Mooroolbark Community Garden
Community Buzz
From the Garden Gate
August 2024
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Welcome to the last month of winter and the beginning of spring! The mornings are frosty but the sun shines through giving us a glorious afternoon to begin preparations for spring planting. The last of the winter vegetables are going great and should be ready for harvest in the next month. As we harvest the winter veggies, we will also prepare the beds for spring planting with compost, fertilizer, and mulch, giving it time to settle before we plant.
The garden volunteers and Wednesday gardening class are busy beginning the sowing of the spring and summer vegetables including, Tomatoes, Capsicums, Chilies, Zucchinis, and Eggplant in the polytunnel with our new favourite Tomatillos already beginning to germinate.
It won't be long before we get a beautiful display of blooms on all our new fruit trees. If you have stone fruit at home, now is the time to spray Copper Sulfate to prevent leaf curl, especially on Nectarines and Peaches.
So, what can you start sowing now? If you have a good sunny window indoors or a greenhouse, begin with Tomatoes, Asparagus, Beans, Capsicum, Cucumbers, Leeks, Lettuce, most Herbs, Parsnips, Rhubarb, Silverbeet, Spinach, Spring Onions and Squash. Now is also a great time to prepare your seed Potatoes for planting in pots. You can directly sow Carrots and Beetroot.
Seedlings are available for sale at the garden, there is always a volunteer available 10-12 weather permitting 7 days a week.
We look forward to seeing you in the garden.
Time to get your hands dirty!​​
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Helen - President
July 2024
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As the weather cools and the frosts start, the garden is quieting down. All the new infrastructure is in and working wonderfully and we are just waiting for the inclusion tables and beds which will be placed at the garden in the first two weeks of September. We are starting to prepare for spring and working hard planning to ensure our “new” year starts strongly.
New beds have been placed around the garden as well as the plum tree finally getting the long overdue pruning it needed! I can’t wait to see how it responds in the spring!
July brings us to the stage of spring seed raising, tomatoes, potatoes, flowers and herbs, it’s time to fill the polytunnels with it all. We have had a great donation of seedling pots and plants, and all the seed raising mix is ready and the volunteers are raring to go!
We had another visit from Boronia k-12 during June and another great day was had by all. Now that the first round of WFD participants have finished, the volunteers are having half days at the garden and getting home before 2pm, although there is always something to do at the garden and we have plenty of willing volunteers (but always love more) who come every week to help us maintain and create there.
Another Sausage sizzle went off without a hitch last weekend and we raised $632 after expenditures, it was the first time we used one of our new marquees and they were a great hit. Thank you to all who volunteered and to Kent who spent the whole day on the hot plate. The more we do these BBQs the more streamlined they become, and we love the vibe at Coles.
Here is to the next month quietly setting goals and seeds.
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Helen - President