Group Gathering 5th June 2023, Art Gallery

The Gympie Permaculture Group had their regular monthly gathering this week (first Monday of the month). The committee met prior to the group meeting and discussed the following:

• WordPress – a working group will be formed to go through what we think the group needs out of the webpage. For example, forum topics and how to set up the email, and maybe some tips to make this blog better.
• AGM will be on the 3^rd July – Venue will be the Art Gallery unless we get too many RSVP’s to fit in the space. We will have a Potluck dinner at 5.30 – everyone to bring a dish to share and their own crockery and cutlery. RSVP by the 24^th June please. There will not be a harvest swap at this meeting. Nominations for positions to be in by the 19^th June. RSVP and nominations to [email protected]
• Re-instate the raffle – bring something small – seeds, excess produce, books.
• Jimmy is hosting a workshop – demonstration on biochar – Sunday the 11^th, 8.30 for 9am start. Bring something for shared smoko afterwards and have a look around.

Then onto the round table discussion – the opportunity to share knowledge, ask questions and learn many things!

Damien once again came ready with questions: He was asking for soil amendments that will help with water retention – suggestions from the floor: biochar, mulch, compost and of course, plants. For pots and raised garden beds, coir, perlite and vermiculite can be added in. Perlite aerates the soil and vermiculite holds water. When planting out, add compost to the soil with the plant.

Narayana is continuing to work on her garden  and has swales that she’s been adding agave leaves to. Her soil is quite sandy and the plants are looking a little yellow. Suggestions: comfrey tea, seaweed foliar spray, urine diluted with water. Also suggested to grow sweet potatoes.

Iris – has been putting in a lot of seedlings, and continues to look after the seeds at the Mothar Mountain day.

Anthony and Elizabeth are new to the area and just trying to grow a few things at the moment.

Des is the digger and Lissa is the gardener. Des has been using cardboard and sawdust on pathways and is amazed at the improved soil after 12 months. He puts this onto the garden with other compost, not dug in, just put on top. Then he re-news the paths with cardboard and sawdust. Apparently Harvey Norman is the place to go for cardboard. Lissa busy with flower gardening. Also had a question about small heads on her broccoli and cauliflowers. Brassicas are heavy feeders so may need to add more compost.

A general discussion was had on poor germination of brassicas this year. There were concerns about the seeds viability. It is important to keep track of which seeds are used and if they aren’t working then report back to the seed saver group with the batch numbers.

Renee has lots of moringa seeds on her trees. She’s focussing on perennials (like sambung), composting and worm farming. Jim making biochar while the weather is cool, and catching bandicoots. They have a use – they like nutgrass!

Regula is looking for some galangal, and was grateful for the turnup at her and Danny’s garden tour. It seemed to be enjoyed by all.

Naomi has once again had Dean form Deans trees to do some chipping. She speaks very highly of him. Also speaks highly of Cooloola Pumps and Irrigations. Cranberry hibiscus has gone wild so has made a large batch of tea for sharing.

George is looking for a source of manure. Also looking for a handy person to do some welding for him.

Melinda has had a bumper crop of citrus, which the birds have also enjoyed.

I have also had a bumper crop of citrus, which has also been enjoyed by the birds. Also have had a very strange crop of mangoes. A common mango has produced winter ripening mangos this year.

Ayr has bought a broadfork from Tasmania and has used it in his syntropic rows. He’s also using blady grass for mulch. Rhonda does the weeding after the broadforking has been done. Teamwork! She suggests, that the time to harvest moringa seeds is when they just split. She then puts in a container with wet paper towel to germinate before planting out.

Wendy mentioned that a chicken plucker, boiler and chiller has been donated to the group and will be available for hire. Still working on an agreement – deposit will be necessary and will be refunded if returned clean. Plus a dressed bird will be given to the original owner. A small fee maybe kept to fund the replacement of fingers when necessary. She’s also looking for someone to collect and cut some firewood for her and in return, they can collect some for themselves. Wendy is also planning a soil improvement workshop.

Pete has lettuce in wicking beds that has been cleaned up by a possum perhaps? He’s also going to be making a continuous flow worm farm. We suggested that he documents the process to load onto the web page. Pete doesn’t think that worm tea is that useful, so suggested that you put some handfuls of work castings in some water and swish it around to aerate it and then use that to water plants.

Des is looking for fish fingerlings for aquaponics.

Jennifer has lots of winter plants in and has been busy pruning and mulching with bananas – Just cutting down and laying along the garden beds – no need to cut up further.

If you have anything to add to this discussion, please do so in the comments section below. While you’re on this web page, have a look at the forum discussion and there’s some great information by Ann in the files section.