Botany For
Bush Regenerators

4 hours
Notes provided
$44.00

Do Botanical Latin names intimidate you? Do you understand how plants are sorted into families, genus and species? Can you key out and identify local plant species?

If you answered NO to any of these questions this is the short course for you.
We do an overview of the different branches of the botany subject then we zone in on the naming and classification of plants. The classification and naming of plants are a part of the same system and I will show you how these two subjects mesh and compliment each other.

We look at the identifying characteristics of the 5 most common local plant families on the Central Coast.

At the end of the session you will not know every plant and name but you will know how plants are identified and you will understand the principles of plant names and you will have the knowledge to start identifying plants yourself.

Weed Ecology

4 hours
Notes provided
$44.00

This is not a weed identification course.
Organic Matters does not use or advocate chemical sprays - these will not be covered in a positive light in this workshop.

What is a weed?
I have 3 broadly different answers to this question that are equally correct! We'll discuss different ways of thinking about weeds.

What are your 10 worst weeds? Why is your list of 10 weeds different to other people's?
By knowing what your worst weeds are I will be able to tailor each workshop to make it relevant to the people in that group and I will use the plants on people's lists as examples in the workshop where I can. Looking at the differences in people's lists will give me a chance to talk about why some weeds are more important to different people.

Why do some plant species become weeds and not others? What special features do weeds have?
Weeds have strategies to win their colonisation battles. We'll take a look at the special features and strategies weeds use and discuss some counter measures of our own. Forwarned is forarmed. If we don't attack the special weed characteristic of each species we generally wont win. If we do attack their strengths and we go for their weaknesses as well we can deal with them efficiently in a lot of cases.

What conditions favour weed growth?
Weeds are where people are or have been. You don't see them deep in undisturbed bushland areas. Weeds aren't everywhere that humans are though. We look at some human influences that favour weeds and how we can avoid these.

How do weeds get here? How'd they get to Australia and how did they turn up at your place?
Arrivals can be human related and I have some interesting anecdotes to tell you which will show how plants got to Australia. Plants have used many means of dispersal once they got here. We'll look at about a dozen plant dispersal techniques.

Can we beat weeds? Yes we can!
We'll look at all of the various bits of information on weeds and how to tackle their strengths and exploit their weaknesses. All without sprays.

What is Wildcrafting?
Harvesting weeds for profit. I'll put forward some weed recycling ideas.

Seed Collection

7 hours including field trip
and practical
Notes provided
$99.00

Some botany skills are required as a pre requisite for this workshop. Recognition will be given to those with botany skills acquired outside of the education system.

We start looking at a few useful references and our reasons for propagating from seed rather that cuttings of other methods.

The ecological, ethical and legal implications of collecting seed from the bush are looked at and discussed.

The flower - fruit - seed cycle is looked at. Attention is paid to different kinds of fruits and determining seed ripeness (readiness).

We'll look at what equipment is needed to collect and to clean and process seeds. There will be a practicle session looking at different types of fruits and seeds here and processing some seed here that has already been collected.

After lunch we will take a short field trip to a local bushland area and we will look at plant species in their natural habitat and discuss actual collecting situations.

Collecting for most species is done in late Spring and Summer.

7 hours including practical
Notes provided
$99.00

Learn some of the tricks of growing local native plants. Starting with a look at the development of propagation techniques and simple equipment that can be used. All of the techniques of propagation are discussed and their relevant uses for native plants.
Ethical and ecological issues relating to growing bush plants and the legislation that applies is discussed.
Seed is looked at from the pollination of flowers through to the development of fruit and seed. The basic anatomy of seeds is shown and the various parts of the seed are discussed.
We discuss proper nursery practices and keeping good records and finish the theory session with some experiences gained while running a native plant nursery and any questions from the group.
After lunch is all hands on practical work in the nursery but I'll be talking about and demonstrating everything, starting with mixing potting mixes and fertilizers suitable for natives. We'll fill pots and tube up small seedlings. Prepare and sow seeds. Look at germinating seeds and discuss plant watering requirements.