Page 6 - Garden Vol 1 No 2

THE HAPPY

GARDENER by David Moad Rivers of Yarrambat Garden Centre

With the change of weather, winter brings a new world and become a staple crop in many
range of things to do in the garden. countries.

In your Edible Garden... Contrary to popular belief, the potato contains
Even though it is cold and nothing seems to be various vitamins and minerals including:
growing, July is a perfect time to prepare the vegie
patch for potatoes, onion, garlic, shallots and Potassium
berries. Potatoes are a better source of potassium than
bananas!
It’s easy to prepare the
vegie patch, just mix in “Potatoes are a better Vitamin C
some compost (to Potatoes contain more
rejuvenate the soil) and a source of Potassium than vitamin C than one
small amount of lime (one medium tomato (40% DV)
handful per square metre), Bananas!” or sweet potato (30% DV).
breaking up any “lumps” of
soil at the same time with a fork. Being winter the Fibre
soil should be moist and easy to dig! One medium potato with the skin contributes 2
grams of fibre or 8% of the daily allowance per
Potatoes are a favourite of mine. I have a fantastic serving.
childhood memories of searching for potatoes at
harvest time. Dad would do the digging while the B6
kids would be on hands and knees “bandicooting”. Potatoes are a good source of vitamin B6, with one
We loved plunging our hands into the soil looking medium potato providing 10% of the
for the huge tubers that were waiting just under recommended daily value.
the soil surface for us to uncover.
Iron
The potato was first domesticated in southern One medium potato provides 6% of the
Peru and extreme north-western Bolivia between recommended daily intake of iron.
8000 and 5000 BC. It has since spread around the

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