Welcome to November - we've had some lovely spring weather so far, and the garden has appreciated the mild weather and extra rain.  I think it won't be long before we start experiencing a few hotter days, so check out the 'Jobs to Do' section below to make sure you and your garden are prepared.

It's hard to believe we're on the downhill run now to Christmas.  If you're trying to think of gifts for your gardening family, friends - or as suggestions to Santa for your OWN gifts, we've got lots of gardening bits and pieces...  books, charts, accessories & even if you can't decide, there's always trusty gift vouchers; available in store or online.  If you're into more handmade gifts, which are always appreciated - come along to our Herbal Manufacturing workshop running 26th & 27th November (details below) and learn how to make a whole range of products using herbs and things from your garden.

As always, there's been LOTS happening @ GLSC.  We're in the process of revamping our website to make it completely mobile responsive and easier to navigate.  We're also about to roll out new software for point of sale and invoicing, and we're contending with MAJOR roadworks on Farrall Road.  There's never a dull moment!  :-D  Harvest Club participants have begun harvesting from their gardens, and it's been great to see things really take off once spring eventually arrived!

October saw us achieve the milestone of 15 years of being in business.  We ran a month-long competition (which we advertised in last month's newsletter and on Facebook) and we are pleased to announce the 15 winners of garden goodies below.  Congratulations to the winners & we'd love to thank all of YOU for your support.

Anyway - hope you enjoy the November newsletter...  As always your feedback is welcome, and we'd love to see some of your spring garden photos to share on our website and through social media, so if you have a chance to snap some pictures PLEASE send them in.

Until next time, happy gardening!

Linda & the Team @ GLSC

In This Newsletter:

Jobs to do
What to Plant Now
Road Closure - We're still open!
Workshops
Do it in a Dress
Mulch Your Garden (& VIP specials)
Winners are Grinners - congratulations to our birthday prize draw winners.

Jobs to do - November

• Mulch.  We're about to experience some hot weather in the garden next weekend; the first for the season really.  Make sure you're ready.  Use a soil wetter, or a clay based product like our Sand Remedy if your sandy soil is water repellent.  Water the soil well (remembering if you're adding clay, it is going to take A LOT MORE WATER to wet it thoroughly - simply due to the absorbency factor of the clay) then get a good layer of mulch on top straight away to protect the soil and help keep moisture in.
• Water in the morning if possible.  Early!  Between 6 - 8am is preferable, to allow the plants to take up the moisture before the heat of the day.
• Check your retic and make sure sprinklers, etc. are all working well.  If you have blocked or broken sprinklers, it only takes a week or two of you not being aware and you may have lost some of your beloved plants.
• Prepare some shade cover.  Sometime over the next month, you may need to put up some shade.  Once we start getting into SERIOUS summer heat, in order to successfully grow many vegies without them bolting to seed or stressing, they'll need protection.   Of course this depends a lot on the microclimate in your own back yard.  If your growing area is partially sheltered from hot winds, and gets some shade from surrounding trees you may not need to do much except in real heatwave situations.  However, if your garden is very exposed, a more permanent shade structure over the next couple of months may be required.  GLSC carries white shadecloth (the best colour to use for plants for even growth) in both 50% and 70% shade value.  Which one you'll need again depends on your garden's environment.  
• Mulch.  Did we already say that?  It's time to mulch.  See below for our special VIP mulch deal this November.
• Protect your vegies.  Are the dreaded cabbage butterflies attacking your garden?  We've got insect netting in stock.  Old curtains from an op shop will also do the job.  Check out the decoy images above to print out (A4 size) on cardboard to try in your garden.  

What To Plant Now

It's time to be planting seeds for your 2nd/continuation crops.  There's plenty of healthy certified organic seedlings to choose from @ GLSC; seedlings will get you about 6-8 weeks ahead of crops you can grow from seed, so that's another option for you.

Things that will grow well at this time of year include:

Artichoke (globe), beans, beetroot, broccoli*, cabbage*, capsicum, chilli, carrots, celery, choko, cucumber, eggplant, kale*, leek, lettuce, melons, okra, parsnips, potato, pumpkin, radish, silverbeet, snow peas, spring onion, squash, sweetcorn, tomato, zucchini.

* brassicas planted at this time of year will need some protection from heat & cabbage butterfly/caterpillars.

It's also a great time for planting many herbs; including basil, oregano, chives, garlic chives, thyme, mint etc.

See our growing guides for Perth - we've got guides for Vegetables and Herbs, free to download from our website.

Road Closure - Farrall Road and Movida Estate development

Hopefully you received our special news blast email last week concerning the roadworks on Farrall Road.

Due to the Peet residential development going on for the Movida Estate, Farrall Road is undergoing major development and will be upgraded to a dual carriageway to handle the anticipated increased traffic.

This means that Farrall Road is CLOSED until about Christmas time - however, access to The Green Life Soil Co is STILL AVAILABLE 7 days a week via Morrison Road.  Roadworks crews will let you through - while the road is closed to through traffic, it is still open for residents & for our business to trade.  If you normally access us from Toodyay Road, the easiest way to get through is to continue up Roe Highway until the next exit, which is Morrison Road.   Farrall Road is the very next set of lights; turn left at McDonalds and you're a mere 300 metres away from us.

We hope to see you soon!  We're sorry about the disruption but assure you that it's 'business as usual' at our yard.

Workshops

Those of you who had booked for our Grafting Techniques workshop (originally for September) are aware we had to postpone it due to Joe Tassone's accident.  Fortunately, he's recovering well and we have now confirmed the workshop will be running on the weekend of 3rd/4th December - most likely on the Sunday afternoon of the 4th; but we're still waiting on final confirmation of this.  Watch our 'Events' page as there will be a few more spots opened up to book in for this workshop by the end of this week.  

We've also got a great workshop planned at the end of this month in preparation for a "homesteader's Christmas"...  Come along and make some lovely gifts using things from your own garden.  Handmade gifts are always appreciated, and you're assured of giving something unique.

Leesa (from The Greenhouse Organic) will be running this workshop for us.  We have set aside two dates; Saturday and Sunday 26 & 27th November.  The workshop is for four hours on either day - whether both dates will run will depend upon how popular the classes will be.  We're trying the Sunday date in response to those who have requested it.  Class numbers will be capped at 20 participants so make sure you book in soon.

More information and bookings can be made on our EVENTS page, here.

Do it in a Dress

On the weekend 29th & 30th October, GLSC once again took part in Do it in a Dress - a weekend where all our crew wore girls school uniforms to raise awareness and money for 'One Girl' - a Melbourne based charity that provides education for girls in Sierra Leone, Africa. Statistics show that educating a girl has far reaching benefits into the local community, but in many places in the world opportunities are non-existent for girls to receive an education; instead they are caught in a cycle of early marriage, raising more children in poverty and with poor health outcomes.  AUD$300 is all it takes to ensure a girl is educated through her school years.

Last year GLSC's fundraising ensured three girls received this life-changing opportunity, and while we haven't finished totalling up donations yet, we believe we have easily matched that amount this year.  

THANK YOU to our customers for your support; those who donated online at www.doitinadress.com/green-life-soil ; those who bought one of our yummy cupcakes, and those who dropped some change into the donation box on the counter.

We all had a little bit of fun dressing up (it's a bit unnerving how well the boys embraced their 'frocks') - as you can see from the photo above.

**  UPDATE:  Customer donations totaled $425; Green Life Soil added $575 to take the total to a nice round $1,000 **

Mulch...  It's time!

Now the weather's warming up it's time to MULCH YOUR GARDEN.   Depending on the type of garden you have, and the kind of things you're growing, there are a number of choices.

Vegie & Herb Gardens

Usually these gardens are cultivated once or twice a year when you're replenishing the soil and replanting crops.  A heavy mulch can be annoying on your vegie garden; if it hasn't broken down, you'll need to scrape it off the surface of the soil before you can do any digging.  Then, you have to replace the mulch afterwards.

There's nothing wrong with doing this, and there's nothing wrong with using a heavier mulch on your vegie garden.  However, most people prefer a lighter mulch (like a straw) that will break down more quickly, and can be easily dug into the soil.

Some of the straw mulches we carry at Green Life include:

Lucerne straw.  A rich source of nitrogen, available in bales.
Pea straw.  A good source of nitrogen and a popular choice for vegie gardens & roses.  Available in bales, or chaffed in compressed 50L bags.
Lupin mulch.  A quality, partially composted mulch in 45L bags, or 1,000L bulka bags for larger areas.
Regular straw (usually wheat or oat) - basic straw bales for vegie gardens; the most economical option.

Please note:  all straw is cut AFTER harvest, meaning seed heads have been removed; however there will always be some seed in the straw.  If you have chickens, splitting a bale in the chook yard is a great idea; they'll eat the seeds, and you can rake up the straw to distribute around your garden.

For other garden areas (shrubs, native plants, fruit trees)

In these areas where you don't really have to dig, a heavier mulch is a great option.  Woodier mulches are favourable to beneficial fungi for many trees and native plants; plus they last longer, representing better value.

We have a range of mulch products - and will soon be expanding our range of mulches - including:

Recycled Tree Prunings
As the name suggests, these are rough prunings we obtain from tree loppers.  They usually contain a mixture of eucalypt species and are a mix of wood and leaf material.  These mulches are excellent value, and are fantastic to use if you have large areas and wish to surpress weeds.  Lay down some newspaper or cardboard and lay a thick area of RTP mulch on top.  In time, this mulch breaks down to a fantastic, dark humus and builds soil.  Many Perth gardeners starting with nothing but bare sand have created soil this way in a few years.  (It doesn't happen overnight!) 

Economulch
This is a basic, composted mulch made from ground and aged greenwaste.  It is a dark chocolate brown colour and represents good value for most general garden areas.

Three Way Mulch (Feeder Mulch)
We do two versions of this mulch; one especially for native plants, and the other for general gardens.  It is a mixture of our Economulch, compost and manure.  The concept is the manure and compost will break down more rapidly and feed your plants, while the Economulch will last longer to provide more protection for your soil.

** COMING SOON - PINE BARK MULCH
A chunky mulch that is a popular choice in Perth for mulching.  Large particles allow great water penetration.  Pine bark mulch is a reddish/brown colour.

** COMING SOON - JARRAH MULCH
A heavy, woodchip mulch made from waste jarrah.  Pinky/red in colour, and long lasting.  Colour will fade to silver/grey in time.  A good choice for native gardens, verges, and areas which may receive some traffic.

** Recent expansion of our yard & new bays mean we will be carrying an increased range of mulches this spring/summer.  Deliveries are anticipated early November for these products.  (Jarrah mulch is expected 2.11.16)

VIP SPECIAL

For the month of November, VIP's are eligible for a 10% reduction off the regular/full price of our range of mulch products.  Please ask for the discount when purchasing - in store or when booking a delivery.   Ordering online?  use the code "Mulchsaver" at checkout to apply the 10% to products purchased from the Mulch category of our site.

Competition Winners

CONGRATULATIONS to the people below, who have won garden goodies in our October birthday prize draw.  Winners will be contacted regarding their prizes.

Helen Thomas, Yvonne Russell, Brian Logan, Shane Miller, Angela Phatouros, Victoria Phillips,Vicki Hunter, Marlon Schoep, Esther Croysdill,Gillian Macleod, Virginia Moore, Andrew Reid, Andrew Chandler, Graeme Perry, Sheila Roberts 

We'd really like to thank ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS for your support this month (and every month).  We wouldn't be here without you!

Happy Gardening!