Planting at Warracknabeal Education Precinct

On Monday 21st August Alicia had some help from students to plant shrubs and understory species at Warracknabeal Education Precinct. All up we put about 200 plants, including grasses, wildflowers and shrubs, in at the school.

We started in the morning with Mr. Shannon’s year 11 Environmental Studies and year 9/10 Outdoor Education students. Alicia gave a presentation to each of the classes about Landcare in the Wimmera: what it is, how it works, and who is involved. We then headed outside to plant some shrubs.

In the afternoon the primary school students joined in to fill in the gaps with grasses and smaller understory species. Because it was book week, we had some real characters planting trees! Mario, Harry Potter, a few Barbies, and a Creeper from Minecraft all made an appearance.

Due to tight timeframes we did site prep on the day featuring a unique tool called a water spike. The tool injects water into the soil, creating a planting hole and softening and wetting the soil around the plant. The Wimmera CMA provided support for this aspect with Graeme Eldridge helping out.

We planted species ranging from wattles to saltbushes and plenty of wallaby grass, flax lily and spike rush.

This activity was funded by a Victorian Landcare Grant administered through the Wimmera CMA. We also had support from the Wimmera CMA to prepare planting sites.