No time to obsess over paint swatches for the nursery, my nesting was all about gardening.

Normally winter hits me hard. It’s cold, it’s dull and leaving work when the street lights are lit, deflates what little spirit is left in me. The weather is not conducive to plant growth or a sunny disposition. This winter was different though. Perhaps the promise of our little babe softened its chill. Definitely the addition of a bedroom heater made mornings a little less spartan; the outrageous power bill was a problem for spring me to deal with. Of course, those frigid days make it the perfect time to plan and prepare the garden for the spring. However my activities were limited as our baby rapidly cycled through the fruits and vegetables from poppy-seed towards watermelon. By the time she hit cantaloupe size I had great empathy for hedgehog “trying to get out of bread”. I was able to do the dreaming, but needed to call in some physical philanthropists to do the doing.

Time was running out before I popped and I feared, quite justifiably it turns out that after she was born I wouldn’t have time to get anything done. Less than a month before giving birth, saw me join the rosy-cheeked group of permablitz volunteers to completely renovate the Farnham St Community Garden.

The design

The Problem

The garden had a lot of heart, but only the hardiest gardeners ever stuck it long enough to see multiple summers. When our little one starts toddling I want her to have a beautiful space to learn about growing food, surrounded by a passionate community. We needed to reinvigorate the garden to attract and keep the young professionals and families who to this point found the upkeep too hard. Accessibility needed to be improves as well for the stalwarts who have kept it running. It had to be a joy to maintain not a chore.

The existing garden was shaded and sucked dry by the towering eucalypt. It demanded a twice weekly watering roster in the summer holidays when everyone would rather be relaxing at the beach. The low sleeper beds with their narrow paths between also excluded people with back issues or disabilities from enjoying the garden. We warred a hopeless battle against Kikuyu grass which was continuously invading and pillaging nutrients from the gardens, it was hard, demoralising work.

The Plan

The invasive grass needed to be completely removed. We suggested it be replaced with mulch paths that could manage the water over flow from the garden beds. Near the gum tree, raised wicking beds in two different sizes were custom-made by MODbox to suit our geometric design. These beds will only require fortnightly filling of their water reservoirs once plants are established. The layout is as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional. The paths are wide enough for a wheel barrow and even a pram, something I never would have thought about before being pregnant. I am really grateful for this now!

The tops of the beds are capped to allow them to double as seats with sustainably harvested cypress used instead of merbau on special request. The L shaped border beds will be connected to the food forest’s drip irrigation system. This is where we will grow communal crops that can be harvested for use in the houses’ cooking classes. Hopefully soon the less than charming chain link fence will be covered with lush pumpkin vines, ripe strawberries dripping over the edge to be plucked by little hands.

It is exciting to have the opportunity to breath new life into the garden. All this was made possible by the tenacity of Pip from FSNLC who had the unglamorous task of securing grants. Let’s hope that this new garden will encourage more community members to invest some time into the garden.

The Permablitz

Every great cause needs a tireless leader. Pat made sure the day was a success, not only by facilitating the permablitz, but spending weeks beforehand coordinating: the deconstruction of the existing garden, re-use of resources and the inevitable mountains of gravel, sand and soil that wicking beds require. Besides, it is no mean feat to keep a motley crew of blitzers happy, hydrated, sated and on schedule!

The MODboxes arrived on pallets and once we got our head around the instructions it was great fun putting the beds together, like adult lego! We were lucky to have some tradies attend, and they were good-natured enough to let us bully them into setting out all the beds to make sure they were level. The layout is the moment when installations by volunteers can veer from wonky charm into a hot mess. I’m not going to lie, having some experts involved took the pressure off considerably. We could confidently leave them to work away while we instructed the other volunteers to build up the layers. By the end of the day it looked amazing, leaving us itching to get planting.

It is always astounding the amount of work blitzers can accomplish in a day, that magic moment when a sketch becomes a reality. By lunchtime it always feels like you will be left with piles of unmoved soil. Then suddenly, perhaps reinvigorated by lunch, the crew shovels, and barrows and the garden in transformed. How beautiful to have such a fantastic bunch of people sacrifice their weekend to make this happen.

Links

• MODbox
• Farnham Street Neighbourhood Learning Centre
• Permablitz Melbourne