as he hosted training along the slopes of the culturally significant site of Mt Tabor, just outside Augathella. “This is the continuation of what we achieved last time we were in the southwest,” Robbie Williams said. “Last visit, SQ Landscapes connected me with local First Nations mobs including Kunya, Bidjara, Mardigan, Boonthamurra, Kooma, Kullilli, and Murrawurri,” Mr Williams said. “During this visit, many of these mobs agreed to trial fire practitioner training for young men in the area to bring burning back onto Country; and that is exactly what we’re here to do today!” he said. “It’s really inspiring to see these communities taking on the opportunity to learn about burning and we’re hoping this will develop into businesses the local mobs can build to manage their Country.”
Winners in the Southern Queensland Landscapes and University of Southern Queensland’s 2023 First Nations Art Competition have been announced to a crowd of more than 150 people in Toowoomba. Overall Grand Prize and Digital Medium Category winner has gone to Robert Claude Manns for his piece ‘Mandan’. "I wanted to express the fractured relationship that I have with some of the Mandandanji People. Unfortunately many of us feel connected to our Nation, but not always the people," Robert Manns said. "My piece was assisted through artificial intelligence (AI) art and I found that to be a really powerful tool in discovering how I wanted this art to go," Mr Manns said. "I've always been artistic, and I wanted to explore Indigenous art, but I wasn't great at it and I found the style difficult to personalise. AI and digital art has allowed me to connect with Indigenous art in my own way and explore things the way I wanted," he said. "I'm really glad it worked out and people liked the art!" "In truth, I thought I might only get an encouragement award, but to first see I won the digital art and then the Overall Grand Prize was just spectacular. There were tears in my eyes. I wasn't expecting to get so far!" Robert Manns said. "I want to thank everyone who made Indigenous art through the millenia; otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Mr Manns said. "Shortly before he passed away, my dad put me onto the competition and I thought I'd give it a go. I wish he was here to see it, as he was my inspiration for making this art." he said. "He was my inspiration and my supporter through it all."
By Kellie Stewart When land managers Phil & Anne Donges entertained the idea of retirement they looked to the natural assets of their property located between Yelarbon, Inglewood and Texas to provide the answer. For almost 90-years ‘Glenarbon’ had supported generations of the Donges family; with key crops and land use pivoting numerous times as a result of market demands, economic climates and practice change. “Glenarbon was established back in 1932; our family came out then and it was to grow tobacco, that was in the middle of the depression,” Phil Donges said. “Five years ago we sold our main farm about 10-kilometres down the road and we decided to go into semi-retirement keeping about 100-acres of the original farm along about 1-kilometre of the Dumaresq River,” Mr Donges said. “We’re using Glenarbon now to run a few head of steers and then we’ve also gone into this eco-tourism where people can come and enjoy the environment like we like it ourselves,” he said. “We saw the ecotourism as an opportunity to give us some extra income by going into the camping side of things, but also to diversify our business so that we could in tougher seasons rely less heavily on livestock and more on the natural assets of the farm.”
It’s amazing how quickly a landscape can rebalance itself according to Jarrod and Sam Thomson of ‘Gum Gully’, located some 14 kilometres south of Drillham in Queensland. The couple purchased the 820 hectare property in 2020 and since then have been working to reverse landscape damage caused by years of drought and overgrazing. “Gum Gully is a very diverse farm with a lot of timber ranging from Mallee box to belah, sandalwood and a lot of native pastures,” Jarrod Thomson said. “It’d been really knocked around by the droughts and our main goal was how do we bring back this place to make it a viable enterprise again?” Mr Thomson said. “Quickly realising that we had to rehabilitate the land and rehydrate it fast; desertification had set in and we were struggling to grow galvanised bur,” he said. Rehydration works included some contouring and soft engineering works combined with farm dams to slow the flow and manage water across the property to maximise each rain event regardless of whether it was 10mm or 100mm.
Reconciliation was on the agenda at Gummingurru for National Reconciliation Week. First Nations, local community, and avid gardeners came together for a round of truth telling and tree planting. Located north of Toowoomba, Gummingurru is an ancient and sacred site for Western Wakka Wakka Peoples, serving as a stopping point for First Nations Peoples on their way to the Bunya Mountains. Western Wakka Wakka man Shannon Bauwens, a First Nations man from the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC) led the event with a smoking ceremony and a round of truth-telling at the yarning circle near Gummingurru. “Reconciliation is about talking to each other. Coming together and making something positive as a community,” Shannon Bauwens said. “This yarning circle we are standing in now represents thousands of years of storytelling,” Mr Bauwens said. “Today is all about sharing our stories and finding new ways to come together as a community; whether you are Indigenous or not,” he said. “We have people from all different Nations, from Western Wakka Wakka, to Bunjalung, Gomeroi, and more.”
Meet Lorinda Otto. She is Southern Queensland Landscapes’ latest addition to the team as our Relationship Lead and the incoming Roma Node Manager for the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Innovation Hub. Lorinda joins our team with a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and community networking, working with government, non-government, community organisations, farmers, small businesses, and apprentices/trainees. “I’m all about connecting land managers and helping them understand how to become connected with innovation, upskilling, resilience, and cost-saving programs.” Lorinda Otto said. “My parents were farmers. Farming is in my blood and I have a passion for our environment. Outdoor experiences have helped shape who I am today.” Ms Otto said. “I was born in South Africa and I attended university in Johannesburg and initially started in the dental industry as an oral hygienist, but when we emigrated to Australia, I decided to be a stay at home mum for three years before later working at Queensland Health for nine months.” she said. “Following my work with Queensland Health, I worked briefly in the energy industry at Powerlink for 18 months which opened a door for me to work at Santos in their administration, community engagement, and data catchment fields.” “That opportunity led me into the government sector where I enjoyed five years in the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as their Senior Field Officer conducting key stakeholder engagement, supporting small business, and also monitoring the progression of apprentices and training programs,” Lorinda Otto said. “I worked across seven western shires, many of which are in SQ Landscapes’ catchment including Bulloo, Murweh, Ballone, Maranoa, Quilpie, and the Western Downs - alongside Banana and Blackall,” Ms Otto said. “I want our agricultural sector to be strong and healthy and I believe I have a role to play in that!” she said. Lorinda’s team includes Ally Southern, an Adoption Officer based in St George. They will work closely across the SQ Landscapes region to help land managers drought-proof their property and prepare for a more resilient industry. As the incoming Roma Node Manager, Lorinda will have lots on her plate, but she’s eager to rise to the challenge and bring her unique style to the role!