Crows Nest Community Nursery
Open Day
When: Next Saturday (7 September)
Where: Depot Road, Crows Nest Industrial Estate
How to get there: If coming from the south on the New England Highway, turn rught, into the Industrial Estate - BEFORE you get to the town proper. (If you cross the creek at Bullocky’s Rest, you’ve gone too far. Turn back.)
Follow the road running parallel to the highway for a little way, then turn right into Depot Road. At the end of that, turn right, into a little dead-end road. The nursery is at the end.
What to buy: Any of a wonderful selection of local native plants, in tubes for $2.00 or $4.00 depending on size.
This is the place to get waterwise local native plants. Most of the species are not available in our other local nurseries.
Who to talk to: Steve Plant is the Natural Resource Management Field Officer for the Northern Region of the Toowoomba Regional Council (i.e. the old Crows Nest Shire). He runs the nursery, and is a mine of information about local native plants, and how to grow them them in gardens. He is ably helped by his young assistant Jamie Pukallus, and a band of volunteers.
When to plant: NOW. Dry rainforest plants, in particular, like to go straight into the ground when very young, as they have roots which want to be six times as long as the top section of the plant, and they like to get them down early. Plants from this nursery are top-watered, and air-pruned at the bottom. This creates healthy roots which go straight to the bottom of the tube, then stop. They’re ready for planting at once.
(Potting them on, into a larger pot, lets the roots hit the bottom then turn. With dry rainforest-type plants, this kind of “check” creates a slow-growing plant.)
The Nursery is depending on bought water at the moment, and a very irritating delivery of high-sodium water has burnt some of the leaves. But don’t be deceived by this sometimes-shabby appearance. Note that the growing tips of the little plants are very healthy and ready to grow into normal, pretty leaves.