During the cooler months of the year it is easy to fall into a pattern of comfort. The body craves hearty meals and such vegetables become more and more readily abundant in the garden and pantry. Brassicas and root vegetables fill the patch, while the larder is stocked with pumpkin and potatoes.

We also find ourselves gravitating towards pasta, rice and bread. Carbo-loading now isn’t something just to get you through three kids birthdays parties in a 24 hour period, it feels like an essential part of human hibernation. But when we begin the feel the slide into a warm food coma, we try to distract ourselves…. with sprouts and micro-greens.

Sprouts and micro greens are two types of produce which can be grown almost exclusively indoors during the cooler times of the year, in fact any time of the year. It’s always a psychological boost to be able to grow something fresh, nutritious and crunchy without having rain funnel down the back of your underpants. What’s more this is the type of gardening that can take place on something as small as a windowsill and a kitchen sink.

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How good is compost? You throw a bunch of organic waste into a pile, it heats up, and these things called microbes come along to transform your rubbish into a precious garden commodity! The earth has been doing this forever, locked in an endless cycle of growth, death, decay, compost and fertilisation. Nutrients are reused again and again. In this way, composting is the ultimate form of recycling, and there is no greater satisfaction than seeing those tangible results in your own garden.

Fully matured compost is pH neutral and can be used to propagate seeds, but when added to your patch holistically it’s like a shot in the vein. It contains a broad spectrum of nutrients and all the essential trace elements so that it not only boosts a plant’s growth, but also the overall activity of life in your soil. Compost is the number one candidate for making soil into something living and correcting any imbalances. It wins Soil Additive of the Year hands down every year.

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We’ve been keeping chooks at our nursery for 7 years now. They are not only our pets, but also our composters, veggie patch fertilisers and a regular source of the most local, organic eggs. If you’re looking for a pet to tick all the boxes, a chicken is about the only one that can do that. It’s a symbiotic relationship that reduces waste, creates food and perhaps most importantly, provides companionship. 

Chooks typically live for between 5-8 years (yes ours are getting quite old…), and begin laying after about 6 to 12 months, typically when conditions are warmer in spring or summer. Like most things in a garden, laying is most prolific in the warmer months and will subside a little during autumn and winter. Once a chook begins to lay, most of the egg production is achieved in the first 3 years of its life, however if a bird is healthy there is the potential for it to lay an egg a day until it dies. 

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Here are our lists of what to plant in March. "s" denotes to grow from seed and "se" from seedling. For our comprehensive growing guide check out our planting calendar, covering nearly 80 varieties of veggies, herbs and fruits.

Cool/mountainous
Beetroot s
Broad Beans s
Broccoli se
Brussel Sprouts s
Bok Choi/Pak Choi se
Carrot s
Cabbage s
Cauliflower s
Celery se
Coriander se
Fennel se
Garlic (bulbs)
Herbs (all except basil) se
Kale se
Lettuce se
Parsnip s
Peas s
Rocket se
Radish s
Silverbeet se
Spinach se
Spring onion se
Turnip s
Strawberry se
Swede s

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The typical approach to insects in the garden - that is, mass destruction - is perhaps borne out of our ignorance. Most of us know nothing about the creatures that roam our veggie patches - what are they? how long do they live? what do they want?! why don’t they leave us alone!?? - and so we are often scared of them all. For as long as we’ve been gardening there has always been an unnerving feeling in the air when discussing the topic. So much so, that most see all insects - of course, the bee being the one exception - as our enemy.

But every animal and insect has its place in a finely balanced eco-system. For example, what would our oceans (and the majestic whale) be without algae to provide oxygen and food? Yes, did you know that algae’s are primarily good for the ocean? It’s only a few bad types, that are exacerbated by us humans and our ways, that project an overarching impression that they are not good for us. Taking it back to our gardens, and the veggie patches, bugs are primarily
good too. They are only misunderstood.

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