My Community Gardening Journey

I first joined the Northcote Community Garden in late 2016 by coming along to a Working Bee. I was struck by how welcoming and inclusive everyone was and a Bee was. great way to meet people and see how everything worked.

Luckily for me, within a few weeks a fruit box plot was available and I got stuck straight in. It only took a few hours work to dig the plot and add fresh compost and manure. I didn't wait but planted seeds and seedlings as soon as I’d dug in the well aged manure.

My seedlings took off straight away

After previously having had an inground plot at The Veg Out Community Garden in St Kilda I was shocked by how fast things grew in a fruit box. It was a lot easier to keep on top of the weeds as well. I was harvesting within six weeks...

I got so much food out of this small space and so quick!

Growing your own food organically is so satisfying and fun. So, when after six months an in-ground plot became available I could not say no. It would mean four times the space. As I found out it also meant four times the work. Whilst in the box plot I was able to plant straight away. With the plot it was a different story.

I spent several weekends digging down into the soil to create new borders for the plot. I wanted to protect the plot from the rampaging couch grass and kikuyu growing around the edges. Nearby trees were also sending roots into the plot's soil and I wanted a root barrier...

New borders with root barrier below

building my new borders took ages in the rocky soil. Next came digging, sifting and weeding the existing soil. I was quite enthusiastic and energised at this stage so was happy spending sunny days at the garden sifting for weed roots and rocks.

Before I could plant I then needed to improve the soil with organic matter and nutrients. I did this with compost, manure and rock dust to add minerals such as trace elements.

Finally after a couple of months of weekend hard yakka I was keen to plant in time for a winter crop. Winter is brassicas and broad bean season and after all the preparation I had my new plot planted up. With all that preparation, soon they were thriving...

First winter season success

That was two winters ago and having been through winter and summer crops my plot at the Northcote Community Garden is a well entrenched and oh so rewarding part of my life.

Garden harvest