MLN Nursery

Moorabool Landcare Network Nursery

Moorabool Landcare Network Nursery Address: 1327 Glenmore Rd, Glenmore (at the Rowsley Landcare

Email: nursery@mln.org.au Phone: 0459 622 588

Open by Appointment Only

What do we do?

We are a community nursery, specialising in producing quality indigenous plants with a focus on what to grow in and around Moorabool Shire.

We also offer suggestions and advice for planting your property, wildlife garden or other project plantings, including establishment and maintenance tips. Click here for general revegetation lists for different localities in Moorabool.

Occasionally we offer presentations to interested groups, workshops and volunteering opportunities within our network.

Our Nursery

Our nursery is small but growing in size and produced over 70,000 local native plants in season 2024. The seeds and cuttings are sourced mainly from within Moorabool Shire from private property, reserves, roadsides and remnant vegetation areas, and our own stock.

Some seed is ordered from Seeding Victoria Inc. at Creswick. All plants are propagated on site at Glenmore and the relevant permits are obtained each year for the collection seed and plant material on public land.

Our Team

We have a small team of 2 part-time staff, 2 short term contractors as well as a small team of community volunteers. Our nursery team is highly skilled, experienced and dedicated to producing quality indigenous tubestock to meet a variety of needs.

Working alongside our contractors is a team of volunteers from the community who generously give their time while enjoying the benefits of participation through learning new skills and contributing to revegetation efforts. If you would like to volunteer please contact the Roger on 0459 622 588.

Who we grow for?

Our Nursery can cater for the following projects:

· Community Friends Groups

· Council plantings: natural reserves, special projects and parks

· Land managers, farmers and smaller properties

· Landcare Groups

· Other nurseries

· Catchment Management Authorities and Melbourne Water

· Contract growing for government agencies and private contractors, large and small

See below for our plant list, rates and how to order

We welcome visitors (by appointment), volunteers and new customers

Wholesale Rates

To qualify to purchase stock at the wholesale price you must meet our eligibility requirements.

Order more than 200 plants and order in multiples of 10 plants.
If possible please fill in the order form by 30 October of the current year. This assists with seed ordering etc.

Email our Nursery Production Manager, Lloyd, by email nursery@mln.org.au.

Make sure you email the form to confirm the order with the nursery

When to order by?

We prefer you make a wholesale order for forestry or HIKO tubes by 30 November of the year prior to planting (i.e. order before November 2024, ready for collection by April/May 2025).

Ordering in a timely manner assists us to supply your order on time and allows us to grow the plants you require and to factor in the differences in seasons.

We try and grow about 10% extra to cater for replacements.

Collection of Orders

Orders are to be picked up by the date nominated on the form or an additional fee may be charged. We only have a small space to hold orders. In some cases we may be able to deliver smaller orders locally.

Every effort will be made to supply your order by the due date but if this is not possible we will communicate with you. Sometimes is may be necessary to substitute another species that will fill the same ecological role in the environment.

Current Price list for orders placed in 2024

We grow custom orders for a range of wholesale customers. Pricing for these orders are:

· Landcare orders - Forestry Tubes at $1.75 incl. GST, Hiko Tubes at $1.50 incl. GST

Melbourne Water, Government Authorities, Others - Forestry Tubes at $1.98 incl. GST, Hiko Tubes at $1.62 incl. GST

If you require individual labels rather than the usual 2 labels per 50 tubes then there is an additional cost of 10cents per label

Other Products - price on request

· Planting kit No 1 (3 stakes & a tree guard)

· Planting kit No 2 ( 1 stake & a corflute guard)

· Hardwood stakes Bundle of 50

· Recycled corflute tree guards 50c each

Our Species List

We grow a range of indigenous plants of local provenance where possible. We do order some seed in if we have been unable to collect it ourselves but choose from the nearest suitable area to match relevant ecological vegetation classes.

If you need plants that are not currently on our list please contact our nursery manager early in the season to discuss your options. We do grow plants that are not always listed on the spreadsheet.

You are welcome to supply your own seed but it needs to cleaned and labelled.

Species list here Order form here

Pot recycling & plant hygiene

Our nursery trys to re-use any pots and trays from plant orders purchased from us if they are returned in a good, clean condition. You may return them to the nursery by contacting the nursery managers and arranging a suitable time.

We require that the pots are cleaned prior to return, otherwise it is another job for our volunteers. Washing needs to remove soil and weed seeds from the planting site. Please place tubes back into the plastic trays supplied with your order, in the individual squares, as we have found this is the easiest way to handle them.

We give them a quick rinse with to remove slugs and snails prior to our disinfection process.

Broken tubes and trays etc should be recycled by you as we do not have enough space to store them or time recycle them.

Unfortunately we cannot accept any other pot sizes other than the ones we sell, as we have no use for them and no room to store them. Check with your local Shire or Council to see how you may recycle other old pots.

We make sure the pots are disinfected before reuse, use only quality potting mix and grow the plants on benches to reduce pest and disease issues.

Return recycled pots washed and in trays

seeds germinating in trays

automatic watering

shade house

outside growing area

Why grow indigenous plants?

An indigenous plant is a plant that is naturally occurring in a local area. A "Native Plant" is not necessarily the same as an "Indigenous Plant" and could be from any area in Australia.

The natural environment of the Moorabool Shire area ranges across two bioregions Victorian Volcanic Plains and Central Victorian Uplands. It includes grasslands, woodlands, forests, wetlands and waterways. Each of these areas has a different suite of indigenous plants suited to local conditions. See the local publication for Moorabool Shire by Grow West, Revegetation: what to plant, where and how.

Planting Indigenous plants in your garden, farm, along a waterway or as a landscaping or revegetation project has many benefits and is good for the wider environment.

Indigenous plants have adapted to our local conditions over many thousands of years and are suited to the local soil, rainfall and topography. In addition, they:

Attract birds, animals, insects, butterflies and frogs to your garden or property by providing appropriate food and shelter, many of which could not survive without indigenous plants.

· Reflect the ‘original character of an area, preserving and enhancing a sense of local identity.

· Preserve and enhance natural genetic diversity.

They provide food and shelter for local animals in wildlife movement corridors, linking parks, habitat areas, remnant vegetation and flight zones.

Improving the health of our waterways as native grasses and other plants filter water runoff.
Assist in use of carbon dioxide from the air, reducing levels of this dangerous greenhouse gas in the atmosphere when more trees are planted.
Enhance the population of some plants that are now rare in the local area.
Restore a wider diversity of species to remaining original flora,

Before you start to plant.

· Have a good look at the site and choose what to plant and order your plants early. It takes time to grow tubestock to the right planting size. Ordering early increases you likelihood of getting the plants you want in the numbers you need.

· Make sure the site is well prepared in advance of planting the tubestock. The best results come from ripping the site where possible and making sure the site is weed free and rabbit free. It may be necessary to apply herbicide to kill the weeds and 2 application may be required.

· Clay soils have the ability to hold water well but the disadvantage is that the drainage and aeration will be poor, just as it would be in a compacted soil. Digging gypsum through the soil at the rate of 1kg per square metre helps to break up the clay.

· Compost is also a very good soil conditioner, which can be dug through a new garden bed up by digging it through the soil with a fork. This improves the soil structure which aids aeration to plant roots, enables roots to grow freely in the soil, encourages soil life such as worms which add humus to the soil and improves drainage so roots are not water logged. It is also a good idea to raise the garden bed to aid drainage.

· Check for soil pH by using a simple soil pH test kit, which can be obtained from a local garden centre. Simply follow the directions on the soil test kit. If the pH is above neutral (7), agricultural sulphur can be incorporated into the soil. If the pH is below, dolomite lime can be dug through the soil. It is good to keep the soil at a neutral level so the elements are available to the plant at the right rate.

· The planting, once the first good autumn rain has fallen

· In the home garden make sure you have chosen a position suited to the needs of the plant, for example full sun, moist soils etc. Dig a hole a little deeper than and twice as wide as the pot, in fill slightly to allow the roots to start growing through the soil. Do not dig a hole and fill it with compost if the site has a clay soil at the plant may become water logged and die.

· Make sure the plants are well watered before planting and it is a good idea to submerge the tray of plants in water until the bubbles and then allow to drain

How you may support the nursery

Become a volunteer

The nursery is relies on volunteers from the local community who feel passionate about doing something for the local environment. You can be one of these volunteers. Assistance is provided to identify and propagate indigenous plants. By volunteering you will also meet people with similar interests and help the environment. Contact the nursery for further information about introductory sessions.

Become a member of a landcare or friends group

The Moorabool Landcare Network represents the groups within Moorabool Shire.

Your membership ensures an on-going supportive land caring community.

Benefits of membership includes:

Discounts on plant purchases when groups put in a plant order.

Advice and help on weed and pest control issues.

Regular meetings

Notices of special events and sales

Use of landcare equipment

Participation in planting days