Bush fires, compost and gardening webinars

Welcome to 2013!!

In typical Aussie style, we’ve started the year with blazing heat and bush fires so gardening may not have been a top priority for some in The Veggie Club.

Not only are these conditions hard personally, but they’re also hard on our gardens. The sort of care that we put into tending our soils, mulching and promoting strong resilient growth is crucial to the survival of our plants. This is true whether we’re deep into summer time extremes or deep winter on the other side of the world. Preparation really is the key.

I’ve been on a journey over the last 12 months to discover the benefits of focusing on soil biology and its connection with plant growth … and the results have both amazed and impressed me. Soil that is alive with microbes produces plants that are resilient to extremes, resistant to pest and disease, and they grow bigger, tastier veggies.

Nothing gets the soil alive with microbes better than compost and worm products. Rather than just adding synthetic artificial fertilisers, our aim in the year ahead should be to improve our soils and feed the critters in them. Rock dust, foliar mineral sprays and biological stimulants have become my best friends (and my garden’s best friends).

It’s left me with a deeper conviction to improving soils through home composting and worm products that are teaming with growth promoting micro-organisms. Every home should have a compost system and worm farm … without excuse!

If you’re like many gardeners and have had less than ideal results then I’ll be supporting you with some blog posts to show you how it’s done successfully through the year ahead. If you prefer the face to face approach then I’ve got some more workshops lined up for you in February and March. Remember you can always tap into an online approach to learning too with my online workshop if you’re out of range.

The second half of 2013 might see us all dabble in some short webinars. I’m thinking about presenting topics like crop rotation, companion planting, biological controls to pest and disease, composting and worm farms. If you’ve got some comments or suggestions for this please let me know so we can all benefit from them.

I’ve got some great new books I’ll be reviewing for you and introducing you to some gardening as therapy through Cultivating Wellness with Australia’s own Gardener of the Year, Steven Wells from the royal talbot rehabilitation centre in Melbourne.

Great activities, great gardening and great results … every time.
Enjoy your gardening year ahead, veggies!

Toni, the Veggie Lady