On Saturday 22nd June MEG commemorated the Winter Solstice by resuming planting at at Arnolds Creek beside Brookfield. Participants were Carmen, Geraldine, Jenny, Doug, Daryl & a visitor, Rick.
We had delayed our planting until rain made this viable. Despite all our recent rain the soil around the Grey Box trees was still dry & hard in many places, although like the curate’s proverbial egg, some spots were better than others. Planting in this landfill soil is a perpetual challenge. We also planted in the central ‘island’ in which we began planting last year.
We planted a variety of shrubs, ground covers & wildflowers, to complement the shrubs we planted in previous years & to create an understory to the small number of remnant Grey Box trees that remain on the site. We planted about 200 plants, included those supplied by Melton City, Melbourne Water & those grown by women at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, under the direction of horticultural teacher Judy Allen.
These included:
Kennedia
Linum
Ruby Saltbush
Melicytus
Indigofera
Eutaxia affinis
Prickly Moses
Clematis
Bursaria
Grevillea latrobei (1)
Chrysocephalum
Bidgee Widgee
Eutaxia microphylla
Plantago
Dianella longifolia
Lomandra micrantha
Turkey Bush
Indigofera
Atriplex semibaccata
Further planting at Brookfield
In May Peter & Daryl had a meeting at Brookfield with Brookfields residents (Bev Dutton) & Melbourne Water (Alanna Wright & Brendan Martin). The residents are keen to start a group so that they can clean up along the creek & plant some trees, hoping for some assistance from Melbourne Water. We mentioned that any practical involvement from MEG would depend upon assistance from the residents. Taking on another intensive planting & revegetation project on this large site may well be beyond the capabilities of MEG. However, the residents are keen to begin planting. After some discussion they are keen to join MEG. The residents would like to plant on the bare paddock between the internal Village Lane & the freeway.
On Wednesday 26th June Daryl of MEG met with Linda Bradburn (Melton Environmental Education Officer) & Barry of Village Lifestyle Village. About beginning planting on the new site Linda & Daryl marked out a large planting site to begin the project. This should effectively act as both a windbreak & a sound barrier between the village & the freeway. Arnolds Creek can be something of a wind tunnel in high north winds.
About 6-10 trees would be plenty for this initial ‘island’. This would be complemented with about 25 understory plants. Trees could include Yellow Box & Bulokes. Understory plants such as Senna, Eutaxia (bush pea) & local wattles should ensure both biodiversity & a colourful splash of different colours. We could drill planting holes a couple of days prior to planting. This makes for much more time-effective planting days, & we get more trees planted this way.
We should begin planting here on Planet Ark National Tree Day on Sunday 28th July.
