Hops
- requires a female plant
- very vigorous, can train
- attractive flower heads
- larger number of cultivars
- dies down completely in winter
Southern Wood
- pest repellant when leaves are touched
- easy to grow from cuttings
- heat resistant
Bay leaf
- tough, can be grown in a pot but keep trimmed
- good screening plant
- can be espaliered
- use fresh in cooking
- can be dried. Will have stronger flavour.
- use as silverfish, pantry moth, wool moth repellent.
Lemon Verbena
- strong lemon scent retained when dried
- makes delicious tea
- put handful inside chicken instead of stuffing
- dies back in cold conditions, cut back in early spring to avoid frost damage
Marigolds especially Tagetes.
- English calendulas are completely edible
- Tagetes originating in France, Africa or Nexico and are generally not edible
- Tagetes Lemonii or Tree marigold originates in Mexico is very tough, copes with dry conditions, is strongly scented and long flowering
- plant with tomatoes to repel insects like white fly.
- grows easily from cuttings.
- spread leaves to confuse insect pests.
Lemon Grass
- grow next to a water source to provide humidity
- use base of stem in cooking
- leaves make a good lemon tea for colds and relaxation
- needs good drainage, particularly in cold conditions
- makes a good mulch
Fennel
- grows easily from seed
- pest repellent
- eat leaves for anice flavour
- fennel pollen being used as a garnish
- seeds suppress appetite
Garlic
- Autumn is garlic planting time
- Turban group garlic (big clove, thin skin and stores4-5 months ) eg Tasmanian Purple should be early planted end of March/April/ May
- Creole Group garlic ( will store for 12 months) eg Dynamite Purple, Rohoe DeCastro both available from Diggers
Should be late planted April/May/early June - Artichoke Group garlic eg Delovski can be planted mid season April/May. Don’t always have great flavour.
- always buy, grow and use Australian garlic
- needs good sun, water, drainage and organic matter in the soil
- plant early, mid and late varieties to have garlic year round
Tomatoes
- contain lycopene an antioxidant, a bright red carotene and carotenoid pigment and phytochemical
- to avoid reducing lycopene content pick tomatoes in hot spell and ripen inside rather than leaving on Bush
- White fly and tomatoes russet mite are major pests
- good variety- Beef Steak Cherokee Purple is a large Smokey tasty and tart tomato
- tomatoes now available in yellow, pink, orange, blue black skins, each having different health benefits
- Blueberry tomatoes are a tiny truss tomato of indigo blue black colour containing the same antioxidant in their skin as Blueberries.
- Traveller Tomato is a small fist sized cluster of distorted fruit which can be individually separated with a tart flavour.