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)

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