New here, but not new to growing plants.....

Hello, I'm in my late 20's and love growing my collection of succulents...
I'm here coz i want to talk to and share with like minded enthusiasts who live in the same area. I'm also happy to talk to other aussies about growing stuff here...
Am a little peeved about all the quarantine stuff going on, may need advice on this every now and again!
Also, I'm based in Perth.

Happy green time.

hi, i am shelly and live in victoria. i am slowly developing my collection of succulents for a very large section of garden i want to cover... other than that i have a cottagy flowery garden that i only started in sept last year.
looking forward to hearing from you more.
shelly

Wow.... cool... I'd love to do the same thing... kinda along the lines of Cactus Land in South Australia. But more about succulents rather than just cacti in general with a focus on Australian Natives...

How do I make sure that the seeds I order from NSW or Other states in Australia doesn't get confiscated while on route to WA(my place) ??

Welcome J ...you poor things suffering over there ...and still more heat to come! ...I would not be planting anything in that heat wait until it is a bit kinder ...temperature wise. I hope you will enjoy the forums! :) (hi Shelley!)
chrissy

Thank you for the advice... I've already repotted some of my succulents on the cooler days when it's not raining.. we have like 2 days cloud cover and then 5 days of full sun then a some mix of the two and then it's back to cloudy... very offputting especially when I'm trying to organise my timetable!

Otherwise, we have a lot of succulents over here already, its just a matter of finding them I guess. Kinda makes it harder to get them and I appreciate them more when I do get them.

anyhow, a pic from my collection for your pleasure !

Welcome Jensilaedi, you will like it here. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. Did I see the word RAIN there ? Yes, I remember, it does rain in Perth. I keep telling my children to send some over from there.
You can grow so much there with the milder climate. I have seen some absolutely marvellous gardens around Perth. We will look forward to seeing pics of yours. Have a great day.

Hi Jen, nice pics. I love succulents too, but lost a boatload because of the recent summer rains. I'm going to have to set up some protection for them before next summer. They grow well in the winter here though, as it's usually quite dry.
You can grow alot of stuff that I can't, because it all rots with the humidity in Summer here. I'm going to get to Perth/ WA one day! Its further than NZ (where I originate) and also more expensive to get there!
Have you visited any mad gardens over there? If so, where, and have you got any pics!
We have a nice lady in the Australian Forum, who goes by the nickname Kaelkitty, or KK. I think all would agree she is our resident succulent expert. Shes really good at Identifying plants and is no doubt lurking around here somewhere, AREN"T YOU KK?
Welcome to the forums. I hope you stick around as some just blow in and then you never hear from them again, (they must have a life) :)
I'm a bromeliad freak mainly, but heres a pic of whats flowering today in the succulent garden

This one is Jatropha, and it has seed pods on it. Apparently it is only grown by seed, so I'll be watching these babies!

Wow weed woman - I am envious of your Jatropha!! I love plants in the Euphorbia family. Mostly leafy varieties just cause they are more unusual. If you ever feel the need to share your seeds, keep me in mind!!! k

Hello Sue,
If you are going to YELL for me (LOL) I will have a few of those Jatropha Seeds when they finish cooking, but only if you can spare any. Would you like a Cissus glabrum or a Bowiea volubilis? Check out my threads on both in the Caudiciform forum.

Ciao, KK.

Ooohhhh, KK, they sound like diseases! I'll go and look and i will be happy to send out some seeds if I'm lucky enough to get some. My cousin in Mackay has many of these Jatrophas and they stand about 1metre tall! Mines been in the garden for about 4 years now, and has multiplied in the bloom and leaf department, but only gained around 4 inches of height. Maybe i'll have a yack to my Cuz and see if she has any seed she can spare.
I just looked up your diseases and would love some of each, when ever and if you are able. Funny looking things aren't they?

There you go all speaking double Dutch again ...I just grow these things on the verandah that way I can control the water and sun ...I am a complete novice and only have very limited experience with those critters with such strange names. I have lost none so Sue even with all the constant rain and humidity and having lost none I would say under shelter roof or wide eves with morning sun. If they had been in the garden or even shadehouses they would have rotted I am sure.(novice here) one exception being some lusty looking succulents that I am growing in hanging baskets with perfect drainage (river sand).
chrissy

Haha...Thank you weed_woman, You have a very nice Jatropha!

and Hi KK! nice to meet you :D

chrissy, when I started growing the critters, it was pretty much trial and error... I didn't know much about them, much less that they were called cacti or succulents! I just watered them just enough and kept them in the sun for most of the day (west side of the house) so yeh... you don't really need to know the basics to figure it out, only to need to care about them. The biggest mistake most gardeners have with those critters is they think "Ohhh cacti are desert plants, so they don't need water," and generally don't water them at all. But really they're just like every other plant, they need all the essentials to various extents.

Anyway, weed_woman, I will try not to blow through... I'll stick around.. as I'm kinda growing into the idea of aquaponics... kind of a mix of aquaculture and hydroponics so that they both feed off each other in regards with nutrients.

Thanks

Hi Jen, I saw something about that on Gardening Australia or the like, where the bloke was growing hydroponic vegetables and the overflowing water (with nutrients) goes into tanks that have water plants, (some edible) and fish. The water plants use up the excess nutrients and the fish keep the water agitated and then it goes back through the hydroponic system, with the added benefit of fish poo as a new ingredient. Smart! The yeilds were fantastic. In fact, I think the grower was from your part of the world!
I've taken over the succulents at tafe, as I took some home over the xmas holidays as they were underwatered and overcooked. I nursed them back to health with nothing more than regular watering and took them back at the beginning of this term. Guess what happened. They put them under the nursery irrigation and almost rotted the lot! So now I've asked for permission and a space to set them up and propagate more for the end of the year sale. As you say jen, its not hard, just give them the usual plant requirements and they'll flourish.
Happy day all.
Sue

Sue,
Yeah! I recently found out he lives in the far south of my city! I was so excited... I was going to get one of his DIY kits but found out how much it costs :( *young person here, dont got a big bank account - pardon me* Thinking about buying some old sink or something off someone (secondhanded) and then find some old pine wood or something... dunno. I'm kinda thinking of contacting him but I'm erm shy ish....

As for the succulent thing.. are you teasing me? :P yeh my mum has the same problem, she either overwaters them or underwaters them. it's kinda weird because through summer she waters her plants every 2nd day and through winter she waters once a week so they shouldn't be too bad but, I always visit her and she ends up complainin to me that she cacti either looks black or yellow..... oohhh glory.

I find if they are in pots a couple of waters a week is plenty, but I keep it a light water, not a soak. In winter, I dont water unless its gone more than a week without rain, but we get pretty heavy dew over winter, so thats usually enough. Your climate is different though isn't it? Do you get your rains in Winter?
I also don't water succulents in the garden, and if they live, they live e.t.c. I bought a heap of succulents from a nursery in Sydney at xmas. There were lots of ones I hadn't seen before, and they were all healthy. I spent about $60 and got lots of tubes of them and a couple of big pots, but nearly all of them have carked it! It must be the humidity. It's funny, because it doesn't feel that humid to me, but it must to a dry climate plant. Oh well, lesson learned.
Setting up that aquaponics would be dear! The plastic tub/tanks cost a fortune, but your bath tub idea might be worth a try. You used to see them on the kerb when the hard garbage collection was on, but everyone grabs them now, for horse troughs and fish ponds. Even the tip shops sell them quite dear! But probly much cheaper than plastic tub/tanks. Good luck with it. Do you have a camera to take pics for us?

I know I sound like a broken record but if you plant anything that dislikes wet roots in washed river sand even lots of water won't hurt them ...it drains so freely and honestly with all the rain and no sun this Summer I am really happy that nothing is dead.

chrissy the trick is to repot them or replant them in DRY soil and let them settle for a few days before you even water. And yes a lot of succulents like river sand... but there's a lot of them that like the good ole rich soil as well.... it just depends on whether they live in full sun and plenty of rain or not.

Sue, I'll take pictures if I ever get started!! I've started growing winter veggie seeds so my family will have some brussel sprouts and spinach this winter. and maybe some carrots :D in normal soil but we'll see...

Ha, Carrots! I tried that once and I got these twisted gnarled things that would have looked great in Bonsai pots! LOL. And that was in sand as was recommended!
I like the idea of Brussel sprouts though, I might have a go at those too. Are you starting from seed or seedlings? I'll see if I can get some of either and we'll post pics as they grow hey? I'm going to do the Brocolli too as last year it was a big success, we just had to wash the caterpillars off!

Oh veggies ...love growing veggies ...last broccoli crop was infested with aphids though and because I garden without spraying bad stuff around ...the aphids won the battle. I think brussel sprouts are a great crop ...carrots no ... very very cheap here ... a huge bag about 20 kilos for only 5.00 (being a horse area they are usually sold for the horsey folk) ... so I save the space for other things.

carrots are expensive here.... 5kg for 3 dollars I guess thats coz i'm in suburbia... I live only about 15 minutes drive from the middle of Perth City!!

When I was little mum used to make us grow a veggie patch, she wanted to see if either my sis or I had a green thumb. we did... sort of but the idea kinda ... erm.... faded away. Mum's a teacher so she doesn't have a lot of time to help us tend to it, but she tried. Then, we grew beans, carrots, lettuce(forgot which kind... iceberg I think?) and we tried growing tomatoes. I think mum didn't know that you were supposed to rotate your veggie patch because they stopped growing brilliantly after the first year and we were kinda puzzled as to the why.

I'm also taking up another challenge... growing mushrooms!! I absolutely adore mushrooms.....and I've never tried it so I'm looking into seeing how to grow them!

The picture below are the new seedlings ... the back half is the spinach.. will take about a month to see any seedlings but as for the brussel sprouts after having laid the seeds both last Sunday, they've already sprouted. We've had very good weather over here. Another side note, I cover them with a clear plastic lid all day, rotate the box each day, and open the lid each day for like a few minutes to let it change air. there is no need of air holes if I pay this kind of attention every day. I haven't got a veggie patch yet and am considering keeping my veggies in a pots rather than in the garden. This way I don't have to rotate I just change the plant in the pot! and I've said this before I was thinking about aquaponics/hydroponics... I'm just sort of getting into the habit of growing my own vegetables and looking after the garden because in the past year I've come to realize that in the future if I'm going to be self sustainable, growing my own food would have to be part of that. So... there! :D

Good job! love the grow your own thing ...I think you should google Jackie French ...she is my hero ...also Earth Garden and Grass Roots ...I have the magazines going back to no 1 in the 70's ...in those days it was a new concept ...not only do we feed our bodies but we feed our souls when we grow our own food.
chrissy