Planting Day at the Archer

Post date: Nov 20, 2017 2:29:58 AM

The vegetable gardens of the Archer Mountain Earth Community had given many bundles of produce over the past 6 months ranging from kale, snow peas to a wide variety of lettuce. The 5 raised gardens were built when Sr Carmel (the chief gardener) at the Archer for 10 years became unwell and was unable to bend to weed and plant.

A dozen of the extended Archer Mountain Earth Community gathered on Saturday 18 November and spent the morning planting the 5 garden beds. The no dig planting method was used having been introduced to the community by Chris Gibbings who worked as a volunteer at the Archer during 2017.

No Dig Planting:

Cut the weeds down to ground level; pull out the grass.

• • cover weedy areas with a few layers of newspaper.

  • sprinkle some minerals around

  • put some horse or cow poo on

  • put some mulch on top

  • push back the mulch to make a little hole where you want to plant something. The hole should be about the volume of a cup

  • fill with a mix of soil and 5in1 (2:1) if planting a seedling

  • fill with a mix of seed raising mix and 5in1 (2:1) if planting a seed

The work was done in a couple of hours and the hard working volunteers then enjoyed lunch on the deck overlooking the Stanley River Valley. Saturday was a rainy day. The rain stopped for the 2 hours for the planting and then resumed. It was the ideal day for getting seedling to deepen their roots. We now look forward to the harvest that promises to be abundant.

PH (20/11/2017)