Northcote Community Gardens

January Working Bee 2012

2012-01-25T10:43:00.001+11:00

Note. Click on the first photo and you can see it much larger and a slide show as well..

How beautiful is this.. Ginger visiting from interstate, on top of the fig tree.

Dianne, Christine, Pauline working on the second half of the NCG mosaic sign. Rebecca making a salad.

Mixing the glue for the mosaics.

Heather, Ros, Jess having discussions with weeds and planting out a couple of hopefuls.

Ian battling with the three foot high kikyui grass
.

Ian with a fancy headgear.

Chris and Pauline.

Rebecca and Chris.

Rebecca's finished salad.

The three musketeers, Pauline, Elizabeth,Christine, stayed till every letter was finished. Well done.

Moon calender donated by Dianne.

Cosmos planted by Christine.

Kai. One day I too will be able to use the whipper snipper. Just practicing now.

Garden mascot. Biggles.

In the garden wilderness. Christine, Dianne, Pauline.

The talking blackboard.

Photography. Alistair. (great job)
Posted by marijka

Resources in our Library.

2012-01-05T16:48:00.001+11:00

Some light Summer reading from our very own Tin 'cupbhoard' (genuine serendipitous typo) in our shed.

Since we now have our very own bee hive, thanks to Melbourne Rooftop Honey, this book is an absolute delight to read as it explains everything about the humble bee. What an amazing little insect. Written by someone who as well as being a beekeper and a seller of bee products, obviously loves her bees.

Some very interesting health products bees produce. Hayfever sufferers may benefit from reading this book as may athritis sufferers as may all you healthy specimens.

Donated by Chris the Younger. Many thanks.

The photography is fabulous. Makes me envious.

If you haven't seen this publication in our tin cuphoard (i'm happy with this word) it is a little bit late maybe for this summer season but just think you can become a tomato officionado by next summer. There are already a couple in the garden. So you can learn all about the good, the bad, the delicious and the ugly and how to deal with it all.

A worldwide database of 1300 'mouth-watering tomato varieties' is contained on a CD included as well.

Donated by Ros. Many thanks.

This is a hefty tome by the famous Monty Don. Well what can one say about it? It has everything you may need to know about growing vegetables, fruit trees, herbs, flowers and trees in the Northern Hemisphere but obviously extremely useful information for our Southern Hemisphere as well and luckily we don't need glasshouses to grow some things ie., chillies...

Again fabulous photography..

Donated by a local resident who came in one day to the Gardens with a couple of other books as well.
Many thanks.

You may borrow all the books in the Tin 'cuphoard' library. There is a book in which you write your name, the name of the book, the date you borrowed the book and the date you returned the book.

PS. Monty Don is at the moment gracing our ABC Iview with 'Monty Don's Italian Gardens' final episode.

posted by marijka
.

Community Garden Tour "ON YA BIKE' 10th December 2011.

2012-01-05T15:44:00.001+11:00

On the 4th November 2011 we received this in an email from Cultivating Community.

"As part of a community composting (Compost Mates) program we’re running, there’s a small group of us who are organising a bike tour of some local community gardens in the Yarra/Darebin area and we’d love to include your garden on this tour.

The aim of the tour is to network, learn through observing and interacting with other gardens and compost systems and celebrate growing food (and soil) in the city."

And thanks to Hannah Maloney (the organiser of said Bike Tour), Rosi Bint from our Gardens, who as usual is always there when needed and Chris the Younger. This is the result..Our garden was the first the bicyclists came to. Four more were to follow with a babrbecue at the finish.

As can be seen our Northcote Community Gardens did us proud. Everything is bursting at the 'vegetable' seams.

Off to the next community garden..

Photography. Ros Bint. (great job)

Posted by marijka.

October 9th 2011

2011-12-20T11:09:00.002+11:00

John Pinniger teaching us how to graft fruit trees. John is part of Heritage Fruit Trees in Melbourne. John kindly agreed to do a workshop. It looks very simple until everybody had a go but after much perseverance, laughter and extra patient help from John everybody did succeed.

Ros doing her best.

Rebecca a study in determioned intention.

Alistiar getting a helping hand..

Alistair

Ros giving it a go.

Grafting tools.

A finished product.

Alistair preparing space for an apple tree and a bee hive by removing a dead tree.

Nearly done..

Christine blending into the background, and holding edible flowers.

Purple broccoli.

Japanese turnips.

The finished SIGN. The first part. Congratulations to Rebecca for the design and all who helped in executing it.

and how beautiful is that....

Photography marijka
Posted by marijka
.

Bees!

2011-10-16T12:39:00.002+11:00

We now have some very beautiful bees in our garden thanks to Alistair and Christine and the lovely Vanessa and Matt from Melbourne City Rooftop Honey . I introduced myself to them today, and they very kindly tolerated me sticking my camera into their business, so I think we have been lucky enough to get some very dignified and polite bees and we should treat them with equal respect.
Here's a link to Vanessa's personal blog and a post about us.
This is an extract from Vanessa's post that resonated with me;

"After meeting the guys at Northcote, it really drove home to me how important it is to connect with others and feel part of something, even just for an individuals own mental health. Doing all you can by yourself is all very well but think what you could achieve if you felt that sense of connectedness with others. Anything is possible!"
Thanks Vanessa and Matt- we love our bees!

(...also there's a reason we have "Working Bees!")
Posted by Rebecca.

Working Bee September 4th

2011-09-12T10:53:00.000+10:00

The working bee was a fabulous hive of activity. People working at all corners of the garden.. from a quickie workshop from the compost queen to the stacking of the worm bins, composting, planting, weeding and eating of course. Salads to die for, pickled cherries to hmm, hmm, muffins to ask recipes for and Dianne's home baked bread. Check out Jessica's muffins on the recipe page.

Rebecca's creations.

Unfortunately the camera is not always accurate, the icing was also definitely mauve.

Rebecca and friend mosaicing the new sign..

Alistair doing what he likes best. Planting. This time it's a passion fruit.

Jessica and Christine, compost buddies.

Compost aerator being manufactured on site. Christine, Alistair moral support.

I've been working up north in the warmer climes and low and behold I have sprouted four arms.

Christine.

Jessica

Heather framed.

Chris and Biggles or is it Biggles and Chris.

Jess.

Pixie and gnome on a rock. Ostensibly weeding..plenty of chatter and
natter..

Ian and parsnips. This will go down in garden folklore.. first ever grown.

Ian, parsnips and admirers.

Afternoon Tea.

Men's Business.

On the way home..me and the moon.

photos marijka

posted by marijka

Darebin Council Plans

2011-09-11T13:01:00.002+10:00

Marijka, Ros and I (Rebecca) met with Liz from the Darebin Council Playsafe program last week and she gave us some plans to look at (now pinned up on the back of the shed door) and plenty of useful information. This photo shows the Council's plans to upgrade the public area below our gardens as part of the "Playsafe" program and it appears that it will hardly affect our gardens at all. The Council actually refers to the public area as the "Northcote Community Gardens Reserve" -which is nice, and apparently they will put a sign up saying that eventually. Basically the basketball hoop and area will be upgraded, a new fence put in along the road up to where it currently stops and the path will be refreshed with new gravel up to the same point. The council is allotting $500 for indigenous plants and mulch for the area behind the basketball hoop and are happy for us to determine what to do with that. All of this should be going ahead within the next 2 months.
So all in all the scary sign that just appeared one day has turned out to be a good thing!

New Red Bubble T shirts inspired by Chris and Alistair

2011-08-31T21:50:00.000+10:00

Australian Wildlife Atlas

2011-08-31T13:29:00.000+10:00

Just received and email from Organic Gardening Australia with a link to super new site to find out about all the wildlife (plants and animals) in your local area- Australian Wildlife Atlas.
Give it a go!

Extra photos.

2011-08-18T17:11:00.002+10:00

Alistair grafting. Giving it a go. An 'Opalescent' apple.

Once again having fun..Kye having to balance the world.

Men at work..Men of the Trees. This is the way you do it.

WORKING BEE SUNDAY 14th AUGUST 2011.

2011-08-18T14:32:00.008+10:00

Having a good time..

Not another photo...

Well well well this is my beauty..what a broccolli..

Serious work, the best in the garden,,, composting.

The finished product, such a beautiful look, that the photographer was forced to come back and take a photo..

Canadian Cleopatra, surveying the reeds on the bank of the Nile..no actually, our top or bottom pond, as it is called, from whatever vantage point you are standing. She managed to whip the weeds into shape pronto.

Rested and refreshed, back from Bali and I'm ready to do some work.

I've sorted myself out and am now into a nodig garden. It may look like I'm working, it's all an illusion.

What a picture.

Many hands make light work. Alistair and Kye planting the apple tree.

Holding the apple tree.

Watering in the tree.

The support team, while Alistair and Kye dug a hole for the apple tree.

Working very very hard.. digging the hole for the apple tree.


I'm the king of the castle.. so, so happy....a job well done...	The next day, I made my granny Ros take me back to the garden, so I could talk to the apple tree, just like 'that man' told me too.

Cabbage, Christine and Alistair's plot.

Ros's plot. Carrots, garlic all in picture book rows.

Dianne's raised bed flourishing.

Cabbage, Jesse's plot.

...
...
My apologies. Some of the photos, in the tree planting are out of sequence. Unfortunately Blogger is a b.....r to work with.

photos marijka
published by marijka

JULY WORKING BEE

2011-07-10T19:32:00.019+10:00

Rebecca's Salad Bar.

Having somehow forgotten to take photos of people working at the WORKING BEE here is a photojournalistic story of what we do at the garden when we aren't working...Some may argue this is all we do..so long as our afternoons are spent in enjoyment and an occasional piece of lettuce or silverbeet is harvested we do well.

BUT trees were pruned, the ornamental grape was pruned, weeds were weeded and the area around the water tank magnificently improved, and silently with no fanfare people sat and kept on mosaicing the new NCG sign. AND most importantly another pumpkin soup was cooked again.. eaten along with all the other delicious morsels provided by the gardeners. A bread baked by Diane comes to mind.

And then Alistair decided he couldn't live any longer without a fire (it being the heart of winter in Melbourne). So we had a fire and then of course the fire needs somthing to be cooked on it.. sausages..

Ros ladling out the soup.

Eating pumpkin soup.

Ros and Rebecca checking out the newest varieties of tomatoes for summer.

Marijka's pumpkins and Small Leafed Clematis.
Clematis microphylla.

Our lemon tree thanks to, Ros and Chris, who lovingly and painstakingly kept on talking to it, discussing about it and feeding it, has now after many years of trying, produced succulent lemons. Thanks Ros and Chris.

Serious discussion at the bottom of the garden.

Shelley in her perfct red hat.

Elizabeth and Christine sharing a joke.

Elizabeth enjoying herself.

Well I think this big... Diane

Ian about to play the guitar.and sing.

Alistair in a serious mood after having accomplished a fire at the garden..feeling very pleased with himself.

The fire.

The sausage sizzle.
.

Ready for the sausages in the smoke haze.

A man in a tall hat eating his sausage.


And the Happy Wanderer doing its thing. Hardenbergia violacea.

Photos, marijka

Posted by marijka. All information correct as of posting..:-)

June 2011 Working Bee...and Pauline's Special Dumplings!!

2011-06-06T14:22:00.002+10:00

We had a lovely sunny working bee on Sunday and it was extra special because Pauline made her famous dumplings! Naturally we decided to eat those first to give us enough energy to do some work..

Ros picked the first of our very impressive lemons and Pauline harvested some of the very first ginger ever grown in our gardens!

Diane has done wonders with her raised bed plot:

And Jess has grown some beautiful corn and pumpkins;

At our next working bee (3rd July) we plan to make some pumpkin soup, so make sure you come!

Persimmons

2011-05-23T20:05:00.001+10:00

A couple of photos from 2010 from our persimmon tree.

marijka

PERSIMMONS

2011-05-23T18:45:00.001+10:00

Elizabeth was talking about the beauty of persimmons when they are still hanging on the tree.. and here is a photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Posted by marijka.

Autumn harvest and mosaic sign

2011-03-28T20:06:00.002+11:00

The Sunday before last we harvested some great pumpkins from our plots (thanks to Marijka for the seed!)and Christine and Heather put together a beautiful salad (ironically it was too hot for soup!)Plus we had a feast from all the other wonderful dishes everyone brought and then got stuck into our mosaiced sign. It's looking rather handsome!

Then last Sunday we had an even bigger haul of produce and Ros picked her Tromoncino zucchini which really had become a bit of a monster!

January 2011 Working Bee (posted in March) !!!

2011-03-28T15:04:00.000+11:00

Calling card.. Possum?

A quiet Working Bee.. Still in Holiday mode.Chris in fine form...

Photography marijka

.

Xmas 2010 (posted in march)...!!!

2011-03-28T14:48:00.003+11:00

A few of the delicious desserts ...

Roz and Heather looking after the barbecue...

A quiet Christmas.. and it looks like it was a tad cold by the jackets and the mufflers..Still we all enjoyed our fabulous lunch as usual...

photos marijka
posted by marijka

.

February 2011

2011-02-18T10:53:00.001+11:00

The top pond full- an amazing sight after the last few years of drought!

It's been such an amazing year for rain this year that our gardens are looking very lush and bountiful. Time to show off some of our harvest! Pauline grew a bumper crop of cucumbers and Christine did the same with zucchinis.

Finally getting started on our new sign- here's Ros and Vince cutting the cement sheeting at the last working bee.

And the letters sketched out:

Our shed before Marijka and Ros did a big clean-out last Sunday- pretty but a bit too wild:

2011-02-14T00:04:00.000+11:00

This is for the mosaic enthusiasts..

In Memory of Chris Kirkopoulos .

2010-12-09T22:43:00.003+11:00

Chris having his lunch at NCG.

He was an original. Loved his tomatoes, onions and garlic. Was a member of NCG for 11 years.

Chris died 15th of September 2010.

He will be remembered.

"How are you Chris?" "Number One".

.

WORKING BEE DECEMBER

2010-12-09T11:48:00.077+11:00

Charlie

The cake made by Charlie....and enjoyed by everybody else..

Ros, Edain and Shelley looking at a photo album of Chris's stay at the gardens.

Peter, Heather and Rebecca.

Ros having a giggle and Rebecca and Heather sitting on our newly constructed raised bed.. Still looking for someone to take possession of it.

Charlie with the beautiful hat, Marc, Ros and Edain..

Ros and heather taking a photo opportunity and breather.

Gardeners working on dismantling Chris's plot.and Ros's Pineapple thingy peeking in....

Sophia Loren er no Edain with beetroot with purple coloured leaves..

Chris's giraffe now happily browsing among Heather's spring onions..

Chris's Toucan now to be looked after by Rebecca.

Path leading to Northcote Community Gardens with the grasses not seen like this for a number of years now... The rains have come....

Heather and Jess a picture in themselves..

Ros and Heather

Chrysocephalum apiculatum

Photography by marijka.

Posted by marijka.

WORKING BEE NOVEMBER 7th 2010

2010-11-12T10:21:00.014+11:00

Well I know what my job is... Grow and be beautiful...All the other members have to finish the raised bed... Rocks on the bottom layer, cardboard and hessian layer, then a weed matting then the soil .. so that the roots from the neighboring She Oaks do not come through like they like to do and this is the reason for the Raised Bed...

The pile. One and 3 quarters of scoria rocks, two and a quarter of 'veggie mix' soil.to be wheel barrowed down to the bottom of the garden and put into our raised bed...

and here we go.. shovel shovel shovel....Pauline, Ian, Ros, Christine and Justin.

Backbreaking work..but it's gotta be done..

but at this end it's definitely a FUN working bee...all we have to do is load all that earth and rock in.. easy...

I need to get right into it.. says Vince..

Stretch it this way.. Stretch it that way..a weed mat looks like a weed mat.

The word is "working Bee" this one looks like a "Fun Bee"...

Christine, Chris who a minute before was doing somesort of boogie woogie entertaining young Eddie and his mum Edain.
.

Watch those fingers boys...

A good vantage point.
.

A well known hat... beautifully worn by Justin..

WELL a job well done..

Had to do it twice so i could feature as well.

and another Birthday Yay....hooray says the birthday Rebecca..
.

ANOTHER triumph... Lemon tart by Ros...awaiting the recipe.
.

So much delicious joice..

Going home... Gotta catch that train....

I usually carry a bunch of rhubarb home..it's what I do.

Photography.. Pauline, Heather, Marijka
Posted by marijka

PS..Check out Christine's delicious Broad Bean recipe in the side panel.....We all enjoyed it..Broad Beans also grown by Christine..
..

VISITORS

2010-10-29T07:56:00.004+11:00

Baby magpie in one of our gum trees in the reveg areas..

Look closely there is a small head sticking out of the greenery.

Photos marijka
Posted by marijka

WORKING BEE 3rd OCTOBER

2010-10-05T10:50:00.015+11:00

This working Bee we had Maureen, Chris's mum and Matt, our local friend of the garden, they had worked hard alongside gardeners furiously trying to control the weeds which with this winter's rain have become the best ever...

Matt, who has been volunteering at some of our working bees, works and studies at Monash University and runs an exciting project to map Australia's ancient past in the style of Google Earth.

Check out Matt's website online here:

http://sahultime.monash.edu.au

Christine's and Alistair magnificent garlic..
.

Chris's Broad Bean flowers.
.

Chris's pea flowers.
.
.

Heather, our new member and Pauline. I'm not sure but it looks like one of the moves for the "Before the New Moon " dance...
.

Liz and Rebecca and Chris looking on, setting up the table. The piece de resistance was Rebecca's fennel and orange salad..

Ohotos marijka
.Posted by marijka.
.

WORKING BEE 12TH SEPTEMBER

2010-09-14T15:12:00.011+10:00

Not sure what is happening here.. but Chris has his wallet open and I think I heard something about a Community Garden I LOVE T shirt.. or was he buying some green stuff of Ros... you know Mizuna something our Chris has a definite hankering for.

Just some pics from the day . You work out the story..but it's all about a raised bed or two..cutting timber with the help of Peter's generator, the girls clearing the area and a helping hand or two in Old Chris's plot.

And of course another one of our gardeners has become a Senior Citizen. She kept on chirping about it... and the fact that she is going to start traveling on trams on Sunday.. it's for free...but we wished her a Happy Birthday with Cupcakes made by Rebecca with gorgeous crystallized violets, and an orange cake made by Victoria market and some GREEN nettle soup made by Christine.. Recipe for the soup is on the side of the Blog..We all recommend it..

.

........... ..................................................................................................
Photos marijka
Posted by marijka.

New Colours in our tshirts!

2010-09-11T17:02:00.007+10:00

Check out our Red Bubble site for new colours and styles in our tshirts- plus stickers!

Sunny Almost Spring Afternoon..

2010-08-24T13:17:00.004+10:00

Sunday was a lovely sunny afternoon and Spring was in the air...it's been such a wonderful wet Winter that our gardens are all looking very lush and even the strawbales are growing.

2010 Very Moist Annual General Meeting

2010-08-17T14:05:00.010+10:00

Well, despite some rather dramatic weather we had a good turn out at the AGM on Sunday,(including our newest and youngest member in a very stylish sleeping bag type ensemble)and we managed to cover a fair bit of business in between tea and cakes.
Office bearers were elected and issues of plot maintenance and membership obligations were raised. There will be un updated version of the rules coming shortly and we will email everyone to let them know what's what.

Compost Day- working bee for May

2010-05-09T12:12:00.004+10:00

Last Sunday, Ros (and Kai), Chris, Pauline, Alistair and Rebecca worked on turning over the compost heaps and rebuilding them. We called ourselves the "Compost Club" after Pauline made a comment about wanting to be in the Qantas Club and we all misheard it as "Compost Club". Well really- which would you rather be a part of...? Don't answer that.
We actually had a great day and managed to distribute quite a lot of premium compost around the fruit trees.

Working bee 11th April

2010-04-12T18:16:00.007+10:00

.

WEll forgot to take photos...but nevermind a lot of work was done... Rebecca worked on pruning trees, Roz weeded the strawberry area and had the mulch brigade topping up mulch for her, Chris kept Liz entertained while she weeded, Justin powered the mulch brigade and I heard one of the gardeners say,"It's good having Justin around". and then Edain brought our latest member Eddie all beautifully dressed in a jumpsuit. The weather was kind.. and a decision was made regarding our latest venture powered by Roz two raised garden beds. We have enough timber in the Gardens to actually make them without having to seek a grant for them.. HOORAY we all heard Roz say... It was nice to have Vince back on the job as well..Pauline and myself kept the fish entertained with our witticisms as we weeded around the pond.....

But due to form have to have a photo..
It's coming up Seed Saving time Workshop again and I'm hunting up stuff.. this is a photo from an American website..and what are they doing... tasting CUCUMBERS...don't you just love it...

http://www.seedsavers.org/

.

WORKING BEE 7th March 2010

2010-03-16T15:41:00.009+11:00

.

Well one garden member did bring his wellies. On ya Chris.

All three of us managed to accomplish a huge amount.. The weather was pleasant, the birds and butterflies were winging about, we tried to call out to Freddy that we were not going to destroy his home altogether.. We hoped he heard us..We weeded and weeded huge clumps of Cumbangi bulrushes, as these would take over the whole pond if allowed to continue. Also a large area of the indigenous waterplants which would also take over the whole pond if allowed to continue to grow..

We also discussed and discussed and Roz and myself, some of the time, politely listened to Chris explaining to us his ideas about strengthening the back wall of the pond..

Roz and myself of course had our own ideas hmmm... and Roz was fairly convinced by the end that it is possible to do.. To which end she valiantly hammered in two stakes and watered in the clay.. This is one idea we hope will work to stabalize the wall.. which has fallen in, we reckon due to the drought drying out the clay and the consequence of this has been that it has crumbled..in.

Chris and Marijka.

Ros.
The crumbled clay wall after being staked and watered in.

Photos marijka, ros.
Posted marijka

.

Ringwood Community Gardens

2010-03-16T15:15:00.006+11:00

.

On 31st Of January Northcote Community Gardeners visited Ringwood Community Gardens on their Open Day. We we extremely impressed as well as very envious of the large size of their individual plots( 3 meters X 10 meters), the number of their plots 100 in total as well as their surroundings .. adjacent to J.W. Manson Reserve..

We were also very chuffed to see Trevor, a committee member of Ringwood Community Gardens, wearing one of Rebecca's Tshirts..which comes from the RedBubble NCG site..He also told us that one of the Gardening Australia presenters inquired about it..

All in all we were very glad to have visited..

.Photos marijka
Posted by marijka

XMAS BARBECUE 2009

2010-02-02T13:30:00.009+11:00

.
A Fine celebration

Thanks to Jane a beautiful and delicious ending to the repast...

Marijka's vegetarian shashlicks..

The fish freshly bought at the Victoria Market by Christine and Alistair.


A satisfying meal.				Photos marijka

December Working Bee

2010-01-27T13:03:00.010+11:00

.

.....................A beautiful SUNNY DAY

.......................A beautiful HAT DAY

A well earned rest. Photos marijka

November Working Bee

2010-01-25T17:30:00.005+11:00

A late posting...but look at the beautiful vegetables seen on that day and the other beautiful beings.

Photos marijka

New cover for calendar..

2009-11-24T13:54:00.003+11:00

I changed the cover of our 2010 calendar after recieving a copy today- the carrots blown up huge are a little overwhelming! So we've got a nice cabbage instead.

New Calendar for 2010....

2009-11-16T19:24:00.004+11:00

I've ordered a copy of our new calendar now available for purchase on Red Bubble, so in a few weeks anyone who is interested can check it out in the flesh (so to speak) at the gardens.

Working Bee October 2009

2009-10-07T16:56:00.005+11:00

.
The Sun came out and drew us into its bosom..Good food, actually scrumptious food, a memorable dip from Roz and a memorable cake from Christine, crusty bread and more dips from Rebecca, choc biscuits from Peter.....Good company, good conversation. What else does one need on a Sunny Spring Afternoon...Work??? well actually we did come to a definite resolution regarding the Big Pond (nothing to do with Telstra) and Chris and Peter were later seen scribbling plans on the blackboard..and there was talk of sleepers, decking etc...frogs, fish, vanilla pods, saffron, biodynamic brown rice....and Christine is going to make a compost 'tea' from nettle for her garden while Rebecca was going home to brew nettle tea/soup...and Marijka is ecstatic to keep on growing it...despite strange looks and comments :-) from some unbeleivers.

.

Photos marijka

Spring Feast

2009-09-13T21:50:00.010+10:00

So a few more images from the day of the Spring Celebration a little bit late. Well a very bit late...

"Some explanation is needed here.. I really didn't eat and drink it all by myself..."

I'm going to use the new sink...

I grew these...

We had a lovely celebration of Spring today, despite it being a not particularly sunny and Spring-like day. After a glass or two of champagne, some fairies were spotted skipping through the gardens and Mark found some truly giant poppies in Kym's plot!

Photos, rebecca, marijka.

SPRING Organic Gardener.

2009-09-02T10:03:00.005+10:00

Spring, Spring, Spring.. Yes Organic Gardener in shed...Yes this means springing (scuse the pun) into action. Loads of hints and expert advice as usual..

Happy reading...

.

A. G. M. that didn't happen.

2009-08-17T14:11:00.004+10:00

.

Well as hardly anybody turned up, yeah yeah I know it was the weather, I decided to have a snooze, but I kept one eye open just in case more did turn up.

.

Dreaming...

2009-07-13T14:16:00.005+10:00

The latest makeover...

Is this perhaps the answer ladies and gentlemen....The garden aka backyard blitz fairies came and went.

.

Oh what a Working Bee it was. July 2009

2009-07-10T17:53:00.020+10:00

. .
The contents of the shed had to be emptied.

Chris looking for that mouse.

Justin came to the rescue with the door.

The door.
Some do all the work, while others like to pose.

Pauline the director. This way please.

Liz
Edain.
Afternoon tea al fresco.

Cup of tea here I come.

A quiet moment.
"Photo..."
A lot of praying had to be done to get that floor in line with the level.

A lot of dancing was necessary as well as all that prayer.

The Floor and what a beautiful result. Congratulations everyone...

Liz has promised...
.

Organic Gardener July/August 2009

2009-06-21T11:57:00.005+10:00

..................................

Great reading as usual.
.

Germinating Seeds

2009-06-03T10:48:00.003+10:00

................................................................................

here's a quick video..

...................................................................................

SEED SAVING 4.5.09

2009-05-15T17:19:00.011+10:00

.
Some pictures from the Seed Saving Workshop...

Photos from previous Seed Saving Workshops.

Persimmons from our tree.

Photographers: Roz, Justin (the Second), Marijka.

.

A Must See Video.

2009-05-08T10:59:00.003+10:00

We have a number of our NCG gardeners staring.

Seeds Of Growth - A Short Film on Community Gardens from Will Coverdale on Vimeo.

Congrats to Will Coverdale.

2009-05-01T15:35:00.005+10:00

A few reasons why we ought to be saving seeds.

Ethical Eating: Hosted by Phillip Adams. Ideas Festival, Brisbane

2009-04-30T17:39:00.008+10:00

This is not on YouTube so can only give you the web address to this video...

http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/node/1554

Copy and paste...This one is an hour long... in two parts.. interesting facts..

Organic Gardening in Cuba

2009-04-27T13:01:00.002+10:00

In case anybody missed Monty's program "Around The World in 80 Gardens' the segment on Cuba's food revolution..

Slow Food

2009-04-26T10:36:00.002+10:00

This will take 10 minutes to watch. In my opinion 10 minutes well spent.
Watch CBS Videos Online

Promotion for the SeedSavers DVD.

2009-04-24T19:06:00.000+10:00

Organic Gardener

2009-04-21T18:13:00.003+10:00

Here it is again the May/June issue of Organic Gardener and how nice to see Peter Cundall still doing his thing... pruning..on ya Peter... Miss you on Gardening Australia..

This mag will be in the Library Bin with the other issues by the weekend..

At last

2009-04-06T14:55:00.011+10:00

The Plan.

The elbows..

Fearless Pauline.. clearing the gutter..

Now Pauline decided it was easier on top of the roof...no stopping the girl..

That's definitely very high...

What a giggle..

Now Boys and Girls this is how it is done..says the man with the drill...

at an angle of 45 degrees...

a bit of muscle next...

Now I'm not too sure..hmmm... what next Peter?

Well while the gentlemen play we can have a cup of tea...

Well now it's my turn with a drill...

Now what a lovely photo...

Now where do you reckon I should start drilling?

What a good job...

Now where is this supposed to go.. we seem to have a bit of pipe left over...

Well we could try to reconnect here maybe and then it will look finished...

But seriously a lot of fun was had by all on the day..
Now just a bit of rain. So Lady of the Clouds please tell Mr. Rain Man...those people down there have at last
a tank so what about it..? the sooner the better...and her she is
TA..DAAA...
Congratulations to everybody. A lot of team work as well as Rebecca and Ros spending time and effort into making it work..

Ta daaaa!

2009-03-17T18:16:00.006+11:00

Every picture tells a story..... Sunday 3.2.09

2009-03-06T11:12:00.003+11:00

Tank base built!

2009-03-04T16:04:00.003+11:00

At long last we have built our tank base and everyone put in a magnificent effort on Sunday to get it done. Particularly Vince and Alistair, who were the foremen for the day. Next on the list is the actual tank! Unfortunately we have been given so much misinformation about delivery costs from Bunnings(every single person we spoke to over the last few months told us a different price), that we may have to downsize from a 7000 litre, to a 5500 litre from Bulleen Art and Garden who are a much more reliable organisation. But if we can get 4 burly people at the gardens to receive it on a week-day, we may still get the 7000 litre. Watch this space!

Our contribution to the Phoenix Appeal

2009-02-14T12:24:00.001+11:00

This image will shortly be available to buy at Phoenix-Appeal to help raise some money for bushfire victims.

Fitzroy Community Gardens Open Day

2009-02-09T18:15:00.001+11:00

Working Bee and Bush Fires

2009-02-09T17:53:00.003+11:00

Yesterday we had a good turn-out for our working bee, and lots of productive discussion on how to spend the grant money, but we were also all in shock about the news of the devasting bush-fires sweeping Victoria. Since then the news has just gotten worse.
Phoenix-Appeal is a new site on Red Bubble established specifically to raise funds for the fire victims, but you can always donate directly to Red Cross and/or donate blood.
Words can't really express how truly awful this is, all we can do is try to support our fellow Victorians however we can.

Organic Gardener

2009-02-06T17:15:00.005+11:00

The March/April Mag. To be borrowed....

.

Volunteer's Grant

2009-01-19T12:41:00.004+11:00

Hooray for us! We have been successful in our application for a Volunteer's Grant from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and today we received the Letter of Offer, so very soon we should have the money in our account and begin spending!

Community vege swap meet...another one!

2009-01-14T21:00:00.001+11:00

Community Event - Vegie Swap Meet
Too many tomatoes? Loads of lemons? Bundles of Beans? Don't let them go to waste. Bring along your excess home grown produce, anything from vegetables and fruit to worm juice, and swap it for someone else's excess produce.
The Vegie Swap will be held at Bulleen Art and Garden every second Saturday until ANZAC day, starting on the 17th of January. It will be held between 9am and 11am. Everyone's welcome, just turn up on the day.
Future Vegie Swap dates are 31st January, 14th & 28th February, 14th & 28th March and 11th and 25th of April. BAAG is only providing the space for this community event and will not be gaining financially in any way from it.

A Christmas Wish

2009-01-06T17:35:00.003+11:00

Thank you Ruby from Northcote Community Gardeners.

Bees and Best Garden Winners

2009-01-05T17:25:00.009+11:00

The award for the Super Best Garden of January 2009 (which I just invented 2 seconds ago) has to go to Justin and Edain whose plot is just bursting to overflowing with lush vege goodness...I mean, seriously, you need a pith helmet and a machete to get through that!

Jane's plot is also the envy of us all and runs a very close second, so green stars to you all!

We also had an impressive turn out at the working bee on Sunday considering the time of year and how hot it was. We managed to get some mulch spread about around the re-vegetation area, and weed under the fig trees, as well as sit down and have a natter, so it was a good day.

On the bee front, Ros has been doing some investigating and plans to send out an email about it, and has also suggested a link here to the Department of Sustainabilty where you can enter Apiary Code of Practice in their search box for those who are interested.

We may have bees in the gardens soon, but need to make sure it's all safe and proper first.

Next Working Bee is probably Sunday 1st February, so see you then for some planning and plotting for 2009.

Happy Christmas from Cultivating Community.

2008-12-25T18:29:00.006+11:00

Merry Christmas from all the staff at Cultivating Community.

This year’s gift is from the Lennox St Community Garden in Richmond and features a selection of the gardener’s favourite recipes in English, Chinese and Vietnamese. It was produced as part of the ABC Open Garden Scheme and was accompanied by a DVD, Chapters of which can be viewed on by visiting our channel on You Tube http://au.youtube.com/user/CultivatingCommunity

If you are in Melbourne over the Festive period and have a tree that’s heaving with fruit please come along to Yarra Neighbourhood Orchard swap meet on Saturday the 3rd January from 10am to 1pm on the bike path opposite the Fitzroy pool. We are expecting a massive variety of produce and what could be better than swapping locally produced goodies!

Next year will see our weekly community fruit and vegetable market refocus on to local and seasonal produce. The markets take place every Thursday from the second week of January and have the cheapest produce this side of the Vic Market.

10:30-11:30 Harmsworth St Hall Collingwood

1:30-2:30 Base of 125 Napier St Fitzroy

Lastly our community garden in Napier St Fitzroy is taking part in the ABC Open Garden Scheme the weekend of 21/22 February. There will be tours, cooking demos, the launch of a DVD showing the history of the estate and interviews with gardeners and much much more. Opening times are 10am to 4pm – hope to see you there.

I wish you all a fantastic Christmas and I hope that all your harvests are bountiful in 2009!

Thanks
Ben Neil
Chief Executive Officer
Cultivating Community
P.O. Box 8 Abbotsford
Victoria 3067
Office: 03 9415 6580

Fax: 03 9415 6507
Mobile: 0404 255 317

www.cultivatingcommunity.org.au

Organic Gardener 2009

2008-12-15T11:21:00.006+11:00

We have a new subscription for 2009. In the Library Container in the shed. Keep reading. Just write your name in the library book when you borrow one of the many goodies in there and then when you return it. It is a fabulous resource..Loads of ideas..

.

Visit from Barham Food Garden

2008-12-09T16:48:00.006+11:00

Delicious oranges.

On Saturday we had a group from the Barham Community Food Garden visit our garden as part of a community garden tour that they did by bus. They were a great group of people who brought along a lovely selection of goodies for afternoon tea and a large box of locally grown oranges for us to share. The box is in the shed at the garden so help yourselves.

Barham is a town near the Vic/NSW border on the way to Swan Hill, they are only in the planning stages of their garden and were interested in how our garden worked. They also visited Veg Out, Atherton High Rise, and the Happy New Life garden in Richmond. They had seen the photos on our blog of that garden which inspired them to visit there. Hopefully we will keep in contact with them.

Mardie who organised the trip had also bought one of our t-shirts from Red Bubble. She is keen to have a chat with Rebecca and get her tips on setting up a blog.

Red Bubble orders for Christmas

2008-12-01T15:29:00.003+11:00

Red Bubble has just listed order deadlines for anyone wanting to order stuff for Christmas, here they are:
Calendars, Cards, Stretched Canvas, Posters and all Prints (Framed, Laminated, Mounted, Matted and Laminated) Dec. 14
T-shirts: Dec. 7
So get ordering!

We had a lovely Christmas party on Sunday, with a fabulous array of food- (Who made that berry pastry thing? It was amazing!!) and a great turn out, so thank-you all for turning up with plates in hand.
I forgot to take my camera but Marijka may have a few snaps to share.

And here they are... Some beauties on the day of the feasting..

Onion flower thriving in Edain's and Justin's patch..

Hollyhock down by the pond. An infiltrator..

Water iris down by the pond. Best season yet.

Dianella down by the pond. A fabulous show this year..

(And the berry pastry thingy was another of Jane's gourmet baking).

Self sufficiency blog

2008-11-29T17:13:00.003+11:00

This is Daniel Moss's food growing blog http://www.growingourown.wordpress.com/. It's full of great info and links, and our own little gardens star with a photo too.

Thanks to Ros for talking to Daniel and connecting us with him and his project. We are part of a movement here in Melbourne (even though we tend to mostly just focus on our own little gardens), but it's still nice to be connected!

Christmas party

2008-11-18T13:05:00.002+11:00

Our Christmas/Summer Solstice/ Hannukah/ End Of Year/ Just Because Party will be on Sunday 30th November at 12.00pm at the gardens. Please come along and bring a plate...with some food on it.
See you then!

Sprout markets

2008-11-18T12:58:00.003+11:00

New markets starting up at Sprout.

Nov. Working Bee and Grants

2008-10-29T12:37:00.002+11:00

By now you probably all know we had no luck on the Landcare grant, but the Community Volunteers grant is still a possibility, they will hopefully let us know before Christmas.
Next WORKING BEE IS NOW THE 9TH NOVEMBER hope you can all make it.

Happy New Life Garden visit

2008-10-07T16:50:00.010+11:00

Here are some images of the fabulous Happy New Life Garden in Lennox St Richmond we visited on Sunday. In a very compact space these gardeners with a mostly Vietnamese heritage are growing an absolute abundancce of produce. We were most struck by their use of vertical space with polystyrene boxes loaded with seedlings packed into every spare corner. It was very inspiring and we all took home plenty of ideas for maximising the use of our space.

...Say,who is that stylish woman in that fabulous tshirt???!!! Where can I get one?

Swapmeet and FGA

2008-10-02T18:00:00.005+10:00

The above leaflet is for a new Swapmeet for gardeners to swap excess produce, seeds, cuttings etc and is happening this Saturday (4th Oct) at Smith's Reserve Fitzroy.

Ros and Rebecca attended a public meeting last night of the Food Gardeners Alliance, a new organisation of home and community gardeners concerned about the water restrictions and their impact on food gardening. David Holmgren (of permaculture fame), Clive Blazey from the Diggers Club, Jane Edmanson from the ABC and Helen Tuton from Sustainable Gardening Australia all gave very informative speeches, and the public were able to ask questions at the end. There were also some local and state government representatives there.

David Holmgren believed that growing your own vegetables is one of the most powerful things you can do to save water. This is because when you compare the amount of water needed to grow food on a farm, then packaged and transported and to the supermarket and then to your home....home gardening uses a tiny amount of water.

It is in its early stages, but FGA could become a great lobby group for food gardeners and I urge everyone to check out their website here. (They've also totally coincidentally used one of our tshirt designs to promote their message...GROW Food and save the world!)

Working Bee This Sunday and Fringe Festival Event

2008-09-29T14:37:00.004+10:00

On Saturday4th and Sunday 5th October the Lennox Street "Happy New Life" Community Garden will be open to the public as part of the Fringe Festival (thanks to Liz for this info!).

Please click here for more details.

A few of us will be going along on this Sunday 5th October, before coming to OUR WORKING BEE at 1.30 pm. Don't forget Daylight Savings time starts that day too.

Gardens History: Part 1

2008-09-22T14:07:00.004+10:00

Marijka has a wonderful collection of photos of the development of the gardens dating back to 1997, and I thought it'd be interesting for everyone to see how far we've come!

So here is Part 1;

Summer 1997-ish...while the gardens and shed were being built, and before the shed was burnt.

Also, you can see this is taken before the revegetation area was a twinkle in anyone's eye.

You can order your own calendars now!

2008-09-19T13:51:00.004+10:00

Yes, Red Bubble have now made it possible for anyone to purchase a calendar online, so you no longer have to go through me or Marijka...so just click here now and scroll down to the calendars (under the tshirts) and buy all your friends and family calendars for Christmas...don't forget all profits go into the gardens coffers!

Maybe you could pick up a few Christmas cards while you're there?

Revised Tank

2008-09-18T11:50:00.004+10:00

Unfortunately the very attractive and perfect for us Tankmaster 12000 litre tank has been discontinued, but we have now put in a Landcare Grant application for this equally stylish- if not quite so handsome Tankmaster 10000 litre tank. Everybody cross your fingers... and toes...

Reservoir Library Display

2008-09-17T11:23:00.004+10:00

This is a display of Ros's and Marijka's felt pieces, as well as a display promoting the gardens that we have set up at Reservoir Library for two weeks. Check it out if you're in the area.

Tank love

2008-09-03T13:00:00.004+10:00

This is the Tankmasta TA1403 12000 litre water tank that we are currently coveting for our gardens. Handsome devil isn't he?

If you would like to check out other tanks available go to the Enviro-friendly web-site here.

AGM

2008-08-24T17:10:00.003+10:00

This was the agenda for the AGM today at 1.30.
We've had such good turn outs for the recent working bees it was a bit disappointing that more people didn't turn up. Still, it was quite productive and new members Liz and Jenny contributed some good positive energy. If you are interested in the minutes, they will be available to read in the meeting book in the shed.
On a brighter note- the gardens are looking lovely after all the recent rain and we can only hope it continues throughout Spring!

Annual General Meeting

2008-08-04T12:53:00.006+10:00

We had another great turn out for our working bee on Sunday- well done all those who turned up and thanks for making all those yummy cakes for afternoon tea!

Our Annual General Meeting will be on Sunday 25th August at 1.30pm and it's important for as many people as possible to attend, so that we can effectively deal with all the issues affecting the gardens and elect our office bearers.

There is an Agenda on the blackboard at the gardens and please feel free to add any issues you may wish to discuss.

Also just a reminder that we have a selection of cards and tshirts available to buy on our Red Bubble site here, all the proceeds of which go to the gardens. Hopefully there will be a 2009 calendar as well which you will be able to order through Rebecca or Marijka for about $25.

We've had some decent rain lately and the gardens are looking lush and healthy, but we all know what's coming in Summer, and need to put some energy into procuring a water tank, so any help anyone can offer researching grants etc. to get one will be greatly appreciated.

Organic Gardener

2008-06-29T12:24:00.002+10:00

Latest Organic Gardener is now in Library Bin. Sign in the book for two weeks or so. Happy reading.

Planting Day

2008-06-02T13:34:00.006+10:00

Our wonderful new GM free zone sign and flowering native blue-bells.

We had a wonderful day yesterday and were amazed at how much we can accomplish when people turn up! Everyone deserves a pat on the back, but especially Marijka and Ros who organised it all beautifully.

We have planted out a large area beside the seat and along the railway line with a range of local indigenous plants, so now let's all cross our fingers for rain. Marijka and Chris have a plan to gradually produce a map of the area so that eventually we will be able to walk around the gardens and identify all the various plants.

It feels great to be part of a community effort like this, and hopefully we will all reap the benefits of it in years to come.

May Meeting

2008-05-28T17:06:00.006+10:00

Another of Vince's clever devices- this is to train the broadbeans on...

Christine's Sapphire potatoes-

Chris's Brussel Sprouts!

We had a great turn-out for our meeting on Sunday, and managed to cover a fair bit of ground. Thanks to Christine and Alistair we now have a GM free zone sign on our fence, and are proudly supporting the movement to pressure Darebin Council to declare a GM free zone too.

We need everyone to search for new grants to get our water-tanks, as the one we'd planned to apply for has been cancelled.

Next Sunday 1st June is a working bee dedicated to planting out some more indigenous plants purchased with the grant from Darebin Council that Marijka got for us, so hopefully we'll have just as good a turn out for that!

Seed Saving Workshop

2008-05-07T10:01:00.019+10:00

A great day as the pictures tell the story.

By putting up so many pictures Blogger decides what to do with them no matter how they are organized in the preview .
A random selection of the seeds that we discussed.
Plot holders can decide, as time goes by, to save the seeds from one plant. Then next Autumn at the Seed Saving workshop we can have a swap around. Marc has already taken up the idea of saving the seeds from one of his plants.

The pumpkin soup as usual was delicious thanks to Roz...

And a hearty welcome to three new members Christina, Alistair and Liz.

Spam comments

2008-05-04T11:34:00.002+10:00

Due to our blog having been hit by comment spam, we will now have to moderate comments before we publish them, but please don't let that stop you from leaving comments, it just may take a bit longer for it to be published.

New Book for Library

2008-05-03T11:37:00.004+10:00

Diana dropped off a new book for our library recently called "The Orchid Thief". The library books and records of loans book are in a large plastic container in the shed for those who wish to borrow.

"The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean.

"The Orchid Thief" is a non-fiction book by American journalist and author Susan Orlean based on her investigation of the 1994 arrest of John Laroche and a group of Seminole Indians in South Florida for poaching rare orchids in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. Laroche, a plant dealer was determined to find and clone the rare Ghost Orchid for profit. Orlean spent two years shadowing Laroche and exploring the odd and fascinating world of orchid fanatics.The book is based on an earlier article Orlean wrote for the New Yorker magazine and the book, Orlean and Laroche were later used as the subjects of the highly fictionalized and self-reverential film Adaptation (2002).

Seed Saving Workshop

2008-04-28T10:47:00.005+10:00

Traditionally we have held a Seed Saving Workshop each year. This year it is to be held on Sunday 4 th May 2008 at 1pm. Also we will celebrate our harvest with cooking up a delicious pumpkin soup. The drought has seen our garden plots a bit scarce on produce yet nevertheless by scrounging here and there as you can see on the poster we have a good representative of seeds for the next coming year. Let the rains come.

Come and share, trade or just come along. Guaranteed you will leave wiser and richer with a pocket full of seeds...and maybe we can pursuade ourselves to share in the growing of seedlings and therefore reducing a tiny amount of landfill by using less plastic containers. Most commercial seeds are treated with fungicides and and other chemicals.

marijka

Proposed positioning of Water Tanks

2008-03-30T12:42:00.003+11:00

Edain has drawn up a couple of proposed ideas for the Water tanks. How good is this...to have someone with these skills in the garden...

The size and positioning of the tanks still to be discussed and finalized hopefully at the next working bee April 6th 2008 1.30 pm...

Also a copy of these diagrams will be on the notice board.

Water tank and Working bee

2008-03-03T11:02:00.002+11:00

Chris, Edain, Ros, Jane, Rebecca and Marijka attended the Working Bee yesterday and thanks to Chris's great preliminary work we were able to make a few crucial decisions about the water tanks. The main water collection points suggest that the best places to put tanks are at the back behind the shed to catch water from the Telstra tower roof and the shed roof. We need to decide if we want one really large round tank, or a few slim-line tanks. Edain has offered to do some rough specs of the areas we think are appropriate, and then we will be able to submit all of this to plumbers in order to get quotes for the whole job from cement base up, before applying for our grant.
It's exciting to think we may actually have water tanks sometime this year!

Water Tanks

2008-02-27T12:51:00.007+11:00

The first draft of the two roofs in the garden... done by Chris the Younger.
He has also made extensive notes on "Positioning of Water Tank (s)" under the headings of "Things to Consider" including absolutely stunning pieces of info:
"Note: Average yearly rainfall to 2000 about 630 mm per yr.
2004 - 602 mm
2005 - 589 mm
2007 - 310 mm

All of Chris's calculations and notes can be seen and discussed at the working bee.

Hopefully we will have a fabulous number of people at the next working bee this coming Sunday. March 2nd at 1.30pm where we can continue to discuss the Water tanks and what needs to be done.
We have already fulfilled some of the criteria that Community Water Grants consider important if they are to grant money for a water project.

1. Roz has approached Bunnings and Miter 10 for assistance with success.
2. Rebecca has sold $100 worth of Tshirt on the NcgRedBubble site. Money going towards the Water Tank project.
3. I have spoken to Darebin Council and they are more than happy to give us a letter of recommendation.
Marijka.

Wurundjeri Acknowledgement

2008-02-18T16:51:00.003+11:00

Antar Victoria are selling these Traditional Owner acknowledgment plaques, and in light of our Government's recent Apology to Indigenous Australians perhaps we could also express our respect, and get one for our front gate?

Water tank update

2008-02-18T16:37:00.002+11:00

The February Working Bee was very productive, with a good turn-out and some serious weeding being done. Our next big project is the research for obtaining a grant for a water tank- the biggest we can get!
Marijka, Ros and Chris have already started gathering some of the preliminary information but we'll all need to chip in. Here is an extract from Ros's latest email on the subject:

"We are going to need to get comprehensive quotes for labour and materials from 2 plumbers so am putting it out there does anyone have any plumbers they know or contacts ??? We also thought that at the next working bee on 2nd MARCH at 1.30 if we could get as many ideas from you all, as to what you think about what needs to be considered and the type of questions that we need to ask the plumber in order to get a comprehensive quote, I'm sure some of you already know the answers to some of these things eg where is the best place to put this tank or possibly do we need 2 seperate ones, what sort of bases do they need ,how high do they have to be, and a whole range of other things. So please come along and offer your expertise because this is a large project for us and we will all benefit from it, many hands make light work and it will take input from everyone to make this happen."

Organic Gardener

2008-02-17T12:22:00.004+11:00

The latest Organic Gardener has arrived.. Hooray.. It is in the library container in the garden's shed. If you wish to borrow it there is a library notebook into which you can sign your name and the date borrowed and then when you have returned it sign off.
The latest version is to be borrowed for two weeks only...

Latest blackboard news...

2008-01-21T13:52:00.001+11:00

Hope to see you all there! How delightful was that rain?

Check out our new designs at our Red Bubble shop...

3000 Mile Garden

2008-01-21T13:47:00.000+11:00

Here is the latest book our librarian Diana has added to the gardens' collection: "The 3000 Mile Garden : A Magical Correspondence Between Two Passionate Gardeners" by Roger Phillips and Leslie Land.

Two garden lovers meet at a mushroom forage in New Hampshire and start exchanging letters. Each has separate itineraries and separate interests in gardening.Roger is a nature photographer and responsible for the Eccleston Square garden - a 3 acre park in London. Leslie is a food and house magazine editor and tends rambling, borrowed acreage in Maine.Through the art of letter writing they learn of each others lives and gardens.This book is a lovely read and includes illustrations and photos of both gardens and some related recipes. The 3000 Mile Garden book inspired a TV series which screened on the ABC some years ago.

This book is available to borrow from the Gardens now.

Quarterly Meeting and new members

2008-01-11T19:02:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year! People are starting to return to the gardens after holidays etc. and last Sunday we had several new members and prospective members, (as well as some old members) working hard to weed out the front area around the seat and mulberry tree. We were quite pleased with how much we were able to get done considering the heat. We were also delighted to have a visit from Louise and Ruby on Sunday, two of our very favourite people.
It's lovely to have all our plots taken now, and we're even trying to figure out space for new ones because demand is so high.

Benedict and Troy have generously donated the ex-fish oil tank behind the shed to be used as a water tank, and they we will need some volunteers to help install that soon, and connect it to the down pipes. Also a reminder that we plan to apply for a grant in March for a big water tank (or 2?) so anyone keen to help with that please come to the Quarterly meeting.

We have set Sunday 3rd February at 12.30 pm for our next Quarterly Meeting, so please attend if you can, because we need a decent turn-out to vote in Office bearers etc. And it'll also be a good opportunity to greet new members. Please bring something to share for lunch.

I hope you are all managing to survive this hideous heat, and let's hope we get some of that amazing rain they're all getting up North!