Sign Up for Clean Up Australia Day 2023

As our world faces unprecedented environmental challenges, Australians are being encouraged to join together to take positive action.

Pip Kiernan, Chair of Clean Up Australia said, “Our environment is facing pressure unlike ever before. As all Australians know, over the past two years, we’ve seen severe bushfires, cyclones and floods, pressures on our biodiversity and an evergrowing volume of waste which leaks into our natural and marine environment. Australians tell us every day that they are concerned about the world we live in but often feel frustrated and unsure how to make a positive impact.

“Clean Up Australia Day is a great opportunity to work together and take practical action. We seek the support of all Australians. Together we can all make a real difference,” Pip continued.

After the death of her father Ian Kiernan AO in 2018, Pip was appointed Chair of Clean Up Australia, the iconic Australian charity he founded over 30 years earlier.

Registration is free, and participants receive a free Clean Up kit, containing gloves and bags and other resources, with packs for individuals, families and community groups available (businesses are asked to pay a small fee to cover costs). Anyone who signs up before December 31, 2022 is automatically in the running to win one of three Coles gift cards valued at $1000.

“Signing up now means you’re making a pledge to improve and protect Australia’s environment. Whether you are 9 or 90, participating in a Clean Up Australia event changes the way you think about your everyday habits and the practical changes each of us can make. Everyone who gets involved tells us how rewarding the day is and how it has made a lasting impact.” Pip said.

If you can’t join in

Australians are encouraged to make a donation to Clean Up Australia. 100% of funds raised through donations go directly to empowering Australians to take positive action for the environment.

To register or donate, please visit cleanup.org.au

Clean Up Australia Day –Sunday 5 March, 2023

Schools Clean Up Day –Friday March 3, 2023

Business Clean Up Day – Tuesday February 28, 2023 website: http://www.westernecho.com.au

When conjuring an image of the rainforest, tall trees with high, dense canopies come to mind – trees that are too large to contemplate growing in the average suburban garden. Fortunately, there is an abundance of small to medium sized trees with a compact growth habit that are also found in our rainforest and are suitable for the home garden. The snow wood (Parachidendron pruniosum) belongs in this category. Growing from 6 to 10m tall, it has dense, glossy foliage of compound leaves, each with up to eleven lanceolate leaflets whose tips taper to a point. In summer, it produces green-white flowers that are arranged in a fluffy ball shape on the end of a long stalk. As the flowers age they turn orange/yellow. These attract bees and the tailed emperor butterfly. The flowers are followed by flattened, highly twisted orange pods which split to expose black seeds. These pods are very decorative and have given rise to an alternative common name – monkey’s earrings. It is a beautiful feature tree, and, because of its habit, it is good in narrow areas as well as fence planting and street planting. It grows well as an indoor potted plant.

Snow wood is closely related to the wattles as seen by the seed pods and the way they split to release the seeds. Like the wattles, they have bacteria living in close relationship in their roots. The bacteria are protected and supplied with carbohydrates by the plant whilst extracting nitrogen from the air which they covert to nitrates the plant needs for protein production. As a result of this relationship, snow wood can grow in nutrient poor soils although its best growth is achieved in well composted, free-draining soil. It will grow in clay soils and is frost-tolerant. Its straight, cylindrical, 35cm diameter trunk provides a decorative, general-purpose timber.

Mitchelton & Districts Garden Club

When the Mitchelton and Districts Garden Club meets on Thursday, 2nd March, J.A.’s Herbs and Salvias will be the subject matter of guest speaker, Sally Moore.

Many herbs are drought tolerant and easy to grow. They are not prone to disease or insect attack. Nowadays herbs and spices play a prominent part in creating delicious flavours in our food and early history records compliment herbs for their medicinal qualities as well. Salvias are ideal plants for cottage gardens. They have long flowering spikes and add much colour to where they grow. If you would like to hear Sally Moore’s talk, come for morning tea at 9.45 a.m.

The meeting commences immediately after that. (This club observes precautions in connection with Covid-19.)

This month give priority to gardening activities such as watering, mowing and mulching to help create weed control. To have seedlings ready to plant in April, it is not too soon to sow spring annuals and winter vegetables such as celery, cabbage and cauliflower. It would be a good idea to do this in containers that can be moved to a sheltered area should adverse weather occur. Sweet corn and beetroot should be able to survive if sown directly into the garden bed.

Shrubs showing good growth after earlier spring pruning, may be tip pruned this month. Have you tried propagating shrubs by layering?

This simple method produces plants ready to go into the ground or pots. Just look for a pliable branch at the base of a shrub. Bend it down so it touches the ground. Where it does, scrape away some of the bark and a bit of the woody branch. Cover the raw part with hormone cutting powder, and push it into the soil. Use a rock or wire bent in a U shape to hold it in place. Keep that part of the soil moist. meets on the first Thursday of the calendar month except January at the Enoggera Memorial Hall. The entrance is at 36 Trundle Street. The hall is close to public transport and accessible by wheelchair. There is a lucky door prize, a continuous raffle and a plant exchange table.

After four to six weeks, roots will have formed. More growth should be showing on the end of the cutting which should be ready to cut away from the trunk side of the original plant. You’ll now have another plant to be potted or planted somewhere else.

The Mitchelton and Districts Garden Club Inc.

Visitors and new members are most welcome. For more information please phone the president, Trish, on 0438 268 212.