Gardening in Brisbane

Welcome to our article (53), Gardening in Brisbane

Dear readers, let us talk about gardening, which is a relaxing thing to do. You see, when we talk about gardens, we visualize in our minds, these places with plants in flower, that we enjoy looking at their beauty. Most people find great pleasure when they visit a well-kept garden, because it is relaxing, and a pleasure to walk among those healthy well-kept plants and flowers.

Now, we have called this article, gardening in Brisbane, so, let us look at Brisbane gardens, even if the photos that I am using here will come mostly from the Internet, since these days I cannot visit these places much, but I can tell you that gardens are relaxing places, therefore, it is good for any of us to visit them; you see, when you come back from the gardens, you feel refreshed and a better person. Anyhow, there are three main Gardens in Brisbane city that are worth visiting:

(1) Brisbane city Botanic Garden, (this is the first garden in Brisbane, they used to grow food there when the first settlers came to Brisbane)

(2) Mount Coot-tha botanic garden (this is a new Garden, created after Brisbane city botanic garden was made smaller, from a new university building and a bridge that spans the Brisbane river)

(3) New Farm Park garden, also called the rose garden, because of the many roses that grow there.

Here under we are going to paste a few photos of these gardens, starting from New Farm Park garden. But, apart from showing you these things that we can show you about Brisbane gardens, we want also to write about our own gardening, while we look at these gardens.

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After having shown you a few gardens’ photos above, I would like to say what I think about gardens and gardening. Gardening has several sides to it, one of them is that we don’t have to do the gardening ourselves, because we can enjoy what the others have already done for us, and is on display, look at those photos that I have posted above, I think that I am one that loves nature when it is at its best; I believe that Mother Nature is wonderful when it shows all its beauty, like in the photos that I have posted above. Anyhow, I wish that I could have a rose garden like the one above, with those beautiful roses and flowers, so that I would get up in the morning and walk in my rose garden looking at those wonderful flowers. Anyhow, I think that this could be just another one of my dreams that is going to remain only a dream, because it is not easy to make a garden like that, but we can dream about it.

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Now that we have shown you a few photos of Brisbane gardens, New Farm Park garden, let us also visit Brisbane city botanic garden and other important gardens in Brisbane. To start with here-under is a link that I have taken from the internet in you-tube that talks about Brisbane botanic garden, (Just hover on the line below and follow the instructions).

BRISBANE, the beautiful Botanic Gardens (Queensland, Australia)

It is nice to find on the Internet these links; they make it easier to explain things that are hard to explain.

Anyhow, here-under are more photos of the botanic gardens in Brisbane.

Now that we have shown you some garden photos above, and Mount Coo-tha look out. Let us talk about some gardening, which Mother Nature does by itself and sometimes they may even seem strange. Now beside this text there are a couple of photos that are just a natural happening, these things do not require much gardening skill, since they happen in the wild, and it is Mother Nature way that helps these plants grow, so, let us look at them. One photo I believe has been taken in New Farm Park, since I know that trees like that are growing there, this photo shows these strange trees that have roots coming down from their branches, these roots hit the ground and grow, they grow so big that you cannot tell anymore, whether they are the first tree that was planted there, since they all seem like a tree trunk, I believe that Mother Nature is strange, but it is interesting to note those things.

Another photo shows some wild flowers; this photo was taken from somebody that travelled to Northern Italy, it shows some wild flowers that grow up in the mountain there; this goes to show that Mother Nature can do things on its own and does not need us to make a display.

Now that we have explained Mother Nature ways, which does not need our help to happen, we are going to talk about some simple gardening that we want to do ourselves.

Then let us talk about gardening. At the beginning of this article we have talked about, some public gardens that you can visit in Brisbane; but what about if we want to make a garden ourselves, or a kitchen garden for ourselves, that we can have in our own back yard; since in Brisbane all stand-alone houses have a back yard.

We would like to do that to stay outside and try our skills, and at the same time enjoy the relaxing atmosphere that gardens and gardening produce within us. So, if we want to do some gardening ourselves, what is the first thing that we need to know about gardening?

If we want to do some gardening, there are a few things that we need to know, before we even start gardening. Of course, we need some local knowledge, so, it is helpful, if you know someone that has some local gardening knowledge, because local knowledge helps a lot. You see, when we talk about gardening, if we know anything about gardening, the first thing that comes to our mind is the weather, and the second thing is the sun shine, then the seasons of the year, when to grow certain plants, then, the average temperature of the place, where this gardening is going to take place; because these things will influence what plants we can grow there, and the time when is most likely that they will grow well. If we don’t know that, then we should learn as we go on planting our plants. Of course, today when we by any seeds there are instructions that say when is the best time to plant them, and this is very helpful. Anyhow, let us talk about our gardening.

Now, I am writing this article about gardening from Brisbane Australia. The city of Brisbane is situated in the subtropical region of the Southern hemisphere, I have mentioned the Southern hemisphere, so that my readers are not going to be surprised, when I am going to tell them that while I am writing this article, I am getting ready to plant some winter plants. Now, this is the month of May and the Month of May is spring in the northern hemisphere, so, it is shocking for any reader in the Northern hemisphere to hear that I am planting winter plants, I know this because I have come from the Northern hemisphere. But as you know the seasons in Australia are the opposite of the Northern hemisphere, but even knowing this is not enough, because there are a lot of other factor to consider, which it is hard to explain in a few words.

In Brisbane, the climate is a bit on the hot side; with this warm climate, we should be able to grow all sorts of plants and vegetables all year around, at least in theory we should be able to do that, but here I am telling you that it is not that simple, because any place on earth you go to, it is a different and has its own ways how to grow plants and vegetables. So, we need to learn those things before we can grow plants, or vegetables the easy way. But let us not despair because we can always copy the gardening people around us. Of course, gardening and gardens can be enjoyed in other ways, as we have shown in the photos that we have pasted in this article.

Anyhow, I wish I can grow flowers in my home garden, beside my vegetables, because I like flowers, but I may have to let it go, because it takes time and effort to grow them. But because I am an old man, I have to let it go and be happy to grow a few flowers, and a kitchen garden with tomatoes and vegetables, and other things that are already growing there, so, let us talk about what we have in the back yard.

Now, here let us start from the beginning, most of us who own a standalone house on a large piece of land, like what we have in Brisbane Australia, have land that can be used to grow vegetables, or other plants. You see here in Brisbane, most of the cheaper affordable house are built on a piece of land, which is about 400 square meters; most houses are 100 to 150 square meters, so, the rest of the land is vacant land, we call this land our yard and it can be used in different ways. Now, some of us have a beautiful green lawn in the yard, and we are satisfied to have this green grass, and you know it is very enjoyable on hot days, because that green lawn makes you feel cooler; but we have to mow the lawn to keep it at its best, but that is easy done with a lawnmower.

But, some of us beside keeping a perfect lawn, want to have a flower garden and grow many types of flowers, here and there and decorative shrubs; this type of decorative gardening is done usually in the front yard of the house, as most of the houses in Brisbane suburbs, are set well back from the road: in the new suburbs of Brisbane this is usually 6 meters, in the old suburb this distance could be different. Anyhow, even if we use the land in the front yard for flowers and decorative shrubs, we still have the back yard, where we can grow anything we want, if the land is fertile enough, and we like gardening.

Now, I and my partner may not be the best gardeners around, but we like to try to grow a few things in our back yard, when we can. So, when we have spare time I go in the back yard and try to improvise, by starting our own garden patch, we think that we should grow our own vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, and other plants.

I believe that anyone of us has his own gardening story, why we are growing our own stuff in our yard, some of us have had experience from a farming background, so, we have some knowledge of how a few things can grow, for this reason we are willing to have a go at gardening.

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To tell you the truth I have always done some gardening in Brisbane, sometime I have had a good crop too, but it has been a struggle, because of the hot climate and because my soil is not good for gardening, I have used fertilizer but it does not help much; now, because it was not easy I have done gardening sparingly.

But, today in my old age, I am going to do more gardening in my back yard. You see, I want to grow my own vegetables, tomatoes, herbs and a few other things in my kitchen garden. I know that my soil is not that good, so, I wonder what I could do to improve it without spending too much money. In fact, I don’t like to spend money, if that is possible.

So, I am wondering what other people do, and what could cost. You see, if it costs too much, there is no point of spending money, when you are better off financially, if you go to the greengrocer and buy what you need. If that is going to be the case, then I am continuing to do my gardening in a small way as I have done before.

Therefore, I wonder how I can improve the soil, and which the best way to do it; I know a few things about this, because when I was young I have worked in my family farm in Southern Italy, but can those same principles apply in Brisbane Australia, where the climate is a lot hotter, here plants need more water to keep them growing; I know that there are lots of diseases in this hot and humid climate, so, I need good soil where plants grow fast and healthy, so that we can pick our produce before the disease sets in, for any vegetables, and also for tomatoes, capsicum, egg plants etc.

The last few years, I have tried to grow my own vegetable and tomatoes etc. But so far, I have been able to be successful only in springtime, and as soon as summer comes everything starts dying out.

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What I am growing now in my garden patch, are some purple king beans, that we are going to pick them up green, also some broad beans, as you can see from this photo beside here, I had winter vegetables that we have used, but now summer is coming and I wonder what I can plant. The problem in Brisbane is watering, not only plants in summer need a lot of water, but there is water restriction. The water restriction applies when there is not enough water in the dams, because the climate and the raining season are unpredictable these days, so, the local government want people to save water, for that reason the price of water goes up, and people lament this increasing cost of water, so, we must be careful how we use water.

For this reason, I have worked out that I need to divert the water from the bathroom, straight into the kitchen garden patch to save water, I believe that the water from the bathtub and the vanity basin does not constitute a health hazard, when it is used to water the ground and keep it moist, I have no problem to divert this water myself, as I am a good handyman and know how to do these things; once I have done that, every time we use the bathroom to have a shower etc. a small part of the kitchen garden in being watered.

There are other things that I can do. I know that once the broad beans have been picked up, I am going to bury the stalks under to ground, because they are good for the soil, I am also going to collect all the grass clipping from the yard, and any other vegetable matter that can improve the soil, I can use fertilizer and other things, these are the things that I believe can be done, if I want to have a kitchen garden.

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What I have done lately is this, I have compost that I have made from lawn mowing, that I placed in a large container and leaves that I have collected from my lawn and other vegetable matter, now, I have put this compost in large buckets to be used in my kitchen garden thus, I pick up one of the buckets full of compost, the compost in the bucket is not very compact, so, I fill it up with water, the water in the bucket absorbs the compost nutrients and becomes like strong tea, with this water, I water the plants in the garden and it seems to work well, it is like when you water your plants with a soluble plant fertilizer .

Having tried this for a short while, I can add here, that my idea of using the waste water to water the garden is working well, but because we had heavy rain that lasted for three days in a row, it did not make a lot of difference, but it is a good way to water the garden in times of draught.

Here I need to add another observation, it is March 2016, this summer it has been hotter than usual, the temperature has been averaging 32-33 centigrade for several weeks, I believe that it is hotter than in the past, I have not been able to grow much in my kitchen garden, the only thing that we can grow are snake beans, so, I am waiting now for the temperature to go down, so, I can plant for the cooler season, which in Brisbane is a short season and not cold at all, so, I need to plant my plants, as soon as is becomes cool, and hope they grow well, before it becomes hot again.

So far from my observations, I believe that it is hard to grow vegetables in Brisbane, except in wintertime, but winter here is short. Anyhow, I believe that this article is becoming too long, so, I better stop.

See you soon in another article, that I am going to call, dreams of our lives.

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