Garden And Gossip Forums

I've heard a lot about Jackie French, in particular that she says that the soil isn't warm enough to plant anything until you can sit on it with your bare bottom and not feel the cold - something like that anyway!!
Her books are like gold dust second-hand so when I saw this one for a measly £2.95, I pounced!
I've only read a few chapters since it arrived this morning but enough to realise a few things - firstly, since she is Australian, the sowing months need to be turned on their heads for the Northern hemisphere.
Secondly, I've had to google some of the plant names like Kumera (Sweet potato), Choko, Kurrajong and Irish strawberries!!
As for "Bandicooting potatoes" - I'll let you look that one up!!
I know she grows plants that we can only dream of growing outdoors, like citrus and avocados but there are suggestions for colder climates. .........and a small suburban garden is quarter acre...but I like the way she writes and there are some wacky suggestions in there that I think I will relate to, so, stand by your beds and be prepared.

(08-02-2021, 11:52 PM)Veggie Wrote: [ -> ]I've heard a lot about Jackie French, in particular that she says that the soil isn't warm enough to plant anything until you can sit on it with your bare bottom and not feel the cold - something like that anyway!!

Is Australian soil ever that cold? I've been watching Self Sufficient Me on YouTube, and he talks about growing beetroot in winter because it's "only" 25ºC  (...shudders in horror...)

(08-02-2021, 11:52 PM)Veggie Wrote: [ -> ]a small suburban garden is quarter acre

I'm pretty sure I could be nearly self-sufficient in fruit and veg if I had a quarter acre - that's four allotment plots! (I say nearly, since I would otherwise have to forego bananas, avocados, etc)

It does sound like a fun book, though. Sometimes what you need is inspiration, not just cold hard facts!

Bandicooting potatoes = well I wasn’t expecting that explanation. We definitely talk a different language   . I’ll not spoil the fun for everyone else   . 
I’ve got an Australian cook book, I know I had to google many of the ingredients.
Now going to google some of those veggies you mentioned.

Here's a few more for you to goggle -
Perennial Climbing beans
Perennial peas
Edible Chinese Convolvulus.

Read a couple more chapters last night but more or less dismissed them as non-starters for me - Growing Grains (wheat, barley etc and rice!!) and Growing for Oil (olives, sunflower and can't remember the rest). Went to sleep dreaming that I was in Greece, talking to stray cats in Greek, of course, and woke up racking my brains for the Greek word for Vet!!! Must have been the olive oil what did it.

^^^ ancient or modern Greek?? i.e. old cats or kittens - it makes a difference you know.

Modern Greek, of course! I'm not as old as Spec.
It was a bedraggled mother cat and her 2 kittens. They were sitting on a wall at the roadside and a group of local children had given them some water but couldn't get near to them. Of course, the cats came straight to me and I could see they needed worming and flea treatment so I wanted to ask whether there was a Vet in the village!! Just as well i woke up or I'd still be lost in Greece!!

In this weather, no hardship. By the way do you speak Greek, or just in dreams?

After a few bottles of Retsina, I'm totally fluid in Greek.

Whereas Aussies bandicoot the British furtle. their spuds

Since a Bandicoot is an animal in Oz, is there a "furtle" animal in the UK? A furry turtle maybe??