Rejuvenating an old bird nest fern

Back in the year 2001 I went rock climbing with a friend.  Up high on the cliff was a tiny bird nest fern that was about an inch tall.  

I scraped that little fern off the rock face, I shouldn't have, but I did.  

I have had this fern for over twenty years now.

My 20 year old bird nest fern looking tired

I put the tiny fern in my pocket and finished the day of rock climbing nonsense.  When I got home the fern was bruised and crushed, but still alive so I filled a small pot with soil and planted it.

I was always told that old tea leaves are good for ferns.  So I used to rip open used tea bags (and sometimes also new tea bags) and sprinkled the tea leaves around the pot.

The little fern grew very fast.  To this day I have no idea if the tea leaves helped or not, all I know is that thing got big quick.

As the fern was growing against a rock face it only had fronds on one side.  It took some time and lots of rotating the pot each week before it filled out on all sides, but we got there.

The fern grew large, and sometimes produces spores on the back of some fronds.  I figured this was a sign that I was looking after it well.

Bird nest fern spores

I repotted it a few times as it grew, and moved house with it many times.  I can't give this fern a larger pot as I really struggle to lift the one it is in now.

At my last house the fronds reached about six feet in length.  It was really impressive.

Since then this bird nest fern has declined. The largest fronds are now only around a metre long, and it looks generally pretty shabby as you can see from the photos above.

The other week we had a lot of rain, so I moved my fern out to get some rain.  Rain is good because it washes dust off the fronds and flushes away salt build up in the soil.  Normally I struggle to life the pot, but this time it weighed next to nothing.  It's been in that pot for around a decade, I haven't really been caring for it very well, and there was very little soil left.  Perhaps that's why it looks so tired!

I have since got some soil and leaf litter and filled up the empty space in the pot as best I can.  I also sprinkled some used tea leaves over the new soil.  Hopefully I didn't let this go on for too long and new soil this fixes everything.

Bird nest fern, new fronds

With the combination of warmer weather of spring, new soil/leaf litter, and having the rain flush out any built up salts, this fern should be ready to do some growing again. 

It already has some fronds starting to develop.  I wonder if the new fronds will be larger, or if it will take some time for it to produce long fronds again.

Hopefully it doesn't take too long for the bird nest fern to regain its former glory and look healthy and lush again.

Goldfish eggs

In March 2021 I bought ten small shubunkin goldfish.  

The fish arrived in the post, and were lovely small colourful fish.  I put them in a barrel that I had filled with rain water, added a floating pot of herbs, some duckweed and azolla, and put in a small submersible solar pond pump that pumps the water through a milk bottle filled with gravel that acts as a filter.

Floating pot of herbs in goldfish barrelponics

The fish ate all the duckweed pretty fast, and mostly leave the azolla alone.  I assume this is because the duckweed is small enough to fit in their mouths and the azolla is a bit larger.  

I try to add more duckweed every few days so they always have some food available and don't have to wait hungrily until I feed them.  Having a little azolla floating around isn't a bad thing so I sometimes scoop a little azolla out but always ensure that I leave some behind.

Water is pumped through here as a biological filter

My plants grew incredibly well over winter, but as the weather warmed they ran into some issues.  One of the issues is that the milk bottle full of gravel was knocked off and all the plants were destroyed by a possum or something.  As you can see above, I have started seeds again.

The water has started to turn very green.  I have planted more plants/seeds, but it will take time before they are large enough to clear the water again.  I do some partial water changes, but there are ten fish in the barrel so the water is always reasonably green.

Presumably this is not too big an issue and my fish are healthy as they are spawning!

Look very close and you may see a goldfish egg

The goldfish appeared a bit randy as the spring weather warmed.  Goldfish are known for eating all of their eggs, so I added a spawning mop to the barrel.  The fish have laid some eggs on the spawning mop.

I was busy that day, and in the afternoon there appeared only to be a small number of eggs left.  Presumably the other eggs were all eaten.  I moved this spawning mop with the few remaining eggs into a flexi-tub of water that is in my greenhouse.  The picture above is two days after the spawning mop was moved, the remaining eggs all appeared clear, which is a great sign that they are fertile and developing.

I also made another spawning mop with far more strands and added that to the barrel.  Perhaps the larger number of strands will protect more eggs, and provide a greater chance of some hatching and surviving.  I have checked it once and it has a small number of eggs, I plan to leave it a few more days and hopefully it will collect far more eggs.

Flexitub of water and spawning mop of eggs

The flexitub had been sitting in the greenhouse for many weeks filled with water as I was hoping to get a water lily but haven't yet found one for sale anywhere.  This tub now has some algae and tiny critters living in the water.  I figured this was a good place to move the fish eggs.

I also have a container of water which has a few small pots of sphagnum moss, this water is teeming with tiny life.  I also tipped that water into the flexitub to increase the amount of tiny things swimming around in there.  

If any of my fish hatch they should have plenty of tiny swimming things that are hopefully the correct size for them to eat.

I will add the second spawning mop to the flexi-tub at some stage, than I have to wait to see if any baby fish survive.  They will be tiny and relatively inactive after they hatch, so it will take a few weeks of growth before I will be able to see any baby fish that are in there.  Fingers crossed I get a decent number of baby fish from this hatch.

Hacor Coriander, Hot & Spicy Coriander

I love coriander (Coriandrum sativum), it is a great edible herb.

People either love coriander or they hate coriander, there does not appear to be much middle ground.  Some people have a broken gene which makes this smell and taste dreadful to them, but for the rest of us coriander leaf is excellent.

I have been growing coriander and deliberately crossing as many varieties as I can for a while.  The resultant seeds are genetically very diverse, and allow to quickly select for plants that perform well in different climates. 

Last year I got some seeds of 'Hacor coriander'.  Hacor coriander is also called 'slow bolting' and 'hot and spicy Coriander'.  Hacor coriander is said to have a stronger taste than regular coriander.  Like all coriander, this plant is grown for its edible leaves (which confusingly Americans call 'cilantro') and seeds/fruits (which Americans call 'coriander').

I liked the sound of hot and spicy coriander, so I grew some of this Hacor coriander to test it out.  I grew it partly to see what it was like, and partly to include in my mass crossed superior coriander.  I grew some that I bagged the flowers and saved seeds to keep them pure.

Coriander leaves

I thought hacor coriander was good, but nothing terribly special.  I didn't find it to have a stronger taste than my superior coriander, and I would not have thought to call i hot and spicy coriander. 

I might grow hacor coriander again, but I probably won't.  It was good, and productive, but nothing special.  I have crossed it with my superior coriander to keep the genetics diverse, so will likely grow that instead of hacor.

I sell seeds of Hacor coriander from bagged plants, as well as mixed seeds from my superior coriander through my for sale page.

Potato seedlings from true potato seed Australia

I was transplanting my seed grown potatoes the other day.  I have a few different breeding lines, some diploid, some tetraploid, some wild ancestors of modern potatoes, all grown from true potato seed.  

Growing from true botanical potato seed yields interesting results, and allows me to breed and create new varieties.  As the parent stock is usually quite heterozygous, each seedling is genetically unique.

Most of my potato seedlings looked much the same, some had a few stolons, others did not.  At this tiny size neither is unexpected.  One of my seedlings is producing tiny little tubers.

I can hardly wait to see what these turn into.

Potato seedling with tiny tubers

I didn't break this off, there is soil covering the stolon

This little seedling really wants to live!  It had 3 tiny little tubers (not all of them are in my photos) and a few other stolons.  It has since been planted in its own pot so I can evaluate it at the end of the season.

I mostly try to grow diploid potatoes as I find they taste better.  Unfortunately they tend to yield lower than tetraploids.  

These seedlings are from tetraploid potatoes, their parentage is far superior to anything you can get from the shops so I decided to try a few seedlings and see what I could produce.  It is far too early to tell, but hopefully something great comes out of this line.

I sell a small number of seed potatoes each year through my for sale page.  These are from lines that I have developed myself and grown from true potato seeds.  I can only do this in their correct season, some lines harvest several times per year, other lines only harvest once per year.  If you are interested keep an eye on my for sale page.

Pink dandelion - Taraxacum pseudoroseum

There are a few different species of dandelion, the one that is common in lawns is Taraxacum officionale.  It grows pretty yellow flowers, and is edible and useful in many ways.  For some reason people often dislike this lovely and useful plant.

One of the other species of dandelion is the pink dandelion, Taraxacum pseudoroseum, it is still edible and useful, but it grows delightful pink flowers instead of the usual bright yellow ones.  

A pink dandelion, how incredible! 

Pink dandelion in bloom

Pink dandelion flower

Pink dandelion

Strangely enough, there are very few web pages that talk about pink dandelions.  Most of those are copied from one another, so there is little information on how to grow them or what to expect from pink dandelion plants.  I am growing pink dandelions, so I figured I would write a little about them.

Pink dandelion flowering 

Pink dandelions, just like regular dandelions, are perennial vegetables.  Dandelions have a great many uses in a permaculture garden, basically every animal eats them and they are far more nutritious than most vegetables.  The leaves of pink dandelion taste much like regular dandelions, and while I am yet to taste the roots I am told they taste pretty similar to regular yellow dandelions too.

Pink dandelion flowers start out yellow and the outside goes white then turns pink over a few days.  They are very rarely entirely pink, most of the time the center remains yellow.  The outside gets rather dark pink on its last day, which looks great with the yellow center.

Pink dandelion seeds ready for planting

The plant itself looks much like a regular dandelion, to be honest I am not sure that I could tell them apart when not in bloom.  Much like regular dandelions they do prefer a lot of water and do not cope if it is too dry.  Full sun to part shade seems to do these plants well.  It takes very little effort to grow pink dandelion plants.

I am happy to say that frosts do not bother pink dandelions.  Mine were also hit with hail more times than I care to mention.  Not surprisingly, none of this was a big deal for these plants because they are very hardy.

Sadly pink dandelions are not as hardy or as vigorous as regular dandelions, so the chances of this finding its way into your lawn are pretty low.

The leaves look and taste similar to a regular dandelion

Pink dandelions are yellow when they first open

The center stays yellow

The white part will turn pink

One thing I have noticed is that pink dandelion flowers open in the mornings and close in the afternoons.  It means that they are not the greatest of cut flowers as they tend to close up each night.  They do reopen each day, so it isn't a great loss.

Pink dandelion starting to close for the day

I think dandelions are great in general, and I think that pink dandelions are just delightful.  As soon as I am able I plan to try and save seed from these and grow some more of these plants.  

My plants are still relatively young, and have only had half a dozen or so blooms.  More flowers are on their way, and seeds are ripening.  

Once the seeds are ready, if they don't float away on the breeze, I will try to plant them and grow more of these pink dandelions.

Pink dandelion seeds

If I ever have extra pink dandelion plants, or pink dandelion seeds, I will list them on my for sale page so others can also enjoy growing these lovely plants.

Growing white asparagus at home

You have probably seen, or at least heard of, white asparagus.  There are no varieties of white asparagus, but the good news is that you can make any variety of asparagus grow some white spears at home easily. 

Normally to make asparagus white the grower will blanch the asparagus by putting a bucket or something over the emerging spear.  As it grows it has no sunlight, meaning it stays white.  This is simple to do at home if you are growing asparagus.  The end result is a much sweeter asparagus spear.

Often people use any of the green varieties to make white asparagus.  This works well.

Purple varieties of asparagus are much sweeter than green to begin with.  Which means white asparagus made from a purple variety is very sweet, it's quite remarkable.

Making white asparagus at home

This year I decided to make white asparagus using a purple variety.  The end result is asparagus that is incredibly sweet and very tender.

One of the spears grew a little large and started to lift the bucket.  This bent the largest spear and let in a little light, resulting in white asparagus with a tinge of colour.  

Not to worry, this was still very sweet and unlike anything you can buy from the shops.

If you grow asparagus give making some white asparagus a try.   Just put a bucket over the soil where the spears will emerge, and remember to check it every few days.

I only do a few spears per plant so as not to weaken the plants too much, but I am probably being overly cautious.  I am sure commercial farms make a lot more white asparagus per plant and have no problems.

Lawn daisy (Bellis perennis)

Lawn daisies (Bellis perennis)  are a small edible perennial plant.  I am told that they grow as a weed in the lawn, I wish they grew as a weed in my lawn!

The leaves can be eaten as a vegetable either cooked or raw, the flowers and flower buds can be eaten, apparently a tea can be made from the flowers too.  I am told that the leaves are rather nutritious, but being so small they don't produce a huge amount of them so you would need a lot to be able to make a meal.

Unfortunately I don't find them to taste overly nice, but they sure look pretty.

My daughter's lawn daisies in a vase

When TV or books speak of children  making 'daisy chains' apparently this is the plant they are talking about.  I have only seen them growing in lawns in Tasmania, other than that I have never seen them growing by themselves anywhere. 

I took my daughter for a walk to get her out of the house one day before her birthday so the other kids could make presents and things.  We ended up a shop that had seedlings for sale.  I bought her a small punnet of them, and she planted them in her garden after we got home.  They sat through winter frosts, slowing growing larger.

Once the weather warmed they started to bloom.  Below are some of the flowers from my daughter's little plants.  

Someone has put a lot of time and effort into breeding these improved plants, they have much more showy flowers than the lawn ones.  I think my daughter is doing a great job in growing these fluffy little flowers and I am proud of her.

Bellis perennis - lawn daisy flowers

I also bought some seeds of lawn daisies that I planted recently.  I imagine that the seedlings won't be anywhere near as impressive as my daughter's flowers.  I think they will be smaller plants and have simpler flowers.  

I plan to grow some in pots of soil and some in the veggie garden.  Being simpler more wild like plants they should be more hardy, hopefully they drop seed and somehow find a niche in my garden where they can grow wild.  I would love lawn daisies in my lawn.

I also plan to try and collect seed from my daughter's plants.  I dare say these will never grow in the lawn, and will always need to be cared for and pampered.  I am happy to do that as they are worth it.

Mixed lawn daisies and other flowers in a vase

Lawn daisy flowers only come in white, pink, and red.  I am not sure which I like the most and think a mix is lovely. 

Some are really fluffy, they look almost like something you would find in a Dr Seuss book.  Some much are fluffier than others, and with a little work I think it would be simple to make a strain that is super fluffy.

We have eaten a few of the leaves, and while they don't taste bad they also aren't that inspiring.  I think there real use is in their flowers.  They look nice in the garden where they attract bees and other pollinators, and they are good as cut flowers.

Lavender mint plants

Lavender mint (Mentha sp) is a vigorous growing, edible variety of mint.  I really wanted to try 'lavender mint' ever since I heard about it.

This variety of mint, like all mints, is perennial and likes water.  It is not too bothered by frosts which is always a bonus in my climate.

Growing mint is simple, they need water and are not too picky other than that.  

Growing lavender is meant to be easy, they prefer drier soil.  For some inexplicable reason I never have a great deal of success growing lavender. 

This variety is one of the most vigorous varieties of mint that I have seen.  For that reason I would never plant it in the garden, I would only ever grow it in a pot.  Even when grown in a pot it will try to escape through the drainage holes, so care must be taken to prevent it from taking over your entire garden, and your yard, and the neighbour's yard.  It really is a strong growing herb.

I had heard so much about this lavender mint variety, but nowhere sells them, then I obtained one through a plant swap.  I had low hopes, many mints do not really live up to their names, but I was intrigued.  I am happy to say that this variety of mint does smell a lot like lavender, and not very much at all like mint. 

Lavender mint

Lavender mint plants have a lovely strong floral scent of lavender.  I can't rally smell mint, which is good. Often the smell of mint overpowers everything.

I am sure you could use lavender mint in all kind of baking and with many sweet dishes.  It probably does ok with the right kind of savory meals as well.  I haven't tried it in any of those ways.  So far I have only made herbal tea from my lavender mint.

The first time I was not sure what to expect.  In hind sight, I really should have known, it is like drinking a warm floral cup of lavender.  I really like it.  

Making herbal tea was easy.  Hot water, a spoon full of honey mixed through, add a sprig of lavender mint.  When the tea was cool enough to drink remove the mint and drink the liquid.  Doesn't get much simpler than that.

Hot Water + Mint + Honey = delicious herbal tea

So far my favourite of all the edible mints is "banana mint", that one is slow growing but smells incredible.  It also makes an intriguing banana flavoured herbal tea that I really like.  I find propagating banana mint to be slow, I am tempted to plant this in my garden and just let it run so I can have more plants.

My second favourite mint is either this lavendar mint or native peppermint, I am not sure which I prefer, they are both great in different ways.  They are both much more vigorous in their growth and faster to propagate than banana mint.  Native peppermint is not invasive, lavender mint on the other hand is so vigorous that it would be very invasive if not contained.

Lavender mint plant

I don't have a great deal to say about this plant.  It smells great, it grows strong, it is highly productive, and I really like it.  

One day I will likely have extra plants and can offer them on my for sale page. along with the other edible herbs and perennial vegetables that I have for sale.

Baby Maidenhair Ferns Survived Winter

I really like maidenhair ferns.  They are one of the few ornamental plants that I will happily grow.  They don't have any use other than looking nice.  I think maidenhair ferns are a graceful and beautiful plant.

At the start of winter I had a bunch of tiny maidenhair ferns, I wrote a blog post on them.  I wasn't sure if any would survive winter so I put them all in one pot of soil and decided to divide out the survivors once the weather warmed in spring.  

I planted them in one pot in January, and they got a little scorched as it was hot and windy that day.  I didn't really look after these as well as I could and I really expected some to die.  I grew them outside, Protected from the sun, mostly protected from frosts but occasionally there would be ice on them which would do a little damage.  I figured only the strongest would survive.

As luck would have it, all of my baby maidenhair ferns survived winter.  I didn't lose a single one.  Some grew reasonably large over winter, while others remained really tiny.

These baby ferns survived Winter

As the weather is warming I have divided them.  I thought that there were only five or six plants, but I had nine little maidenhair ferns of various sizes in that one pot.  

I assume the smaller ones will grow larger now that they have space, but kind of wish that they would stay tiny.  I love my huge maidenhair ferns, but the tiny ones are super cute.

Maidenhair ferns after being divided

Some of the baby maidenhair ferns are still tiny

I have a feeling that I will want to keep some of these ferns.  I currently have 4 large maidenhair ferns in my house (one of which is variegated).  I have had one of those larger ferns for over five years and it is getting really huge.  So I am not sure how much more space in the house I can allocate to any more ferns. 

Then again, I do have that lovely new greenhouse, surely I could grow a few maidenhair ferns in my greenhouse...

A month after repotting - all looking good

Once these are a bit more established I will likely offer some for sale through my for sale page.  I prefer pick up for things like ferns, but could certainly post them if needed.  I dare say I won't be selling them too soon as I would like them to be a little more established before trying to sell them.

Venus Flytrap - Big Vigorous

Last year I bought a "Big Vigorous" Venus flytrap.

The few pictures I had seen on the internet made this look like a great plant, from its name I assumed it would grow large, and I hoped it would be vigorous and divide a lot for me.  I had high hopes for this carnivorous plant. 

'Big Vigorous' Venus Flytrap

I paid more for this plant than I should have, and it arrived in the post bare rooted and tiny.  Venus flytraps tend to cope really well with postage, and it was winter at that time, so I had no doubt it would grow well for me.

The Big Vigorous Venus flytrap did grow well for me.  Over winter it had a rosette of low leaves and small traps, which is healthy for flytraps.  Once the weather warmed the traps did get large, and it had tall upright growth.  I think that it was an impressive looking plant.

'Big Vigorous' winter leaves

Early in spring it attempted to flower, I cut off the flower stalk and tried to use it as a cutting to get more plants.  Unfortunately the flower stalk cutting did not work that time.  

Cutting off the flower stalk can allow the plant to put more energy into leaf growth, and that is what I wanted from this plant.

'Big vigorous' vft emerging from dormancy and sending up flower stalk

Big Vigorous venus fly trap sure lived up to the 'Big' part of its name.  It grew rather large traps on tall upright leaves.  Every part of this plant was large.

The 'vigorous' part I am not so sure about.  It grew fast, it has a lot of leaves, and nothing seemed to bother it, but it hasn't divided a whole lot for me.  That may just be because it was very small when I got it, or it may not divide a lot, but it is too early to say.

I found a few descriptions on the internet:

Description from Flytrapstore.com:

Big Vigorous is a great Venus Flytrap for a beginner or for an experienced grower's collection. It grows quickly into a robust plant that produces long leaves, a large rosette and big traps as well as plenty of baby Big Vigorous Venus Flytraps by vegetative division.

 

Description from Carnivorous Plant Resource:

Dionaea Big Vigorous is a clumpy Venus flytrap with deep red, almost purple traps. One might even call it a purple pest eater. It grows easily outdoors in temperate climates, or in greenhouses. 

After reading those descriptions I am not sure if the 'Big Vigorous' flytrap we have is the same as the 'Big Vigorous' flytraps overseas.  Mine did not have deep red/purple traps, and did not divide very much.  All that aside, it was a robust plant, it did have tall growth and very large traps, and it was very hardy, so I am happy with it.

Wally on left, Big Vigorous VFT on right

Wally vft on left, Big Vigorous vft on right

I sell a few carnivorous plants including a couple of named varieties of venus flytrap through my for sale page and often have some Venus Flytraps for sale.  I am not expecting any Big Vigorous Venus Flytraps for sale this year but may have some next spring.  I can post these bare rooted and they tend to cope really well with postage, if you live close enough to pick up that may also be an option. 

Purple cauliflower

Last year we bought a purple cauliflower from the markets.  I am not a huge fan of cauliflower, but I liked that one.  It was a bit sweeter than normal cauliflower.

I have a general dislike of any of the cabbages, they are ok in small amounts, but in medium amounts I find them difficult to eat.  I didn't struggle eating the purple cauliflower as much as I struggle eating the white ones.

I decided to buy some cauliflower seeds and grow a few myself.  Strangely enough, it was really difficult to find seeds of purple cauliflower.  After a surprising amount of looking around I bought some cauliflower seeds.  I planted them in summer just before Christmas, and harvested them early spring.

One thing that surprised me was that they started out white, and gained purple colour once they matured.  The later we harvested them the more intense the purple colour.

Purple cauliflower

The leaves of the purple cauliflower plants were huge.  Some of the leaves had deep purple veins, others did not, there was a bit of genetic variation.  After harvesting the cauliflower I fed the large leaves to the chickens.  

We could have used the leaves like cabbage and eaten them ourselves, but our chickens loved eating the leaves so I think that was a better use of them.  There were a small number of snails and things on the leaves, which the chickens also ate.

Picked this one too early - they colour up as they mature

 

I grow everything organically, I don't even use the 'organic' poisons that are allowed on organic farms.  The first cauliflower looked nice, but when cut into pieces we found it was full of slugs and earwigs.  While they hadn't done any damage to the cauliflowers, they were hiding in them and it was really gross.

After that when I harvested a cauliflower I put the head in water for an hour.  That way anything that was living in it would flee in fear of drowning.  I am not sure how long was needed, all I know is an hour worked enough.

Something that all cabbages do is repel water.  When under water the few cauliflower leaves that I had not removed were covered in a thin film of air.  They shimmered and looked like silver.  My photos do not do them justice.

Even though there is that thin film of air this did not mean that any earwigs of slugs remained.  There was not enough air, so they all abandoned the cauliflower, meaning that the cauliflower was completely free of slugs etc.

Cauliflower leaves underwater look incredibly silvery in real life

I am not the best at growing any of the cabbage family.  I did ok with cauliflower, and will likely grow them again, but they will never be a main vegetable that I grow.  

Most of them grew massive, and others were tiny, I don't know if that was from growing conditions or genetics. 

Seeds of purple cauliflower are difficult to find at times.  If I save seed I will list any spare seed on my for sale page.