The first Bunyip Urban Landcare planting is to be held at Tamara and Andy's acre in Bunyip. It's a great chance to learn about Zones 2, 3, 4 & 5 of a permaculture system. The group was formed last year to get more native ecosystems into people's garden's, to make it cheaper to put in windbreaks and habitat on house blocks and to have a good time.

We will be planting two 10m x 60m windbreaks with a variety local natives. We have hand dug four swales within these areas. So we have lots of microclimates - wet, dry, shaded etc. We have microswaled a 30m section with a ditch witch where we will run grey water. There are large pine trees the other side of the fence that have made it a very thirsty area.

We have been spraying with compost tea and molasses and sea weed solution to get the microbe activity really going. The windbreaks form zone 4 in our design and will eventually also have nut and other productive trees planted.

We are putting in 8 rows of local wattles among the swales in the apple orchard to fix nitrogen for and shelter the heritage apples and nectarines that are to be planted in the Zone 2 orchard.

All up about 500 tubestock plants are going in.

We are about an hour's drive from Melbourne. Contact me for the address, and if you are coming by V-line train we will pick you up from Garfield station. Call 03 5629 5918 or 0407 45 7707, or email scarletwoman@hotmail.com

My brother is catering and he is an ex-chef. We will have home grown pumpkin soup as well as some duck egg recipes. Local cooks are also bringing some goodies.