Four Seasons in One Day

We are in midldle of Winter at the moment.  Well, and here is an anomaly, because Australia is such a big continent it has different climactic regions.  This is obvious if you follow a few Aussie gardening blogs ... we are all planting different things.  Up north, north of the Tropic of Capricorn it is very different to down here in the South....check out this map.  

I live just below the 'O' in word 'Victoria' in the south-east corner of the big island.

Winter, is officially all of June, July and August.  The four season model is one that was imported with the first white settlers but with a slight change.  Somehow New Zealand and Australia do not follow the practice in other countries of using the solstices as a marker for Winter and Summer and the equinoxes for Spring and Autumn.   

But this is the interesting thing to me....The indigenous people, always much more in sync with their environment, have different seasonal models for their regions.

The Wurundjeri have 

a six season model 

for the Melbourne region.

Like many native peoples the traditional inhabitants here did not have a written language.  The length of the days and the seasonal changes in the night sky provide pointers to the time of the year along with the changes to plants and animals. Click on the above diagram to see a clearer version and scroll down to to see an explanation of what happens in each season and how it affected the movements of the indigenous people in the area.

The indigenous model makes wonderful sense... but it doesn't work for my veggie garden.   June, for instance, is often dry and is certainly warmer, in my experience than July and August when it can be very cold and the soil, particularly so.  In June I can still plant brassica seedlings, other greens and root crops.  In July the only thing that will germinate and grow are snow peas.  Although by August, I can start seeds inside for planting out in late September, once the ground begins to warm.

Ouch! The irony just hit me 

in the head like a wood splitter.  

Here I am writing about growing 'exotic' vegetable species, and an 'exotic' four season model in a land far removed from their countries of origin discussing a seasonal model developed by people much older and wiser in the ways of this country than me...and on a blog about being green and environmentally aware.  

Mmm!  I have to go and think about this some more.


Postscript:  It is NAIDOC week.
Click on NAIDOC to find out more and to see what is on in your area.