Visit Tegan 20 March 2016

On Sunday 20 March the Food Garden Group visited Tegan's garden at Claremont:


Tegan welcomed us and explained about a soil test for heavy metals that she had done because of the proximity of Cadbury's and EZ. She talked about allowable limits that are much higher in Australia than in some USA states. It turned out that contaminants in her soil are at acceptable levels.

She had her soil tested as part of the Vegesafe program at the Macquarie University. Testing is free of charge (aside from postage). Anyone wanting to get soil tested can go to the site below, fill in the participation form and follow the instructions about how to provide samples from what areas of their yard. Here is site: https://research.science.mq.edu.au/vegesafe/how-to-participate/

Here is a view inside Tegan's straw bale enclosure. The tomatoes are happy.

Max K explained general principles of fruit tree pruning and maintenance and gave a demonstration.

For thicker branches Max uses a small but very useful electric Black and Decker pruning saw model 1.7h. It is powered by an 18 Volt battery that needs to be recharged after around 3 hours. The saw is electric, but you need to keep the chain lubricated with chain lubrication oil via the opening near the top of the handle in the photo.

Max K used his long-handled Fiskars EasyReach Universal Tree Pruner to great effect. These pruners can be bought from most hardware stores. Max explained that you can buy extension handles, but most people don't use them, because you don't really want a tree to be higher than what you can reach without an extension handle.

The Produce table was very well stocked and people brought many yummy things for morning tea.

Many thanks to Tegan and Max K and to everyone for coming along and making this an enjoyable and informative morning.

This text was previously published on the Food Garden Group blog. It was written by Max Bee.