Lismore Garden Club News

It’s that time of year, that is, countdown to spring! It seems that each year as spring draws nigh, experienced gardeners and many that haven’t ever entertained the idea of having a garden are suddenly affected by this contagion of suddenly wanting to get their hands in the dirt and grow things.

Right now is the perfect time to prepare the soil for your spring garden by a) clearing your existing garden bed of spent crops and weeds, or b) selecting a sunny site in your yard and removing the turf in preparation to prepare a garden. In either case you will need to apply rotted animal manure or compost and give it a good dusting with dolomite before turning the lot in. The next step is to water this in with tepid Seasol water and leave for two weeks to allow earthworm and microbial activity to take place before planting seed or seedlings.

Those of us that are located on the elevated frost-free areas or the coastal strip can start to plant almost anything in mid August. Those of us that live in frost prone areas should probably wait a few weeks longer before planting. Living at Goonellabah, I already have a small area ready for planting tomatoes as it appears that there may be shortages and therefore higher prices in spring and beyond.

Even if you don’t have a suitable spot for a garden you can still grow flowers, vegies and herbs in containers including styrafoam vegie boxes. All you need is a good sunny location preferably where they can get natural rain. So give it a go – you may be pleasantly surprised at your success.

The Lismore Garden Club is again hosting the Annual Garden Competition. Entries close on September 6. As usual anyone can enter and entry is free. You can enter in any of the 30 different items with a maximum of 10 items. The next meeting of the club is on Thursday, August 12, at 1pm at the Lismore Workers Club. For information phone Rosemary on 6629 3353.

Finally: “A garden centre customer picks up a can of insecticide and asks, ‘Is this good for ants?’ ‘No,’ says the owner, ‘It’ll kill em!’”

Happy gardening

Ron Burns