Garden Meeting 20 May 2016
Guidelines and Information Sheet
The revised guidelines were discussed. Look here to see them on this website. All reference to our village, or full names of staff, have been modified. Thanks to Marianne P, Barry C and Judith P for all the time and energy put into this revision.
Updates: Nozzles. On hold until Eric B is back on his feet after and the replacement. Mosaics. Also on hold.
Open day report
Jane Edmandson from 3AW visited our garden and commented on the neatness and the abundance of rhubarb.
About 20 busloads of prospective residents were bought into the garden so Barb could jump on the bus to give them an overview of our veggie patch. Interested people were given an information sheet. Thanks to the gardeners who came during the day to make our garden look busy!
Website
So far our website has attracted 331 unique visitors. That means each visitor is only counted once no matter how many times they visit or how many pages they look at. Barb gave out a card with the website address on it. She also offered to teach anyone who would like to build a website, for their own purposes, how to do it. These days, it's really easy.
Communications
Methods discussed: email, hothouse notices, letterbox drops and a buddy system. The latter was suggested as a way for people who receive emails to pass on information to people who don't have email addresses. All email correspondence will be printed out and put up in the hot houses. Thanks to the walkers who volunteered for letterbox drops: Eleanor, Bruce, Marianne, Margaret, Pat and Robin. If anyone else would like to be a walker, let me know.
This also led to a discussion on naming the plots so people can make contact directly for discussion. Barry C will talk to the woodwork group about possible options.
Weeds
Most of the garden is looking great. The majority of weeds are being controlled and the plots look loved. Barb did a weed audit last week and passed on the list of plots that are not vacant, but are not being cared for, to Donna for follow-up. Barb gave a presentation on the most common weeds in our garden. Pictures of these weeds are now up in the hot houses together with a site plan of all the vacant plots. If you have time to spare, and the energy, you might like to weed one of those plots.
One of our gardeners, Klara, has a lot of knowledge about what we can do with both weeds and common produce in our gardens. There are many old home remedies and uses and she will give a talk in the future on this topic. Meanwhile have a look at Purslane. You will be surprised at what a nutritious plant/weed this is.
Guest speakers
At our next meeting on June 17th, Nicci Tsernjavski from the Mornington Peninsula Shire WAS going to talk about the benefits of composting giving step-by-step instructions and tips for common problems. Nicci has been Climate Change Community Engagement Officer for six years. She has a degree in Natural Resource Management and a graduate degree in Environmental Heritage Interpretation.
However, this would clash with the talk on aged care and this is an important meeting for many of us. So I have asked Nicci if she can talk to us on August 19th instead. So pop that one in your diary. Hopefully, after our current compost bin audit, there will be some bins available for more gardeners.
Keith from Diggers will talk to us on November 19th about seeds and Barb is still following up other requests. All village residents are welcome to attend these talks.
Compost bins
We had a discussion on how people can access empty compost bins. So it's time for another compost bin audit. Advance warning - if you have a compost bin anywhere in the garden, please make sure it is well signed with your villa number. Not just on the bins in “Compost Row”, but all bins, containers, potplants (not in plots or the hot houses).
Excess produce
We also talked about what to do with the Excess stock we grow in the garden.
· Leave them on tables outside the shed
· Donate them to the shop
· Home harvest idea. This is an event where everyone brings their excess stock but also anything else to do with gardening e.g. seeds, seedlings, other plants, books, cooked goods, anything to do with gardening. Everything is put on a central table and then participants take what they like. This could be open to the whole village but everyone who participates must bring something to contribute. We could charge a gold coin donation to participate as a form of fundraising.
Bees
Another off agenda item was to do with bees. You will know that bees are essential to plant pollination and a worldwide problem is a decline in the bee population. So we want to make sure our garden is attractive to the bees in our area. Try to have at least one plant in your garden that is colourful. Bees really like blue, purple and yellow. And Tom H gave us interesting information on how bees need FRESH water. The water needs to be in a shallow container like a large pot plant saucer or an old Frisbee and filled with FRESH (not bore) water every couple of days. Fill the container with pebbles or sticks. See our website Library for more information
Other
There was also some discussion about some of the structures being constructed in our garden. There is a concern that the size of the structures will cause shade problems to neighbours. See the guidelines about this. Another cause of concern was the degree of watering that is not done by hand.
Next meeting: June 17th. The meeting will still go ahead but we’ll just have a general garden discussion for those who can attend.