Grow

ccent on plums

Once you’ve stood under your tree and eaten a ripe, sun-warmed plum, there’s no going back to store-bought ones

words chloe thomson

Plums are one of the easiest and most prolific fruit trees to grow in your garden. Don’t panic if you’ve missed the bare-rooted planting season — you can still find potted plum trees at your local garden centre or nursery.

There are two types: European plums (Prunus domestica), which prefer cooler climates; and Japanese (or Chinese) plums (P. salicina), better suited to slightly warmer areas.

Most varieties don’t self-pollinate; however, some are partially self-pollinating but will produce better harvests with a pollinating partner.

Check the variety you’re planting for its most suitable pollinator. As a general rule, the two varieties will not cross-pollinate each other, so try to plant two of the same species if you aren’t sure of the exact variety.

If you’ve not grown plums before, you’re missing out on some seriously chin-drippingly delicious fruit. I particularly like the versatility of plums — you can eat them fresh; make jams, spreads and other preserves with them; dry them or turn them into fruit leathers or even cook them into savoury tagines and stews.

CHLOE’S POSH CHEESE ON TOAST

I made jars of plum spread for our wedding guests to take home using plums from our own plum tree. And this is the recipe card I gave everyone. It has become something of a hit with many people. I hope you enjoy it too.

Toast a thick slice of sourdough or crusty bread. Rub one side with a sliced garlic clove. Spread this same side with a layer of plum spread or plum jam (homemade if you can). Top the plum spread with a cheese of your choice (I like aged cheddars for this). Pop it all under the grill until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Cut into soldiers and enjoy with a big bowl of soup or as a tasty snack.

GROWING

Plums need a full-sun spot and will tolerate growing in a wide range of soils as long as they’re well drained. Most varieties will grow to around 4m tall and wide, but they can be kept pruned to a pickable height and there are varieties grafted onto dwarf root stock available too.

PLUM

Common name: Plum Botanical name: Prunus subg. Prunus Family: Rosaceae Aspect & soil: Sun; well-drained soil Best climate: Temperate to cool Habit: Small to medium-sized deciduous tree Propagation: Seedlings or rootstock cuttings Diffi culty: Easy

Improve the soil before planting with compost and well-aged manure. While you’re digging the hole, soak the pot in a dilution of seaweed to help reduce transplant shock and encourage new root growth.

Dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball and to the same depth. Make sure the soil at the bottom of the planting hole is loose and fl uffed up with compost if needed.

Plant your tree and backfi ll around the root ball, fi rming down the soil gently. If you live in a particularly windy spot, adding a stake now is a good idea.

Mulch around the plant to suppress weeds and retain moisture but keep the mulch away from the trunk. Water in well at planting with diluted seaweed solution and provide regular water while the plant establishes.

Plums are best pruned to an open vase shape to aid fruit production and ripening. To make harvesting them and netting them from hungry birds easier, keep them pruned to a manageable height.

VARIETIES

Blood Plum ‘Satsuma’ (P. salicina) produces medium-sized dark-red fruit with bloodred fl esh. It’s a sweet fruit with just a hint of tartness, making it delicious fresh or ideal for jams and preserves. Partially self-pollinating but prefers the company of ‘Santa Rosa’, ‘Narrabeen’ or ‘Mariposa’. ‘Green Gage’ (P. domestica) is a very popular European plum with a green to yellow skin and pale-yellow fl esh when ripe, great for stewing or bottling. Partially self-fertile and tends to crop heavily every second year. ‘Sugar’ (P. domestica) has extremely sweet fruit with yellow fl esh surrounded by darkred skin. A heavy cropper with small, long, oval-shaped fruit, it loves a cold winter and is perfect for drying or jam making.

‘Green Gage’

‘Sugar’

The pol e pepper

Easy to grow and sweet and tangy, the capsicum has none of the fiery hit of its chilli cousins

words chloe thomson

Take a dive this spring and summer into the world of capsicums and you’ll realise their shapes and colours go well beyond the red, green and yellow “bell peppers” you’ll fi nd at the supermarket.

For some of the most unusual and heirloom varieties, look for seeds and sow them around the same time you do your tomatoes — or any time throughout spring for a summer and autumn harvest.

It might be a tad controversial, but I fi nd capsicums less fi ddly and fussy to grow compared to their tomato cousins. Capsicums are very “set and forget” in my garden. Many have a neat, compact growth habit and tend to fruit happily with minimal effort.

The capsicum is a member of the nightshade or Solanaceae family, so it’s related to chillies, tomatoes, eggplants and potatoes. Keep this in mind for crop rotation in your garden.

Many of the compact varieties of capsicum are perfect for growing in pots. Those with fun colours can be used as edible outdoor table decorations. Look out for ‘Candy Stripe’, ‘Mini Sweet Mix’ and ‘Red Cherry’ to brighten up your outdoor entertaining space this summer.

GROWING

Like their solanaceous relatives, capsicums like the warmth of summer in the cool and temperate regions of Australia. In the rest of the country they can generally be grown year round.

Sow seeds into warm soil or seed-raising mix (at least 20–25 degrees) or, if your outdoor soil isn’t yet warm enough, use a heat mat and start them indoors.

Once your seedlings are around 10cm tall, they can be hardened off and planted into the garden leaving 50–60cm between plants (check the packet for directions).

Capsicums prefer a soil that is slightly acidic but also rich in calcium, so if your soil pH is already ideal, apply calcium using gypsum rather than dolomite or garden lime because this won’t alter the pH.

Taller-growing varieties may need a stake for support if you have a particularly exposed or windy site. Put in the stake at the time of planting so you don’t disturb the roots later on.

Under-plant your capsicums with pollinatorattracting marigolds, alyssum and basil to create both a pretty and productive patch.

PESTS AND DISEASES

Throughout the growing season, keep an eye out for aphid attack on young buds. Treat with a certifi ed organic oil if they aren’t kept under control by predator insects or by hosing them off.

Make sure your plants have good air fl ow around them by following the plant-spacing directions for each variety. This will help reduce the chance of fungal diseases like powdery mildew.

If a fungal disease does strike, treat with a certifi ed organic fungicidal spray.

The Queensland fruit fl y likes laying its eggs in capsicums, spoiling your harvest. Use wildlifesafe Queensland fruit-fl y netting to keep them off your precious fruit or lay baits and traps for the fl ying adult fruit fl y.

VARIETIES

‘Candy Stripe’ (Capsicum annuum) A sweet capsicum with variegated foliage and striped fruit, it begins white and green striped before maturing to a green-red stripe. However, the fruit can be harvested at any stage and it is particularly delicious raw. ‘Mad Hatter’ (C. baccatum) In warmer climates this capsicum can produce a very mild heat (particularly around the seed membrane), so it blurs the line between a sweet capsicum and a super-mild chilli. But it’s worth including in this list of capsicums purely because of its small, fun, disc-shaped red and green fruit. ‘Chocolate Beauty’ (C. annuum) As the name suggests, this capsicum produces sweet fruit of a deep chocolate-brown colour, delicious raw or cooked. Suitable for container growing. ‘Bull Horn’ (C. annuum) A long, sweet capsicum perfect for stuffi ng. Fruit can be harvested green or red but the red is much sweeter. ‘Gilboa Orange’ (C. annuum) A bright orange fruit that’s more pest and disease resistant than other varieties. Its thick, tasty fl esh is sweet eaten cooked or raw. ‘California Wonder’ (C. annuum) For huge fruit in the classic “bell pepper” shape and red or green colours, plant this heirloom variety.

Top ‘Mad Hatter’ Above left ‘Chocolate Beauty’ Above ‘Gilboa Orange’ Left ‘Candy Stripe’

CAPSICUM

Common name: Capsicum, pepper, sweet chilli, paprika Botanical name: Capsicum annuum Grossum Group Family: Solanaceae (nightshade) Aspect & soil: Sun to light afternoon shade (warm climates only); well-drained soil Best climate: All Habit: Annual to perennial small shrub Propagation: Sow seed or plant seedlings in spring and summer Diffi culty: Easy to moderate

A room of your own

If you’ve been left in the dark on how to grow mushrooms, let us enlighten you

words chloe thomson

Mushrooms belong to the fungi kingdom. Neither plant nor animal, they are nonetheless truly fascinating and their lifecycle sounds like something from a sci-fi movie.

The mushrooms we eat are actually the fruiting bodies of a mycelium that grows on a substrate such as straw, sawdust, logs or even used coffee grounds.

The growing mycelium slowly colonises and consumes the substrate before the fruiting bodies, or mushrooms, emerge from the mycelium. Once mature, the mushrooms release spores that land on the substrate and begin the cycle again. (If you’d like to read about this in more detail, the book Milkwood by Australian permaculture experts Kirsten Bradley and Nick Ritar has a whole chapter on mushroom cultivation, including a detailed run-through of the mushroom lifecycle.)

Mushroom foraging can be fun and rewarding, but only if you know 100 per cent what you are picking and eating. Far too many people are poisoned each year after eating misidentifi ed wild mushrooms.

Of the estimated 10,000 mushroom species on the planet, about 30 of them are grown commercially or in home setups.

GROWING FUNGI

But how to grow mushrooms at home? Let’s start by busting the fi rst myth that mushrooms need to grow in the dark.

In fact, mushrooms are best grown in a place with enough light to read a book by. If grown in a dark cupboard they will become vitamin D defi cient and not develop properly.

Choose a spot that has a relatively high humidity (above 70 per cent), indirect sunlight, fresh air and a temperature that suits the mushroom species you’re trying to grow.

The easiest way to grow your own mushrooms is to use a mushroom kit. These comprise a bagged sterile substrate that has been inoculated with mushroom spores. You can buy ready-to-grow kits for many different species and from a range of suppliers.

Once you’ve got the kit, follow the instructions for the species you’re growing — some like higher temperatures while others prefer it quite cool. Great choices for beginners include oyster, shiitake and button mushrooms.

More advanced shroom growers could try their hands at purchasing the mushroom spores and making their own sterile substrate or even inoculating logs with mushroom spore plugs.

Growing mushrooms on a larger scale for use in your own kitchen doesn’t require overly complex equipment and, once you’ve nailed the processes involved, you can have a year-round continuous supply of colourful, fresh mushrooms.

You can purchase spores, substrate ingredients and other mushroom-growing tools easily from a number of online stores including Aussie Mushroom Supplies, Life Cykel, Little Acre and more. Just make sure you’re buying from an Australian supplier.

SPECIES TO TRY

Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) There are a lot of oyster mushroom species available including Pink Oyster (P. djamor), King Oyster (P. eryngii) and Golden or Yellow Oyster (P. citrinopileatus). However, beginners should start with the tasty and easy-to-grow Tan Oysters or Pearl Oysters, which tolerate a range of growing conditions and fruit in temperatures of 7–25°C. They are also quick growers and should produce a crop within 2–3 weeks. Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) Although shiitake can take a while to fruit (up to 12 months if growing outdoors, but around 6 weeks for indoor cultivation), the wait is worth it and they are easy to grow. These fl avoursome mushrooms can be grown from a kit, an inoculated substrate or even an inoculated log. Nameko (Pholiota microspora) loves a humid spot with a temperature between 10 and 20°C. This small golden-brown mushroom is popular in Japan and its slightly nutty fl avour is beautiful in stirfries. It can also be dried easily. Swordbelt (Agrocybe aegerita) Also known as Black Poplar or Chestnut Mushroom, this medium-to-large mushroom has a delicious taste; some even say it reminds them of bacon. It fruits in temperatures of 10–18°C.

'Shiitake'

'Pink Oyster'

'Swordbelt'

Star power

With its unique shape, carambola deserves to be the star of your next fruit salad

words jennifer stackhouse

I’ve always been intrigued by culinary art, from ice sculptures to radishes and carrots that are cut like roses. It’s all far too complicated for me.

But there’s one fruit that looks as if you’re skilled in food artistry when all that’s necessary is to slice it up. The starfruit or carambola has done all the fancy work itself.

This fruit is elongated with prominent ridges so that when sliced horizontally it forms a fi vepointed green-to-yellow star that looks great on a fruit platter.

As well as looking good, it also has a refreshing sweet/sour fruit-salad fl avour (think banana, feijoa and a hint of pineapple) and a texture like a grape.

A fruit platter at a special function is where most people will fi rst encounter starfruit but this exotic is also available at most fruit shops and supermarkets.

If you live in a warm climate, you can grow your own. Starfruit comes from Asia, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, so it grows well northward from northern New South Wales, where it is assured of a warm, humid, frostfree climate. There are commercial starfruit plantations in coastal Queensland and the Northern Territory around Darwin.

Starfruit grows on a very attractive tree, which can reach 8m tall and wide but is kept smaller with regular pruning in order to keep it compact enough to easily protect and harvest fruit.

It has the habit, known as sessile, seen in many rainforest species, of producing fl owers directly from its stem and branches. Clusters of pink or mauve fl ower stems arise from the main branches and form the fruit.

The distinctive elongated fi ve-ridged fruits are around 8–10cm in length, though some varieties can be as much as 20cm long. The leaves are bright green and grow in pairs along pinkish stems. As it is both attractive and productive, starfruit makes a good choice as a shade or feature tree in a garden. It is also self-fertile so only one tree is needed for fruit production.

While many starfruit trees are sold unnamed there are some named varieties available from specialist fruit tree nurseries including ‘Arkin’, ‘Daleys Sweet Gold’, ‘Giant Siam’, ‘Kembangan’ and ‘Kary’.

Named varieties tend to be reliably sweeter in fl avour and produce good-sized, juicy fruit.

GROWING STARFRUIT

Grow starfruit by planting a grafted potted tree in spring or any time they are available. They can be grown from seed but starting with a grafted plant gets you off and running, with a fi rst crop within a year to 15 months from planting.

This plant is unfussy about soil and growing conditions, tolerating a slightly acid to neutral soil and even minor waterlogged conditions after heavy rain.

It doesn’t like to dry out for too long (particularly while fruit is forming), so water regularly, especially during the dry season. Select a planting position in full sun but protected from winds.

Fertilise each season using an organic citrus fertiliser and prune in winter to keep the tree to a size that can be easily protected with bird netting.

When pruning, shorten long branches and remove any inward growth to keep the tree open for good air circulation.

HARVEST

Starfruit fruits year round in tropical climates but tends to have its main crop through summer and autumn. This means there is fruit available at varying stages of ripeness, so pick only when ripe.

You’ll know the fruit is ripe when its colour changes from bright green to yellow or gold with just the tips of its ridges remaining green. Expect ripe fruit 60–75 days after fl owering.

Once the tree is established, fruiting is bountiful. Well-grown individuals can produce more than 100kg of fruit a year. The fruit is eaten fresh or as juice but is also added to savoury dishes such as curries.

It can be pureed (remove seeds fi rst) and stored frozen or cut into stars and dried in a food dehydrator. It can also be made into chutney.

Because of its distinctive star-shaped crosssection, starfruit is used widely to decorate other foods including salads, fruit platters and desserts. The fruit can be stored in the crisper section of the fridge for several weeks.

As well as looking decorative, starfruit is a good source of vitamins C and B and is also rich in minerals and fi bre. As it is high in oxalic acid it should be avoided by those with kidney disease.

AVAILABILITY

Look for potted trees at your local supplier in tropical and subtropical zones or order online from specialists such as Daley’s Fruit Tree Nursery (daleysfruit.com.au).

Top Naturally a designer fruit with its pretty star shape Above The bell-shaped fl owers attract pollinators

STARFRUIT

Common name: Starfruit, carambola Botanical name: Averrhoa carambola Family: Oxalidaceae (wood sorrel family) Aspect & soil: Full sun; deep, well-drained soil Best climate: Tropical to subtropical Habit: Evergreen tree Propagation: Seed, grafting Difficulty: Moderate