Author Archives: Matthew Popplewell

Matthew Popplewell

About Matthew Popplewell

Horticulturist, agronomist and freelance journalist, plant breeder, owner of Villa Flora, a small pot bedding company. Noosa, Queensland

Yummy - a kale smoothie Smooth as a baby’s bottom

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As soon as the baby arrives and begins this wonderful journey called life, it is medically suggested that nature has left the baby short of its needs. Vitamin K is now strongly recommended at birth and eight weeks later in the form of an injection or as an oral form for the baby. The reason is a possible haemorrhage that has life threatening consequences. I’m not wanting to pooh pooh the methods of science but to suggest that do babies having just experienced their dramatic arrival really need an invasive needle? Surely Vitamin K has to found in a natural form in a high dose? In steps our friend and new fashion icon; Kale. Continue reading →

Baby Claudia Christine (6.26lb/2.85kg) Raspberry tea makes me a midwife

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We are all familiar with the fruit, the Raspberry (Rubus idaeus). What we are perhaps less familiar with is its extraordinary ability to dramatically shorten the average labour period and turn a confident journalist into a quivering wreck of a make-shift mid-wife. Last Friday, my little Claudia entered the world as a budding horticulturist in the back of a Hyundai by the side of the road. Continue reading →

Buttons are taken first to thin the crop & leave space for field mushrooms to develop Mushroom’s labours are in the dark

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In truth, I had no idea how tricky landing those chlorophyll deprived fungi on your dinner plate were. I spent my childhood tirelessly searching for an elf under them, only always to fall short. So I set about, being the fun-guy I am, to delve into the enormous challenges that face the mushroom grower and put pay to 30 odd years of naivety. Continue reading →

1288 Nature’s leaf rainbow

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Having returned from a whirlwind tour of the UK, few places could have left a more lasting impression than the wondrous colourful transition of the leaves and progression into a deep winter’s sleep than that of the trees at Westonbirt Arboretum, on the west coast of England. Continue reading →

Chooks Soil nutrient balance & poultry waste

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As growers up and down the land strive for the soil nutrient balance, be it on a small or large scale, it seems a new product that has all the answers arrives every week. As the world seeks food production equality on a planet of shrinking space and greater demand, along with the public mindset to conserve what it is chewing up, the words sustainability and organic are rarely far from our thoughts. With many simply feeling we will continue to pay a huge price in using synthetic fertilisers, the drive for the ultimate organic fertiliser continues. Continue reading →

Photo by avlxyz Bring a buzz to your avocados

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I guess you could describe avocado as one of the least economical fruits in the vegies section of the supermarket. But it sure is a healthy meal all in one nicely rolled inside a swag of leathery peel with such a large seed that dominates the fruit and leaves us feeling we have all been robbed by Coles et al. Continue reading →

growing edible plants Retail creatures no longer

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One of my first blogs was to touch on the changing trends in retail horticulture and well, I’ve recovered the soap box from the dog that used it over winter to keep warm, and I’m back on it again. In seeking the common trends and current picture in the ever evolving and challenging market that is retail horticulture, it is clear that as in the words of the great Bob Dylan “The times they are a changing”. Continue reading →

Ginger at Templetons4 Ginger bred men of Queensland

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Perhaps I was destined to live in Queensland for its warm hospitality in hosting a rather large family. A family that is often responsible for sweet things. A family that gave me spice to my life. A family that brought a beer to the world without a headache the following day. It was fair to say that my first love was a gingerbread woman. Continue reading →