Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category
FREE workshop – Tomorrow – Seabrook
FREE workshop tomorrow on Effective Composting and Wormfarming at the Seabrook Community Centre?
Workshop details are:-
Effective Composting and Wormfarming
Location: Seabrook Community Centre
15 Truganina Ave Seabrook (Mel Ref 208, B4)
Date: Tues 12th April
Time: 1-3pm
RSVP: 9395-3010
Children are welcome
Werribee Heritage Orchard – Working Bee
Working Bee #2 – Muck-up Day!
At Werribee Park we are lucky to have access to large ‘deposits’ of manure, courtesy of the many horses that visit the equestrian centre.
To prepare the ground for new trees that are in the nursery beds waiting to be planted out this winter, we would like to spread some of this fine fertiliser over the next few weeks.
Can you help muck in for our muck-raking? It will be down at the Orchard on:
Date: Saturday, April 9, 1-4pm.
Location: The orchard is part of Werribee Mansion Werribee Park, K Road, Werribee, 5-10 minutes walk from the carpark.
Map: http://www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au/orchard/maps.html
BYO gloves and water bottle.
Mediterranean Fiesta – East Keilor
The local community gardens of
East Keilor, Avondale Heights and Strathmore will be sharing a marquee with the ‘My Smart Garden Program’ also nearby will be VEG and the local Rose Creek Winery
- Come say hello.
My Smart Garden
My Smart Garden is a new program to help you produce food, shelter your home, create homes for wildlife and use water wisely. My Smart Garden has something for everyone and is simple, easy and fun. It has been designed so that you can ‘choose your own gardening adventure’. Find out more at http://mysmartgarden.org.au/
The program will be officially launched at the Mediterranean Fiesta this week.
There will be free gardening workshops and giveaways.
The Mediterranean Fiesta is a free festival featuring a great range of musical and dance performances, cooking demonstrations, backyard gardening tips, workshops and kids activities.
When: Sunday 27 March 2011
Time: 11am to 4pm
Where: Centreway Shopping Centre, Centreway, East Keilor
Open Garden Scheme
Special Events
Traditional Productive Gardening, with Mark Dymiotis
Hampton
Wednesday 30 March 2011 9.30am-noon
Chooks in the City
Prahran
Sunday 10 April 2011 9.30am-noon
Booking details:
Bookings are essential – for more information click http://www.opengarden.org.au/events/vic_events.html
Open garden scheme calendar
Scott’s Gardening Link
Short of space in your garden?
-always trying to find space to fit in one more thing?
Check the link below for some cool ideas:
Comment – The gutter gardening idea looks good.
More Vertical etc. gardening ideas with pictures
http://www.kidsgardening.com/2005.kids.garden.news/july/pg1.html
Spotswood Food & Garden Swap & Sugo Making Workshop
Are you overladen with lemons? Or coveting your neighbour’s rhubarb perhaps? Too much worm tea or compost. Chooks laying like crazy and you don’t know what to do with the eggs? You can get into the spirit of sharing and swapping your surplus produce with friends and neighbours at this summer food swap.
First Saturday of each month – the Spotswood Farmers Market is just next door.
9.30 am to 10.30 am. 5 March – 2 April – 7 May – 4 June
Find us at the Spotswood Community House, cnr Melbourne Rd & McLister St, Spotswood.
Melways ref 41 J12.. (Next to the Spotswood Primary School).
Contact Madeleine on 0409 712 003 or Julie on 9391 2613.
Email coordinator@spotswood.com.au
An initiative of The Spotswood Community House & Newport Organic Collective Inc
WORKSHOP – THE ART OF MAKING A GREAT SUGO & GNOCCHI
Learn to make the mother of all tomato sauces – Sugo – with LouLou. LouLou has channelled generations of Nonna’s to perfect this super intense recipe. She will also demonstrate how to make Nonna’s home made gnocchi using a foolproof recipe.
It’s a small group, hands on, and everyone will get a jar of freshly made ORGANIC sugo to take home. We finish off with a bowl of freshly made gnocchi smothered in fresh, rich sugo, parsley and parmesan cheese. It doesn’t get any better.
COMPULSORY BOOKING FEE $20 Full refund with 48 hours notice.
DATE Saturday March 5, 10 am to 1 pm, includes light lunch.
VENUE Spotswood Community House,
Cnr Melbourne Rd & McLister Ave
BOOKINGS Contact Julie on 9391 2613 or email
coordinator@spotswood.com.au
An initiative of the Newport Organic Collective Inc & Spotswood Community House
Urban Harvest
10-11.30am (first saturday of every month)
Rotunda, Pilgrim St park (Bristow reserve) Seddon (see attached map thanks to Rob)
1) last month we learnt about the edible weed perselane which contains more omega-3 fatty acids than another other plant and is delish in salad …
2) some local cafes now have a Ground-to-ground sticker on there coffee machine. Ask them to take home their coffee grinds for your garden/compost. Plump, Feedback, Corner store…stay tuned
3) 12th of March is a Melbourne community swap meet at Fed square 11am – check it out
4) LOOKING for someone else to help host the urban swap meet … all you need to do is meet and greet people!
5) am thinking of making a western urban harvest flag/banner. is anyone interested in sewing a triangle with a letter on it? of bright, colourful, fruity flare
6) did I hear somebody mention figs?! oh boy
Whatever you’ve got to share – everyone and anything is welcome -
plums, figs, zucchinis, green yellow and red tomatoes, rocket, rhubarb, lemons & limes, eggs, honey, manure, coffee grinds, preserves, jam, homemade sourdough bread or biscuits, companion plants, seeds & seedlings, worm juice, herbs (think small bunches or root stock) and fruit and veg of course! and maybe a thermos of tea!
Hope to see you and your little urban harvest swappers for some community bonding and a great chat!
neesh
Where to find us
A simple vertical garden
Here is a great idea which I came across on the internet (apologies: I’ve misplaced the source): Many of us use wooden pallets recycled into sides for composting bays. The idea pictured above literally adds another dimension to their use and gives that extra bit of space which we are always looking for. Any side of the pallet which faces more-or-less towards the sun can be converted to give some vertical growing space. Strawberries, lettuce and herbs come to mind as suitable candidates, with the strawberries able to cope with dappled shade or shorter daily exposure to direct sun.
To contain the growing media, you could put in some more planks from a dismembered pallet as they seem to have done above, fill the whole thing with potting mix or compost and plant into the gaps. Alternatively, wood, plastic or off-cuts of shade-cloth could be inserted as bottoms for each of the horizontal levels.
Watering would be most efficiently done from the top, with trickle-down through the levels. Keep this in mind during construction so that water can work its way gradually down. A dripper system could be set-up with re-used bottles filled with water, cap pierced and shoved head-down into the top of the unit to keep it slowly and constantly watered.
If you decide to try-out this concept, email us some photos.
Information provided by Scott
Grant rounds open for Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program
‘Go for your life’ Kitchen Garden Project with Stephanie Alexander – grant applications now open for Victorian schools!
Funding is now available to Victorian schools through the ‘Go for your life’ (GFYL) Kitchen Garden Project with Stephanie Alexander. The Victorian State Government has announced it is providing a further $1.1 million in a third round of grants available to Victorian government schools with primary enrolments (excluding existing GFYL or National Program Schools). All Victorian government schools with a primary enrolment are eligible for this funding.
More details here
URBAN PERMACULTURE IN ACTION!
How to design and build an urban backyard food forest.
http://festival.slf.org.au/program/locals
See a conventional backyard that has been transformed into a rich, productive, bio-diverse edible food forest including: 30+ fruit trees, berries, perennials and annuals, companion plants and many others!
2PM – 3 PM | SUN 13 FEB
Dundas Street, Preston
Booking: 0403 216 252 or smsscharlie@gmail.com