Wow .. those Coriander bushes sound impressive. Mine so far are pretty small and weedy, although the flavour is amazing. I have allowed some of my plants to go to seed and have tried using them .. although the seeds were very small, so I will have to try some others and keep experimenting. I first found out about using coriander some years ago from the Vietnamese bakeries that make those yummy Pork rolls. I'll have to find out who makes sourdough locally, as it is my favourite bread. I do make my own bread sometimes in a bread maker .. although I have stuck with making wholemeal loaves by using the white flour mix from the Supermarket and adding bran and semolina to it. After completing a few Indian cooking courses .. coriander in is high demand for all my curries. I have 4 main patches where I'm growing my veges, but due to bugs affecting certain plants, I'm finding that I am limited as to what I can grow in 2 of them.. due to bugs that attack certain plants growing there. One of the main beds I have been growing tomatoes for the past few years .. and now resting it .. after taking the advice on garden shows about crop rotation, and resulting diseases that can infest the soil if you continually plant the same crop each season in the same space. Last year, from what I've heard, was a particularly bad season for tomatoes in Melbourne. Not only due to the 40 deg days we had .. but some bug in the soil that turned the leaves brown at the base of the plants and worked their way up. I'm using the home-brand version of 'Velvet' soap from Woolies that has potassium in it .. and mixing it with garlic and birdseye super hot chilli to spray on the plants .. as I want to keep both the fruit & veg as chemical free as possible. White fly seems to be my main problem .. they are all over my mint, capsicum, coriander and to a lesser degree, lettuce and tomatoes. There is also something that eats holes in the leaves of my pumpkin seedlings and beans .. but luckily it's only the first outside leaves and not the new central ones. The lettuce that I put in the bed I am resting from tomatoes was totally eaten. This bed has had a lot of organic matter added to it from my compost bin, as well as cow manure, seasol .. and other liquid fertiliser A lot of bees visit both my front and back gardens, and I'm very wary not to cause any damage to them. I've watched a few programs on bees .. and aware that pesticides can lead to the total collapse of native bee hives. Then, as you are no doubt aware, there is the global problem of the Varroa mite .. so I feel we need to look after our precious bees. I've recently picked up 10 Strawberry seedlings that i am trying to grow for the first time. What I have in my garden.. Mixed lettuce, Strawberries, Water melon, Butternut pumpkin, Cherry/Rouge de Marmande/Roma tomatoes Carrots, Lebanese cucumber, Radish, Beans, Green chilli, Capsicum. I've recently attended a Vege garden workshop whereby the Guru recommended not to plant your veges in rows, and to utilize more of your garden space to grow plants randomly .. which I am now starting to do. I noticed a program a couple of days a go where a garden expert was talking about sacrificial plants used to attract the butterflies/bugs .. therefore leaving the others alone. He also mentioned growing a plant that attracts them .. and when the pupae take their first bite of the plant, they die due to the toxicity.
