Worms will eat absolutely anything that was once living. When thinking worms, think compost. The worms only start in on the food once it has begun to break down. Some things break down faster than others. It's a myth that they won't eat citrus peel or onion skins. They will happily eat both. Onion skins though tend to break down slowly so they won't tuck into those straight away, but eventually they will.

This is a DIY Article on how to build a ‘cheap as possible’ propagation unit for raising seedlings, cuttings and young plants.

The unit is ‘self regulated’ i.e. it does not use a thermostat as these devices are hard to get secondhand and usually come attached to a big things like fridges or ovens. The most important thing with getting stuff done on the cheap is patience. Eventually, everything you need will turn up at the dump or the op-shop.

The important components:

• Heating source:

I couldn't afford even the Yates gardening book in those days and there was never anyone handy when I needed to know why the pumpkin vine wouldn't set fruit or the lemon tree went black. The dozen or so magazines I might have had in the house didn't mention how deep to plant the spuds or what side was up on the bulbs a friend gave me. I knew Epsom Salts was good for roses but could never remember how much and what it was meant to cure - and why didn't it come with directions on the packet? Ever notice that magazines focus on plants that are flowering in a suburb the other side of the continent - never on the lavender that looks as if it's about to cark it on your patio or the zucchini that's got white stuff all over it in the vegie patch out the back.

One of my pet projects is collecting Australian heritage vegetable varieties. I was delighted to find that there are quite a few more than I had expected. One of the things I've found in this area is confusion over terminology so I thought I'd just clarify a few terms for those interested.

This blog will be a record of what gets planted, what gets picked, when things flower, when things fruit and what I've got growing. This might be easier than keeing a diary - then again it might not.

There will probably be some insights into my personality and something that will upset some ausgardeners - especially those with cats.

The garden. A list of what's in the ground as of the 25th of July 2006. Not much of what you are about to read was in the ground before March 2004 - - only the pines, the large fishtail palm and the snow bush. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I are happy to try and grow anything we can get our hands on, though she is starting to wane in her enthusiasm: silly girl thinks we have too much planted already...LOL