Start thinking about Spring

August Update

• Keep Australia Beautiful NSW - Sustainable Cities Awards. 

  

• Working Bee around the corner.

• What to plant now, is it tomato and potato time yet?

  #KABNSW,  for the Twitter users out there, and #camdencommunitygarden for Instagram followers, check them out.
  
  
  Speaking of Twitter its more like sqwauking at present as the corellas flock past the office at 5.30pm for their nightly roost, i can almost set my clock by them, they are getting noticeably later as the days lengthen, spring is definitely on its way.

 

• Keep Australia Beautiful - Sustainable Cities Awards.

   

  A brilliant night was had by all, Simon Marnie and Costa Georgiadis did a stellar job as MCs for the night, as the photo shows Camden Town Farm Community Garden didn't come away empty handed, highly commended was the award, which was duly accepted by current president Steve Cooper on behalf of the Community Garden. The winners were long established Wentworthville Community Garden, congrats to all concerned and KABNSW for putting on a great night with the aid of many supporters, next years event moves to Canada Bay as a result of Canada bay taking the overall Sustainable Council. Camden's award certainly reflects the work put in by all the volunteers so it was accepted with smiles all round. Mamre Homestead and Penrith Council were great hosts and a spot which should definitely be visited. Thanks again to all concerned.

Winter chill biting Community Garden

July News

• 

  The results of the working bee..

  Keep Australia Beautiful NSW - Sustainable Cities Awards Program, 

• Community Garden Working Bee, 

• Rainwater Harvesting, 

• Community Small Grants up to $5000. 

  First yes that was an icy blast this week, the community gardens being on one of the lower points around town certainly felt the icy grip with a snap freeze hitting the last couple of days, any potatoes that thought they may poke up their new shoots quickly got reminded about how the cold affects any exposed vulnerable shoots, and that's pretty much the same thing experienced by mountain climbers on Everest, yep frozen and now blackened. Needless to say the decision to not prune the roses may also have been a wise one for fear of another snap freeze and the last thing we want is to lose any precious new buds. That task has been put off for a couple of weeks atleast.  Anyway on with the news .......

  Keep Australia Beautiful NSW - Sustainable Cities Awards program 

  At weeks end groups and councils from across Sydney/NSW will come together to share stories/passions and their successes at the presentation dinner for the Sustainable Cities Awards Program at Mamre Homestead, Camden Community Garden will be in attendance with green thumbs crossed, this years president Steve Cooper was in attendance last year and has embraced the experience of being involved in this great program, this program is a great chance for all involved in any of the categories to be recognised amongst their peers and across NSW for their contributions, regardless of the winners on the night there are winners already, wether its the community groups or the individuals involved, many connections have have been made, friendships built, skills gained and community built. Follow the link for more info Sustainable Cities Awards.
  
  

Growing Season

  June Update

• 

  Pumpkin time.

  Update - Reduce Landfill.

• Community Builders and works in the garden.

• Thankyou.

• Working Bees and becoming involved.

• Autumn has gradually descended into Winter in the gardens, trees along Exeter St have going through a bit of a change, the Eucalypts seemed to have recovered from what ever ailments they had. The gardens are green and veggie beds are producing. In summary April was pretty big in the end, with 4 workshops running that engaged over 60 school aged and preschoolers, not including the accompanying mums dads and grandparents, thanks to our volunteers engaged in running these. On the horizon the gardens will be running more of these and in partnership with Camden Council and through Reduce Landfill will deliver these to the community over the coming months.The Reduce Landfill site is a great opportunity for residents who cannot get to the gardens for a workshop to improve their own knowledge of things brown and green and beyond. The weather has made its mark with the sudden deluge of winter rains being of great benefit to the Community Garden, a newly reinstated water tank is now full and will supplement our current water supply and be used to water our natives and greenhouse herbs.

• July sees the Community Builders funding come to an end which the Community Gardens gained back

  

  Raised garden beds.

  in 2010, this funding was a huge boost to the gardens, allowing many aspects of the garden to gain some attention. Infrastructure has had a great boost, with accessible pathways added connecting through to the toilets on the Town Farm site, raised garden beds for seniors and disability groups have been installed, these are now being accessed by the likes of Macarthur Disability Services and Narellan Congregational Community Services, also involved in the garden are Wesley Disability Services and Roam Mental Health. Its been great to see all these guys and girls in the garden. The funding also allowed the gardens to reach out into the community with raised garden beds installed into 2 Macarthur Disability Services houses as well as Macarthur District Temporary Family Care. This was also facilitated through the assistance of the University of Sydney at Cobbitty. As well as the connecting accessible pathways, the entrance to the gardens has been updated. Back in August 2010 with the aid of the founding garden committee members a memorial garden was established with  roses donated by members of  the public. This was done in honour of Miss Llewella Davies whos bequest was the foundation of the garden. This rose garden is now formalised and accessible to wheelchairs, seating has been retained and the old post and rail fencing further enhanced. If you are an avid gardener and wish to share your passion for roses please contact us through the webiste homepage. The old barn adjacent to the gardens is almost complete, this is a great asset to the Town Farm site and will prove to be a valuable community resource, some final earthworks are being finished off over coming weeks, this will then provide accessible shelter to members and guests of the Community Garden as well as a venue for the Town Farm to use.

Changing Seasons

This Update

• Camden News
• Seasonal Vegetables
• Surplus.

Camden Town Farm Community Garden

Image thanks to Troy Newman

The present weather conditons have been an absolute godsend to the community gardens, forget drugs in sport, if only these sports folk could harness the stuff going into our vegetables they wouldn't be in the strife they are. Zucchinis only look like they are on steroids, squash as pictued previous are the size of dinner plates and beans seem to be multiplying overnite. With this growth comes change though, we now find ourselves on the down hill run into winter, but with a huge growing season ahead of us, autumn will certainly be a time for growth, pumpkins starved of rain early are now growing overnight and putting some serious metres onto their vines, sweet potatoes are going just as well. The weather has also helped our herb garden immensely and the local produce markets have been a great source of funds for the garden with fresh herbs being sold at the last few markets, the rosemary has been hugely popular given that it produces great skewers for lamb about 20-30cm long, thanks to volunteers Hazel, Georgia, Steve and Charlotte that have been involved so far. The stall certainly couldnt be done without their help.

Camden Show hits town this week and the ovals are being filled with marquees all week, Camden Community Garden is working in with Macarthur Centre for Sustainable Living and a Kids interactive display so if you are visiting why not stop in and say hello. Thanks to the volunteers who have put up their hands so far. I also hear that Sunrise is broadcasting from there on wednesday morning, i suspect its the weather as in previous years.

Some more workshops are scheduled over the next month with 3 booked in so far, 5th of April, 17th and 19th April, all are for children 6-12, call 46455006 to book in, the next workshop for the big kids, (the rest of us) will be a permaculture workshop, with the date being currently organised. Stay Tuned.

On the build front, if you have visited lately some works are being finished off, the old barn is getting something off a refit, a new roof should be going on over coming weeks as well as an extension by way of a skillion off the airport side, this will also give us a great shelter and new venue to work under. The area around the raised beds is getting a similar treatment to the paths and will be accessible to wheechairs over coming weeks, the path down the hill is also being finished off as it stopped short, this will clean the area up considerably. We are also currently waiting on quotes to come in for the floor area around the 2 sheds and its also hoped some large compost bays should also be installed soon.

Seasonal Veggie time

Tomatoes are on their way out if not already gone and beans may only have another couple of months in them, if you dont have them in it may be almost too late, especially if we get an early frost at the farm. Speaking to Norman from The Big Spud at Robertson its time to get another crop of potatoes in, ideally we want about 100 - 120 days before the first frost to get them in the ground, if we miss this window then we will be waiting till mid/late september in order to get our chistmas spuds in. As beans and tomatoes come in its time to get broad beans in with peas, cabbages, broccoli and caulis, check out Gardenate.com for more great info, remembering we are borderline, cool mountain/temperate zone.

 

Surplus

If your like the majority of gardeners you have put a whole packet of beans in and now getting a bit tired of them, succession planting is the best way to go in that you have 3 or 4 plants going in every few weeks, but if not there are a myriad of ways to carry over that surplus season stuff, from pickling beetroot, to blanching beans, as far as peas go i have just podded them and frozen them fresh, chillis as long as they are little fellas freeze well also, doing this sort of thing helps take advantage of those excesses and helps you avoid paying the higher prices at the supermarket when the produce is out of season here and has to to shipped in from Kenya, South America or China, (beans, bananas, berries). If you are buying frozen veg, check its origin, and google food laundering, a very hot topic at the moment where by produce hits our shores via other markets. Check our links pages for some great resources and spread the word about our garden.

 

Enjoy.

 

"I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains."

How true it is

You will find the BOM link on previous posts and can certainly confirm the sentiments behind this classic Dorothea Mackellars poem, less than 48hrs ago sections of the south coast saw water spouts come ashore and reek havoc on coastal suburbs and with that change came plenty of the wet stuff. 

You couldn't pick it 24hrs later and the temps are back into the 30s and the sydney basin feels more like a Borneo rainforest.

can you find steve

Monster squash

So how does this affect the garden, well its all good, for those larger gardens i guess if you couldn't see the weeds last week you can now, for the greenkeepers, its not a matter of keeping them green anymore its keeping them cut before it rains again.

Sweet Potatoes at A/B Mens Shed

Camden Community Garden has been no different, while the rain tended to drive people in doors the serious and/or committed (maybe should be committed) are still out there, weeds not more than a few inches high had now reached dizzying heights, so with a coming together of half a dozen or so souls on the weekend an assault was made on some of the bigger ones. (see image right, Steve is 6ft plus and not standing in a hole). I might add the rain allowed easy removal of many of the larger weeds. The past month has seen considerable rainfall in the southwestern part of the Sydney basin and this has delivered some great results in the gardens, it had been hoped we would have pumpkins in time for the local show, unfortunately we didn't get enough early rain however those pumpkins have now gone crazy and thrown on several metres of growth in a matter of weeks, sweet potatoes are running like crazy and will no doubt produce a prolific crop come the cooler months. If you love zucchinis and squash, look no further than Camden Community Garden, i overheard someone the other night talking about how they grow even more on a full moon and how they would harvest night and morning, it looks like we had a full moon every night from the pic attached, numerous local gardeners have benefited from the harvest as well as some community members. This will continue as well.

Tropical Camden

Camden gone tropical

This update contains:

• Heat waves and floods                
• Goings on in the garden
• Past and upcoming events
• Veggies to plant now

Heatwaves and flooding rain

Little Sandy underwater again.

Only a week ago we were staring down the barrel of drought, feed cut on the town farm and baled months ago was now in high demand and the lagoon which looks a bit like a dinosaur or a Sea World sea lion was receeding rapidly. The lagoon is now full, the feral goats are munching on the new lucerne sprigs down buy the river, Zucchinis are growing before our eyes and the front lawn of the community garden could be almost baled as well. If you want to see the crazy weather figures including 125mm of rain in one hit and 46.4 degrees C click on the following link. www.bom.gov.au

Goings on

New garden beds.

We can't say it wasn't a relief to see some rain, watering constantly and wisely had been quite tough in the community gardens in the oppressive heat, so some deep soaking rain was very welcome, this came luckily only a week after the working bee which in turn was a couple of days after the 46.4 temp reached in camden, so we escaped both extremes, the gardening bee had a good turnout with approx 15 folk attending on the day, it turned into soemthing of a construction day with several new garden beds being built from the sleepers delivered in the days prior, these beds are now starting to fill the head of the platypus out, a tool shed (currently held at the council depot) will mahe up the other eye of the platypus once a base goes down, (over the next 2 weeks), also on the day some curved beds were finished off, as well as native seedlings potted up, some vacant beds also were cleared ready for the new folk and the lawns mowed. Potatoes are still being harvested and another delivery will go to Narellan Congregational Community Service next week with i dare say some squash or zucchinis. A big thankyou to all in attendance as well as the guys that turned up to volunteer at our stall at the produce markets, the funds raised went back into the Community Gardens and fed the troops at the working bee.

Violent Veg

New Years Update.

In this catch up:

• Violent Veg
• Narellan Congregational Community Services
• Heat Wave 
• Worms
• Great Links 
• Check out previous post re courses

 

Check the AGM date on the home page, this is for financial members, so ensure fees have been paid.

Lets start the year with a bit of a laugh, check the follwing link for some great Vegetable related humour, Violent Veg.

Mary and Heather digging up Christmas Lunch

As mentioned earlier, the Community Gardeners as well as Narellan Congregational Community Services planted some potatoes late last year, these being for the benefit of those involved, the potatoes will be subsequently harvested at the regular working bees. 3 varieties were planted. Norland Reds, Spunta and Pink Fir Apple.

Alot of Norland Reds have already been pulled from the site, these were great roasting spuds and perfect for Christmas, we are now moving into the other 2 varieties, importantly when digging up the potatoes, dont freak out when you see the Pink Fir Apple spuds, they havent got some mystery disease, that is how they look, the Pink Fir Apples are a great salad potato, just wash, cook them whole and then slice them up to create your favourite potato salad recipe, dont peel them.

Thankyou Mayans

 

This Week

• Potatoes
• Some Christmas Recipes
• Feast or Famine
• Unusual Herbs
• Kids Gardening Workshops

Firstly can i add if you are reading this after 20.12 2012 your not dreaming, the world hasn't ended yet the Mayans may have got it wrong or been out with the dates, lets hope so anyway as there is a time differential between here and there.

On with the show anyway, and its only fitting that we start with a product the Mayans gave us (or the spanish nicked from them) 

The humble spud,

Christmas in the northerrn climes generally means turkey and all the trimmings, roast spuds etc, down under there are few extras, prawns, ham a few more salads typically, but one thing is for sure there are usually potatoes in one form or other.

If you have been watching our blog you will notice we planted some spuds a few months ago, 3 different varieties courtesy of The Big Spud at Robertson (one of our favourite local growers), now the tops have died and its is the perfect time to pull some of them up especially the Norland Reds that have matured first, having a large plot of these, we are in the perfect position to supply some great local people who do a fantastic job out in the community, namely Narellan Congregational Community Services, having planted some of these themselves it was only fair that we had the staff pull them up :) as you will see soon in a pic to be loaded, Heather and Mary donned their finest potato digging gear and pulled a few out this last week for their end of year christmas lunch, thanks ladies, this was accompanied by some zucchinis from the same plot. The gardeners have done a brilliant job of keeping water up to these in the lead up to christmas, so thanks to all concerned, especially Simon and Hazel. Looking for a recipe for roast spuds, try this one including Rosemary, perfect roast potatoes with rosemary, looking for a potato salad recipe, here you go with a whole bunch of them, potato salad recipes.

Christmas around the corner

This week as promised

• Rocket Science Workshop
• Christmas Recipes
• Drought proofing your garden
•  Zucchinis

Ok, first off the ranks, Rocket Science, lets just say its the edible kind of Rocquette so don't be afraid, Camden Council is running this in conjunction  with Camden Kids, preference will be given to children <6yrs old not engaged in formal childcare, enquiries can be made via 46455106, the workshops will run for an hour, adults must accompany children, its a free workshop and is on the 17th and 19th of December at Camden Community Garden on the Town Farm site. The workshops will be a chance for youngsters (and adults) to get their hands dirty, learn a little about the origins of their food as well as take home some uselful goodies.

First off your favourite Christmas recipes from around, and to save you looking everywhere and me typing endless mateial in try the next couple of links, Taste.com.au, Saveur.com, Christmas with maggie beer, these should keep you going for some time.

Summer has hit with a vengance out west, Camden recorded 37.3, and if your wondering do i need to drought proof my garden the following figures might help, courtesy of BOM.

Month	Ave Rainfall, mm	Max Temp, C	Ave Temp, C
August	3.4	29.3	19.5
September	21.8	33.9	23.4
October	34.2	34.9	25.4
November	30.0	37.3	26.3

Yacon, Yams and Peanuts

In the news this time something a bit different veggie wise

• Yacon
• Peanuts
• Yams (Oca - Oxalis Tuberosa)

Its great to see a multitude of crops appearing in the garden, very early on i planted Asparagus, it is now in its second year and won't really start cropping well till next year, although i did have a few spears this year.

Rosemary

Colin Mills who has done a massive amount in the garden, most noteworthy the Rosemary hedge, and we thank him for his work, planted amongst other things, Yacon, similar in form to Jerusalem artichokes, but it produces a tuber not unlike nashi pear in texture and taste, but physically resembling sweet potato. It also goes by the name Peruvian Ground Apple. You can find out more about Yacon seeds of change , its an old article but very relevant.



Peanuts



I found myself this year with peanuts emerging from my garden, these had ben leftovers from some i purchased last year in pots, (bit of a gimmic by the retailer) but nonetheless the few that i didnt harvest about of about a dozen have now resprouted and should produce better the the ones i bought, i also planted some at home, these have now germinated and will soon join the others.

Scarecrows, Tomatoes, Potatoes and more

Scarecrow Workshop

Any one heading past Camden Community Garden over coming weeks may wonder whats happening with the large crowd of people in the garden.

Stop and take a closer look and you may notice little movement among the masses, unlike "Taste" held last weekend in glorious sunshine when masses of visitors flocked through the gardens and onto the Town Farm site for a culinary and auditory experience this time the visitors come in the form of Scarecrows.

The Scarecrows are being built as part of a workshop put on by the Community Gardens with the support of Camden Council and with the aid of Community Builders funding. The workshop is fully subscribed with more than 60 people attending over the 2 days. There are sure to be some great works come out of this, and they will be displayed at Narellan Rhythms Festival on 20th October before taking up residence back in the gardens.

Rise of the Scarecrows

With over 40 under 12s booked in for this years Scarecrow building workshop things were shaping up to be busy, day 1, (today saw 15 under 12s attend). Freya Jobbins, local artist was great, having being involved with the Scarecrows and Sculptures Workshop last year it was a pleasure to have Freyas involvement again this year, having a bit of an islands theme this year there were certainly some bright productions on day 1.

Day 2 on friday sees approximately 25 registered, with the current weather it is sure to be a great day for all, thanks to Camden Council, Community Builders, Freya Jobbins and all concerned. The Scarecrows will all be on display at Narellan Rhythms Festival on 20th October on Elyard St, Narellan, where amongst other things gardeners will be able to collect some free herb seedlings from the Community Garden stand.

Month in Review

Boing, Boing, Boing

Spring is on the way, balmy days in the high 20s, clear skies, cherry blossoms bursting every where, magnolias on show, this pretty much sums up the last month.

So i may have skipped over the days sub zero earlier in the month, the snowfalls in the Blue Mountains, the return of the August winds, and those lovely possums hell bent on deforesting my garden of any spare magnolia buds and fresh growth, but that all comes with the change in seasons.

The past month has seen the gardens become a hive of activity, below is a summary of just some of the highlights.

• The Community Garden took out 1st place in their category in the local garden comp. Thanks to all concerned, volunteers, gardeners and supporters.
• Chester Hill Neighbourhood centre visited with 35 x 70-90yr old visitors, a great day was had by all concerned.
• Macarthur Farm Fresh Tour visited again with a dozen people on their regualr farmgate tour.
• The herb garden and the garden in general had a tidy up, see pic above, approx 15 gardeners all chipped in and lent a hand after an early breakfast supplied by the committee on site at 8am. (next one is the 15th of September)

Late Winter Blast

Camden Snap Frozen

If you woke up this morning early enough you would have been witness to the 4th day sub zero in August for Camden and a sizeable frost (-3.8), collectively through June and July we only had 2 days under the zero mark, i thought we were over the hump and getting warmer, obviously not, a bit of a worry if you were looking at getting those spring crops in, it might be worth just hanging off a bit or worth getting some cover sorted out for those susceptible to frost. If your garden is looking a bit dry the rainfall figs or lack thereof may be the reason, only 19mm of rain for Camden in July and 46mm in June.

Last year saw several gardeners lose Tomatoes, Zucchinis and Beans, looking for a good planting guide try the following link Gardenate.com note the different climatic zones.
You can also check out your local "big box" retailer or local garden centre and ask the experts.

individual rows of seeds germinating undercover

If you want to get an early start on those spring seedlings rather than buy established stock check out Greenharvest for a few ideas, similar items can be found across most retailers, and are well worth it, importantly use succession planting, if you put a whole packet of seeds in you will get everything at once, you want constant produce so by planting a few seeds every couple of weeks you will have produce cropping all the time. The other way around this is share the seedlings with your neighbours.

Breakfast in the Garden August 18th

Worlds largest Platypus

August Gardening Bee to kick off with big breakfast.

Waiting for breakfast no doubt

August 18th will see the regular gardening bees go to saturdays, and in line with a change of date, now the 3rd Saturday of each month we will be doing breakfast from 8am, everyone is welcome to attend, stay for as long as you want, catch up with the gardeners on the day, discuss the season ahead, pick those winter crops.

It will aslo be a good chance to discuss topics such as composting and worm farms, as well as see what has changed over the months prior.

Looking for some more great info, check out carbon offsetting the kids :)
maybe the car or grandkids even,

Like to find out some info on the success of the Uk allotments scheme, try this one.

Still in a bit of a quandry about what to plant for the coming season, look no further than eden seeds

Want to learn more about permaculture, and its philosophies, Earthcare, Peoplecare and Farishare follow this link.

Also don't forget the Camden Counci & Lexis Restaurant Garden Competition is on, with categories for

• Unit/Town House Garden
• New Garden
• Small Residential
• Large Residential
• Community Garden Plot
• Commercial / Industrial
• Most Creative
• Most Sustainable

Entries close wednesday August 1st, and can be found on the Council Website here.





The Power of Community

"Power Of Community" Film Screening

When: Wednesday 25th July

Where: Ironbark Room, Narellan Library, Cnr Elyard and Queen St, Narellan.

Time: 6.30pm - 8pm

RSVP: ASAP to secure spots, seats limited

Contact: Steve re screening on 46455022 to reserve spots

Entry: Gold Coin Donation

Light refreshments will be served

So you ask what is the "Power of Community" about !: in a nutshell - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

In 1990 when the Soviet Union fell Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.

For more information on the Documentary itself click here

Preparation, Preparation, Preparation.

Its winter, but no reason to hibernate.

Winter on Sydneys' fringes means cool crisp mornings the odd frost and beautiful clear skies, perfect weather for getting into the garden and preparing for spring.

The facts and figures the month of June thanks to BOM whos readings are taken across the river at the airport are:

• Total rainfall 88mm
• Max Temp 19.9C
• Min Temp 0.7C
• Mean Low 4.9C
• Mean High 16.7C

We are now over the hump so the days will start to get longer and before you know it the gardens will be a hive of activity after work once more.

Composting and Worms

Two different composting methods

Looking towards spring there is plenty to get on with, mulch your gardens to keep the moisture in, put manure crops in, want to know more, click on Green Harvest. Get some gold old manure into the garden, work in the compost, those leaves lying round put them into your garden. Want to find out more about composting click here for more info. You can also view our composters here.

Visitation Grows

News Update

It's not just Camden residents noticing our local community gardens anymore, as mentioned in an earlier post traffic has been coming from all corners of the globe and the gardens are becoming recognised internationally as well.

Just some of the group visiting on sunday.

This past week or so has seen several groups contact the Community Gardens, one such group was the Asian Women at Work Program who through their Community Worker coordinated a group visit with over 70 individuals in attendance, the group comprised mums, dads and kids and all enjoyed approximately 2hrs in the gardens, Publicity Officer and Secretary for the Gardens Stephen Cooper was on hand to give a talk to all concerned about the gardens and the site within which it is contained.

Farm Fresh Tours are also looking forward to having the Community Gardens feature in their program see Farm Fresh Tour for details of their next tour.

The coming week will also see a group visit from Holroyd Garden Club and their members, the Community Gardens Committee look forward and thank the groups who have already and who plan on enjoying the fruits of our labour.

Winter Harvest at Camden Community Garden.

No chunkin these punkins (search Punkin Chunkin)

Just some of the crew that turned up on sunday.

Its only a matter of time before above mentioned beloved american past time hits our shores but for now while pumpkins are in plentiful supply we will be eating them and sharing them amongst the gardeners, the picture right was the result of a harvest last weekend, and that giant golden object was a golden zucchini that escaped the pot and put on a few pounds before we found it.

The gardening bee was a massive success with all concerned leaving with pumpkins for home, over coming weekends more will be harvested and given out, thanks to everyone that participated, almost 20 volunteers turned up as well as visitors from across the Campbelltown LGA and Penrith.

Platypus spotted at Camden Town Farm

The Garden Grows

If you haven't wandered down Exeter Street in recent years you would have missed a growing community, and more accurately our growing Community Garden, if you wondered how the transformation has taken place below is something of a snapshot of before and after so far.

Camden Town Farm Community Garden May 2010

Camden Town Farm Community Garden April 2012

Taking The Camden Town Farm Community Garden to the world.

Camden on the World Stage

Camden Community Garden has hit the world stage, over the past 12 months this community garden has attracted visitors from across the globe and below is just a snippet of where our worldly visitors have come from:

Australia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the USA.

Over the coming months we will keep you posted of other visitors viewing the gardens via the Blog :)

(Welcoming in April visitors from Finland, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria)

Now budding green thumbs, here is a bit of a quiz, we would like to hear the various uses you may have tried for the pictured produce. You may want to name them first :).

The left and right images have both been grown successfully in the Community Gardens here in Camden and with great success.

Continued ....