SUMMER AT THE MO URBAN FARM
THE MO URBAN FARM IS OFFICIALLY FULLY CERTIFIED ORGANIC!
January 9th, 2025
After another successful audit from SXC, and hitting the 3 year certified organic mark, we are now 100% certified! (i.e. no longer ‘in conversion’) This is really exciting for us because it means we can forego the raised beds we have been growing in and start planting straight into the ground.
Spring has sprung at the MO Urban Farm and we have been super busy re-arranging our space. We have now relocated our 10 raised garden beds in two straight lines down one side of the farming area to free up space. We have now rebuilt and refreshed the raised beds by using lots of sticks and palm fronds in the bottom, followed by a layer of cardboard, some of the old dirt mix, then topped up with mushroom compost, cow manure, sugar cane mulch, neem coir peat and perlite. We have planted into the raised beds loads of edible flowers and herbs like sweet basil, curly parsley, chives and a few other experiments.
Having only grown in the raised beds, it’s a new and exciting challenge for us to plant directly into the ground. So far, we have created just one row where we have planted some zucchini that we grew from seed. We dug up the ground a little then mixed in a similar mix to what we put the int top of the raised beds. In went the zucchini seedlings and in between went a variety of flowers such as marigold, nasturtium, and petunia, to help repel pests and encourage our friendly bees. We have a couple of blue banded bees that have visited our garden every year so wanted to give them something to visit again for this year. We have also been to the local native nursery and picked out some flowering natives to help attract more birds because some birds like willy wagtails feed on insects like aphids and grasshoppers which is a bonus for us.
We’re also focusing on our chili offerings and have planted mustard and red habanero, birds eye and cayenne plants in the ground. We also have a Scorpion Trinidad for those who like a hot hot chili. One thing about chili is they like to cross pollinate with each other and with anything close by, so it’s important to keep them well separated otherwise after a few years all the chili have the same taste and heat as each other. So, to keep it’s purity and heat, we have planted the Scorpion Trinidad in the very far back corner on its very own. Hopefully it enjoys its new spot and gives us lots of fruit this year. Our hot chili punnets will be back on the Market Organics shelves in Summer.
Over the spring Months, we noticed a huge number of snakes around the property. So we spent a fair bit of time cleaning up around the perimeter of the property and getting it nice and clear to help keep them away. The last straw was after chasing a green tree snake away from our froggy hotel, we did some research and found there are a number of common household ingredients that snakes don’t like the smell of. One was cinnamon and cloves, so we got some powder and sprinkled a little around the edges of the property in an effort to keep them away. It’s a timely reminder to be careful when handling piles of things which are outside and haven’t been moved for a long time. Snakes also like to hide in tall grasses and overgrown vegetation so regularly mowing your lawn, pruning shrubs, and keeping vegetation away from pathways can deter snakes from taking refuge in your garden.
We don’t know what to expect with the Summer weather this year. There are reports that it will be a wild storm season, other reports are saying it will be dry. Moving the garden beds to an in-line sequence and having long in ground beds will allow us to install a drip watering system that is more water efficient. I hope it’s not too hot this summer as we have lots to do! Keep an eye out of the MO Urban Farm sticker in stores, as its picked fresh and only grown down the road.