Late Winter Blast

Camden Snap Frozen

If you woke up this morning early enough you would have been witness to the 4th day sub zero in August for Camden and a sizeable frost (-3.8), collectively through June and July we only had 2 days under the zero mark, i thought we were over the hump and getting warmer, obviously not, a bit of a worry if you were looking at getting those spring crops in, it might be worth just hanging off a bit or worth getting some cover sorted out for those susceptible to frost. If your garden is looking a bit dry the rainfall figs or lack thereof may be the reason, only 19mm of rain for Camden in July and 46mm in June.

Last year saw several gardeners lose Tomatoes, Zucchinis and Beans, looking for a good planting guide try the following link Gardenate.com note the different climatic zones.
You can also check out your local "big box" retailer or local garden centre and ask the experts.

individual rows of seeds germinating undercover

If you want to get an early start on those spring seedlings rather than buy established stock check out Greenharvest for a few ideas, similar items can be found across most retailers, and are well worth it, importantly use succession planting, if you put a whole packet of seeds in you will get everything at once, you want constant produce so by planting a few seeds every couple of weeks you will have produce cropping all the time. The other way around this is share the seedlings with your neighbours.

With potato season upon us if you are looking for seed potatos check out your local suppliers now or get yourself down to the produce markets this weekend to pick up seed potatoes from Norman and Bigspud (photo right courtesy of Bigspud.net)

In other news on the gardening scene, Camden Community Gardens were recently entered in the Keep Australia Beautiful Sustainable Cities Awards, unfortunatley this year we didnt come away with any prizes, but look out next year as we will be back for another shot and with 12 months under our belts look forward to giving our oppostion a run for their money. Full result on the awards can be found here, 2 thumbs up Penrith for taking out the Sustainable Council Award for 2012.

Other great news was the recent descision by Randwick City Council on 24 July, who rejected any further assessment and consideration of a planning proposal submitted by the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (ESMP) Trust which concerned a proposal to make cemetery uses permissible on part of the Market Gardens site at Phillip Bay. Follow link here Randwick Council.

Happy Gardening.