Yass Landcare recently won a Michael King Landcare Grant to grow plants for fire affected communities. 

Nursery jobs have changed - see the photos below. To expand the nursery site Jeremy Wilson is shown installing one of the boundary fence posts; the first donation to a fire affected community was to the Braidwood Garden Club which recently visited Yass Garden Club; MA Steel are making the nursery tables for our larger site; and a plant sale was held to clear space so that new seedlings can be sown.

If you are interested in volunteering at a Landcare nursery the Yass Landcare group meet on the second Saturday and forth Tuesday of each month from 9.30 to 11am at their nursery which is located behind the Yass men’s shed.

On 2 March Bowning-Bookham Landcare volunteers worked together to set up a new hot house at our Bango nursery site which was made possible through funding from the Communities Environment Program.  This hot house will enable the BBLC volunteers to continue sowing over the cool Autumn-Winter period that our region experiences.  Other volunteers washed and sorted 60 trays – 1200 pots ready for the next sowing.

The Yass Area Network has four nursery sites which grow local native plants where most of the seed is sourced from Greening Australia, this Communities Environment Program grant is also providing funding for regional seed collecting activities.  If you have mature Eucalyptus or acacia’s on your property and are willing to participate in future seed collecting activities please email [email protected].

This is a February 2020 update on the Bush Tucker Garden being developed by the Yass Landcare community nursery and Yass Men’s shed.

Given the recent rain, the ground has some moisture. And as there were some good plants in the nursery, Graeme Fountain took the chance to plant: Dianellas, about 10 plants; Billy buttons, about 20 plants; and four Hardenbergia violacea plants.

The Dianellas and Hardenbergia are part of the original plan. The Billy buttons, not a bush tucker plant, but native, we had some in the nursery, and they serve to harden the leading edge of the garden boarder against water erosion.

In the photo, the Billy buttons are in the foreground, the Hardenbergia at each end of the trees and the Dianellas near the water wash-away.  Let's hope that we have more rain to continue planting this garden.

On a hot and smoky day, eight YAN Landcare group members visited the Ferndale property, Bookham to undertake an in-paddock practical session in Acacia and Eucalyptus identification with John Weatherstone. During the morning several Acacias were identified by participants using two native plant reference books by Leon Costermans and Meredith Cosgrove, and John Weatherstone either confirmed or suggested an alternative plant id.

Acacia saligna Golden Wreath Wattle was the only Acacia which had any suitable seed for collection. Two days later that seed was sown by Kath McGuirk and will be grown on in the Yass Landcare Community Nursery. The Ferndale property had some great Eucalyptus which could be accessed in future seed collecting sessions. 

This was the first in-paddock plant identification and native seed collection course which is an important stream of the YAN Climate Ready project. Future sessions will be held in 2020 on Landcare member properties who have registered to participate in this project.  However if you are interested in this type of activity please contact our YAN Landcare coordinator Sonya Duus at [email protected]