Garden Update - September
Sprinter is well and truly here! That anticipatory time where days of wintery weather are interspersed with sun and excitement filled ones that herald the shifting of seasons.
In this moment we’ve been enjoying the sight of broad bean flowers appear and pea plants beginning their journey up support mesh. Potato onions have sprouted successfully and they’ve added to the allium foliage alongside spring onions, chives and garlic. Late winter the garden is full of green.
And, while it’s truly a bonus to be able to grow over the cooler months here in Canberra, I think I speak for most gardeners in the region when I say that spring is the most looked forward to season for the hope of what is to come (autumn for the harvests, turning leaves and reprieve from the heat!).
The past month has seen a lot of seed planting in the community garden and greenhouse. Asian greens, lettuce and other leafy greens are in situ in the wicking bed planters to replace chard that had provided a bounty for a good couple of seasons already. The greenhouse is currently babying along a few trays of tomato seedlings and close to half have started to pop up their first leaves. The coming weeks will see them joined by seeded pots of other warmth lovers from the solanaceae family, and some basil, zucchini, cucumbers and perhaps even some melons. Nothing will be planted out in the garden until early November and high risk of frost has passed though, and many of the plants will require a pot upsize or two before then, but the urge to plant seeds is strong!
If you’re curious about what to plant each month in the Canberra region we post a monthly planting suggestion on our socials or you can purchase the full calendar via our shop (downloadable option now available!).
Also excitingly in the garden we held our small space food forest workshop on the last weekednd of August. Dr Cally Brennan led a group of over 20 participants through the whats, whys and hows of cultivating a food forest before we all got shovels and hands in the dirt to make one happen at the community garden, incorporating the swale we put in with enthusiastic workshop attendees back in May. We planted two apples and two plums to create the over-story and then underplanted with currants, chilean guava, saltbush, and a variety of favourites for the herbaceous and ground cover level. It will be so exciting to see this space blossom in the coming weeks and continue to fill in and evolve over the coming years.
If you’re keen to check it out, feel free to pop into the garden at one of our workshops or our weekly 9.30-11am Thursday ‘come-and-try’ garden sessions (for newbie and avid gardeners alike). We’d love to connect with you there!