Gardening Australia

Welcome to the weekly discussion thread for the Gardening Australia community. Use this post to dscuss anything garden related that you don't think justifies its own post.

Bot #001 has identified today as Wed

I've certainly had plenty of these butterflies around my place. I'm hoping that there are enough predatory insects built up from snacking on my aphids that will cross over to butterfly larvae.

I would like a place I can talk about the random happenings in my garden that don't justify a stand alone post. Exciting things like my tomato plant finally growing, or the sadness that my snow peas seem to be dying off prematurely.

Would anyone else like to share their gardening snippits? If there is enough interest I can set up a regularly weekly thread (@[email protected] I presume that will be ok?)

Pic is just for interest - this is the collection of gardening pictures I put together to illustrate my garden design goals for a recent assignment.

After a month, I think it's going well. Time will tell. Any tips, tricks or advice, let me know.

Basically Macquarie University and the EPA are partnering in citizen science programs to receive soil and dust samples for testing. This is to provide them with contamination data around lead and other metals, and in return you receive a report about the safety of your soil and what to do if it’s unsafe.

VegeSafe through the Environmental Science staff at Macquarie is open to all Australians and they request a donation starting at $20. Victorians are encouraged to go through GardenSafe.

GardenSafe through the EPA is geared at Victorians, apparently has some extras and is free other than the postage to submit soil samples.

There’s another one less relevant to this instance called DustSafe that tests household dust. They have testing facilities in England, Australia and USA, and ask for a donation starting at $20.

All three programs and links to submit samples can be seen here.

Edit: Soil contamination also affects backyard chickens and their eggs

Researchers have expressed alarm at the uncovering of thousands of online advertisements selling invasive plants that pose a risk to Australia’s wildlife.

I'm considering removing the front fence (which is a criss cross pattern made of wood) at the front of my house (its literally only 1m high, there is no gate, and you can walk around it using the driveway. This would allow me to create a path from my doorway, directly to the footpath, and replace the grass with Trees native shrubs and flowers. I'd then grow a small hedge where the fence was.

Just wondering whether the fence adds any real value to the property, if I replace it with a hedge anyway?

Just putting it out there that your local library or council may run free seed libraries.

You borrow some seeds, plant them, then allow some of the plants to set seed and donate them back to ‘return’.

They may also run community gardens or events to help you learn. Some might even accept unused seeds from packets. (They will probably prefer those be heirloom seeds though, as those seeds will grow true when saved. Hybrids aren’t good for the purpose.)

Here are a few links as a starting point. This isn’t exhaustive though so if your area isn’t listed on here check your local library or council to see if one is on offer.

https://localfoodconnect.org.au/local-food-directory/seed-libraries/

https://www.yourlibrary.com.au/seed-library-2/

My parents ripped these wayward Elephant Ears out of their garden. If I cut the bottom part off where there are roots and pot them up will they sprout back?

I am starting to make plans for the summer vegetable garden, and one of the big issues I will face will be too much sun. I need to work out ways to provide shade to the main garden, most of which gets full sun. I don't have money to spend on anything too major, but I have some shade cloth and bamboo so will hopefully be able to rig up something that works without impeding access too much.

What does everyone else do to protect their vegie garden from excess sun over summer?

Just when I was complaining about the warm winter yesterday.

Anyone have a resource that tells you what things are good to plant for different times of the year?

I'd like a garden that's useful for cooking - herbs, basic veg/tomatoes. But I don't really know where to start.

I had a small patch of herbs, but it was overrun by weeds. I'd like to start this spring with a fresh raised garden bed in my (small) front garden. It receives a decent amount of sun.

Are there any good resources out there for establishing a garden like this in Melbourne? Google obviously is fairly northern-hemisphere oriented, so seasons/availability don't really align.

Things I'm curious about are –

• what to plant
• when to plant
• when to harvest
• how to harvest
• how to deal with pests
• how to deal with weeds
• seeds vs. seedlings
• how often to water
• how much to water
• to feed or not to feed

With the weather so cold in Melbourne at this time of year I am really struggling to get anything done in the garden. I'm trying to keep on top of the weeding and do a bit of planting and harvesting in the vegetable garden, but mostly I'm just huddling inside and dreaming of Spring!

How do other gardeners in the colder states deal with winter? Do you rug up and just get it done, or leave the garden to it's own devices and stay inside?

I love these guys. Grab a few fallen seeds from a local park, take them home and watch them sprout.