Events at the Garden

Unless  a major event is planned, the Garden calendar largely encompasses regular compost building sessions, working bees and general meetings. Compost Club is usually held late afternoon for an hour of building up compost bays. A full hour or so of wheeling barrowloads of manure, grass, green waste, straw and heaping piles of shredded paper as well as watering the growing heap is easily enough before everyone is ready to call a halt to quite strenuous activity. Regular compost club meetings and teams of composters (some people love it!) at working bees make an enormous difference to supplies of that most vital of garden resources – compost.

Except for a break during the seriously hot parts of summer, working bees are held about two months apart. With morning tea and a general meeting afterwards these meetings are a wonderful, relaxed way way to keep the Garden in good shape. If there’s a gardener willing to share information after a general meeting on interests as diverse as microbats or permaculture, everyone has the opportunity to share a particularly satisfying morning.  

Later this year the Garden will hold a public event, hopefully in tandem with the Bowlo next door. We plan to offer lots of activities for children, talks and workshops for everyone else, with jams and plants for sale. And a sausage sizzle of course!

The year so far…

Considering we’re nearing the end of a typically long, hot and very dry Western Australian summer, the Garden looks surprisingly good. Many plots are well shaded and growing healthy crops. Zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes are coming to an end and there have been some magnificent crops. Lettuce, such a fragile looking plant, copes well all year round. It will soon be time to plant winter crops such as cabbages, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, potatoes. Note there’s no inclusion of brussel sprouts as they like a much cooler climate.

Winter crops of broccoli/cauliflower and cabbages were magnificent last year but when past their prime had to be swiftly removed as they were under heavy attack from white fly. Anything uprooted or cut back is recycled through the composting system which generates a continuous source of rich, damp soil, full of lovely, wriggly worms.

The quality of produce has a lot to do not only with gardening expertise built up over the past 17 years (we’ve been here that long!) but deep, well composted and worm-filled soil. Not a toxic chemical in sight. Regular mulching and good shade cloth are also key factors.

We invite ongoing community involvement by providing talks and workshops, being involved with street stalls, inviting groups for a tour, a chat, a cuppa and increasing our contacts with other community gardens and food forests.

Working bees are a Garden constant; there’s always weeding, compost-making, mulching, planting flowers for bees, clearing wild undergrowth or whippers nipping overgrown pathways. And who can resist our morning teas…..

Spades

Children’s Day 2024

We’ve allocated plenty of time to prepare for this, to make sure it will be an Event To Remember. Even to the extent of pushing it back a further 12 months as there’s so much to consider and organise. We always need lots of assistance on the day and if you can contribute (friends and family are a great help), it will enable the whole event to flow smoothly. September 2024 is now proposed. The Garden looks great at that time of the year and the weather is hinting at warmer days ahead.

How can you help?

Let us know if you’d like to be involved in any of the following:

  • Distribute promotional flyers by emailing to friends and family or by
    printing some and giving to neighbours.
  • Bake cake and slices for sale on the jams/preserves stall and/or contribute plants for sale.
  • Help out on the day itself by manning a stall, putting up equipment before it starts or helping to disassemble everything when the event is over, washing up, working in the open BBQ tent, selling raffle tickets or welcoming visitors at the main gate.

Any queries or comments, email us at wlcgevents at gmail.com


Events on the day: We’re planning a bouncy castle, native animal display, a presentation on bees (hopefully Luke’s Bees!), compost-making for kids, face painting, jams and preserves for sale, a plant stall, blowing giant bubbles, making newspaper pots. Lots of prizes and raffles too and you’ll be cheerfully welcomed at the entry gate by delicious BBQ’d vegetarian and sausage treats.

Sundowner
Our annual pre- Christmas get together is planned for Saturday 26 November 2023, 5-7pm. It’s lovely to catch up with each other and friends of the Garden just as the sun is setting. With a glass of wine or a bottle of beer and something to eat. A contribution of something to share will be warmly appreciated.

Our latest newsletter has lots more information about what’s happening in the garden.