As the garden slows down over winter and we spend more time inside on those cold wet days, it is a great time to upskill, fill in those knowledge gaps and start planning for spring. For me, joining the Food Forest Fellowship has been a game-changer when it comes to all of these things. I have learnt so much, deepend my understanding of what I’ve already learned, abundantly grown in confidence, and all this in just a couple of weeks. If you want to learn more about ‘Syntropic Agroforesty’, ‘Food Forests’, ‘Permaculture Principals’ as well as a new way of being, then head over to take a look and see if it’s your vibe. The community of people who have already joined is phenomenal and seeing what they are doing with their projects has been super inspiring and interesting. It’s an epic thing Byron and the Food Forest Pioneers have created and I wanted to share the love....so go take a look:
Learn more about the Food Forest Fellowship here:
IN THE GARDEN THIS MONTH:
* Stay on top of the slugs and snails with those chilly night-time missions. I have noticed a marked decrease since the ducks moved into the food forest so feeling pretty happy about that.
* Observing your garden and surrounding spaces. Often when our gardens are in this time of slowing down it’s a great time to see where we need some extra work, especially with areas like drainage, landscaping, improvements etc.
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* One thing I learnt last month with the Food Forest Fellowship is to plan and prepare your gardens for the most extreme weather you are likely to have. Think the 100 or 500 year weather events. Have a think about what your biggest threats are to your property (flooding, extres winds, drought, snow etc) and how you can prepare for them.
* Keep tidying up plants and crops that are at the end of their season, save seeds, and store and process crops as required.
* Use cover crops and mulch to help rest and rejuvenate garden beds. I usually use a mixture of crops, Kings Seeds has some great options.
* Check your trees for any pest or fungal issues and deal with accordingly. Also observe and think about why these imbalances have occurred in the first place. What is your environment trying to tell you?
* Get your garlic in if you haven’t already.
* Keep getting in those winter vege like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, silverbeet, spinach, onion. Protect young seedlings from frost and low temps. I have been adding lots of winter flowers alongside my veggies this year too which seems to be helping to keep everything healthy and happy.
* Order your spring seeds …and if you are like me then wait for the one raised eyebrow from your husband when the parcel arrives with the ‘did you really need all those seeds?” look.