Newsletter April 2009

Autumn is here!

With the weather so topsy-turvy, you might not believe that 1st March marked the beginning of cooler days and the time for Autumnal chores in the garden such as constructing a pathway or a pergola, sharpening your tools, improving your soil or mulching the garden beds.
With the tough economic times we are now in, we can do no better than get out into the garden and grow our own food. A healthy meal can be made with a little protein from the shop (meat or eggs or fish) and some very cheap greens and potatoes from the garden. Times maybe difficult but a garden provides healthy exercise and puts dinner on the table.

Handy Hints for April

· Orientating your crops by planting annual crops in east-west rows with small varieties on the sunward side and successions running towards the sun so that older and larger plants do not shade younger ones

· Strawberries planted now will produce fruit in October and November. Prepare the bed by digging in some aged poultry manure or compost. Collect some runners (from a fellow gardener) and space the runners about 30cm apart; apply a mulch to help prevent weeds and to keep the fruit clean. Strawberries will fruit well for about three years - replace them with new plants in the autumn of the third year.

· Citrus trees grow well in the Toowoomba region and at this time of the year they benefit from some mulch around the base, making sure not to let any of the mulch touch the trunk.

· Comfrey is called a dynamic accumulator as its tissues accumulate potash most strongly but also nitrogen, calcium and magnesium. Its roots go deep. Chop the leaves with a spade and add them to your compost bin or make a liquid tea with them and apply directly to your soil, dilute with 5 parts of water.

· What to plant in that veggie patch month by month? Obtain a copy of that useful TOGA poster ‘Planting Guide—Toowoomba and Region’.

· April is the month to plant broad beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, kohlrabi, lettuce, onions, parsnips, radishes, shallots, silver beet, turnips.

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Also in the April Newsletter:
- Recycling or Reusing Waste in your garden
- Cooking with Soils (Creating the perfect soil)
- How to care for worms and worm farms
- Michael's No-Knead Bread Recipe

Cycles of the Month - April 2009

Moon Phases:
First quarter: Friday, 3 April (01:34)
Full moon: Friday, 10 April (00:57)
Last quarter: Friday, 17 April (11:37)
New Moon: Saturday, 25 April (13:24)

Newsletter Contributions
Email Linda lmangubhai@gmail.com