Blog
Our blog features a variety of gardening and sustainablity articles on topics such as soil biology, composting, grafting, pruning, water-saving and irrigation clean energy, waste and biodiversity. Plus we regularly post recipes to help you make the most of the ‘seasonal glut’ and tips on how to live in a more sustainable way.
What to plant in July in Melbourne
A guide to what to plant in July can be found in self-sown plants in the garden. In my garden, there is an abundance of self-sown parsley, coriander, lettuce, other salad greens and tomatoes. Begin planting seeds in punnets for planting in late August/September (early...
Urgent jobs in the garden for July
Make compost. Plant out second crop of autumn/winter vegetables. Cut strawberry runners and pot up in potting mix. Cut back leaves of strawberries - you can even mow them down on a high blade - and dispose of them. Divide them in spring if they are too crowded....
Juvenile Foliage
What’s the point of different juvenile foliage? Walk through any patch of bushland Melbourne and you might notice that some young plants look surprisingly different from their mature counterparts. This is especially noticeable in eucalypts and wattles, where juvenile...
Garlic Hint – July
Now that the shortest day has passed, garlic planted in the autumn will have developed a strong root system and healthy green shoots. But what next? How do we support the swelling of the bulbs into good-sized, healthy heads? Action taken from July to September is key...
Captivating Kale
Did you know that there are over 150 known cultivars of kale, with an array of colours, tastes and textures? Kale is easy to grow as long as it is protected from insect attack. An ideal winter plant Kale thrives in the cold, doing well in frosts and below zero...
Trump’s tariffs impact fashion waste in Australia
An outcome of Donald Trump's tariffs is likely to be the dumping or perhaps aggressive marketing of ultra-fast fashion in Australia. Ultra-fast fashion is clothing intended to be worn once or twice and discarded. Chinese companies such as Temu and Shein, known for...
June garlic hint
There is not much to do for garlic in June - it is now too late to plant it. Presuming you have weeded, mulched and watered your patch, you have done all you need to. Now it is time to wait until the shortest day after which garlic heads will develop. Garlic is...
A glut of cumquats
Cumquats* resemble small oranges about the size of large olives. The skin of the fruit is sweet but the pulp is tart, making an interesting juxtaposition of flavour. They are often underrated as a fruit because of their tartness.
Virtual fencing to prevent wildlife roadkill: promising technology?
Virtual fencing to prevent wildlife roadkill: promising technology? Every year, countless native animals are killed on Victorian roads, including wallabies, wombats, echidnas, koalas and kangaroos. Roadkill is not only a tragic loss for biodiversity, it can be a...
Queensland fruit fly alert – June
This is the time to put out Wild May to mop up any males young enough to survive over winter. Females will be dying as winter approaches. Mopping up young males will largely protect your early summer fruit from QFF attack as they will not be around to fertilise the...
Simple steps to warm your home
Simple steps to warm your home The cold months are upon us and it's time to take steps to make our homes cosy. To decide how best to do this, it's important to understand some fundamentals. It might seem obvious, but ideally our home will be warmest when it acts like...
Contaminated Compost
Have you ever sighed with frustration when you receive a fresh load of compost only to find it laced with blue string, plastic strapping, fruit stickers, plastics, glass and other contaminants? Have you expressed disappointment at this state of affairs and wondered...
Queensland Fruit Fly alert – May
As the photo above shows there are still plenty of Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) around. In this dry lure from a pomegranate tree in my back garden, there are at least 40 males and in a second lure in a lime tree in my front garden, there are over 30 males. These have...
Jagajaga Community Volunteer Awards
Congratulations to Guy Palmer for his Jagajaga Community Volunteer award which honours his extensive work over more than 10 years for Local Food Connect. Guy produces the weekly newsletter, maintains the website and connects local growers, suppliers, retailers and the...
Join Sustainable Macleod
Become a member and get access to the community garden, the tool library and our seed library. We welcome all members of the community and have regular events and workshops to enjoy.