6. Good Organic Gardening - November-December 2016 AvxHome.in

GARDENING FOLK | Sean Morrow
wildlife
warrior
It’s inspiring to meet a homeowner
who encourages fauna of all kinds
to call their garden home
Words & photos Sandra Tuszynska
Since moving to his six-and-a-half-acre
(two-and-a-half-hectare) property
15 years ago, Sean Morrow and his wife
and daughter have transformed it from a
mostly grass-covered, empty block into a haven
for wildlife. As a landscape and permaculture
designer, Sean is able to envision what the
place will look like years down the track and
is constantly creating ever more gardens and
habitats for wildlife to achieve his vision.
Sean has been a passionate gardener since
he was eight, gardening and weeding for his
neighbours as a child. He has always had a
fondness for nature and its wildlife, especially
lizards and frogs. He looked all over Australia to
find the perfect place to establish productive
gardens and a fruit and bush tucker orchard for
his family; one that would also attract, feed and
house an abundance of creatures.
The property in Pomona, Queensland,
adjoins two nature reserves and includes
Six Mile Creek fed by Lake McDonald Dam,
which provides Noosa’s water supply. “Before
we bought the property, I came down to
the creek and saw a platypus in the water,”
remembers Sean. “I knew immediately this
was what I’d been searching for.”
Gardening with
the moon
Sean experiments continually with
biodynamic growing. He stresses the
importance of gardening in harmony with
the moon cycles, especially when it comes
to annual crops. “I always plant fruit and
vegetables in the afternoon, as this is when
the Earth’s energy comes back down into it
and helps the plants become established.
“I plant leafy vegetables when the moon
is in a water sign phase, root vegetables in
the earth signs, fruiting vegetables in the
fire signs and flowering vegetables in the air
signs,” explains Sean.
He has noticed that when a lettuce is
planted during the air phase of the moon,
it bolts really quickly. He also says planting
should occur during the first, second and
third quarters, while the last quarter is a time
for composting weeding, clearing, controlling
of pests etc.
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