Pickup Trees for Life Supplies 2010

This post contains details about picking up my growing supplies, and details of the species of  plants I will be growing this year.


The Pickup
On a nice sunny (but not too warm) Sunday morning I headed over to the Trees for Life depot near Adelaide airport to pick up my supplies for the new growing season.  I was very excited find out what I will be growing this year.
The pickup process went very smoothly like last year. 

• Drive to the Trees for Life depot.  I did arrive at the depot approximately ½ hour before the end of the allocated time and I actually received a reminder phone call about 10 minutes before getting to the depot, checking that I had not forgotten.
• Open boot of car.
• While getting name checked off the grower register list, some nice volunteers stack the supplies in the car boot.  Having a station wagon there was plenty of room in the boot for the 6 boxes of soil and the other growing supplies.  It was also nice to meet Jennifer the TFL Volunteer Grower Coordinator.
• Get back in car and drive home
• Unpack supplies onto growing bench (my next blog post might have some details of my growing bench)

Who, What, When
This year I am growing for the Million Trees Program in Onkaparinga.  I will be growing:

• 3 boxes of Allocasurina Verticillata – Drooping Sheoak (5-10m high x 4-6m wide tree) - to be planted around 24 November 2010
• 1 box of Acacia Rupicola – Rock Wattle (1-3m high x 1-3m wide tree/shrub) - to be planted around 24 November 2010
• 1 box of Acacia Myrtifolia – Myrtle Wattle (1-3m high x 1-3m wide tree/shrub) - to be planted around 8 December 2010
• 1 box of Acacia Pycnantha – Golden Wattle (4-6m high x 2-6m wide tree) (Australia’s floral emblem) to be planted around 15 December 2010

The Seeds I will be sowing this year (Acacia on the left and Allocasurina on the right)

The following paragraph was taken from the Million Trees Program website:
The SA Urban Forests – Million Trees Program is an initiative of the State Government to support a greener, more sustainable city.  The program is dedicated to planting three million local native trees and associated understorey species across the Adelaide Metropolitan Area by 2014, which will help off-set carbon emissions, provide habitat for wildlife and improve air and water quality.  With the support of local government, industry and the community the program aims to restore approximately 2,000 hectares of native vegetation using suitable areas of our public open space, including parks, reserves, transport corridors, water courses, coastline and council land.  Involving the community in planting events, creating information displays at major events, giving workshops and talks and getting involved in school projects are important activities that build on the important revegetation work that is being done.


My supplies
As usual Trees for Life supply all the required items for the growing season.  In the pictures below you can see:

• Boxes of soil – to fill the tubes with
• Tubes – for the soil
• Grower pack – (see below)
• Bag of fertiliser for each box of soil (to be mixed with the soil in the tubes)
• Bag of gravel for each box – to go on top of the seeds when they are sown (like mulch)

Growing supplies for the year

Close-up of the supplies

The grower pack contains:

• Tree Scheme Growers Handbook - Instruction booklet – A MUST READ.  Very important
• Bags of seeds
• Face mask – To help reduce the risk of catching any bugs from the soil (if you remember to wear it)
• Blank plastic labels – to write the plant species and other details (these will be explained in my post about planting)
• Pencil – to write on the labels
• Trees for Life sticker
• Some papers including my “Growing Order” with the project and plant details

Grower Pack

So this year will be very different to last year:

• This year I will be using the hard plastic forestry tubes compared to the regular soft plastic tubes.  Million Trees program requires the use of hard forestry tubes. 
• Even though I am growing 6 boxes again (same as last year) I will actually be growing less plants.  With soft tubes you grow 60 per box but with the hard tubes it is only 50 per box.  So only 300 plants this year compared to my 360 from last year.
• The trees I will be raising are completely different.  This year I am growing Wattle and Sheoak.  Last year I grew Melaleuca and Eucalyptus.
• This year all my seeds will be sown before Christmas.  Last year only 1 of my 6 boxes was sown before Christmas.
• This year 3 of my packets of seed require “pre treatment” of the seed prior to sowing.  The Acacia/Wattle seeds need to be soaked in boiled hot water for 12 hours to soften the outer shell.  Last year none of the seeds I planted required pre-treatment.  This year I need to plan my sowing date/time in advance.
• This year I picked up my supplies from the the Trees for Life depot near Adelaide airport.  Last year my pickup location was a temporary TFL depot in the suburb next to where I live.

Until next time.  Cheers Simon