Resources

HULBERT ST SEEDS AND PLANTS

Some of you will have bought seeds and plants at Hulbert St Sustainability fair, thanks for your support for the local freo group and South Freo High School Permie Nursery and teaching program. Some plant information for the less obvious plants is pasted below. Sorry its a little ruff but better its here than not :)

Lablab Beans.

Lablab purpureus nitrogen fixing family Fabaceae.

Originated across central Africa, now cultivated pan-tropically.Perennial vigorously twining herbaceous plant.Lablab is a dual-purpose legume.  It is traditionally grown as a pulse crop for human consumption in south and southeast Asia and eastern Africa.  Flowers and immature pods also used as a vegetable.  It is also used as a fodder legume sown for grazing and conservation in broad-acre agricultural systems in tropical environments.  Also used as green manure, cover crop and in cut-and-carry systems and as a concentrate feed.  It can be incorporated into cereal cropping systems as a legume ley to address soil fertility decline and is used as an intercrop species with maize to provide better legume/stover feed quality.  As a dual purpose (human food and animal feed) legume , it is sown as a monoculture or in intercrop systems.

Source http://www.tropicalforages.info/key/Forages/Media/Html/Lablab_purpureus.htm

Lucaena.

Lucaenaluecocephala of the nitrogen fixing  Fabaceae/Leguminosaefamily,

Subspecies;  glabrata and ixtahuacana

Native to Mexico and Central America.Shrub or tree up to 18 m tall, forked when shrubby and branching strongly after coppicing, with greyish bark and prominent lenticels. Unripe pods and seeds of all subspecies have been used by the native inhabitants of Mexico and Central America as a food or medicine since ancient times.  Very young shoots used as a food by villagers in Thailand.
Highly valued as ruminantforage and as a fuelwood by subsistence and semi-commercial farmers throughout southeast Asia and parts of central Asia and Africa.
Planted in hedgerow systems with grass for cattle production in northern Australia, and as a hedgerow species in parts of southeast Asia and Africa.
Used as a shade tree over coffee and cocoa.  Grown in dense rows as a living fence and used to support vine crops such as pepper and passionfruit.  The most commonly researched species for alley farming systems.
Has been used as a reclamation species following mining but some weed risk.

Source http://www.tropicalforages.info/key/Forages/Media/Html/Leucaena_leucocephala.htm

Honey Locust

Gleditsiatriacanthosof the nitrogen fixing Fabaceae family

Subspecies (Gtinermis=thornless)

Native to southern states of North America.Deciduous tree 25-30 metres.  Sweet  scented cream flowers with sickle shaped leguminous fruit pods ripe in late autumn. The name derives from the sweet taste of the legume pulp, which was used for food by Native American people, and can also be fermented to make beer.Also useful as stock feed.The long pods, which eventually dry and ripen to brown or maroon, are surrounded in a tough, leathery skin that adheres very strongly to the pulp within. The pulp - bright green in unripe pods - is strongly sweet, crisp and succulent in unripe pods. Dark brown tannin-rich beans are found in slots within the pulp.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_locust

Listed as an invasive weed in NSW and Queensland, edible seeds spread by livestock.

Roselle

Hibiscus SabdariffafamilyMalvaceae

Originally tropical  parts of Asia, now cultivated in tropics of all continents.

Annual shrub to 3.5 metres.The entire plant is harvested (for fibre) or just the flowers calyces or leaves are hand picked. Uses: Roselle is often grown for its bast fibre in the stem of the plant, which can be used just like jute.
The red calyces are used to make a fruity drink. They are also used as food colorings.
Green leaves are eaten as a vegetable, just like spinach.
Many parts of the plant are used in traditional medicines, for example to treat hypertension and urinary tract infections.

Roselle flowers are 8 to 10 cm in diameter. They have a white or pale yellow color with at the base of each petal a dark red spot. Flowers have a sturdy fleshy calyx at their base, which grows to be 3 to 3.5 cm wide. This calyx is fleshy and has a bright red color as the fruit matures. These calyces have a sour taste and are used to make a fruity  drink, tea or more usually in Australia a plum-like jam.

Source http://www.bijlmakers.com/fruits/roselle.htm

Malabar Climbing Spinach

BasellaAlba familyBasellaceae

Originally from the Indian Subcontinent, thrives in hot humid climates below 500mtrs. Perennial fast-growing, soft-stemmed vine, reaching 10 m in length. Its thick, semi-succulent, heart-shaped leaves have a mild flavour and mucilaginous texture. The stem of the cultivar Basellaalba 'Rubra' is reddish-purple.High in vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and calcium. It is low in calories by volume, but high in protein per calorie. The succulent mucilage is a particularly rich source of soluble fiber. Among many other possibilities, Malabar spinach may be used to thicken soups. In Africa, the mucilaginous cooked shoots are most commonly used.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basella_alba

Palestinian/Egyptian Luffa

Luffaaegyptiaca (Luffacylindrica) family Curcubitaceae.

Originally from subtropical areas of Middle East and Africa.A perennial vine with gourd like fruits.

The luffa is eaten when the fruit is young (usually smaller than 300mm) and the sponge has yet to become tough used similarly to a zucchini or marrow. It is also known as Chinese Okra in Canada. Its juice is used as a natural remedy for jaundice. The juice is obtained by pounding the bitter luffa and squeezing it through a cloth.

The fruit section of L. aegyptiaca may be allowed to mature and used as a bath or kitchen sponge after being processed (dried) to remove everything but the network of xylem or fibers,  the sponge is used like a body scrub.

Source http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/165575/luffa

Wicking Bed Sites

• http://www.easygrowvegetables.com/html/wickingbed.html
• http://www.waterright.com.au/
• http://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/p/wicking-worm-beds.html

In ground open wicking beds, above ground closed wicking beds lots of well wicked stuff. Enjoy experimenting for yourselves.