Category Archives: Flora & Fauna

From Verge to Veges

Posted on July 16, 2015 by | Leave a comment
Workers pose in front of their labour

Workers pose in front of their labour

Last Saturday we transformed Emily’s front verge into a vegetable garden. We had 10 people wheelbarrowing multiple loads of home made compost from the back garden to the front verge. And in no time at all the seedlings were planted… and you can see the results.

Hard at work

Hard at work

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James McDonald was on hand to give advice and by the end of the afternoon the coffee and delicious cake were very welcome.

natives 1 For those interested in growing natives, on 25th July we have a free workshop in Guildford. Natives help create wildlife corridors, look great and save water. This is a free workshop.

To register, email Pam on  pamela.riordan@gmail.com.

natives 2

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Posted in Environment, Flora & Fauna, Food, Gardening, Kitchen Gardeners, Verge Gardening

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Verge Gardening Workshops

Posted on July 6, 2015 by | 1 comment

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Last Saturday our verge gardening group moved some fruit trees from Kim’s shady backyard to her sunny verge. We dug some huge holes, filled them with all sorts of wonderful compost and poo and then planted a lemon tree, fig tree and a weeping mulberry. It was surprising what a facelift it gave to the streetscape!

Planting the weeping mulberry

Planting the weeping mulberry

Pleased with our handiwork

Pleased with our handiwork

We were successful in our application to a Community Grants scheme from  the new St John of God Hospital in Midland. As a result we are able to call in some experts to guide our gardening projects. On Saturday July 11th, we have James McDonald coming to Emily’s verge to get us started on her vege patch.

James McDonald is the Perth Urban Farming guy. His passion for encouraging people to grow their own organic food spawned a Kickstarter project to find and fund vacant land in and around metro Perth that could be used to grow food, and to share it with those in need. The Perth Urban Farming project was born using underutilised suburban garden space to grow fresh organic food for the homeless. James will be sharing his vegetable growing expertise and ideas with us as we help Emily get her verge veggie patch set up. Warning: you may be inspired to go home and grow your own. In his spare time, James is studying sustainability at Edith Cowan University, and is a regular volunteer at Big Help Mob. Check out James’ Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/perthurbanfarmingproject/permalink/740606342704592/?pnref=story

For those who want to grow natives, on Saturday July 25th we have two Master Gardeners from Kings Park coming to teach us all the secrets of growing natives right here in the Guildford/Bassendean area. Edna Darge will talk about species selection and Len Burton will discuss soils.

Cristina's emerging everlastings

Cristina’s emerging everlastings

Both these workshops are free, however we do need to know if you are coming. Please contact Pam on 93782523 or email pamela.riordan@gmail.com to obtain the address for the workshops. Both will be in Guildford.

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Tash’s Verge

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Posted in Environment, Flora & Fauna, Food, Gardening, Verge Gardening

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Verge Gardening in Guildford and Surrounds

Posted on February 25, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Have you ever driven past a lovely replanted verge and thought, “Gosh, I should do that!” What a great idea! Well now there’s a small group of keen neighbours in the Guildford area who would love you to join in.

Verge gardens

Here’s the idea: we’d love to get a few small groups of neighbours together, ideally a group(s) of homes that are close by, and ideally either in Guildford, or say, Woodbridge or South Guildford, to revamp their verges together.

We plan to start with a meet/greet/ideas session, with a speaker on how to clear your verge and get rid of grass/weeds. This is the ideal time of year to do so.

The remaining sessions would be rotated through participants’ verge locations, and include a short working bee to help each other get going – what a great idea! Then, a cuppa and a short talk/demo on a range of topics such as:

  • reticulation for verges
  • suitable natives and keeping them alive
  • veggies on the verge
  • mulching, etc

Our motive is to promote verge gardening and to create some fine and lovely local examples for people to enjoy.

Whether your interest is a verge planted with natives, veggies or just mulched, we’d love to hear from you.

Register your interest by emailing barb@beyondgreen.com.au or calling 0400 298 258

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Posted in Community, Environment, Flora & Fauna, Gardening, Take Action, Verge Gardening

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