Spring has sprung ! New Melbourne Classes from Edible Eden Design

Classes - 2 new classes are available, featuring Permaculture and Bush Foods and Herbs.

     The popular Vegies for Beginners is re-run in October and it's time for a Spring garden tour of Karen's garden!

To help with the arrival of Spring, here is our first newsletter - note : if you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe using the following links.

Some Fruit Tree and Citrus Notes

In Melbourne and Hobart it's time to feed all fruit trees, especially citrus, which are generally looking pale after a long cold winter (even though the warmest on record Australia wide...) Sydney's citrus will also be hungry, (as all citrus are), and will enjoy the first feed of the growing season. (Feed again in summer and autumn)

Use a slow release organic fertilizer to keep the worms in your soil happy – chemical fertilizers can burn them. A feed with a liquid fertilizer such as seaweed or fish emulsion can give a quick boost to pale leaves too.

If you have an open fire, an old gardening tip is to apply some wood ash (separate from the charcoal with a sieve) to give fruit trees potash, (amongst other nutrients) which helps with fruiting. Use lightly - sprinkle about ½ a cup around a new tree, or 2 to 3 cups around an established tree and water in. Be aware that wood ash is alkaline, and as such is not suitable for blueberries – mulch them with some pine needles instead.

Finally, the first academic study has been released about the benefits of wood ash as a fertilizer (used with another ‘special’ ingredient). Read about it here! 

It’s time to plant new citrus trees in Melbourne, Sydney and even Hobart in a week or so - as long as the danger of frost has passed in your area. Make sure to prepare the soil well, as citrus like well-drained soil. If you have sandy soil, rejoice, as citrus love good drainage! Although it may seem harsh, removing flowers and fruit in the first 2 or 3 years after planting will help to establish a good root system. 

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Karen Sutherland has been growing food since the age of 8, and has worked designing and making gardens for the last 25 years.

Classes are held in her own edible eden, featured early this year on 60 minutes.

Her dream is detailed in her website, which also has details about other classes.