Getting blitzed for some autumn action
Check out those pumpkins! Gotta love it when they sprout from the compost…
The last month has been a wonderful time of harvesting, preserving, swapping and gifting. While the bees didn’t give as much honey as previous years, the fruit trees gave an abundance of apples and stonefruit, with the smell of apple pies and white-peach jam filling our household! And thanks to our compost, free pumpkin is now filling our bellies. Now that the sun has retreated behind the clouds and the streets are awash with leaves, our minds turn to thoughts of warm jackets and beanies…
To celebrate this change of season our song of the month is none other than Yo La Tengo with “Autumn Sweater”
Permablitz News
Get into blitzing!
We’ve got a couple of great blitzes coming up thanks to the tireless efforts of the wonderful peoples of the Designers Guild – they’ve produced so many great designs over the years, and designs that just keep on giving!
There’s quite a few really good follow-up articles where we get to see what worked (and what didn’t!) a few years or so after a blitz – definitely worth checking out.
And if you’ve been to a blitz or two you may be eligible for a blitz all of your very own! If you want to find out how, just check out the Get Blitzed page and fill out the form. Who knows – the next blitz announcement could be yours!
Find out how you can get blitzed here!
Hero of the Month
Feverfew
Feverfew
While not good for a bee garden, this hardy perennial is renown for its medicinal claims – and has been used in the past to treat headaches, arthritis and fever! They’re dead easy to grow – just pop it in a sunny spot and away it grows… just be sure that you want it, as it can be invasive.
But it’s oh so pretty!
Find out more about feverfew here!
Bits and Pieces
How to: Fill a Raised Garden Bed with Soil for Free!
If you’re up for a spot of composting, then with a bit of patience you can produce soil a-plenty!
The wonderful team from the Dutchy and Rose Facebook page have shared with us their no-longer-a-secret home soil plans – and tell about how their empty garden bed began its life as a compost bin.
Learn how you too can start off with a compost bin and end up with quality-grade soil – for free!
Free Soil
Once composted – or if left alone long enough – the shoots breaks down completely
And speaking of soil for free…
Dan from CERES propagates pea shoots and sunflower sprouts for sale to greengrocers in Melbourne. He has recently increased his sales and is churning through a lot of certified organic seed raising mix from Grow Better. He purchases the soil for about $175 cubic meter, uses it once in propagation trays, and then stores it in large crates on site.
And then… he needs it gone! Which is lucky for us, because we know HEAPS of people who want it. There’s quite a waiting list for the soil now, but hats off to Dan for sharing such an invaluable resource.
And now… it’s time to compost!
All this talk of soil has got me all excited about compost – and the International Compost Awareness Week is coming up in May, and you just know we’re going to be mixing our greens and browns in our compost bins to celebrate!
International Compost Awareness Week Australia (ICAW), is a week of activities, events and publicity to improve awareness of the importance of compost, a valuable organic resource and to promote compost use, knowledge and products. We can compost to help scrap carbon pollution by avoiding landfilling organic materials and helping to build healthier soils.
Find out about what you can do to get composting here!
In the Garden
Time to get some green mulch crops in!
Right now is the perfect time to get your garlic in. It’s also a good time to collect all those autumn leaves (free mulch – yay!), propagate your hardwood cuttings and think about moving any deciduous tree that hasn’t been doing so well. If you’ve got some space left in your veggie patch, why not
Seeds that do well in April include…
- Beetroot
- Broad beans
- Burdock
- Carrot
- Chives
- Corn Salad
- Endive
- Florence Fennel
- Garlic
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce
- Mizuna
- Mustard greens
- Oregano
- Pak Choy
- Parsley
- Peas
- Radish
- Rocket
- Shallots
- Silverbeet
- Snow Peas
- Spinach
- Swedes
- Turnip
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!
