Bushfood suggestions for temperate coastal nsw

[Alice]

Hi all,

I've recently rekindled my interest in Australian native bushfoods, and ask some advice.

I have some space in my mini orchard that I would like to grow some more food. My question is, can anyone make a recommendation for a few trees/shrubs (1-3m tall) that they have grown themselves which provide any decent amount of food? I'm all for the novelty plants, my garden is full of them, but after something that provided more than the occasional fruit that would be worth the space. Otherwise I'll just chuck in some more citrus or avocado instead.

I've looked through a few bushfood related threads both here and on bushfood.net, but after some first hand experience from fellow Corroborees.

Must be reasonably drought tolerant once established, the location is more or less full sun with some late afternoon shade, pretty good soil but can be rather windy. To be planted among the existing citrus/stonefruit/olive/avocado/guava...etc. Temperate coastal NSW.

Was thinking macadamia as a good yielding plant but not to sure that it would be happy to be restricted to 3m high, and the leaves are rather sharp when trying to prune.

Suggestions?

Thanks for reading.

Alice

[tarenna]

Was thinking macadamia as a good yielding plant but not to sure that it would be happy to be restricted to 3m high, and the leaves are rather sharp when trying to prune.

Suggestions?

Thanks for reading.

Alice

 

What about a Finger Lime (Microcitrus australasica)?

[weedRampage]

There is a shrub that grows in coastal NSW.

Mountain Devil, Lambertia formosa

It makes a large amount of red flowers that you pluck from the bush

and drink the nectar from.

This is the only bush food that I have got into in a big way.

Apart from macca butter.. mmm

[Alice]

Excellent suggestions, thanks!

Has anyone here grown Quandong (Santalum acuminatum)? Just how parasitic is it? Ie if I plant it near (3m) to my other fruit trees will it significantly reduce the yield of neighbouring plants?

[Yeti101]

There are a range of lilly pilly varieties that work in temperate climates. Not all the tastiest things, but the white one I have bears massive amounts of fruit. Macadamias are also great if you're patient enough.

[paradox]

macadamia would definitely be good, i reckon you could get away with training/pruning it to keep it to a good size & shape, you'd just have to be wise about how you did it.

theres not all that many native foods that have really convenient tasty fruits/nuts that you can get good reliable harvests from, the way you would with most exotic cultivated fruit & nut trees etc. native foods are generally much better suited to foraging for a bit of this & a bit of that from many different plants when you can get it... i'm sure you know that though.

a few of these i have grown but some i haven't (but i figured they're worth mentioning anyway as i've seen almost all of them grown in urban gardens). these are the things i can think of which you might be able to get a decent(ish) crop from & may be worth looking into, although most of these suit a rainforest environment.

bolwarra (Eupomatia laurina), lily pilly (Syzygium & Acmena spp), various figs (Ficus spp), native tamarind (Diploglottis cunninghamii), Brown Pine (Podocarpus elatus).

hmm thats all i can really think of ATM, if you lived in the tropics or arid regions i could mention quite a few more that would probably be really good...

i definitely know that you can very successfully grow bolwarra, lily pilly, brown pine & many figs outside of a rainforest & get very decent crops from some.

i still reckon macadamias would be well worth going for though.

Edited January 9, 2010 by xodarap

[Micromegas]

Has anyone here grown Quandong (Santalum acuminatum)? Just how parasitic is it? Ie if I plant it near (3m) to my other fruit trees will it significantly reduce the yield of neighbouring plants?

Mine aren't big enough yet to tell conclusively, but one quandong amidst several trees is unlikely to have much effect. One large quandong hosted by a single plant however can seriously reduce that plant's fitness. There's a stand of about 20 in a local park that have reduced a few sheoaks to twigs, but the ratio of quandongs to hosts is not good. In the bush stands of more than a hundred grow well with no noticeable effect on surrounding plants, and fruit abundantly and deliciously. I would take the risk. Consider sandalwood also, santalum spicatum. These have a delicious and highly nutritious nut in addition to the fragrant wood. Quite possibly a better bushfood than quandong IMO.

[kindness]

I reckon lily pilys are the go... I could find the botanical name if you want but the pink ones are yum, I have to disagree with you yeti that they don't taste good.

You could always grow heaps of acacias and make flour out of the seeds ;)

I know you are looking for trees but what about having lots of bush food ground covers/herbs instead? You have alot more options there I think.

Do you have the book 'wild food plants of australia' by tim lowe - it's a bit of a classic. I have a copy here - but it's packed as I'm moving soon. Might find some ideas in that.

peace

[Yeti101]

I reckon lily pilys are the go... I could find the botanical name if you want but the pink ones are yum, I have to disagree with you yeti that they don't taste good.

 

Yeah, the pink ones are OK. The white ones are less tasty (just my opinion) though they do produce more.

Maybe if you have a lot of room and time, you could plant a Bunya Pine.

[Micromegas]

Kunzea pomifera is also really tasty. Probably the tastiest bushfood i have encountered. They are a ground cover plant but can be grown up a trellis. Beginning to enter the bushfood market now.

Bunya pines are sweet. But massive, evenutally.

[-YT-]

i agree with Micro Kunzea pomifera/Muntries are awesome, seen a few down at the local bunnings just last week. wouldnt mind trying to get my hands on a decent amount of seedlings too trellis

[stiched up]

not sure if theyre native but what about a loquet tree??

[paradox]

just found this site about doing syzigium bonzai's! don't really know if it belongs here they look pretty cool

http://www.bonsaisolutions.com.au/australian_native_species_guide/syzygium.html

[kindness]

the bunya pine might end up dominating the orchard a bit.

Loquats aren't native, but they are tasty.

Macadamias as mentioned above would be my choice, and a lilly pilly or two. Plenty of recipes for LP jam, cordial etc.

[paradox]

the bunya pine might end up dominating the orchard a bit.

 

bunya pine sp. is Araucaria Bidwillii. Araucaria spp are a really common bonsai tree also. now that would be great, a bunya bonsai with a huge 10kg cone hanging off it! although i guess bonsai's aren't practical for alice as he wants to plant outdoors in the ground. interesting nonetheless though

[Alice]

Wow thanks for all the replies guys!

tarenna: Mum has a finger lime at her place down the road but in the 4 years she's had it it's never fruited...?

weedRampage: Cool suggestion, I used to love drinking the honeysuckle-like plants as a kid. I'll slot that one into the garden somewhere.

Yeti101: Yeah I've got a couple of lily pilly's already, the pink fruit ones are delicious. Whenever I'm out and about and I see some I'll have a nibble, tends to freak out some people though ("those berries could be poisonous!" ... yeah like I'd just go and eat some random berries if I didn't know what they were lol... )

Xodarap: Yeah sweet, the macadamia I'm definately going to try. There's one down the road that puts out tonnes of nuts, but she's a monster. Just need to do some research and find out about pruning. Don't suppose anyone knows if macadamias flower on fresh or previous seasons growth? Also, the nuts take quite a while to mature don't they? So maybe I'd be better pruning it right back every 3-4 years and letting it do its own thing in between.

The native guava (Eupomatia) is a great suggestion. I'll definately be tracking that down. I figured the figs are generally a bit big... will try and find some info on how the sandpaper fig grows if kept small. The brown pine is too big, though maybe I can stealthily plant one out the front as a street tree.

Micromegas: Thanks for the advice about the quandong. The native sandalwood appeals to me as I could also use the timber in some woodwork once it gets to big. Any idea where I'd track down a plant? Seems difficult to germinate from seed.

Meanies: I haven't seen that book before, it's exactly what I need. My library apparently has it for loan so I'll have a look this week, cheers!

Yeti101: haha, yeah a bunya pine's perhaps a little big. Luckily my mum has a very old one at her place so I have access to those cones. Damn near took my head off when I was younger, be careful when mowing under the bunya tree people....

Micromegas: Kunzea pomifera sound great. Actually I'm enjoying all these other suggestions even though they aren't trees, I'm in need of a ground cover to stabilise some sloping ground. Sounds like a bit of a super food with all those antioxidants.

stitched up: the loquat is not native, but glad you reminded me of it. Would be very useful to have as it is winter fruiting, unlike the majority of the other fruit trees.

Xodarap: Actually I've been training a pink berry syzigium as a bonsai for about 2 years now, they are actually quite easy to work with, though the branches are quite brittle if they're old growth. I rescued it from a garden, it was probably only 5 or 6 years old but the nebari is about 8cm across and anchors the tree quite well. I hacked it down to 30cm and left if for 12 months to readjust, now it's into a real pot and branch placement is coming along nicely. Might post a picture in a few years when it's looking fatter. I've seen a few pictures of bunya pine bonsai though none that have been styled true to form.

[kindness]

The wild foods book is definitely worth owning. It's a compact book so easily fits in a bag when you're walking. For me it's been one of those books that I stare at over and over again and then when I'm hiking I'll see a plant and think, 'hmmm I've seen that before somewhere'.

Have you got the good old Walligal Greens in your garden? I'm sure you would have but if not they are super common on the coast and big patches don't mind having a small section removed, (with roots)... of course not from a NP but from a roadside or somewhere where it's not going to have a negative enviro impact.

[tarenna]

Hey Alice

For regular and reliable fruiting of Finger Lime it is best to graft them to to trifoliata rootstock - they go gangbusters then..

good luck

MSG

[inpsyght]

.

Edited February 7, 2012 by inpsyght

[paradox]

i've just been checking out some of the commercial cultivars of macadamia.

Macadamia tetraphylla var Louisa would be good places to start. apparently it's compact, probably self fertile. sets heavy crops & is high in sugars.

the nuts are smaller & the shells are rougher on M. tetraphylla than M. integrifolia, which has larger smoother nuts.

[ThunderIdeal]

only skimmed this thread so far

previously i thought i had tried a brazilian cherry, but brazilian cherries are soft with pronounced ribs on the fruit. i assure you they taste quite good.

i don't think they're declared in qld, but they are weedy.