Sustainable Macleod

01/09/2026

Tonight's 'HOW TO' hint:
Run out of cucumber? Cucumbers not ready in the vegie patch?
Salad Burnett is a wonderful substitute and a very pretty plant. The leaves of this perennial salad herb taste just like cucumber. Strip them from the stalk, scatter among your salad greens and hey presto, that cucumber flavour is taken care of. It is also a very attractive plant growing in a rosette shape.
Keep any straggly stems cut back and once a year prune back into shape.
In spring and summer, this herb will put up long stems with ruby flowers which looks like a tight bunch of tiny grapes. 🍇

30/08/2026

What a pleasure to be named ‘legends of the week’.
Thank you for acknowledging all of our volunteers hard work.

This week’s Local Legends are the wonderful volunteers at Sustainable Macleod 🌱

Since 2011, they’ve been getting stuck in to make our local community greener and more sustainable.

From community gardens and protecting local biodiversity to clean energy and cutting waste, they’re making a real difference right here in our community.

Sustainable Macleod

25/08/2026

Tonight's 'HOW TO' deals with adding potash or wood ash (both potassium) to fruit and vegetable beds including those containing root crops.
Fruiting plants are avid users of potassium which boosts the activity of over 60 enzymes. It is responsible for enhanced flowering and fruiting.

Potassium (potassium sulfate) is best applied in early spring and again as fruit is maturing. It's inexpensive and available in packets from nurseries. Simply spread it around the drip line of trees or among vegetables, work it into the surface and water well. Wood ash from fireplaces is applied in the same way but add carefully and pH test soil regularly to check any pH change. Potassium sulfate won't change the soils pH but wood ash will, making it more alkaline.


Benefits of potassium:
• strengthens plant cell walls
• increases the capacity of the plant to take up water and nutrients
• transfers sugars and starches from leaves to fruit to develop juicer, sweeter and larger fruit with better texture
• develops better roots, and thicker stems, and by doing this makes the plant more resistant to diseases especially fungal ones

Plants that particularly benefit are include strawberries, avocados, bananas, mangos, melons, oranges, tomatoes, potatoes and sweet potatoes, peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini, and leafy greens.
🥬 🍓 🍌
Happy gardening!

19/08/2026

Tonight's 'HOW TO' answers the question of why soil pH matters.

First let's define soil pH. pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of soil. It is expressed on a scale of 1 -14 with 6.5 - 7.5 regarded as neutral (7 is absolutely neutral), anything below 6.5 acidic, and anything above 7.5, alkaline. Soils are different from place to place due to the underlying rock and the way that rock has been weathered, and this determines their pH.

The main reason that pH matters is that vegies grown outside the recommended pH range cannot take up essential nutrients and therefore do not thrive.

Plants absorb nutrients through 'soil water' around their roots. Soil water contains nutrients necessary for the plant to thrive and fruit. (If there is no moisture in the soil plants cannot absorb nutrients). When the pH is 'out' certain nutrients will be locked up and unavailable to the plant causing death or stunting, and poor yields or no yields. Soils that are too alkaline lock up iron, manganese, copper, boron and zinc, all essential trace elements for plant growth. Soils that are too acidic lock up phosphorus which is essential for root development, flowering, fruiting and maturing the plant's fruit.

Some soil bacteria cannot survive or breed in highly acidic soil, and this bacteria affects the pH positively when present, negatively when not.

Short term solutions are to add lime or sulphur to alter the pH but these do not deal with the underlying problems. Compost does address the problem. As compost breaks down, the humic acid* released helps balance soil pH and feed soil microbes.

Two last tips, when testing with a pH kit make sure that your soil sample comes from 10 - 15cm (for pots and trees read the instructions on the packet) below the soil surface, and don't test compost as it will come up with a false reading. This is because it has high levels of organic matter, breaks down unevenly in the heap and releases a lot of free ammonium ions that skew the result.


*Humic acid is an organic acid that derives from the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It allows plants to access essential nutrients, improves soil structure and promotes beneficial microbes in soil.

14/08/2026

Tomorrow is our first PLANT TO HARVEST - for our Spring/Summer series!

Plant to Harvest is a 4 part series that covers all you need to know and do to grow luscious organic spring and summer vegetables. Each month concentrates on several vegies. The first session includes information on how to begin preparing your soil for the season, with each family of vegetables requiring different preparation. The sessions are on the third Saturday of each month.

It is a VERY popular program and we have a few spots available.
Book now using this link:

Plant to Harvest: 4 monthly workshops on growing exceptional vegetables Enrol for the series now (single session not available)Part 1: Growing...

11/08/2026

Tonight's 'HOW TO' deals with the need to 'w**d, w**d and keep w**ding' in August.
In August despite the cold and the rain, w**d seed in the soil begins to germinate at a rapid rate, and many w**ds drop their seed too. In the long run, staying on top of w**ds in August saves a lot of time later in the season. Whether you mind having w**ds or not, it is important to recognise that w**ds can have a deleterious effect on a garden, and your pocket and fresh food supply, through loss of food plants.

• W**ds compete with food plants for nutrients, water and sunlight.
• W**d root-networks compete with the root-network of food plants.
• Aggressive w**ds can overcome and smother or strangle seedlings and other small plants.
• W**ds can provide habitat for insect pests.
• W**ds can harbour insects that spread diseases to other plants eg the Solanaceae family comprises both food plants such as potato, tomato, capsicum, chilli and eggplant and wild species such as deadly nightshade, black henbane and jimson w**d.
Aphids feeding off wild plants and then sucking on food plants, transmit infectious viruses that destroy food plants.

04/08/2026

Tonight’s ‘HOW TO’ is a heads up on the necessity of planning your Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) strategy now and putting it in practice before mid-August.

QFF begin mating in August and are therefore looking for any host fruit. This is likely to be citrus or any winter fruit not yet harvested. They mate at sunset when the temperature at sunset is 16°C or above. This usually happens twice in the second half of August.

Preparation includes:
• stripping any unwanted fruit
• netting any that remains or spraying it with kaolin clay (sold as ‘Overhaul’ in the nurseries)
• putting out dry lures or Wild May lures in trees and checking them weekly as these will attract the males and that will tell you they are present
• mending holes in your nets (zip ties are good for this - quick and simple)
• when males are detected add a protein trap such as Ceratrap as this attracts both males and females and lasts about 4 months

Lures will not get rid of all QFF so Sustainable Macleod recommends netting all susceptible fruit and vegetables and using lures as an added preventative.

Where to get products:
Wild May and Ceratrap are now available from some nurseries as well as the Sustainable Macleod online shop. Ceratrap is sold by Pestrol online.
Net is available from the Sustainable Macleod online shop off-the-roll (so any length you need) and is 6 m wide, and also from Bulleen Art and Garden.
Orders need to be collected in person from the Sustainable Macleod Community Garden on Wednesdays or Saturdays between 1 - 4pm.
https://sustainable-macleod.square.site/

04/08/2026

Tonight's 'HOW TO' is a heads up on the necessity of planning your Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) strategy now and putting it in practice before mid-August.

QFF begin mating in August and are therefore looking for any host fruit. This is likely to be citrus or any winter fruit not yet harvested. They mate at sunset when the temperature at sunset is 16°C or above. This usually happens twice in the second half of August.

Preparation includes:
• stripping any unwanted fruit
• netting any that remains or spraying it with kaolin clay (sold as 'Overhaul' in the nurseries)
• putting out dry lures or Wild May lures in trees and checking them weekly as these will attract the males and that will tell you they are present
• mending holes in your nets (zip ties are good for this - quick and simple)
• when males are detected add a protein trap such as Ceratrap as this attracts both males and females and lasts about 4 months

Lures will not get rid of all QFF so Sustainable Macleod recommends netting all susceptible fruit and vegetables and using lures as an added preventative.

Where to get products:
Wild May and Ceratrap are now available from some nurseries as well as the Sustainable Macleod online shop. Ceratrap is sold by Pestrol online.
Net is available from the Sustainable Macleod online shop off-the-roll (so any length you need) and is 6 m wide, and also from Bulleen Art and Garden.
Orders need to be collected in person from the Sustainable Macleod Community Garden on Wednesdays or Saturdays between 1 - 4pm.
https://sustainable-macleod.square.site/

02/08/2026

This week Robin and Paul gave a speech regarding climate change action, and a lot of what they spoke about is contained in this article.
It is a great read, have a sit and enjoy!

If you could … would you?Jul 25, 2026 | Clean energy, Climate change If you could contribute to the energy transition by doing more than installing solar and/or home batteries, and participate even if you don’t have either, would you? If you could link with other members of the community with wh...

28/07/2026

Tonight's 'HOW TO' is about winter spraying of stone fruit and pomes (apples, pears and quince) with lime sulphur and NOT Bordeaux Mix.

Spray fruit trees when leafless with lime sulphur.
Lime sulphur is both an anti-fungal and a pesticide. It is effective on stone fruit and almonds for leaf curl, freckle, rust, shot hole, brown rot, bryobia mite and San Jose scale. Apply while trees are leafless prior to bud swell. Be sure to cover the tree 360 degrees around, making sure all limbs and crotches are wet as this is a contact spray. In fact, clean out any crotches of dead leaves and insects before spraying. (A crotch is the V shape where the trunk meets the branches, and a perfect place for litter to accumulate).

Lime sulphur protects pome fruit from black spot, several mites, San Jose scale and powdery mildew. Spray when the tree is leafless. It is not suitable for Delicious or Cox’s Orange Pippin apples.

The rate of application for both stone fruit and pomes is 50ml per litre of water. Keep swilling the spray container to keep it well mixed, and so it won’t clog the nozzle.

Avoid Bordeaux mix which is banned in the EU.
Bordeaux mix (copper sulphate) has been used since 1882. Invented in France and sprayed on grapes, it prevented fungal diseases in French vineyards and was a great boost to agriculture for over 100 years. However it is now banned in 17 EU countries and Great Britain because of its environmental impact. Bordeaux mix firstly contains a heavy metal – copper – and over time builds up in the soil as a heavy pollutant. Secondly, it is toxic to earthworms, fish if it enters waterways, beneficial insects including bees and ladybirds, and livestock. It also degrades fertility and soil microbiology. In Australia it can still be used as it is categorised as ‘organic’ but hopefully this will change. If you want to use the last of your Bordeaux then wear protective clothes, glasses and gloves as it is toxic to humans. Cover the soil beneath your trees with newspaper or cardboard to protect it from drips and bin the covering after spraying. Apply to bare limbs only. Bordeaux is an anti-fungal but not a pesticide which is another reason to spray with lime sulphur. (See below for a link to a more comprehensive article on Bordeaux).

References:
Glowinski, Louis. The Complete Book of Fruit Growing in Australia, Lothian, Reprint 2005