Gardening Ideas and Research Projects

Here are some Gardening ideas and research projects we have under development to give you even more ways to get food from the garden. You should come back here often as this is also where you will find information on our progress.

Also, if you have any ideas or experiences to share, either on the topics here or others you think people may find interesting, why not contact me with the details?

Aquaponics - stage 2

After two years of working on developing an ecological method for maintaining water quality in a small closed-system aquaculture setup, we now want to upgrade to full aquaponic production.

We will no longer be growing fish, but stocking with 'plate-sized' fish and using the tank as a holding and purging system. The particle and bio-filter will be enlarged and modified to permit production of crops like Wasabi and Water Chestnut.

Home Garden Truffles

While working on a decking project at home, a new gardening idea was put forward to have a raised garden area in one section, where a small to medium sized tree could add to the 'natural' feel of our new outdoor living area. But what sort of tree?

"Why not a hazelnut tree", someone said. Then the light-bulb went on. Why not a hazel that was infected with Black Truffle fungus? Two Crops for the price of one!

This will be a big project - getting the soil right (truffles have very special requirements), sourcing a properly infected tree and managing a very small system for optimum production of two very different crops simultaneously!

Garden Mushrooms

While on the subject of fungi - what about mushrooms. We get the occasional one that appears naturally in the garden, but the main option for actual mushroom production at home is will a small indoor 'kit'. So can we cultivate mushrooms in the garden?

The first step is to learn the art of making Mushroom Compost. This is even a component of establishing mushrooms in the garden, but the methods usually described are a bit vague, so we will run some trials and report the results here.

And what about the more specialized types like Shitake??? There is even less information available on these fungi.

Still, this seems like an interesting gardening idea, so let's find out shall we!

Updated Bio-intensive Production

The so-called 'Bio-intensive' method has been around for more than a century now and has served gardeners around the World very well indeed. But now with new research into soil management (and soil biology in particular) the question may be asked: "Can we make this system even better still?"

This project aims to examine this question closely.

Perennial Food Garden

There are a number of perennial vegetables and they are potentially valuable in the home food garden, but they do not do well in a normal vegetable garden as they interfere with the operation of crop rotations there.

This project will involve developing a perennial food garden with vegetables, fruit and herbs. Species likely to be included are:

• Asparagus
• Horseradish
• Liccorice
• Rhubabrb
• Choko
• Ginseng

An important objective in this project will be looking at how these various plants interact and what companion planting opportunities can be developed.

Australian Wild Rice

This is a relatively new project, although it has been one of my gardening ideas for some time. However, I was lucky enough to find a plant with seed on a recent trip through NSW. The plant was growing on the banks of the Richmond river and I collected some seed that I will be planting shortly. You can find more information about this project here.

Agri-Char Evaluation

Some very interesting research on the use of charcoal to improve agricultural production in the Amazon has led to the development of a product called 'Agri-Char'. But does this have a place in the garden?

Once we have completed double digging the remainder of our raised vegetable garden, there will be three more or less equal sized sections with the same soil condition, but each in a different crop rotation stage. This will form the basis for a good comparison in the production of several crops at once.

Some other projects I have in mind include:

• A Vertical Herb Garden that is as highly water efficient as I can get it; and
• Home Garden Coffee production (OK, I'm a bit of a Caffeine addict - I admit it!).

Again, If you can think of anything you would like us to look at, please send us your gardening ideas.

There will be more information here shortly, but in the meantime, why not subscribe to our email newsletter The Food Gardener.

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