You may have noticed two wire cages near the ferry terminal or the four cages opposite the old Christie homestead on Sorata St. This is our first attempt at direct seeding, with the cages protecting the seedlings from rabbits. Direct sowing of seed will have two benefits: 1.  We can revegetate more of the site with less effort and 2. we can grow more species including the pretty daisies and hard to germinate plants. We are following a method from Greening Australia (downloaded from http://www.florabank.org.au/). It includes a pre-germination step where seed are placed in a bag with a little water, air and perlite (right photo). We trialled two mixes, a “sure-set” mix of local Acacias and hardy shrubs and a “smalls” mix of grasses and daisies, including the yam daisy and paper daisies. The Acacias are already up and growing but it’s much harder to tell the others apart from the weeds. We will keep you posted. Mustn’t forget to thank Waite Conservation Reserve for donating the cages.