Cicada Seedlings and Food Security

17/05/2025

NEW SERVICES AVAILABLE!

General garden support - helping hands for experienced gardeners.

With Cicada Seedlings gardening services you can hire knowledgeable, energetic, and strong young people to help you on a regular basis, or to clear your list of Autumn/Winter garden tasks in a flash.

Concession card holders are eligible for 20% off all our goods and services.

COMING SOON:
- Specialised garden support - including soil testing, sun mapping, and planning of sustainable food gardens
- Food garden construction, maintenance, and learning support for inexperienced gardeners
- Lawn maintenance
- NDIS garden programs with experienced disability carers
- Support for community centres, schools, and aged care facilities
- Sale of seedlings at markets and in bulk to gardening service clients

NURSERY RE-OPENING Spring 2025

15/11/2024

This year, DON'T harvest your radishes. Leave them in the ground, let them flower (the flowers are beautiful and bees love them) and then let those flowers fade away and form seed pods. From your single radish, you'll get dozens of radish pods that are unbelievably delicious. (Probably more delicious than radishes.) We've got some great radish pod recipes in the comments and a guide to harvesting these bonus edibles.

06/06/2024

03/05/2024

Feeling truly heartbroken...

Not even 36 hours after we kept our promise to start placing donated seedlings and bunches of greens inside the Neighbourhood Centre, someone has come along in broad daylight and ripped out almost 1/4 of all the plants in the community garden, again, to take home for their personal use. Every single plant that was flawlessly healthy is gone, leaving only plants that were not as perfect. No it was not ducks.

There are still donated seedlings on the table right now, that were waiting for this person to pick up, but instead they've made this senseless decision to take at least 100kg of fresh food out of the mouths of other members of the community this winter. Over two dozen plants have been stolen for no good reason, when there were over 50 potted seedlings on the table in the foyer, for free.

Sadly as my business is closing and I am leaving town, that's it, there are no more seedlings to plant or donate from my nursery. These beds will most likely be barren for winter. I'm sorry 😞

There are no words to describe this type of selfishness, no matter how hard everyone has tried to serve the community with donations and volunteer hours... some people only think of themselves.

This theft occurred in broad daylight, so if you have any information or photos, please get in contact. The missing plants include lettuces, spinach, silverbeet, endive, chicory, cabbages, broccoli, kale, and more.

This was unbelievably callous. It only hurts my feelings (as a formerly homeless and hungry person myself).. but to all the currently homeless and low income people who were looking forward to having a winter without so many vitamin deficiencies, I'm so sorry that someone has decided that your health doesn't matter. I know how it feels when you can't get enough green vegetables, and when all that's available is starting to rot. And I know that the other garden volunteers wont give up, but can only do so much in such a defeating situation, and this late in the planting season.

25/04/2024

FINAL DAYS OF BUSINESS!

Dear customers old and new - thank you so much for all your support over the last 6 months - I have reached my goal of gaining the financial stability to move towns, where I'll be closer to my family. Just in time too, because winter is on the way - this Sunday's Armidale Markets in the Mall will be the last chance to purchase my products, and earn rewards for returning your pots!

STOCK CLEARANCE SPECIALS THIS WEEK!

Ready seedlings, seeds packets: $2 each or $18 for 10

Under-sized seedlings: $1 each

Indoor potted Birds Eye Chili (get a head start on a tricky germination) $7.50

Plus! Return any number of pots and labels to recieve one free seedling or seed packet.

Pots and labels can be returned to the nursery until May 30th, please message the page for the address! No rewards can be guaranteed for plastic return after the markets.

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as I can before I leave!

13/04/2024

Are your summer veggies on their last breath? Don't worry, there's still time to replace them with some cold hardy and/or frost tolerant veggies, to keep you in fresh food for the winter.

Specials this week:
Local Brown Turkey fig rooted cuttings: $12.50
Indoor fruiting potted perennials (Birds Eye Chili, Cape Gooseberry): now $7.50

April is our final month of trading in Armidale! Return your pots now for a discount on your purchase, or a free packet of seeds.

We'll be at Armidale Farmers' Market tomorrow!
Curtis Park 75 Faulkner St
8.30am - 12.30pm

Or contact us to make a time to browse the nursery on Beardy St.

03/04/2024

27/03/2024

25/03/2024

We have an update on the missing plants at the Armidale Neighbourhood Centre!

After broadcasting our message through a number of channels, I believe we've managed to reach the right person!

I visited the garden this evening to pull out our cover crop of beans and lentils and start turning it into mulch, and noticed that instead of more plants being missing, someone has been harvesting good handfuls of greens.

I'm so glad that you're willing to work with us, whoever you are - I'll share this news with the New England Gardeners group, who've been very supportive and keen to start donating their extra vegetable seedlings to the Neighbourhood Centre once a month, when they meet up to swap plants and seeds.

Please understand this will slow down in winter, and kick-start again in spring. But it should happen once or twice before it gets too cold to plant!

The Neighbourhood Centre is keen to recieve and distribute the seedlings and seeds when they come in, and everyone who needs the support will be welcome have some. You don't need to say anything, please just join in, and thank you for motivating us to do better!

Keep an eye on the shelves in coming weeks - I'm going to try to do something solid about the lack of greens ready to eat in there.

To the community - if you grow lots of leafy greens at home, please don't hesitate to hand some bunches to the front desk of the Neighbourhood Centre when you come into town sometimes - they are across from Centro on Beardy St, with the gardens out the front! They'll be washed and given to hungry folks by the staff.

In the mean time, the garden committee will proceed to refill the garden with bought and donated plants, so that every bed is bearing food for winter.

Thank you all for your help in working through this community issue! If you'd like to volunteer or donate in any other way, please let us know!