ON the theme of food resilience for our area, for many regions they would simply have to give up their caffeinated habits once supplies were gone, but we would not.

Tea, coffee, sugarcane and other sweeteners all grow very well here.

And we have cows and goats for milk, and macadamias for a non-dairy alternative.

The effort goes into processing with a lot of these, not the growing.

Tea Camellia sinensis

Did you know it’s a camellia?

Our often acidic soils around here suit camellia, and indeed tea bushes grow really well all by themselves.

As one grower remarked, it’s “tough as nails”.

That’s what we want!

And the plant can last for up to 30 years!

Buy a seedling or two, that will be enough for home use, or find someone who already has a tea plant.

Tea bushes are carpeted underneath with seedlings.

It also strikes easily from cuttings.

You can plant seedlings out any time, though autumn and spring will be the best seasons to get them going.

Tea can survive frost once it is established but it will need protection while still a young soft plant.

Tea likes full sun, a well drained position with decent moisture available.

No fussing or care required.

It takes around three years to grow to full size, 1-2m in height and width, though you can begin making tea as soon as the plant is large enough to cope with losing a few leaves here and there.

Tea leaf growth here involves a spring and an autumn flush.

You will need to prune to encourage leaf growth so you have plenty of the young leaves to pick and drink.

It responds well to pruning which is code for it’s difficult to mess this up for this plant.

It’s recommended to prune after flowering and to give some balanced fertiliser at this time too to support the next flush of growth.

You can absolutely use fresh leaves to make tea.

Choose the very youngest few leaves or bud tips and expect that the beverage may be more bitter and astringent than you are used to.

Black, green and white tea are all made from the same plant.

It’s the differences in the age of the leaves and varying steps of wilting, macerating, steaming, then heating or drying that create the variations in flavour.

Google is your recipe friend.

Next time, coffee.

Find more local gardening articles at www.wherefishsing.com under Bello Food Gardening.

Supported by Bellingen Shire Council via the Bellingen Shire Disaster Recovery and Resilience Grant Program Funding.

 

By Fiona MORGAN