Welcome to Watermelon & Waves
We are entering into Kambarang which is the second spring of the Noongar calendar which has six seasons including two summers and two springs. Kambarang covers from October to November bringing with it changes in the air as we approach summer with longer, warmer days and extended dry periods. If you are walking through the bush it is a good idea to keep your eyes open for reptiles which are beginning to wake from their hibernation such as snakes and bobtails. Birds too are busy raising and feeding their young so continue to be mindful while in Maggie territory.
This is a great time to explore the Perth bushlands as they explode with blooms. Watch out for native orchids, kangaroo paws, banksias and acacias displaying their God-given splendour. As we approach Christmas look out for the bright orange/yellow flowers, our Native Australian Christmas Tree (Nuytsia) signalling the heat to come.
What to expect in this issue:
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- What’s Happening in our Garden
- Up and Coming Events
- Gardening Jobs During this Season: October – November
- What to Plant Now
- This Issues Native Plant – Swan River Myrtle (Hypocalymma robustum)
What’s Happening in Our Garden – Work done recently
Our fortnightly Busy Bees are a great way to get involved and meet other members. Winter rain have brought an abundant crops of weeds and although it has made the garden very lush and green they need to be brought under control before they smother our young plants. This has kept us very busy both with the whipper snipper, weeding and mulching, we have also been composting and generally cleaning up the area.
The wicking beds and our in-ground garden have been planted with an assortment of seeds which have also benefited from the wet weather producing long beans, broad beans and lettuce. Paul, Steve and Cathy our most recent members have been very proactive and eager to get involved; cladding our wicking beds, some from recycling the timber from the pallets and the others with fine texture fibre cement sheeting. They both look fantastic. We collected a heap of large cardboard boxes which we have used to suppress a large area overgrown with weeds. Paul also extended our brick paving.
Thanks to the grant funding from the Department of Communities, we employed a team of workers from Gaia Organic Gardening excavating the site to lay a path and putting in more raised wicking beds beside our existing garden. Things are truly moving along.
We also give a big thanks to the team from Volunteering WA and Rio Tinto who did a mighty job laying cardboard and spreading mulch on a huge section of our garden ready for Open Day.
Another exciting development has been the adding of a GALLERY page to our website which gives us an overview of our growth and stages of developing The Patch. (https://coastalcommunitygarden.au/gallery/ )
AGM went successfully with a few new attendees.
If you are wanting to be involved please let us know through our Facebook page.
New Members:
CCG would like to welcome members who have so generously contributed to the work in our garden both financially and physically. At present member’s fees are being put towards establishing our garden.
Up and Coming Events:
Please check out our Facebook page for any up and coming events and where you might like to get involved. There’s still lots to do and all hands are much appreciated. Please remember to bring sun protection, gloves and water.
Mark your calendars for these up and coming events:
- We are looking to grow our committee and welcome nominations for membership. Additionally, we welcome nominations for the role of chairperson as our beloved Natalie is stepping down to travel with her family. For more information please email us at: coastalcommunitygarden@gmail.com
- Fortnightly busy bee – don’t worry if you don’t have gloves or gardening tools; there are plenty in our shed.
- Don’t miss our Opening Day on Saturday 26th. October from 10am – 12pm. Please register for our workshop, ‘Soil Dynamics! Getting to know you soil’, via this events link: CCG Open Day Workshop Bring the family and friends, there will be lots to eat, plants and cakes to purchase as well as a workshop. Come down and make new friends, eat, buy and learn.
We hope to send out a reminder email for these and other events.
Gardening Jobs During Kambarang Season:
Pests and Weeds – The approach of spring is an exciting time of the year for gardeners. It is a time to see a period of serious growth and lovely warm days. It is also a time where we will see an abundance of pests so don’t let them get ahead of you. Keep on top of them by removing breeding areas like weeds and use organic sprays if needed. NB. All sprays can also kill beneficial insects. Where possible remove aphids and scale when you first see them by squashing them with your fingers. This will encourage the beneficial insects to breed up and therefore do the job of protecting your garden for you. Removing weed will stop the pests breeding in these places too.
Soil Preparation – before the dry weather sets in check your irrigation system, sprinkle wetting agents and add rotted manures and compost to sandy soils. This helps with alkaline soils. Before the hotter days of November add new mulch to areas where the old mulch is less than 5cm. Mulching improves water penetration and the soil’s holding capacity. Use fertiliser containing rock minerals, which also feed the soil, and can be applied to the whole garden. Before sowing your new season vegies, pull out the old winter crop and rejuvenate your patch with new compost before mulching.
Preparing for Summer – With extra moisture in the air from spring, plants have a few months to establish themselves before the summer heat. This is the time of the year to plant up your garden beds, hedges, perennials and trees while the cooler weather and spring rains last. Keep them well watered especially over the dryer summer months till their roots are better established. Prepare the beds and holes with lots of organic matter, slow release fertiliser and wetting agent as you water in new plants. Keep the plants well watered for several months until they’ve had time to settle in.
Potted Plants – Now is a great time to repot your potted plants with new potting mix or refresh by adding compost to the top layer. If repotting: pre-soak the plant, giving it a light trim of the stems before gently removing from the pot, soak or shake off most of the old soil, trim off dead or old roots, replace soil with fresh potting mix with added compost and worm castings. Increase watering as the weather gets hotter and dryer. Apply slow release fertiliser to all potted plants.
Divide and repot over-crowded plants such as: heliconia, canna, gingers and cymbidium orchids after flowering. Once cyclamen have finished flowering take them outside for a spell of fresh air in a sheltered, dry position.
What to Plant Now:
OCTOBER – NOVEMBER
Flowers:
Ageratum, alstroemeria, alyssum, argyranthemum (federation daisies), azaleas, boronia, calendula, cyclamen, forget-me-not, kangaroo paws, linaria, livingstone daisy, nasturtium, pansy, petunia, roses, salvia, stock, verbena, vinca, viola, wallflower portulaca, marigold.
Vegetables:
Beans, beetroot, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbages, capsicum, carrots, cauliflowers, celery, chilli, coriander, cucumbers, eggplant, fennel, endive, herbs, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, melons, mint, okra, spring onions, sweet potato, parsnips, pumpkin, radishes, rhubarb crowns, sage, silverbeet, sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchinis.
This Issue’s Native Plant: 
(for our coastal region the Bassendean and Spearwood dune sands Perth)
Heart-Leaf Flame pea (Chorizema cordatum)
Found in the south west, this small, scrambling shrub grows to about 1 meter high 1-1.5 mts with elongated, heat-shaped leaves. The pea flowers are large and showy, bright red and orange which occur in late winter and spring.
Plant Care:
This species grows best in well drained, slightly loamy, soils. It grows best with protection from full sun and its flowers can burn, it will tolerated periods of dry. Being from the legume family it will provide nitrogen to the soil. They respond well to a good prune, 50 per cent of the bush at the end of spring to keeps them compact and healthy.
It can be propagated from cutting from current season’s growth or from seed after breaking the seed coat which will then break its dormancy.
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As a part of our gardening family we would love to hear your thoughts and what you would like to see in our newsletter.
Thank you for being part of our gardening community.
Yours in the garden,
The Costal Community Garden team
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