Teresa

I was uniting some bamboo sticks with our runner bean plants tonight in our garden in UK, (Slugs surely soon to follow!)

I bet You know what the question is gonna be already,

What kind of (Legal) produce can you grow in a average size garden, say in temperate conditions of somewhere like Perth or Sydney?
Never pretended to be good at gardening, but am interested to know what can or could be grown?
i.e. Tomatoes, Berries, Strawberries - sorry got tennis on my brain for some reason - best not talk too much about that...lol, or any kind of fruit or veg(without planting trees that willl uproot foundations of neighbourhood!)

Thanks

Graham

Stoney

It seems that you can grow bitter and resentful in Perth and condascending in Queensland.

Teresa

God! have you grown into P.B. or Wilf......

Stoney

Oops.............. it seems I have .......sorry !!!

You can still call me God though.

unrefined_mind

Take a DEEP DEEP BREATH - not PB or WILF yet!

Just think of of the sounds when you walk down that long golden beach with your eyes shut
- "For god sake kids - will you shut up?"
or "What the hell was was that I just stood on?"
Or the best - "was that a fin a saw in the water....."

lol

Stoney

On a serious note, my brother (who has lived in Perth for 26 yrs) has great crops of Lemons Oranges Kiwi and passion fruit in his garden, I think that Peppers and Tomatoes can be grown in the garden too.

Stoney

On a serious note, my brother (who has lived in Perth for 26 yrs) has great crops of Lemons Oranges Kiwi and passion fruit in his garden, I think that Peppers and Tomatoes can be grown in the garden too.

PeteY

Had a quick word with the missus, and she reckons that in adelaide, which has a slightly warmer mean temperature than Perth, you can grow plenty.

Things her dad used to grow, in the garden (no glasshouse), when she was a kid.

Almonds
Hazel Nuts
Peanuts
Lettuce
Stringy beans
Onions
Carrots
Oranges
Lemons
and her personal favorite.....Figs.

She thinks there moust have been more too (he was a keen greenfingers kinda guy).....

Cheers

pete.

The Tooth Fairy

By far the most popular to grow throughout Aus is tomatoes. Nothing like tucking into a big bowl of soft fully ripe tomatoes sprinkled with sugar and great dollops of thick fresh cream - a nice dessert.

It's nearly impossible to buy fully ripened apricots in Aus because they do not transport well so I would recommend cultivating them, especially in the Mediteranian climate of SA.

Look also to persimmons in cooler, wetter climates. Makes a great fruity wine as well as good eating.

Otherwise, you name it.

Ceri

I've only ever grown plants in Brisbane in pots so far as I've been in rented homes- but there shouldn't be that much of a difference between here and Sydney.
Tomatoes - easy and very fast to grow (I grew a type which was a "pot" growing variety, ie they only grew to around three to four foot, but had lovely big fruit on it)
strawberries - yes
Chillies -easy, very hardy plant to grow here in Brisbane - not sure about Sydney though.
A tobacco plant just for the novelty of it ( this plant is illegal to grow in some states so check - it's legal in Queensland)
plus various herbs such as chives and parsley - both are very easy to grow here

You may find that you need to dump good soil in some gardens - a lot of the soil here is "bad" for growing some plants in where I am , and quite a few people grow their plants in pots in the garden for this reason.

I've never had any prob with pests such as slugs here, only with furry little creatures

All of the above I have listed (even my chilli plant - which they are not supposed to like) - Possums ate them! They used to come up on the balcony each night where I was growing them in pots and eat the leaves and stalks, munch the plant down to a little stalk - I gave up in the end. especially with the strawberry plants, which seemed to be the possums favourite out of all my plants.

The garden centres here will advise you on what you can grow - how easy it is to grow etc, some of them even hold workshops for novices like myself (Bunnings usually holds these).

One of my friends grows all his own vegetables , Tomatoes, lettuce, sweetcorn (not sure if this one will grow in Sydney - they do here in Brisbane though). and various fruit.

P.S passion fruit grows wild up here, not sure if it is native or an introduced/escaped plant, but the land I have backs on to the bush and it has the odd vine among the grasses and trees with ripe fruit on it - I wondered what they were until I cut one open (yellow fruit) - yip passion fruit.

Well that's all the advice I can give - not a lot , I'm a novice gardener myself - I tend to kill most plants. But those I listed are very easy to grow where I am. If I can grow them anyone can !

cheers

dotty

We have a huge organic produce garden. Started it as organic produce is super expensive here. Main tip is soil in oz is usually very poor quality.So just buy the best organic mix from the garden centre, we got a truckload about $200. Then you can grow everyting. We give up tho from about December till March, everything just wilts and burns its just too hot. Apart from that it grows really fast here too. Fruit trees are tricky tho ours just get eaten alive by bugs.

Ceri

You've got weird taste buds lol.
I do hope you mean strawberries, I've never heard of anyone eating tomatoes with sugar and cream, sounds revolting to me.

cheers

The Tooth Fairy

Tomatoes are a fruit. Commercial tomatoes are only useful as "vegetables" - in salads and cooking because they are never fully ripe.

Ceri

I know tomatoes are a fruit who doesn't.

As much as I love them (I have grown them myself - and they do taste better than any shop bought ones - sweet and juicy) - But you are telling me that you eat tomatoes with cream and sugar - yuck!

Each to their own I suppose. But I've never heard of anyone eating them that way before. Sounds totally weird.

cheers

The Tooth Fairy

Only the really nice ones. Try it next summer then let us know if you have crossed the Rubicon.