Tricky Spot Garden Club Rules
Want to be a part of the club?
It’s easy, just get into the garden everyday and don’t forget to follow the rules below… 😉
1. Get your hands dirty everyday
This means get out in the garden everyday, even if it’s only to observe, smell the calendula and pull a couple of weeds. Some days will require more, like watering, repotting, a spot of pruning, sweeping or mowing. Most of the time, your beautiful garden will just be there to enjoy.
2. Plant flowers for pollinators
Who doesn’t love flowers? They are beautiful and fragrant and make a lovely gift, but probably the most important role flowers play is that they feed our pollinators and native birds. Without flowers, our bees, butterflies and birds go hungry. And without pollinators, many plants can’t grow fruit or seeds, which means fewer flowers, less food for wildlife and people. Pollinators keep everything growing, from backyard veggies to entire ecosystems, so let’s make sure we feed them.
3. Eat something from the garden everyday
It’s easier than you might think to grow herbs and salad at home. These can often be harvested daily and you don’t need a lot of space either. Why spend over $3 on a herb in plastic packaging, when you can easily grow it yourself. You save on food miles, get to eat organic homegrown produce and save money. It’s a no-brainer!
4. Compost, compost, compost
Many Councils in Australia now offer food composting with the green waste bin pick up. Its an awesome service and we readily use this for things like meat scraps and bones, dairy and cooked leftovers. But it’s still a wonderful idea to have a home composting system like a worm farm or compost bins or bays to compost your raw fruit and veggie scraps. Doing this will ensure that you have an ongoing homemade supply of organic compost to feed your plants and garden.
5. Provide water for pollinators
It’s important to provide clean water sources for our pollinators and native birds, especially over summer in Australia as the temperatures soar. Water bowls, ponds and bee baths are all easy ways to make sure our pollinators and native birds can hydrate and keep cool. If you are worried about breeding mosquitoes, we find that if you place these water sources in a sunny spot then mosquito larvae tend not to be an issue.
6. Don’t be disheartened, sometimes plants just die
You are dealing with living things, and sometimes no matter how hard we try, plants just die. It can be disappointing, but we choose to look at it as a learning opportunity. It’s also an opportunity to visit the plant shop. 😉
7. Save seeds
We love saving and swapping seeds at Tricky Spot. This is such an easy thing that you can do too. It saves you money and means you are planting seeds that have already adapted to your soil type and conditions. This means they are more likely to thrive, produce more fruit and be more resistant to pests. And as seeds develop after a plant has gone to flower, you are providing food for your pollinators as well, it’s a win win!
8. Wear a hat, be sun safe
You know how the saying goes, Slip Slop, Slap! And if you’re too young to remember that slogan then you probably know ‘No Hat, No Play!’ It’s all about being sun safe and sun smart, wear a hat and apply sunscreen especially if you are out gardening in the hottest part of the day. We are in Australia and it gets hot, the UV is high, and nobody wants to age prematurely. Am I right?
9. Talk to your chickens
Chickens are the best, great companions, full of individual personality, they give you great fertiliser and best of all….. fresh eggs. They are funny creatures that are easy to talk to and lovely to spend time with. We can highly recommend owning a few if you have the space and the time to care for them.
10. Observe the seasons
This just means observing what’s going on around you in the natural world. The changes in weather, rainfall and temperature. What birds and insects are visiting what plants, at what time of the day or year. When are plants flowering and fruiting, when is the soil warming or cooling. We find that the best way to track these changes is with an observation diary, that way you can easily record and compare the changes in your garden from year to year.
11. Be patient, breath
You can’t rush a garden. Sure you can quickly sow some seeds or water a bed or quickly repot a plant, harvest some veggies. But the actual garden itself, you can’t rush it. Every gardener will undoubtedly check on their seeds roughly one whole hour after they were planted to see if they have germinated. (We are an optimistic bunch) But ultimately gardening is a slow hobby and it’s important to remember to be patient and take the time to smell the flowers… and breath!
