| | | |  | | Summer is here! | Needs updating.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Hero of the Month: Grapes | | | Summer and grapes go together like hot weather and a chilled glass of wine, for those who like a tipple, or frozen grapes for the kids (and even us ‘big’ kids). As well as being a fun and versatile food, grape vines are luscious-looking plants to have in the garden.
You can read more about the benefits of growing grape vines in the garden here.
You can read more about the benefits of growing grape vines in the garden here.
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| | Beets and Pieces |  | | | Summer garden pests and what to do about them | After our very long locked-down winter in Melbourne, it’s super exciting to be able to once again ‘pop out to the shops’ and get back into properly sorting out the garden – unless, of course, you’re one of the amazing people who managed to grow an incredible lockdown garden!
Either way, being a fairly rainy La Niña year so far, there are a growing number of beasties and bugs out there trying to beat us at our garden game.
See our article about how to deal with three of these pesky garden pests.
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|  | | | Do you know about your local Indigenous weather seasons? | While we all know we’re in ‘summer’ without even checking the calendar – with long, hot days starting to kick in – did you know that Indigenous Australian cultures have far more detailed and descriptive seasons for the whole year?
These seasons vary depending on location – we’ll cover more on this in a future article but you can have a look at the Bureau of Meteorology’s Indigenous Weather Knowledge information to get started or watch this ABC video.
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|  | | | Costa's Christmas Special - Home Sweet Home | Watch Costa lending a hand to a centenarian gardener who’s been cultivating her beautiful backyard since 1950.
After 70 years of gardening, Phyllis Thompson still enjoys planting, watching her garden grow and painting gnomes. Moving to her property in 1950,
Phyllis carved out her garden from the clay and weeds of her suburban block, and first planted a frangipani, then fruit trees, vegie patches and a wide range of flowers including her beloved roses. She says, “In those days, we didn’t have a lot of money so you made use of what you could find. We didn’t have anything expensive, just as long it was a flower or a shrub that was enough.”
Maintaining the garden at 100 years old now is a little harder as “you get a bit tired sometimes, but you sort of put that aside and keep going anyway.”
You can watch the video and read the rest of the article from the ABC here.
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|  | | | The 'franken-carrots' of Freo: an Australian prison resurrects its victory garden | After lying derelict for more than 30 years, the gardens at a world heritage-listed prison are again flourishing and feeding the community.
A lot can change in eight months. In March, the terraced knoll in front of Fremantle Prison’s main cellblock was little more than a tangle of weeds. The bricks had faded, rubbish was buried in the ground, rogue plants ran wild: all the things that happen when a patch of dirt (more like sand, really) is left neglected for decades.
Today, this patch of dirt is thriving. Squash plants are everywhere, their fat leaves facing the heavens like nature’s own satellite dishes. Red-veined beetroot leaves jut out of the soil, now a healthy shade of crumbly brown and wood chip. White cabbage moths, bees and hover flies jostle for air supremacy. What was once something of an eyesore has been transformed into a living kingdom of plants and insects.
Read the full article from the Guardian.
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|  | | Back in the Garden | Summer is really starting to kick in now, and the days will continue to get longer as we head for the summer solstice – and of course it’s going to get hotter! Make sure you’ve got all your plants well mulched to protect the soils from the sun and the coming dry winds.
As strange as it may seem, early summer is the time to sow some winter brassicas such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and swedes so they can be harvested in winter.
For more great tips on managing your summer crop, check out Deep Green Permaculture’s Gardening Guide for the temperate zone (that’s us Melbourne-types!)
Remember: some seeds do better starting off in punnets, some in pots and some in the ground. To get the best from your seedlings be sure to check the best methods first!
Seeds you can plant in September include:
| | ● | Amaranth | | ● | Kohlrabi | | ● | Asparagus Pea | | ● | Lettuce | | ● | Beetroot | | ● | Mustard greens | | ● | Borage | | ● | Oregano | | ● | Burdock | | ● | Parsley | | ● | Cape Gooseberry | | ● | Pumpkin | | ● | Carrot | | ● | Radish | | ● | Chilli | | ● | Rosella | | ● | Chives | | ● | Sage | | ● | Choko | | ● | Silverbeet | | ● | Climbing Beans | | ● | Sunflower | | ● | Cucumber | | ● | Sweet corn | | ● | Dwarf beans | | ● | Turnip | | ● | French Tarragon | | | |
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