Blog
Our blog features a variety of gardening and growing tips on topics such as soil biology, wicking bed construction, composting, grafting, pruning, water-saving and irrigation. 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.
Jagajaga Community Volunteer Awards
Congratulations to Terry Cass, Patty Boxhall and Carol Wall who have received recognition in the Jagajaga Community Volunteer Awards for their hard work and extensive contribution to Sustainable Macleod. The awards were presented by Kate Thwaites, MP for Jagajaga, at...
Kulin nation plant use: a free downloadable resource for our area
I’m reading Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, a book I’ve been meaning to read for ages. It’s a fascinating read in which Pascoe says that Indigenous Australians were not only hunter-gatherers. He talks about Aboriginal agricultural practices, including the widespread...
Methane-eating bacteria could help curb greenhouse gases
Trees are the Earth’s lungs – it’s well understood they drawdown and lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But emerging research is showing trees can also emit methane, and it’s currently unknown just how much.
A community battery for Macleod?
Sustainable Macleod and Banyule Clean Energy Group are actively looking at the feasibility of community batteries in Banyule. The building of a large battery storage by Tesla in Hornsdale, SA, brought large-scale battery storage to public attention. The battery has...
How to deal with rats while protecting owls and other birds of prey
Like lots of others, I’ve got more rats in my backyard than I’ve ever seen. And I really hate them, and as ridiculous as it sounds I’m actually scared of them. The growing conditions have created a feast of acorns on the huge oak tree and lots of tasty fruit and...
How to reduce the height of fruit trees
At the community garden, we want to bring down the height of our fruit trees so that none of us need climb a ladder to pick the fruit. Gone are the days of leaving some for the birds, as we now need to remove any fruit that could be infected with Queensland Fruit Fly....
Broad bean bonanza!
Top hints for growing broad beans add potash to soil plant beans 5cm deep support plants to prevent stem breakage remove tips to prevent black fly Broad beans are a wonderful crop to grow for 4 reasons. They are a delicious and nutritious food, they add nitrogen to...
How to grow beautiful cauliflower
Top tips for growing cauliflower: plant seedlings deeply space according to instructions install dripline keep well watered Cauliflower is sometimes avoided by gardeners because of poor results but it is very easy to grow large, beautiful, compact, snowy headed...
Announcing our Partnership with Ryset
Sustainable Macleod is thrilled to announce a partnership with Ryset in West Heidelberg. We have been supported by Ryset for several years and recently they made a substantial donation of materials to the Macleod Organic Community Garden. You have probably bought...
Rusty vegetables?
Did you know that there are over 500 types of rust that affect plants? Rust is a spore that usually begins as white spots on the leaves or stems of plants and becomes yellow or orange or sometimes black as it progresses. It is a fungal parasite that is spread by the...
Sap sucking insects and what to do about them
Sap sucking insects, as their name suggests, suck the sap out of plant leaves leaving them at best pale and spotty and at worst, having devoured all the chlorophyll, white, dry and lifeless. There is a large range of sap sucking insects including aphids, leafhoppers,...
A food strategy for Banyule
Context Sustainable Macleod acknowledges the traditional inhabitants of Banyule and surrounds and further acknowledges their original role in managing this land to provide a sustainable and abundant food system. From the early days of European settlement, the area we...
Plant local and they will come
Autumn is all about harvesting the end of summer vegetable crops and getting your vegie beds ready for winter crops. But, it’s also the perfect time to be planting local native plants. Native plants come from anywhere in Australia. Natives plants such as grevilleas,...
Should I use a wound paint on pruning cuts?
Should I use a wound paint on pruning cuts? The short answer is 'No'! 15 years ago the answer may have been yes but there has been much research in this period of time which has definitively concluded that it is not only unnecessary but may prevent the tree carrying...
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.