The invitation to celebrate a Garden Party to officially open our community garden was enthusiastically supported by around 70 members and guests dressed in summery attire, flower bedecked hats or lais (even the chaps) and much bonhomie.  The weather smiled, the gardens looked great, accessorised by colourful printed banners, streamers and balloons.

The official opening was performed by the Deputy Mayor,Councillor Peter Cavenagh, who also presented the garden with a fine wooden garden bench aptly inscribed with a plaque saying “From Little Things Big Things Grow”.

Sydney Lord Mayor and NSW State Member for Sydney, Clover Moore also attended and was suitably impressed with the results of only 5 months gardening.  Simon Mahon from Australia's Open Garden Scheme presented a plaque to commemorate their grant and the other sponsors, the Paddington Society, Thomas Dux, Bunnings Hardware, the Holdswoth Centre, the Eastern Suburbs Community Garden and Woollahra Council were also warmly thanked by the President, Rob Joyner.

The gardening children had fun too, spotting the tadpoles in the newly constructed pond and passing over the wonderful little stone arched bridge. Delicious eats and drinks were provided by members who joined with the guests and as the sun went down over the city skyline we gave our garden a truly memorable welcome.

Below are some of the pictures from the day

Our new stone arched bridge by our brilliant stonemasons.  We highly recommend viewing under the bridge for no exposed sign of reinforcement.  An excellent achievement by the team!

Revelers enjoying wine and a bite to eat

Our president officially opening the garden

Deputy Mayor preparing to cut the ribbon

Accepting the award from the Open Garden Scheme.

Clover Moore enjoying the new garden and joining in the festivities

To celebrate Midsummer Harvest, our wonderful Cooking Team produced a sumptuous feast of Pasta with Pesto Sauce made from the current bumper crop of Basil in the garden, accompanied by the freshest of garden salads. All the vegetables and greens were freshly picked from our bounteous garden plots, just metres away from the dining table.

 

Members enjoyed the company of two distinguished guests representing both the garden and Woollahra Council.  Councillor Peter Cavanagh (Deputy Mayor) and noted garden writer Holly Kerr Forsyth joined in the festivities to celebrate the transformation of a vacant parcel of weed-infested land into a productive, sustainable community garden and happy social hub.

 

Gardeners young and old came together in a festive spirit to share the delicious fruits of our labour and recount stories and lessons learned from the summer growing season. We marvelled at how, in just a few short months, through shared effort, trial and error, and much laughter, this once neglected piece of urban landscape has been magically re-imagined as a thriving food garden where people of all ages and all walks of life have come together to experience the joys of community gardening.

 

A highlight of the afternoon was a talk on Seed Saving, presented to garden members by Robyn Williamson, urban horticulturist and permaculture designer.

Saving seeds from the best plants in your garden is a wonderful way to propagate those plants that are best adapted to local conditions, for free.  Seed saving guarantees that the most productive plants will grow in your garden. It’s a much better alternative to commercially available seed stock which often originates in other states or countries, from vastly different growing conditions.  By collecting your best seeds and storing them, you’ll have a ready supply of seeds on hand in preparation for the next growing season, as well as extra seeds to exchange with other gardeners for different varieties.

 

Seeds from plants like parsley, celery, dill, parsnips and carrots can be found in the flowering umbels at the top of the stems, shaped like an upside down umbrella.  These can be harvested when the flower heads are mature and used immediately, or stored in clearly marked paper bags and hung up to dry until ready for use. All organic matter except for the seeds needs to be removed eg. through winnowing. For long term storage, seeds must be completely dry and stored in small, air tight containers in a cool, dry place. The less air remaining in your storage containers the better, so try to fill them up to the top with seeds. Silica gel capsules can be used to help absorb any moisture, since this can produce fungal problems.

 

Seeds from the daisy family like dandelion and lettuce come surrounded by a white winged helicopter seed pod, which allows the seeds to float on the breeze and to corkscrew their way into the soil once they’ve landed.  These seeds can be collected and placed in a large bag, allowing the seeds to fall to the bottom, after which they can be sieved prior to storage.  The dried stalks of lettuce seed heads can be dried, then broken into smaller sticks and planted directly into the ground.

 

Wet seeds from tomatoes, cucumber, pumpkin and melons can be scoped out into a jar of water.  Shake this mixture and allow it to settle for 2 or 3 days before pouring off the water and spreading the seeds out on a layer of newspaper to dry. This sheet of newspaper can then be placed directly onto the ground where you wish the seeds to sprout, or the dried seeds can be collected for storage.

 

It is said that 75% of the world’s seed biodiversity has been lost over the past 100 years.  Saving seeds from your best plants is one way of maintaining viable plant varieties which will thrive in your local area.

 

When we plant seeds collected from the most successful plants, these seeds have already been adapting to local conditions (including the effects of Climate Change) while they were in the ground, ensuring that successive crops from that particular seeds stock are continually adapting to the specific conditions in our own garden.  This means that plants are happier and healthier, have greater pest resistance, produce a greater harvest, require less supplementary watering and are much easier to grow.  The art of Seed Saving was simply common sense for our ancestors, and remains a very worthwhile practice for contemporary gardeners.

 

In our own garden, the crops that have survived especially well this summer in the severe heat conditions, like Basil, will be excellent candidates for our first collection of Summer Season Seeds.

Recommended Reading: Seed to Seed: Food Gardens in Schools

– available through Seed Savers

at http://www.seedsavers.net/resources/our-book-seed-seed-food-gardens-schools

 

The surprising benefits from any garden are the lessons learned through failure. Gardening is not difficult when we know the right plants to grow for our specific conditions. This season we’ve learned which species can withstand the blazing sun, hazy humidity and gale force winds of the summer storms which regularly march across the city.

 

And we’ve learned which varieties to plant either earlier or later in the season, and which plants not to waste our time planting at all next summer.  By planting a variety of trees, flowers, vegetable and herbs, we learn through experimentation what will grow best.

 

The lasting legacy of any community garden is the spirit of comradeship which supports experimentation without fear of failure and encourages trial and error without judgment - because failure itself can turn to victory, through the valuable lessons learned that save us time and resources during the next growing season.  Happy plants mean happy gardeners!

 

As a testament to the vision of the garden’s founders, in a few short months we’ve already begun to see all of our objectives realized. This abundant green space, full of happy people, has become a Meeting Place, a Growing Place, A Learning Place, A Healthy Place, and a Beautiful Place.

 

Overheard during the Harvest Celebration Dinner –

 “This garden sustains me, even when I’m away from it...” 

 

Happy Australia Day!

Happy gardening!

 

 

The construction team had their first meeting recently and discussed the 2010 plan of works.

The mood in the garden on the day of our official plot ballots could be described as irrational exuberance! The day had finally arrived when we were to discover which of the garden plots we’ve all been working so hard to construct would be ours to begin planting in!

The plot ballot system was completely random and contained a wonderful element of surprise, as everyone listened in anticipation for their name to be called out, and to hear the number of the plot they had been assigned. Each person’s name was pulled out of a hat by one of the small children, and then matched to a plot number by an assisting adult. A further element of surprise was in store for those who had elected to share a plot with another gardener. These members had not known who they’d be partnered with until the moment the plot ballot arrived.

The gardeners who had elected to work in small groups to produce vegetable crops to be shared with everyone in the garden also learned which crop they would be growing, and who they would be working with. These crops will range from tomatoes and zucchini to herbs and flowers. All of these communal plots are set up in a central row of the garden, and are positioned on a north/south axis, while the individual plots face east/west.

Every plot in the garden will have ideal growing conditions for plants specific to its site. Some plots will have more shade, others more sun, and so it is just a matter of choosing the best vegetables or herbs to grow in that particular position. And because communal crops will be grown for all to share, gardeners in individual plots will have this first growing season to experiment with various plant choices, without the fear that they won’t have any vegetables to take home with them when harvest time comes.

Earlier, a general meeting had been called to elect the new garden committee for the year ahead. This was probably the most harmonious and painless expression of democracy that any of us can remember. Everyone seemed quite satisfied with the results, with smiles and applause all round.

Prior to the plot ballots and general meeting, there had been a very productive working bee conducted under a hot sun. Many worked up quite a sweat, continuing on with the business of levelling and straightening out the railway sleepers that make up the plot borders. This involves raking away the coarse wood chip mulch, then lining up each railway sleeper with a string line, so that they are not only straight, but at the correct height and level as well. The wood chip mulch is then spread back around each plot border.

Several handy sticks with the number “750” written on them can be found in different areas around the garden. These are to ensure that the pathways between the plots conform to the correct width. Again, this involves a lot of manoeuvring of heavy railway sleepers, which is very hot work on a warm and sunny afternoon.

Work also continued on construction of both the pond and drainage canal under the high cliff wall on the eastern boundary. Large sandstone blocks, many of which had been cut into rectangles by our predecessors (maybe even convict settlers) where pried out from where they had been buried in the soil. These were then transported and positioned into a graceful row of double height, with the black plastic pond liner sandwiched in between them. Recent rain had already collected into a pool on this pond liner, and once the drainage canal is complete, it too will channel water into our new pond.

The children made themselves useful by taking turns to carry large green watering cans filled with water all the way from the garden’s only tap, across the garden, then up the long sloped ramp which leads up to a rock ledge where the tropical garden is now taking shape. Here they quenched the thirst of the banana trees, ginger and sugarcane. These were all quite parched sitting as they do in a heat trap, where the hot western sun beats down on the granite cliff behind them. As long as these tropical plants are kept well watered they should do very well in this warm, sunny spot. We also noticed some seeds already sprouting in this area which looked like pumpkin. The children paid particular attention to these while doing an excellent job of watering. An orchid will eventually be planted below the tropical garden on the western side of the pond.

Meanwhile, a row of comfrey seedlings was planted in the border garden which creates a weed barrier from the adjacent bushland. And those with strong backs moved large bales of ‘no dig’ garden materials into the garden, in preparation for layering the inside of the garden plots, prior to planting. The worm farms were tended, and general maintenance carried out on all areas of the garden.

An important job that must be tackled before the layers of pea straw etc. can go into the plots is the clamping together of all the plot corners where the railway sleepers meet. No planting can take place in the plots until this final step is complete. However, seeds have already been planted in flats, and plants of all shapes and sizes are already sitting in pots awaiting the time when they can at last find their home in their respective garden beds.

As the crackle of kindling could be heard in the Barbeque and the smell of wood smoke once again filled the warm afternoon air in readiness for our family BBQ, a small traditional offering was made to the garden’s mascot in the far corner of the garden. Flowers and other offerings were placed on a rock ledge beneath an image of the ‘Tomato God,’ who appears on our community garden logo.

Earlier in the day, the children had made the discovery of buried treasure in the garden – a vintage faery tricycle! So this too was added to the little shrine below the happy Tomato God. While the northern hemisphere was at that very moment celebrating Halloween, an Autumn festival which honours the ancestors, we in the southern hemisphere have been celebrating the arrival of Spring.

And since this special time also marks the official beginning of our new community garden, and the bounty of new life it will bring forth for us all, it seemed fitting to commemorate this happy moment with a simple and joyful gesture of gratitude.

Thereafter, garden members celebrated another excellent day of progress in the garden as the glory of another sunset over the city skyline washed the sky pink, and a mystical full moon rose in the east.