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FEATURES I've always wanted to start a story with the phrase "Once upon a time", so here goes… Once upon a time, a family, who had lofty aspirations of playing at being farmers and growing the best food they could, moved to a house on a hill in the country. PHOTO (COLOR): Tino's tractor has been commandeered by Joi, who loves driving around doing the slashing and tilling jobs. PHOTO (COLOR): A freshly tilled field, ready for planting; Sir Jon Quill the Rooster thoroughly approves of his home on the beautiful Tasman Peninsula; the family regularly fires up a "charbecue" to produce their own biochar for the soil; Hobart's cof ee roasters give Tino their used hessian sacks, which he uses to control weeds around the crops. [Extracted from the article]

Then, when I started studying horticulture as a teenager, I discovered that tea-tree or Leptospermum spp. was not quite the same as Camellia sinensis, the plant that gives us tea! Tea plants like a fairly deep, fertile and slightly acidic soil, but being a camellia, they are already pretty tolerant of a variety of conditions. FEATURES at a glance common name tea plant botanic name Camellia sinensis plant type flowering shrub to small tree 2.5m (pruned); 5m (unpruned) 1m (pruned); 3m (unpruned) full sun, semi-shade early spring (or early autumn in cold areas) autumn spring and summer I grew up in a place just north of Hobart called Tea Tree, and even as a kid, I was always partial to a spot of tea. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES Costa Georgiadis (host) My chickens are like flatmates. It's easy to say how valuable my chooks are as converters of food scraps and weeds into manure for soil building and garden growing. In the morning, when I was greeted by a happy chook and an egg for breakfast, my attitude towards chooks quickly took a mutually beneficial turn. [Extracted from the article]

Cherries can be planted year-round if the site is well prepared and the tree receives the right care, but the best time is winter, when these deciduous trees are dormant and will experience little or no transplant shock. Cherries excite my primitive monkey brain, and I love to pick the choicest fruit from a tree, so I can't be too hard on others for wanting a crack at them as well. A bugbear of cherries is the pear and cherry slug, which is actually the larva of a fly. Sweet cherry trees typically bear fruit in the second year after planting; Tino eradicates pear and cherry slug on the tree by dehydrating the pests with a dusting of ash; skeletonised leaves are a sign of pear and cherry slug infestation. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses making hardwood cuttings instead of pruning plants during winter, while also providing instructions on how to make hardwood cuttings and what tools to use.

The article offers instruction for several gardening activities, including laveling uneven paving in a garden, making a garden slug, and setting up a downpipe planter.

The article discusses the plant Humulus lupulus, popularly called hop, its use and step by step procedure to brew beer from scratch.

Potatoes are a great crop to get kids into gardening as you are pretty much guaranteed good results, and there is something special about harvesting spuds with your family - like digging for treasure. To prevent these, buy certified seed spuds and practise crop rotation, although you will find after a few years of growing potatoes that the plants pop up in every bed. REGULARS I hold a deep, abiding love for the plant blandly named Solanum tuberosum. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers a guide for growing apples, crabapples, and pears in cooler climates in Australia. It describes the common characteristics of most apple and pear tree varieties that are found in temperate regions of Europe and Asia including the dent in the stalk end, and the fruit's central core with several seeds. Apples and pears grow more effectively with compatible pollinator trees such as the self-fertile crabapple tree. Also discussed are the proper soil conditions, maintenance and pruning work, and pest issues for apple and pear trees.

The article presents tips on growing mandarins in the garden. Gardeners are expected to grow mandarins in light and well-drained soil, and in full sun or in part shade with morning sun. It is emphasized that mandarins must be given good amounts of water because their trees are shallow rooted and dry out easily. Among the recommended mandarin varieties are Honey Murcott, Imperial, Dwarf Imperial, and Daisy.

The article offers information on foraging, the act of wandering in search of food, provisions or materials. Benefits of a good forage include exercise, free fresh produce, and creating a sense of community. The author states that traditionally, foraging has taken place in the natural environment, but it can also be done in the urban environment or in the neighborhood. According to the author, while walking home from school, he was able to get a good range of produce while walking through the service lanes.

The article offers information on alliums or bulbous plants such as onions and garlick including its growth depends on sunlight they get, planted from seed, variety of onions like potato onions, spring onions can be grown, protection from weeds, and storage in dry and ventilated place.

They seem to be the lesser Hemsworth brother of the fruit bowl, even though they are genetically so similar to peaches that, every so often, a peach tree will throw out a fruit with a seed that grows into a nectarine tree. There are slight differences in the texture and flavour of the two fruit, but the obvious difference is that a peach is furry and a nectarine is its bald twin. Clingstone. at a glance common names peach, nectarine botanic name Prunus persica plant type fruit tree 1-5m 1-4m full sun winter November to March MAP PHOTO (COLOR): FROM FAR LEFT Peaches bear fruit on last year's growth, so pruning after harvest is a must; nectarines are essentially "fuzzless" peaches. [Extracted from the article]

You can also eat parsnips raw (although they don't taste that great uncooked), but a roast parsnip is truly a thing of beauty. Buying punnets of carrot and parsnip seedlings is not a great option because they hate root disturbance. You'll get a few years out of a packet of carrot seed, but parsnip seed is best purchased fresh each year, as its viability decreases rapidly with age. [Extracted from the article]

As part of a large Italian family, I've always been around garlic, and remember the rows of slender yet sturdy garlic soldiers in my Zia's garden. She kept her garlic bed as clean and well organised as her home, and cursed and destroyed any weed that dared to emerge from the soil. GARLIC Last year was the wettest in a while down here in Tassie, and not ideal for growing our first crop of garlic at our new property. [Extracted from the article]

The article shares tips for growing mushrooms. Autumn is the best time to grow mushrooms. Some of varieties that are easy to grow include Honey Brown, Portobello and White Button. Collecting fresh mushroom compost is the first step in starting a mushroom farm. The mushroom farm should be placed in the dark at a constant temperature.

The article offers some ideas to inspire planting productive plants like edibles and ornamentals. It relates that ornamental gardens having edibles will look great and give fresh, flavour-filled, home-grown produce. It suggests to plant hanging fruit, passionfruit, runner beans, common hop, feijoa and citrus tree.

The article offers several tips on caring for seedlings in the garden. Stakes may be used to protect seedlings against birds and other animals. Empty plastic bottles may be used as an alternative to garden cloches to protect seedlings from frost and pests and to encourage strong early growth. A step-by-step guide to making a tunnel for crop protection is also presented.

The article offers ideas on crop rotation, a technique to keep soils fertile and prevent pests and diseases in a vegetable garden. It explains how planting the same crops in vegetable beds leads to nitrogen depletion. The factors that influence a rotational system are discussed, namely the space available to plant vegetables, and the types of crops that can be grown in certain areas. Tips on planning garden beds are also provided.

The article presents a guide to growing dwarf apple trees. Dwarf apples are easier to spray and prune and to protect from animals that like to eat the buds and fruit, among other advantages. Planting apple trees in full sun is suggested to enable them to fruit well. The soil should be prepared six week before planting. When choosing a tree from the nursery, trees whose bark is split or have gum oozing from the graft must be avoided.

The article provides tips on growing berries in the garden. Full sun is needed by autumn-fruiting raspberries to ripen before the first frosts. A well-drained and fairly fertile soil with manure or compost is said to be preferred by most berry varieties. According to the author, blueberries benefit from an acidic soil. He adds that the maintenance and pruning of soft cane fruit such as loganberry, blackberry and raspberry are important, and that plants should be covered with netting early on in fruit development.

The article offers information on how to plant tomatoes and keep them healthy. The botanic name of tomato is Lycopersicon esculentum which means tasty wolf peach. Tomatoes grows well in poor soils and in an open sunny position. They can also be planted in semi-shade but will not be able to bear much fruit. The author states that for a shady site garden, cherry tomatoes are the best choice. Tomatoes can also be grown in a large pot to be placed in the sunniest part of the garden.

The article offers tips on how to reduce pests and diseases in fruit trees using natural products. Weeds that provide ideal habitats for pests can be kept under control by pulling them out by hand. The author notes that homemade white oil or horticultural oil may be used to spray the eggs of aphids to control their numbers. Wood borers can be checked by gardeners when they prune the fruit tree.

The article focuses on deciduous fruit trees. It explores how fruit trees connect people with the changing seasons, from bare branches during the winter to leaves in spring, fruits in the summer and falling leaves in autumn. Discussions are offered on the right planting medium for fruit trees, their pollination needs and planting and maintenance procedures.

The article offers tips for propagating and growing strawberries. To get the very best of the strawberry crop, the author recommends gardeners to select an open position in full sun for planting. Good soil preparation is said to be the most important task to perform. Strawberries can be mulched with straw or plastic sheet. It is also advisable to apply fertiliser in spring during flower and fruit development.

The article gives advice on growing brassicas. Broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage are examples of brassicas. A rich, free-draining soil is needed in growing brassicas, as well as a sunny position. To sweeten the soil and help prevent clubroot, one can add lime before planting it. Lack of nutrients can lead to planting failure since all brassicas benefit from a mid-season nitrogen boost. Particular focus is given to spacing considerations in planting, along with the individual requirements of each type of brassica.

The article discusses choosing the right variety of garlic and planting it. A background on the plant is presented along with the two types of common garlic. Growing conditions for garlic are described including the process of planting it. Tips on how to care for the garlic plant are provided as well as the right time to do the harvest. Pests and disease problems are explained together with ways to control them.

The article offers information on how to grow a healthy cabbage, particularly in the Brassica oleracea group that produces delicious leaves including the growing and harvesting of cabbage in cool and moist conditions, the nutrient deficiencies of cabbage and covering crops with nettling.

Although an olive can cope with long dry periods, irrigation is important while the tree is establishing and through the hotter months for fruit production. Olives need regular pruning and training to encourage an open, goblet shape. Olive lace bug, a sap-sucking pest native to eastern Australia, can defoliate trees, seriously setting them back. [Extracted from the article]

The article discuses various cropping techniques given by Aztecs and it also focuses on the Aztec crops cultivation techniques at home including Avocado and Amaranth.

The article presents questions and answers related to gardening including how to prevent and cure cumquat pests, the life cycle of agaves, and the cause of rotten pomegranates.

The article offers tips on the proper way of growing rhubarbs and includes topics such as harvesting, varieties, and planting using seeds, seedlings, or divided crowns.

The author offers tips on growing mushrooms.

The article talks about Cauliflower crop cultivation providing details about temperature requirements, soil conditioning, harvesting.

The article discusses collection of fruits and plant materials by foraging, such as availability of herbs and fennel, collection of pine needles, and mentions that foraging held in cleaning up of urban environment.

The article offers information on various facts related to harvesting of capsicum and its varieties, scientifically known as Capsicum annum and plant type fruiting bush.