Aladdin’s Cave

The gear donated by AECOM, and accepted with warmest thanks, has now been sorted and is available for members to borrow from the nursery shed – from this Wednesday morning 9am to noon or Saturday 9am-11am. Don’t forget to put your loans into the equipment loans book.

Of course all that sorting required cleaning up the shed and now the shed is spick-and-speckless, and labelled to within an inch of its life. Everything in its place and a place for everything and labels to tell you what’s what.

We found so many goodies! We found a framed light box with a waterfall scene that lights up, and a rainforest sound track, but that has already been given away. Still there, eager for service, are six spray backpacks, and more bamboo stakes and tree guards than you could poke a bamboo stake at. Wooden and metal stakes, spare pull-saw blades, wellies, waders, brushcutters, mulch forks, mulch hoes, mattocks, buckets galore and much more. Check the drawers at the back. There is even a mystery drawer. Anyone want the old lockable army utility box? It’s yours.

Did you know we have a petrol driven auger? It’s a lot easier to handle than that old giant we used to have. STIHL brand and just amazing at plantings.

Can anyone fix machines? We need a brush cutter fixed, it was one of the donated ones, and it has a bag of parts taped to it. Suit obsessive tinkerer. We have power, lights and fans now, so if you love fixing things, we can give you a cosy, well-lit home and lots of equipment to restore, sharpen, get working, or throw out. Be your own boss at the attractive salary of nothing at all, no tax either.

The SOWNy club at Yoorala St has also been given a spring clean and there are plenty of goodies there too. One great thing we got was a gigantic hose reel on inflatable tyres, brilliant for plantings, and we have a new pump. You can access gear at the SOWNy club Sunday mornings 8am – noon. There is a roll of jute mat and plenty of pegs for hardy fools with steep banks. Get Mel’s or Emily’s help with that.

Volunteers are invited to participate on Wednesday mornings or Saturday mornings at the nursery, if you would like to help. Now that things are sorted it’s even more pleasant to work there. Some of the fun things to do are scarifying seeds, pricking out, washing pots, weeding, small odd jobs and even large scale construction. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, or they’ll ALL want to join in. Mum’s the word. Just turn up wearing a white sports coat and a pink crustacean. You will be given your own SOWN apron – to keep!

Let’s not forget the main product of the nursery is plants. We have some amazing species in stock. All free to members and 60 for the price of one. This is a great time to plant. The weeds are less of a problem and the plants get established over the cooler months, needing less water, and really take off in the spring. As well as our existing tubestock, we have just been donated about 300 eucs, wattles and others, they are desperate to get into the ground. (Thanks to Lisa for the plants.)

All in all, plenty of reasons to visit the nursery, explore Aladdin’s cave, and find your own personal treasure.

See you there, Wednesdays or Saturday mornings.

SOWN Nursery Team