Growing Gardens

with Julia Hancock

Garden friends and foes

I've been cursing the bandicoots that keep digging up my plants as fast as I can reinstall them, in their search for food. All wildlife is stressed to the max at the moment, and one can't help but feel sorry for our furred and feathered friends.

But even in these extreme conditions, the creatures that inhabit my back yard are maintaining a balance. While I may be wary of snakes, I welcome them because they eat the rodents that would otherwise be chewing into my stores of pumpkins and potatoes. Unfortunately snake numbers are currently way down on the normal because of the cane toads which proliferate in these parts. Cane toads may also be responsible for reduced goanna populations too.

Less goannas mean more bush turkeys, which are making a huge mess in my piles of mulch, but in turn they are keeping down pest insects so I tolerate them. Ladybirds, those delightful garden visitors who clean up the aphids on my roses and citrus, are hard at work. They've done such a good job this year I've had no problems.

One thing that makes me dread summer is the reappearance of really enormous huntsmen spiders, of which I have an irrational fear. But they are brilliant at knocking out the flies under the eaves and verandahs... if only the hairy beasts wouldn't come inside.

I'm privileged enough to have striped marsh frogs living in my pond. They dine richly on the mosquito larvae that would be making my life a misery if they matured to adulthood.

Getting back to the bandicoots, I haven't quite worked out what benefit they are to the keen gardener, as they eat the worms that we depend on for keeping our soils alive. It's been said that without worms all life forms on the planet would die, so we need to nurture them.

Lismore Garden Club News

The Garden Club's annual Christmas luncheon will be held next Wednesday, November 10, at the Lismore Workers Club from 12pm. Phone Mary on 6621 5293 for further details.

Homemade compost can make a huge difference to the health and general performance of most of the plants in your garden. Let's get one thing clear at the start. You don't need to pay out money for compost bins or tumblers. As a matter of fact you can make better compost by simply choosing an area about 5x11/2 in the yard which is out of view, and lay down some cardboard cartons (folded flat). This will supress grass and weeds. Then divide this roughly in three. This will allow you to make three consecutive compost heaps. You can use most organic material including dry grass or straw, grass clippings, garden prunings (cut up small), fruit and vegie scraps, paper, leaves and weeds with no seed heads. Do not use branches, citrus or onion, meat or seeds. You will need a starter, such as old animal manure, blood and bone or pelleted chicken manure. Blend it in by watering and turning the heap. You will need to water and turn the heap once fortnightly. The end result will be high quality compost, absolutely free.

Happy gardening
Ron Burns