Autumn Seed Savers & What to Plant Now

The next 'Seedy Sunday' will be on Sunday 3 May from 10.30am - 12.00nn.

Thanks especially for Ted and Merryl's hospitality last month at their place. We had a great turn out and loads of seeds, plants, cuttings and tips shared around. Oh, and fabulous food!! Thanks to everyone for making it such an enjoyable meeting.

With the current rain and relatively warm soil temperatures, there are so many edible plants that are growing well in the garden right now. It's a great time to take cuttings to swap and share, sow moisture-loving vegies and herbs and apply soil conditioners.

Bring along:

• any seeds you have to process; 
• plants to sell/swap; 
• planting material such as cuttings or tubers; 
• surplus produce; 
• newspaper/carry bag to take goodies home.

Autumn Planting & Activities

With moisture now in the soil, temperatures cooling down and pest insects like grasshoppers slowing down, it's a wonderful time of year to fill your garden with winter vegetable seeds and seedlings.

That means less watering and work having to tend to pest and disease problems. Here are some activities and planting ideas for this month:

• Maximise summer/autumn growth by chopping back any plants that need a haircut. Arrowroot, comfrey, perennials and pruned shrubs/trees will all provide you with masses of nitrogen rich green material to build your compost. Chop woody prunings to use at the base of compost piles to help aeration and balance carbon. 

Arrowroot - chop and drop as mulch or add to compost as a nutrient accumulator

• Add soil conditioners and organic fertilisers to the soil during the rain to boost growth.
• Sow fast growing edibles like lettuce, rocket and other leafy greens to take advantage of soil moisture. Mulch well.
• Start preparing soil for planting bare-rooted fruit trees available in winter. They are much cheaper and quicker to establish.
• Citrus trees will benefit from another feed now. Remember to mulch your garden well.
• Nasturtiums love the cooler months and have so many uses. Make sure to sow some seeds in your garden now if you haven't already. Once you have them, they will self sow every year.

• Get all your brassica crops in now e.g. kale, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. 
• Remember to plant some American upland cress (also known as land cress) to attract the Cabbage White Butterflies to lay eggs on as a sacrificial plant. The leaves are toxic to the caterpillars so this ends the life cycle.   
• Plant herbs like coriander, dill, chives, mint, and parsley. They thrive in this weather. Give your other perennial herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, lemon grass and lemon-scented verbena a haircut to shape them and provide plenty of fresh herbs for teas or drying.
• If you can get your hands on some dragon fruit, pop them in now.
• Sow some flowers for winter pollination - here are a few suggestions.

What to Plant in May

Check out these guides for more options for planting this month:

Gardenate - Subtropical zone.

ABC Vegie Gardening Guide.

Aussie Organic Gardening.

Current Moon Cycle

To maximise your harvests, consider planting by the moon cycles. We are in a period of prolific growth for above ground plants until 2 May, so get planting with all that soil moisture! This is followed by a few days that are ideal to sow seeds for sprouts and microgreens. 7-8 & 14-15 May are the best times to tuck in root crops.

If you're planning on sowing seeds, seedlings, transplanting, taking cuttings, fertilising or dividing plants, this may help!

Learn more about the Benefits of Moon Gardening. Moon Calendars are available online any time for $12.50.

This month's Seed Savers Meeting

We meet at Sweethearts Cafe who offer us a large space to get together for free (saving us a hall hire fee so no cost to you) but as a business are in effect hiring out that area to us for a couple of hours.

So as a courtesy please remember to at the very least order a tea/coffee or a yummy breakfast, to support the cafe. They have a delicious local and organic menu. Visit their website for more info @ http://www.sweetheartscafe.com.au/aboutus.html.

Venue: 2 Anzac Street (cnr Rosebed Street), Eudlo.

FREE to attend so bring a friend and carpool! Hope to see you soon.

By Anne Gibson