Tag Archives: Veggies

Verge Gardening Workshops

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Pam | 1 comment

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

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

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.

Tash’s Verge

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

Tagged DIY gardening, Growing food, sustainable food production, Veggies

Verges to Veges

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Pam | Leave a comment

Our verge garden group met at Tash’s last Saturday. She had already begun digging up her couch grass and replacing it with fruit trees, veges and herbs. So we extended the area significantly with a solid digging session! It doubled her available gardening area, so now Tash can get planting.

Who are the verge gardeners? Basically we are a group of people who like gardening and we help one another with labour and advice to makeover our verges, transforming them into corridors of food or wildlife habitat. And it beautifies the street and saves water. Below is also a photo of Cristina’s verge that we worked on a month ago; the greenery is the emerging everlasting seedlings.

Emerging everlastings at Cristina’s

We meet about every 3 weeks on a Saturday afternoon. If you would like to join in contact Pam at pamela.riordan@gmail.com.

Verge Gardens off to a Great Start

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Pam | 2 comments

Our newly formed verge gardening group is busy transforming verges around the Guildford area. We started at Barb’s where she has killed off her couch in preparation for a native verge. We still have more work to do, covering with cardboard and mulch before we can begin planting.

Cristina has a long very narrow verge beside a fairly busy road and it was covered in weedy grasses. Six of us got to it with spades and in one hour we dug out all the weeds, raked over the ground, wetted it down and planted everlasting seed, ready for what should be a fantastic roadside display of colour in spring!

This weekend we’re moving onto Tash’s to get started there (Saturday 30th May, 2-4 pm, RSVP for address). It’s amazing how much easier it is when you have help!

Our small group of gardeners all have different plans for their verges, some for veges, some for natives, but by sharing labour and knowledge what can be a formidable task suddenly becomes achievable. We meet for about 2 hours every 3 weeks on a Saturday afternoon. We work for an hour or so and then retire for a cuppa and a chat.

If you would like to join our very informal group contact Pam on pamela.riordan@gmail.com.

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Posted in Gardening, Kitchen Gardeners, Verge Gardening

Tagged Grow your own, natives, Plant your verge, Public gardening, Veggies, verges