The team at Your Patch are proud to announce that we have installed an Organic Edible Garden in APG’s Green Concept home in Floreat. The kitchen garden is part of the overall resource-conscious concept of the display home.

This initiative allows us to showcase the benefits of having an Organic Edible Garden to all of those people who visit the home.

If you would like some more information on the home, you can visit the below links.

http://www.apghomes.com.au/home/guidetobuilding/latestnews/11-09-18/Smart_Approach.aspx

http://www.apghomes.com.au/display%20homes%20perth/display%20homes/daintree

In modern times, we ofter fail to look to simple herbs and spices for their health benefits, instead reaching for the chemical filled medicine cabinets. We overlook the fact that ginger has some amazing uses and has been cultivated and revered by the Chinese and Indians for thousands of years. In Chinese medicine it has been used to treat everything from nausea, irritable bowel syndrome and colic to heart palpitations and malaria. It is often said that it also has the ability to cleanse the body and strengthen the immune system.

Research by the CSIRO has shown that warming herbs and spices such as ginger, tumeric and chilli may hold the key to preventing various cancers. Other proven uses include, to prevent and treat motion sickness, increase blood circulation, reducing blood clots, strokes, heart disease and even slow the ageing process! As it stimulates bile production it can all reduce fat absorption and decrease cholesterol levels. The list goes on and on!!

Why not include ginger in a delicious stir-fry, or warm up on a cold winters day with a cup of ginger tea?  And for those of you who may be going a little bit thin on top, why not rub some ginger oil over those thinning locks to help thicken hair and reduce baldness? Well, anything is worth a try, right??

Source: How can I use herbs in my daily life? 3rd Edition. Written by Isabell Shipard (2007)

We are currently starting to raise our winter crop seedlings. Over the next 6 weeks we will be first remineralizing, fertilising and topping up with compost for those customers composting at home in preparation for the winter plantout. Next maintenance will be a clearing and priming of the beds then the call after winter seed will go in, followed by seedlings the call after that. We thank everyone waiting for herbs for their patience during the summer period, our suppliers have moved premisis to Bullsbrook and as they are quite a large operation supplying many garden centers we are now only just starting to raise seedlings.

It has become undenialbe now that your garden needs shade through the december-february period. We are noticing that gardens with shade are thriving while shadeless gardens are roasting and wilting. We advise all of our customers to get shade sails for their gardens. We are working on finding a suitable company with a modest price that we can hopefully strike a deal with for Your Patch customers. In the mean time we are urging everyone to take the step and sort out some form of shade for their gardens to avoid drying out and disappointment.

Coming into summer (finally) once again, we are advising people to be very aware of their soil moisture levels. Two or three 35 degree plus days in a row can have a devastating affect on your crop if you do not handwater. While our reticulation usually provides good water flow most of the year, our summers are continuing to become increasingly hot and dry with scorching easterley breezes which neccesitates handwatering to cool down and rehydrate the plants themselves and the soil. The moisture and handwatering of your organic garden is your responsibility over summer as we can only do so much once as fortnight. We will manage your water timer settings and adjust accordingly but you must handwater on the extremely warm weeks 3-5 minutes per bed to keep optimum levels. Watch your plants, if they look like they are wilting, get out there with the hose and give them some love. They grow for you and thrive on your attention and involvement.