When did you last visit the garden? Was it when it was looking its best, flush with new Spring growth and seedlings? Resplendent in plum blossoms or mulberries.?Was it in Winter when the citrus was heavy with big orange balls of healthy fruit or were smaller green limes on display?
Was it after prolonged rain when everything, weeds and all, grew rampantly? Or when there was no rain and everything looked droopy and a little brown?
Did you visit before or after we picked up the discarded lolly wrappers, beer bottles, nappies and pizza boxes?
Was the garden a hive of activity with families, children and gardeners or were you the only one there?
And today, just now, what does it look like? Well, it can, as one critic said, look a bit abandoned, but only to those who don’t now what to look for. Did you see the new bunches of grapes, the unusual Davidson plums growing up the trunk, the bright blue flowers of curly lettuce, the macadamias, the blueberries?
The community garden is an organic edible garden where we practice messy seed saving and hand removal of weeds, companion planting, Permaculture and more. You’ll see plants that attract beneficial insects and other that repel unwanted bugs. And you’ll see plenty of bugs and bees.
You’ll see different ways of protecting young seedlings, like a covering of an old banana leaf for sun-protection. You might catch us before we replant a spent vegetable bed; a bed probably full of weeds and straggly plants. But come the next week you’ll see that same bed, weeded, with a layer of garden-made compost and another layer of mulch, ready for planting.
Our beautiful garden relies entirely on our garden members. We are all volunteers. We clean, plant, weed, water, harvest and compost because we love the idea of contributing our little bit to making this planet more sustainable. Why don’t you come and join us!
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