News

With the warmer weather upon us there are rewarding days ahead in our food gardens. Improving the conditions for growth is most important to get the best from your plants in the coming months.

To help avoid problems for your plants it is a good time to prepare and enrich your soil. Do you have some compost or ‘vermi’ (worm) compost that you could put to good use in your garden to improve the organic matter, structure and water holding capacity of your soil? What you improve on now will reap larger rewards down the track. Check your compost and take some steps (water, aeration, and adding green or brown materials) to improve it if you need to before incorporating it into your garden.

Do a quick pest patrol to monitor for pests who will also be enjoying the warmer weather. You can use a natural pesticide to help address aphids and scale in the garden. Make a note of pests and issues you encounter in the garden so you can discuss ways you can avoid this issue next year.

With warmer conditions you will also need to change your watering schedule so that plants have the optimum conditions to grow. Check your plant’s soil moisture (you can scrape away mulch and dig gently into the soil) and mulching levels. Top up mulch and refresh where required. Look at ways to capture and conserve water, as every drop counts.

The Junior Landcare Learning Centre provides lots of ideas to help you get out and active in the food garden. Use this opportunity for children to work together and learn from each other to help them be invested in getting the most from the garden.

I would love to hear how your gardens are growing, you can share your stories here.

Yours in Junior Landcare,
Mary Bell
Junior Landcare Education Program Manager