Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Amorphs unleashed, 1 by tropicbreeze

tropicbreeze wrote:
Sharon, it's a "big small property". But the garden area itself is roughly 9,600 square metres (if you use that other system it's 11,481.5044 sq yards = 2.37221166 acres, google conversion). There's also some bits gardened outside of that area. It's all low maintenance though. There's automatic irrigation, essential in this climate. Because of its area, and the fact I keep increasing the area, it is a lot of work. But I could do what a lot of others I know do in their spare time - drink beer and watch TV. They think I'm crazy, but I'm one up on them, I know I'm crazy, LOL.

Having a garden that size means there's a large variety of micro-habitats and micro-climates that suit a varied range of plants. So it's worth the effort. And that was the choice I made when I originally bought the place. As well, it's been a very steep learning curve. But with internet these days in depth information is freely available.

Biggest problem is weeds, although that's mostly outside of the garden and in the other different native habitats I'm trying to protect. I don't use pesticides but there's no real problems with pests. There's a balance in the system that seems to be working well so far. In fact, the biggest pest problem is the wallabies and possums, and occasionally Jungle Fowl. But, I'm a sucker for a cute face so they get away with it.

The galbra was in probably 70% - 80% sand. But it was the titanum I was most worried about. They're expensive and I was warned they were very susceptible to fungus and nematodes. The suggestion was to put the seed in sterile sand and let the roots grow out into the soil. That way no fungus comes into contact with the seed itself. I put a fungicide through the new soil the large titanum tuber gets planted into each season.

One of the "cute faces".