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.
  
  

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.