The Gympie Fire

6 years ago by Jylan Wynne

Our team of 6 could only canvass for one week in Gympie before Music Camp, and we were keen on making the most of time in the area. God had blessed the QLD roadtrip with excellent weather thus far. The Sunshine State was living up to its name! Yet on Wednesday morning, we awoke to a steady drizzle of rain. Risk book damage, or study and work on inside jobs? Then, a lady from church sent us a disturbing text message. Gympie Fire Station Her friend's main street business had fallen vic...

Read More

The Transplanting Experts

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

The Transplanting Experts (cough cough) I don't know about you, but there is something satisfying about straight rows of green newly transplanted seedlings on the rich brown of garden beds. Looking back makes all the work worthwhile!  Most of the plants we grow in our garden have what we call a fiberous root system. Instead of having a taproot that goes deep down into the soil, the roots spread outward and downward, creating a kind of mat of roots. A fiberous ...

Read More

Temperature and Light

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

Temperature and Light Each type of seed has an optimum germination temperature. Above or below this soil temperature, the germination rate will be lower, and at some point either up or down, none of the seeds will germinate.  Here are some optimum temperatures (°C for common veggies): Broad beans 20, Lettuce 20, Greens 20-25, Broccoli 25, Carrots 25, Pak Choi 25, Onions 25-30, Peas 27, Beans ...

Read More

Watering

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

Watering OK. So far we have a container (punnet, seedling tray, marmite jar or toilet paper roll...), we have filled it with a seedraising mix, sown our seed, and covered it with vermiculite.  Next we need to label it! Use something that won't be affected by water or sunlight, eaten by mice etc. Pencil on white plastic labels (or icecream container lids cut up!) works fine. We write on the label the name of the variety (eg. Brandywine, Russian, etc) and the date we sow ...

Read More

Seed Covering

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

Seed covering For years, when I was planting seeds into punnets or trays, I would press the seeds into the seedraising mix and cover them, or leave the seeds on the surface and sprinkle more seedraising mix over them to cover them. I used to get maybe 60-70% germination. Pretty ordinary. A few years ago I made one very simple change to this process, and my germination rate immediately went up to well over 90%. It cost me peanuts, takes less tim...

Read More

Seed Raising Mix

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

Seedraising Mix Healthy and vibrant seedlings are a key ingredient to successful gardening. They can make all the difference to your experience. When we learned how to have success in growing seedlings, our garden took a huge step forward. The foundation of good seedlings is the seed raising mix - plant health depends on the quality of the planting mix. There are many recipes for this mix, ranging from just good quality soil, a mixture of compost and sand, through to commercially pro...

Read More

Spring is Coming!

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

Spring is Coming! Have you noticed how the shops start filling with Christmas stuff in about October these days? Drives me mad. I guess "they" are just trying to maximise profits by taking advantage of people's eagerness to get into the new season to take their minds off their day to day struggles. I dunno... But when it comes to spring, it does pay to get in early. If we wait til things are nice and warm and springy, we have just about missed the spring boat. It's time ...

Read More

We're Back!

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

We're Back! Boy 3 weeks has passed quickly! We had a wonderful time on our trip to QLD, NT and SA, saw many wonderful places. The best part is that we got to do it with all our six children and our niece Shaya (who took the picture above for us). We had many trip highlights including the Outer Barcoo, the dusty Diamantina, climing Uluru, the Garden of Eden in Kings Canyon, The Olga's, Ormiston Gorge, evenings by the campfire, long drives through the never-...

Read More

Music Camp 2018 Report

6 years ago by Emmanuel Higgins

Wow! What a blessing, is all we can say. The Lord really blessed in a special way this year. Many commented that there was just a precious atmosphere amongst staff, youth leaders and participants. The spirit of unity, and togetherness was beautiful as we strived to encourage one another in our Christian walk, and produce music to honour our king. We were all impacted by this year's testimonies. Such precious testimonies and transformed lives! Here is a snippet of an email we received t...

Read More

Family

6 years ago by Rod Bailey

Family! This is the last garden email from us for the next three weeks. Kate, our eldest young person, arrives home from Canada on Tuesday, and we set off for our trip on Sunday the 8th.  So for the next three weeks (after this week), there will be no deliveries and no pre-ordering available. Our veggies will still be available to you, but only by turning up at the Real Foods Market on Tuesdays. Our young friend Ashleigh, and Rod's dad Warren, will be there to greet and serv...

Read More