Hmm good question.

I don’t think there is a general chat that’s Aussie specific, is there? The only other Australian focussed ones I’ve come across are the seed swappers, and the Aussie Native plants ones.

I know we usually focus on Australians for our plant varieties available here, and similar climates, but don’t forget that there are other zones in the world with similar climates to your local one, so matching people in the same zone is also a good way to look for similar situations.

As it is, there are already way too many groups to try and track them all, but having said that, maybe an Aussie General group is needed.

Well after being on literally hundreds of internet forums over the last 20 odd years, I’ve learnt to stay on topic, or get beaten down. So, if this forum is a Free-for-all, then a name and description change may be in order :)

Regarding the other groups, I do see that membership is an issue, and a forum that doesn’t get frequent posts does die. Folia does partly offset this though, with following other gardeners, and making it easy to subscribe to multiple groups and get notified when any is posted to. I’m preparing a post for the seed swappers group that touches on this as well.

I’ve found it’s pretty hard to do anything wrong with onions. Chuck them in the soil, given them a good feed and water, and they’ll multiple.

Potatoes are supposed to be easy to grow, but we’ve never had a lot of luck with getting good sized spuds. Usually end up with quite a few, but they’re all small. I suspect because we haven’t fed them enough, but as we usually just check them in old tyres (which some say is bad due to chemicals leeching) down the back yard and forget about them. you can cut up sprouting potatoes into pieces, with one eye on each piece, and you’l get a separate plant from each eye. It’s recommended to let each piece harden off after cutting and before planting, and like onions, they like a good feed and water. As the shoot grow up, you can mound the soil around the base to promote further potato formation. This is the theory with the tyres. you keep adding more tyres on top of one another, and fill with soil as the tops grow, and you end up with a whole tube of potatoes. As I said, that’s the theory. We havent put enough attention into it to make it work yet, but I see no reason why it shouldn’t.

About timing in Melbourne, sorry I don’t know offhand.

As for the Thrips – urgh, horrible things. Keep the weeds away from the area, and the only other thing I know off hand is Natra Soap. Green Harvest sell it, but I haven’t used it myself yet. When in doubt for any organic control, I try a garlic spray, but it’s no effective against everything, and is more a long term preventative than a front-line assault.

Good idea with the name change. I’ve regarded this group as an ‘entry’ only spot and not posted here.

Gardenchic, Folians are pretty well represented in VIC. SA also has a fair few who post. IN QLD, not so many of us. I blame our weather! Why be inside when you don’t have to? I post most when it is raining (hard), or I just need some down time for health reasons.

Someone tried to start a Toowoomba and Darling Downs group and it gets no use. I tried to interest a local whose garden I recognised by her introductory post, but she’s given up posting on Folia for reasons on which she didn’t elaborate.

I have subscribed to several groups that represent some of my interests, and do see a few Aussies there, but for AU specific issues this newly rebranded group is a great idea.

There is an all purpose garlic-chili-soap spray that seems to work for a lot of sucking and chewing critters, I’ll look up the recipe and post it here. I think I got it from Annette McFarlane. Have a look at her site for veggie and food gardening (in the warmer areas only).

Mmm, bacon.

One thing to watch out with homemade soap sprays. Depending on the soap, you can affect pH or mineral content in the soils. Natrasoap, while a commercial product, I think is O/G and balanced. Note this isn’t an endorsement for it. As I said I’ve never used it myself.

Thanks again for everyone’s advice. Prickles I had bought a commercial organic pest oil but was later informed it is useless unless it makes direct contact with the pest, so I ended up spraying my apple tree with a systemic to control the aphids. Will read up on everyone’s advice as I would like to pursue an organic garden.