There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.
What to plant in Autumn
There is a long list of great vegies and herbs that can be planted in the coming few months. Sadly, the shortage of rain may delay this for many gardeners. Hopefully we will have received some good rain by Easter. If your summer harvest is over, you can begin preparing your beds with a top up of soil and fertiliser. You still need to keep it moist and remember to mulch well as this protects the soil from solarisation. Its like putting a cosy blanket over the microbes and other things that live in the soil and help our plants thrive. It might be a good time to find a shady area at home and get some seedlings started ready for autumn planting.
The Green Adelaide guide says these plants can all be planted in April and May: broad beans, bush beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, dill, fennel, garlic, kale, lettuce, leeks, mizuma, onions, pak choy, peas, radiccio, radish, rocket, salad onions, spinach, spring onions, swede.
Waterwise gardening
The extremely dry weather we are experiencing is a challenge for all gardeners. The key to having a waterwise garden is also basic good gardening in all weather and seasons.
Soil is always the key:
1. boost your soil with good organic matter
2. water before or after the heat of the day
3. maintain moisture
4. mulch, mulch, mulch.
Allowing garden beds to completely dry out increases the risk of the soil becoming hydrophobic. To boost the soil, add compost and possibly some coir – coconut fibre - to help retain moisture. The coir will not hold nutrients so don’t overdo it but as it holds 10 times its weight in water adding coir to your garden bed will help moisture retention. Soak the coir in a bucket of water before mixing through the soil with some good compost and your bed will thank you. Maintain a cover of mulch that is 5cm deep in hot weather is good for retaining moisture and keeping weeds down.
From the orchard by Jennie
It is now time to prune your stone fruit trees. By pruning them at the end of summer the trees natural hormones will encourage growth of new branches, where most of your summer fruit sets. So don’t be timid about cutting back old branches, as trees can grow from half to one metre in height over the next two seasons.
It will also prevent your branches from splitting away from the main stem due to the weight of fruit.Take out any dead wood and branches that will cross over and rub on other branches. Keep the centre of the tree thinner to allow air movement. This will eliminate the chance of mold and fungus growing.
I like to prune back the top of the trees to where I can reach, keeping your tree around three metres in height by spring. This makes it much easier to net and pick your fruit.Don’t leave your nets up as the tree branches will grow through and most of your fruit will end up outside the net. It also lessens the chance of food strong branches. When finished fertilise your tree with Neutrog Gyganic and Rich-gro dolomite and lime. This will encourage new growth and help to set the new buds.
Weeds, weeds, weeds
A big thank you to all our wonderful gardeners who have taken on the challenge of pulling up 5 weeds every time you visit the garden. We can all see the results of your effort. Many of you we know are pulling a lot more than 5. Please continue.
Those who haven't got on board with this challenge yet please try to take and extra few minutes to pull a few weeds each time you visit the garden and put them in one of the green bins. This way the task is shared, and we can all enjoy an environment with less weeds.
Express your interest
Are you interested in one particular area of the Seaford Wetlands Community Garden? Orchard, market garden, greenhouse (autumn-spring), native gardens? Would you like to adopt a tree in the orchard? Do you have a passion for weed control? The committee is looking for ways to share the load and interested in hearing your thoughts, ideas and areas of expertise or growing interest.
Let us know on WhatsApp or when you see us at the garden.
Neutrog Factory Visit
A visit to the Neutrog Factory at Kanmantoo (near Murray Bridge) has been arranged for Friday 14th March. If you haven’t booked a place, please let Jan know on WhatsApp.
Meet at the garden at 10am for car pooling. The trip will take over an hour so there will be a stop for lunch on the way. The tour is booked for 1pm and includes an afternoon tea at Neutrog.
Bunnings BBQs
Our next Bunnings barbeque is:
Saturday 22nd March
If you are able to assist for a 2 hour shift please let Jan via WhatsApp, phone, email or Facebook.
There has been a change to our next barbeque at Bunnings. This will now be the 4th Saturday in March so Saturday March 22nd.
Our April barbeque will be the third Saturday so for 2025 this means Easter Saturday. We have May off and then a special in June on Monday June 9th, King’s birthday holiday.
Many of the bugs we see in our gardens are not pests but beneficial to our plants. Have you seen any of the ones in the above guide? Companion planting helps attract the good bugs. More on that in our next news
Regular events
Reminder: If the weather is forecast to be over 35 degrees then these will be cancelled.
Orchard Group
Fortnightly Thursdays 9am-11am
If you would like to learn more about our orchard and get hints and tips on growing your own fruit, join the Thursday orchard group with Jennie on alternate Thursdays:
Gardening Social Group
Fortnightly Fridays 9am-11am
Every Friday fortnight gardeners and volunteers meet at the garden to do a few of the regular maintenance tasks, tend their own beds and share gardening stories together over morning tea. Coming dates are:
Friday March 28th (Lauren Jew, our local Councillor, will be visiting)
Weekly Gardening Club
On hold until the Autumn
Ode to the weed
Weed oh weed
When winter rain is done
You sit quiet below the soil
To grow when sunshine comes
Weed oh weed
You grow anywhere
In cracks and pathways
You sprout without a care
Weed oh weed
Each day I plead
Somewhere else you will grow
And leave my garden freed
Weed oh weed
Never do I need
For you to bless my garden
With your abundant seed
Driving and Parking cars at the Garden
Please do not drive vehicles on to the garden lease area unless you have express permission from one of the committee to deliver materials or equipment. Please also do not park in the Ambulance/CFS car parks and in Grange and Somerton Courts.
This project was seeded by
Our Committee
Our committee is Rory Fitzsimons (Chair), Kaarin Wilkinson, Jan Brown, Melissa Styles, Jennie Simon and Roger Whiteman. If you have any questions or ideas please contact us via Facebook , on our website, on the Seaford Wetlands Gardeners WhatsApp chat or on the garden email seafordcg@gmail.com.
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