Jian Liu Archives - Page 2 of 3 - ABC Organic Gardener Magazine

Jian Liu

Warm temperate writer

Jian Liu is a lawyer by day but an organic gardener at all other times, sharing her experience and knowledge as a regular contributer to ABC Organic Gardener magazine. Her Melbourne backyard is a food forest, with over 70 varieties of fruits, a greenhouse, water tanks, chickens, four worm farms, compost bins, a productive pond, and hundreds of varieties of heirloom vegetables. Jian is determined to grow organic vegies for her young children, teaching them the valuable lesson of just how much work it takes to produce a single vegetable, while at the same time reducing our footprint on the earth. Growing our own food is one of the best ways that we, as individuals, can make a difference every single day.

Recent articles by Jian Liu

Healthy rhubarb plant with thick red stems and large crinkled green leaves growing in garden soil

Vegetables

The joys of growing rhubarb

The scent of rhubarb and apple pie coming from a kitchen is oh-so tempting, especially when you've grown the rhubarb yourself. You can get started with these tips from Jian Liu.

For an optimal harvest, broccoli should be planted after the extreme heat of summer.

Vegetables

Expert tips for the best homegrown broccoli

Jian Liu shares her answer to an important question when you are starting to grow broccoli in your patch: is it better to plant seeds or seedlings?

Some of the shade-loving greens Jian grows in her urban garden.

What to plant

Tips for growing edible plants in winter

Winter brings softer light and shorter days, with long shadows creating shady spots that can be difficult to grow in, but these tips from Jian Liu will help.

Figs are extremely long-lived and hardy.

Fruit & nuts

Grow your own fruit salad

Having your own fruit harvest means you have access to fresh produce at its peak flavour and juiciness. Jian Liu has many favourites – here's two you might want to grow yourself.

When babaco are fully ripe, they are sweet and juicy, with a star-shaped cross-section.

Fruit & nuts

Grow your own fruit: babaco and rockmelon

Fresh fruit is the best on a hot summer's day and these two will add a sweetness to a fruit salad that everyone will love.

Vegetables

Pumpkins: the all-season survival food

Jian Liu grows pumpkins in all sorts of places in her suburban garden, and not just because of their taste - they look great, too. They adorn her garden beds and arches, providing abundant harvests through summer and autumn. What's even better is that they store well for eating over winter.

Basics

Building your own raised beds

There are many ways we can save money within our gardens, here Jian Liu shares her tips for making your own raised beds using locally sourced ‘waste’ products.

The polycarbonate greenhouse in Jian Liu's Melbourne backyard.

Basics

Managing your greenhouse microclimate

Adding a greenhouse to your garden can take your food growing to another level, writes Jian Liu.

Cabbages come into their own when preserved or fermented.

Preserving & fermented

Fermenting cabbage

Cabbages are wonderful raw or cooked, but they really come into their own when fermented and preserved, Jian Liu writes.

Basics

What is a food forest?

A permaculture concept, a food forest promises a self-sustaining system that produces an abundance of food if designed well. Here's why Jian Liu created one in her Melbourne backyard.