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

Autumn Crop, Plant & Produce Swap

The next 'Seedy Sunday' will be over Easter on Sunday 5 April from 10.30am - 12.00nn.

As Sweethearts Cafe will be closed this month and reopening from 15 April, we will be meeting at a temporary alternative venue: Ted and Merryl's place at 33 Greenhaven Close, Burnside (Nambour).

This is an opportunity for a seasonal Autumn Crop, Plant and Produce Swap. So bring along:

• a fold up chair if you have one;
• 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 and/or 
• morning tea to share.

Please consider neighbours and access when parking in the street and car pool if possible.

We appreciate Ted and Merryl's hospitality this month. Thanks so much!

Autumn Planting

With slightly cooler and now wet weather, now is the time to get planting autumn crops. Here are a few suggestions:

• Beetroot - Green Harvest advises: "Beetroot 'seeds' are actually cork-like fruit containing 2 to 6 true seeds. Soak seed clusters in warm water for one to two hours then sow 12 mm deep, directly into fertile, well-worked, well-drained soil in a sunny position. Rows should be 30 cm apart; once the seedlings emerge, thin them to 10 cm apart. Avoid adding too much nitrogen as it promotes leaf growth at the expense of root development. Beetroot does well with a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.5. An application of Backyard Blooms will give a potassium boost for more vigorous root growth. Supply trace elements by applying Natrakelp liquid seaweed; it will help with disease resistance too. 

• Harvest the roots in 55 - 70 days, depending on the variety. For sweet and tender beetroot, start harvesting at golf ball size. Beetroot is happy to share a bed with onions, silverbeet, lettuce, cabbage, beans, dill, peas or strawberries."
• Alternatively, grow beetroot as microgreens. Bulls Blood is my favourite to sow for lovely young tender leaves as opposed to roots.

• Garlic - Refrigerate bulbs before planting and wait until the 8-9th April to sow the cloves. See this 5 step tutorial for preparing, planting and harvesting. 

• Peas - Choose climbers if you have the space for a trellis or vertical structure. Dwarf or bush varieties are more compact and suit pots and small spaces. Either way, now's the perfect time to put them in before 3 April. There are many suitable varieties from snow peas to sweet sugar snaps - Green Harvest have seeds available or visit Yandina markets on a Saturday at Dave's stall where he raises heirloom and organic seedlings if you want a head start. Check out this Easy Guide to Growing Peas for tips. 

• Rocket - This peppery salad herb is a cool season favourite. Sow seeds now and they'll be sprouting in 2-3 days. Check out this tutorial for tips.

• Beans - Climbers are generally more prolific over a longer period than bush bean varieties so make your choice depending on space and time you have to put up a trellis.

• Other suggestions include pick 'n' pluck lettuces, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, silverbeet/chard and carrots.

Autumn Activities

• April is one of the worst times of year for White Cabbage butterfly caterpillars. There are many strategies you can use. See Coping with Caterpillars for some suggestions. Land cress (also known as American Upland Cress) has been found to be toxic to the caterpillars so interplanting with your brassica crops may be a quick solution. You can source seeds from The Seed Collection. 

• If scale or aphids are appearing on your citrus or fruit trees, use a hose to remove most of them for a few days or spray with Eco Oil. 

• Take the opportunity to compost excess green waste around your garden. Remove fallen fruit and do a general clean up and mulch. 

• Harvest your basil for pesto now before it starts to die back with cooler weather.

• Dead head marigolds and other flowers. Harvest the seeds.

Current Moon Cycle

To maximise your harvests, consider planting by the moon cycles. We are currently in a period of prolific growth for above ground plants until 3 April so get planting with all that soil moisture!

If you're planning on sowing seeds, seedlings, transplanting, taking cuttings, fertilising or dividing plants - now's the time to do it!

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

Hope to see you at the meeting. Remember to BYO friend and a chair this month!

By Anne Gibson