Plant now to avoid summer heat

LANDHOLDERS and their helpers are out across the region getting native plants into the ground as part of Landcare’s Free Trees program.

During June and July up to 15,000 native trees are planted each year by 10 Landcare groups between Invermay, Lexton, Beaufort, Skipton and Snake Valley.

“Now’s the perfect time to put some tube stock in the ground,” said Joel Owins, facilitator with the Upper Mount Emu Creek Landcare Network.

“The soil is a little bit warm and coming into spring the moisture’s there as the weather starts to warm up. The trees do a lot of root development over this time.

“You can plant up to late August but any later than that and you might have to give the trees a bit of a water over summer.”

For $11 a year, landholders can join their local Landcare group and access the Free Trees program which provides up to 160 tube stock saplings at this time of year.

Mr Owins said the tree planting push would often get people involved in the Landcare movement for the long term.

“We’ve been running the Free Trees Program for well over 10 years,” Mr Owins said. “One of main aims is to get people active and involved. Often a small amount of native trees to get them started and will be enough to get people to go onto bigger and better things.”

Invermay landholder Lisa Martin could be one of those people. In 2019 she planted 80 trees as part of the program and last weekend she and her helpers were at it again with 80 more.

Planting a mix of endemic eucalypts, banksias and wattle, Ms Martin the effort has many benefits.

“It’s important for people to plant trees because of climate change, and if you’ve got livestock they tend to overheat if it’s over 25 degrees,” she said.

“I want to make sure I leave the land in a better state than when I found it. A lot of people look at the disarray of climate change action and get really down about it. There’s a lot individuals can do in their own patch to help.”

To get involved with your local Landcare group visit highlandslandcare.org.