25th March 2017
March was extraordinarily wet with only a few days of sunshine and rain every other day. Some of our seeds didn’t germinate with the terrible weather, however our seed saver day was a rare day of sunshine. 27 people came, this included 5 children from our kid’s team. We have a new team leader for the kids team, Susannah. We transplanted 21 varieties of plants that we had planted last month in seed trays, into single cell pots. These went back into the greenhouse to grow a little bigger. We planted 41 varieties of seeds into seed trays. (Last month was 35).
The vegetable seeds we planted were Ashwaganda – Indian Ginseng, 5 types of Beetroot, Bok Choy, 3 types of Broccolini, 3 types of Cabbage, 3 types of Carrot including a dragon variety with purple on the outside and red inside! Cauliflower, Endive, 2 types of Kale, Kohl Rabi, 4 types of Lettuce, Mustard leaf, Onions, Silverbeet, Spinach and Swede. The herb seeds planted were Chives, Parsley and Rocket. The flowers planted were Aquilegia (Granny’s Bonnet), Carnation, Heartsease, Nigella – Black Cumin and 3 types of Viola for the bees.
After a delicious morning tea we harvested seeds of Aniseed, Artichokes, a Brown Seeded Snake Bean, Sprouting Broccoli, Comfrey, Fenugreek, Lemongrass, Mixed lettuce, Giant Italian Parsley, Parsnip and Pyrethrum. Many thanks to everyone who brought in their seeds to donate back and complete the circle. Sadly the donated Zucchini had only immature seeds. It’s important to let the zucchini grow huge over many months to ensure the seeds are mature.
We were also preparing seed packets to sell at our meetings- $1 for three packs! Although the packs look tiny, they have more than enough seeds for a family of 4 for the current planting season.
Seedsavers meets 9am-1pm on the 4th Saturday of each month at Bidjiwong Community Nursery, Baulkham Hills. All welcome.
Happy Gardening!
Penny Janson