March 2023 Newsletter
Hello Gardeners
Here's an update on this month's activities, events and what’s growing in the garden.
What’s Been Happening
Locking of garden
There was an incident at the garden that involved vandalism and inappropriate behaviour towards a garden volunteer. The incident has been reported to the police.
Our highest priority is to keep our garden volunteers safe and for them to feel safe when working in the garden. With this in mind we’ve made the hard decision to keep the garden locked at all times, until we can improve garden security.
It’s very disappointing that we need to take this action and I know many of our garden members will also be disappointed.
Whilst the security is being improved the garden can be accessed by:
Attending during a working bee (first Sunday of the month, in the morning)
Each Wednesday morning – 10am to 1pm(ish)
Plot holders & watering volunteers will have the code to open the garden if needed (let us know if you don’t have the current code). If you’ve unlocked the gate, check no one is in the garden before locking the gate when you leave.
Upcoming Events
Working Bee
When: Sunday 2nd April 10am
Where: North Brighton Community Garden (parking off Brimble St)
What to Bring: Gardening gloves, water bottle, sunscreen & hat
Working Bees are a great way to get involved in the garden and to get to know your fellow community gardeners.
There is a job for all abilities. Any time you can spare to help would be great.
New Member Orientation
When: Sunday the 2nd April at 11am
Where: North Brighton Community Garden, (parking off Brimble St)
Recently joined as a garden member or want to learn about what we do and how you can be involved in the garden, come along to a new member orientation session. No booking required.
Sharing of Produce
Wednesday Morning Tea
When: Every Wednesday 10 to 11am(ish)
Where: North Brighton Community Garden, (parking off Brimble St)
Have a world-famous brownie recipe? Bring it along to our regular social event where everyone is welcome to come along for a cuppa, chat and share a bite to eat. We’ll often stay back to do a few jobs as well.
What to bring: Gardening gloves, drink bottle, plate of food to share (encouraged but not compulsory)
Autumn Plant Sale
The Autumn Plant Sale is a smaller version of our Spring Open Day.
Plant Sale includes:
Vegetable seedlings
Herbs
Succulents
A mix of ornamental plants
Payment can be made with either cash or EFTPOS.
We’ll have some of our garden members around so you can ask lots of gardening questions and do a tour of the garden.
Bunnings Garden Corner Club
Friday 14th of April from 10am to 10.30am, Bunnings Marion
Join the Bunnings Marion Garden Corner Workshop for all things gardening, indoor plants and more. Have fun learning from our expert horticulturalists. This month is all about bulbs. Book your place via the Bunnings website Marion - Bunnings Australia
The Seeds of Vandana Shiva Movie
The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable true life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr Vandana Shiva detailing how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of Industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the seed saving and organic food movements and is inspiring an international crusade for change. This is a must-see movie for anyone who understands the value of seed sovereignty and the importance of growing their own food!
Get involved with the garden!
There are a number of ways you can help out at the garden, get involved with the garden community and meet like-minded people. This includes helping with propagating, looking after garden beds, watering, creating signs or creating mosaic projects.
Let us know by emailing northbrightoncg@gmail.com if you can help with any of the following or would like more information.
House (garden) Keeping
Member Plots + missing produce
Reminder, that the plots on the left-hand side of the garden when you walk into the garden are leased by members. Members put a lot of time, money and effort into growing produce for their own use. Please don’t pick any produce from these plots without permission. If you see any of the general public doing so, please politely ask them to stop.
If unsure of what produce is available to garden members, please ask before taking.
What’s growing in the garden
One of the many advantages of being involved in the community garden is that there are always opportunities to learn/experience new things from other garden members. Thanks to Sam (one of our regular gardeners), who has a keen interest in growing unusual vegetables, I now know all about Tromboncino.
Unlike zucchinis, tromboncino can be eaten fresh or allowed to mature on the vine and then cured like a pumpkin and kept to eat through winter. I will be growing tromboncinos next summer, not only are they versatile and tasty they look very cool.
Tromboncino
Tromboncino is an heirloom vegetable originating in Liguria, Italy. Though sometimes called a zucchini, botanically tromboncino is a squash or pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), from the same species as the butternut pumpkin.
Tromboncino grows huge zucchini-like fruit, sometimes up to a metre or more in length, The fruit’s pale green skin is sometimes marked with subtle white stripes when young. Like a butternut pumpkin, the fruit has a swollen end where the seeds form, meaning much of the flesh is seed-free.
Tromboncino can be eaten fresh in summer just like zucchini. Or cured and stored for winter and can be used in ay recipe that calls for butternut pumpkin.
Garden Produce
Just some of the produce that will be available to garden members on Sunday the 2nd of April during the working bee.
Chilies, eggplants, Thai pea eggplants, tamarillo
Seed Saving
Jon Lamb recently published this story in his newsletter and I though some of you might find it helpful/interesting.
If the thought of saving your own vegetable seeds interests you, start planning while the plants are still producing a worthwhile crop.
Place a ribbon on the healthiest plants in the row. Then consider the quality of their fruits and seeds. In most cases a single plant of your selected variety will provide ample seed. The fruits should be allowed to ripen fully on the bush before being harvested.
In many cases this may mean other plants in the row will be spent and removed before the seed is harvested.
Vegetables that lend themselves to seed saving include tomatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, zucchinis, marrows, pumpkins, melons, eggfruit, capsicum, carrots, parsnip, lettuce, silver beet and red beet.
Take particular care with the cucurbits family. Cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins and melons are closely related and will readily cross pollinate each other.
Seeds from hybrid varieties are different. There is little point in saving seed grown from hybrid varieties.
In this case plant breeders have crossed two cultivars to produce an end result. While the seeds of a hybrid variety will perform as expected, seed collected from their fruits will not be true to type. You may get something worthwhile – but you may also be very disappointed. Companies selling mail order seed offer what is known as open pollinated varieties. These will produce a worthwhile crop and any seed collected is sure to bear true to type.
Happy Gardening
Lisa & North Brighton Community Garden Committee