January Produce Swappers Newsletter
Happy New Year! Welcome to another year of swapping backyard produce, meeting new friends and strengthening our little community.
It’s been a harrowing start to the new decade with fires raging around the country and so many people, animals and ecosystems under stress. Let’s hope that the rest of summer proves to be more mild and that that we get some rain to get much-needed moisture back into the landscape.
The January Produce swap on Sunday 19th was another success. Locals dropped off excess produce and took something home to enjoy. We had a variety of seeds for cooking and planting, fresh and dried herbs, potted plants, as well as a seasonal variety of veggies, chook and duck eggs and cut flowers. An outstanding contribution was made by the many growers of garlic in Malmsbury - what a selection! An honourable mention for the amazing dried lemon verbena!
WE NOW HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE!
Sustainable Malmsbury now has it’s very own Facebook page where you can find out all about swaps, upcoming workshops and events and any local sustainability news. We will also continue to send emails to our subscribers and put updates on our website.
COME AND VOLUNTEER WITH US
Volunteering on the stall is a great way to get to know other swappers and it’s fun to be part of the market atmosphere. If you have a spare hour or so and want to wo/man the stall then get in touch with Jos: joslin.moore@gmail.com
TARADALE PRODUCE SWAP
If you want to add more swaps to your calendar the Taradale produce swap have changed to the fourth Saturday of every month at the Mineral Springs Reserve. The Taradale swap is more of a meet up and hang out so it is also a lovely way to meet local folk. They also have a Facebook page: Taradale Produce Swap so like and follow them for more info.
FERMENTATION WORKSHOP:
We recently received a small projects grant from the Macedon Ranges Shire Council to help us to run a series of low-cost workshops around sustainability and up-skilling. These workshops will include sourdough bread baking, soap making and beeswax wraps and cheesemaking.
The first workshop for 2020 is a fermentation and pickling afternoon at the Malmsbury Town Hall on Sunday the 23rd of February. Meg Ulman will be doing a workshop on basic fermentation techniques and we will then sit down together for a session of brine pickling to make use of summer produce. Tickets are $10 full /$5 concession and children under 12 can come along for free (with a parent/guardian). Bookings essential.
IN THE GARDEN:
It’s a weird season. I feel like I say that every year! But really, it’s been a very slow start with cold temperatures rocketing into extreme heat and then back again. We’ve had a dry spring so watering is a big issue at the moment. Keeping water up to your fruit trees and veggies is a big task this year as the surrounding dry soil will be soaking up every drop!
It’s a good time to be topping up mulch around fruit trees and veggies. A thick layer of mulch (with a gap around the stems of your plants to avoid rotting) not only helps to slow evaporation but also insulates the topsoil against extreme temperatures. This is important for plant roots but the moisture and more stable temperature also allows earthworms and microorganisms to colonise that top layer of soil. Make sure that you give the garden a very thorough soaking BEFORE mulching as mulch can also create a barrier to water penetration from rain or hand watering if it and the soil underneath are too dry.
Summer pruning of fruit trees can start to be carried out now or planned for after fruiting. If you are unsure about when and why to prune different fruit trees there is a basic run down here courtesy of Pip permaculture magazine: https://www.pipmagazine.com.au/grow/prune-fruit-trees/
Sow now: Beetroot, carrot, lettuce, Asian greens, radishes, rocket, silverbeet, spinach (will need morning sun only – or shadecloth over the top), spring onion, turnips
Plant now (as seedlings): Leeks, celery, lettuce, silverbeet, Asian greens including mizuna, mustard, pak choi, tatsoi (these can tolerate sun and heat only if watered consistently), parsley, silverbeet and rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage, kale and cauliflower will establish well in the heat and will then mature as the weather cools down in the autumn (protect from cabbage moth with insect netting).
Finally, because it’s a great time to grow a crop of carrots I wanted to share some top tips for successful sowing:
Carrots grow much, much better from seed than from seedlings but people often struggle (especially in Summer) to get good germination.
Mix your carrot seed with sand (I have to admit that I raid my kids’ sandpit for this!) as this helps to distribute the seed more evenly along your rows.
Thoroughly wet the prepared bed before sowing – that way you don’t have to disturb the carrot seed too much when you water them in after sowing - instead you can very gently water to moisten everything down.
After sowing and watering then cover the bed with wet layers of cardboard and weigh it down with bricks or rocks so that they can’t blow away. Keep the cardboard wet for five-seven days after sowing and then remove. This ensures that the small carrot seed can’t either dry out or blow away during the germination phase. After five to seven days remove the cardboard and continue to keep the bed moist until your seedlings establish.
Happy swapping everyone!
Eve