Hello Gardeners

Here's an update on this month's activities, events and what’s growing in the garden.

What’s Been Happening

Plants Galore

Our greenhouse and outdoor nursery are overflowing with vegetable, herb and ornamental plants in readiness for our Autumn plant sale.
This is all thanks to a group of very dedicated hard-working volunteers who have propagated and lovingly cared for the plants each step of the growing process.

Projects, Projects and more Projects

We are so lucky to have volunteers with a wide range of skills. In the past month the front gate has been modified and a new lock added to help make the garden more secure.
A new door for the greenhouse has been sourced and installed, now our seedlings should be safe.
Signs have been created and added to the garden that advise where produce can and cannot be picked from. More signs to come.
You don’t need to be a gardener to become involved in the community garden. The garden needs all kinds of help to run successfully.

Garden Security

Recently, our garden was vandalised again which is not only frustrating and discouraging for us, but also makes our volunteers and visitors feel uncomfortable.
That is why we have decided to install security cameras. These cameras will help us monitor the garden 24/7 and hopefully deter any potential vandals. They will also help us with reporting offenders to the authorities.
The City of Holdfast Bay council has provided the garden with a grant for the purchase the security cameras.
The garden committee is currently working through what the future opening of the garden looks like.
We appreciate your understanding and your help in keeping our community garden a beautiful and peaceful place for all.

Upcoming Events

Autumn Plant Sale

Sunday 30th April 10am to 2pm
North Brighton Community Garden
61 Bowker Street, North Brighton
Come and join us for our Autumn plant sale and sausage sizzle Sunday 30th April!
You'll find a variety of plants for your garden, from herbs and vegetables to flowers and succulents. All plants are grown by our members using organic methods and are priced to sell. Plus, you can enjoy a delicious sausage sizzle while you browse, with proceeds going to support our garden projects. Don't miss this opportunity to support your local community garden and get some great plants for your home!
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.

Working Bee

When: Sunday 7th May 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 7th May 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.

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)

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.

We want to hear from you!

As part of our community, we would like to know what types of activities or education sessions you would be interested in at the garden. Examples might be, garden design, how to grow a vegetable garden, propagation, composting, worm farms, wicking beds, cooking demonstrations, art or craft, health & wellbeing. These are just ideas to get you started thinking about what you would like to see.

Let us know by return email what you would like to see or participate in at the garden.

Also we would love to hear from you if you have a skill you would like to share with the community.

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. This month Beau has returned from his travels and has started an interesting project of grafting many different types of eggplants onto the Thai Pea eggplant tree.

Eggplant Tree

We’re having a go at grafting a heap of different varieties of eggplants onto our Turkey berry/Thai pea eggplant bush (Solanum torvum) to create one giant eggplant tree!
S.torvum is often used as a rootstock as it is tolerant of cold conditions and wet soil (unlike other solanums like eggplant and tomato). This means we can create a perennial eggplant tree that will fruit longer into winter and recommence fruiting earlier in spring when normal eggplants take a while to get going.
It will also help free up our communal beds by reducing the need to plant multiple plants
We’re a little late in the season now but if these take, we’ll look to run a workshop on how to go about doing it yourself!
The varieties we’re growing are:
Thai pea
long green Thai
round Thai
Sicilian (striped)
Globe (purple)

Happy Gardening

Lisa & North Brighton Community Garden Committee

April 2023 Newsletter