Another Working Bee down and the latest.

Thanks to those that attended the latest working bee on the 18th of June, please put the 16th of July in your diaries as the date for the next one. They say many hands make light work and this time we even had lots of little hands with some of our younger gardeners digging in, thanks to Gabrielle, Tash, Jai and Tali for helping out. Thanks to Jeff the president of the gardens for organising lunch.

On the garden front some of the more overgrown beds were worked over giving their new owners a reprieve in the setting up process, and as such we would like to welcome Sylvanvale Foundation to the gardens who will be taking up one bed and now join the team from Wesley Disability Services on site.

After the GE Money visit the herb garden was given something of a makeover and has since been planted out with some new plants, presently we still have the following growing and cropping :

• Sage
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Dill
• Marjoram
• Chervil
• Lemon Balm
• Coriander
• Nettles
• Tarragon (russian)
• Vietnamese Mint

The recently planted herbs are:

• Italian Parsley - now picking
• Curly Parsley
• Celeriac
• Chives
• Rosemary - in a couple of borders only so far
• Mint
• Bay Leaves
• Oregano - Variegated

If you are wondering what people are growing and picking in the garden the list below should give you an inkling as to the productivity of the gardens at present, and going through our first winter.

• Leeks
• Spring Onions
• Beetroot - Purple/Orange
• Parsnips
• Bok Choy
• Chinese Cabbage
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage - red - savoy
• Daikon Radish
• Fennell
• Lettuce
• Kailan
• Sprouting Broccoli
• Rhubarb
• Broad Beans
• Spinach/Silverbeet
• Russian Kale

Other happenings:

A big thankyou goes out to the folk at Carrington Centennial Care for the welcome they extended to myself this week when i spoke at their residents meeting with regards to visiting and sharing the gardens.

Happy Gardening

Steve

GE Money Visit

On the 7th of June Camden Town Farm Community Gardens  had the pleasure of welcoming over 20 GE Money employees from across the region to the gardens as part of their "Branch Community Day"

"Every year, for one day, GE branches across Australia and New Zealand shut shop so that their employees can take part in a range of volunteering projects to support their local communities."

More info on this great intiative can be found here

For the Community Gardens this initiative was welcomed with open arms, the enthusiam shown by all the employees was incredible and enabled some major maintanence/cleanup work to be achieved. Gardens President Jeff Ferrif was also in attendance and even demonstrated his taste for nettles during the lunchtime welcome.

After a light afternoon tea the troops got stuck back into work with a timely arrival of mulch thanks to CPE Tree Services  arriving just before tools down. To the GE staffs credit numerous barrow loads where then spread across the rejuvenated community herb garden.
We would like to thank GE Money for their generous support on this day.

Thankyou and Happy Gardening

Winter in the gardens

The view towards the old town farm buildings from Exeter Street, Camden.

Looking north across the main section of garden plots towards Kirkham.

Gardeners combatting the onset of winter.

 Oregano thriving with minimal care.

 Thyme surrounding the Marjoram.

New crop of Italian Parsley well on the way.

BRRRRR, Winter is here :(

Hi All

Frost bitten Basil :(

Well winter struck with a blow last week, as mentioned in a previous post it was suggested we pick basil ASAP, we are sadly too late, carnage has descended on the pesto ingredients. Thai Basil and regular Basil have both blackened, if anything it will be worth collecting seeds and storing them for next season.

On other fronts, you learn from your mistakes, and i certainly have, the gardens have had crops in now for 3 seasons, the one missing has been winter.

Note to self and others, go down and see what everyone else is growing, the following crops are growing well, cauliflower, broccoli, asian greans like chinese cabbage, bok choy, choy sum, kailan, onions, leeks, potatoes, lettuces, spinach to name a few.

Crops that arent doing well, are beans, unless broad variety, beans need to have cropped before the first frost, have a look at the beans under the white nets on the left side, :( capsicums, tomatoes, eggplants and zucchinis have also suffered at the hands of the frost.

Thoughts on plantings in the communtiy sections, anything that is going to take up too much space in your own plots, the likes of pumpkins, melons, zucchinis, potentially tomatoes, potatoes, but be aware, these are designated community sections, if folk wish to harvest from these areas it would be preferred that work be contributed to those areas also.

Happy Gardening Folks and see you soon, Steve