Waterworks garden group

Trish Moran has kindly offerred to connect happy gardeners in the valley, so we can share ideas, produce and equipment and learn more techniques and do interesting things.

If you would like to keep in touch with this group, then please do get on the email list for it – contact Trish directly or go to ‘comments’ below.

Click ‘continue reading’ for the ideas we came up with at our first meeting:

NOTES OF FIRST MEETING Sunday 14/12/08

We agreed to talk about 1) our own gardens, and also 2) the possibility of setting up a community garden or gardens.

1) How the group might help us in our own gardens

Mail list for advice about such things as pest problems, what to plant and where, sowing times, how to grow more difficult vegetables
Group members as a source of expert example, eg re
• fruit tree pruning
• composting
• building enclosures etc to keep animals and birds out
• watering systems
• chooks
• protecting fruit trees from possums
• care of seedlings
• operate as an ideas exchange
• seeds and seedling exchange
• tools exchange (see below)
• invite guest experts to talk to us
• organise to exchange/sell/give away excess produce
• organise bulk purchases of eg pea straw, manure
• hire/borrow a trailer to get bulk stuff
• organise to see and learn from others’ gardens
• discuss different microenvironments, eg high-side gardens differ from those below the road, and what is best planted in them; one member could grow enough of one crop to share it with one or more other families and get back in exchange something that doesn’t grow well for them
• set up a lending system (see list of tools and equipment below)
• set up a calendar of garden events (more below)
• working bees on agreed and well-prepared projects in each others’ gardens

Tasks:

• Chris to set up a gardening group calendar on the website (UNDERWAY)
• Trish to prepare note for calendar and item for website re a “Garden Crawl” on the weekend of January 17th – to start at Jonah’s (towards the bottom of the road), visit various other gardens en route and perhaps finish at the Waterworks for a BBQ
• Trish to maintain an email list of group members
• Someone to write an article on the group for the website

Community Gardens

We decided that those present weren’t interested in having one of a number of small plots in a larger area (as in Taroona and at Creek Rd), as we have a fair amount of space at home for most crops; rather, we want to plant large areas of crops, eg potatoes, corn – and perhaps to put in fruit trees. (If we had a large area though, we might consider making some of it available to flat dwellers and others with limited space for plots – this is a Trish afterthought and wasn’t discussed at the meeting.)

We discussed some possible sites. Jonah argued it is important to get some public space as this can then be an exemplar for other groups. There is land just beyond the underpass at the junction of Linton and Waterworks which should suit fruit trees, and Chris is talking with David Stephen about it this week; there’s the quarry, which has poor soil and is probably now earmarked for other purposes, as there was a consultation process about it; and there’s some land at the bottom of Kooyong Glen.

We also talked about land owned by Dave and Jo, opposite 144 – 6. Since the meeting, Dave has expressed interest in letting us use some of this. Not wonderful soil and plenty of wallabies, but it has a tap and is easily accessible and several houses overlook the lower section.

Tasks
• Chris to talk to the council about the land near the underpass after he talks with David Stephen
• Amanda to talk with Dave re land opposite her (DONE)
• Trish to send out email and organise note for website seeking people interested in a community garden
• Jonah to take on the resulting email list (and coordinate action)

WHAT WE HAVE TO SHARE:

Jonah: advice re sowing times, seedlings and fertiliser, as well as growing veges in pots
Chris: pruning expertise; has a shredder; putting info on to the website, eg could do a para on each garden; can do a calendar of events/activities
Dorka: how to net vege patches; knows about watering systems
Amanda: good at growing veges – could grow seedlings for all; will share garden tools; has done a Permaculture course; has a sprayer
Phil and Glenda: Phil makes great compost, Glenda is good at watering systems; they have a shredder
Trish and Stuart: will lend a whippersnipper (petrol); Trish has a polystyrene box garden that worked well from late winter for salad veg and herbs
Michelle and Tom: keep chooks and can offer advice; have a Stihl brushcutter; garden tools
Jackie: has a whippersnipper and a mulcher; could provide a chainsaw operator

Others not present who have offered to share include Cary (his ute) and John, who has a large pruner

Conditions of lending

We should have:
1) general guidelines – eg return in the same condition, with the same amount of fuel
2) specific guidelines – each person involved should clearly define their own requirements as well (eg if you owned a mulcher and it was broken, you’d want it fixed!!)

Tasks:

Trish to list tools, equipment and/skills group has available for sharing (DONE)
Someone (??) to take on expanding and maintaining this list

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Some ideas put forward by Trish before the meeting:

Set up an email list so that members can contact one another about things like swapping seeds and seedlings, getting advice on dealing with pests, banding together to bulk buy mulch, manure etc

Workshops – Ros and Dorka have offered to run one on drying food; I’d love to attend one on composting, perhaps actually making one in someone’s garden: there are compost maestros here! Caring for chooks would be another good topic

A garden tour – we’ve done this before and it was useful about what grows well where, pruning, looking after particular plants and so on. Might not have time to do it before mid-January or so. There are a number of interesting gardens – eg Chris and Carol’s, John’s, Troy’s, Amanda’s and Ros’s: we could choose 3 that are different in style/size and run a tour for W/works residents one Saturday or Sunday

There was an earlier suggestion from Phil that we do a kind of garden blitz thing, with group members combining to work on specific tasks in one another’s gardens from time to time

Aside from the garden group email list, activities could be posted on the website as well – eg if we were getting bulk manure or mulch we could put a notice on the website to give others the chance to join in; workshops would be advertised on the website, so would a garden tour.

I find the best way to come up with ideas for any group is face-to-face because people spark off each other. We could start by setting up an email group, asking people to opt in via the website and word of mouth; then find a time via the email list for a meeting (maybe in a garden?) either before or after Christmas.

Contacts for Trish are: stootrish@gmail.com or Ph 6223 1546