Thursday, June 26, 2014

Native plants


Hillside Landcare Working Bee

This Saturday the 28th June from 9 to 11am is the first working bee for the Hillside Native Food Forest Landcare Group on the Hillside adjacent to the Kiama Community Garden.  

We have seedlings to plant and weeds to remove/control. There is plenty to do even if the wind is blowing (there are safe places to work out of the way of overhanging limbs). I would also like to spend some time this first session to discuss and plan the ongoing regeneration and revegetation of the site with the group.

Please wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothing. There are some tools available, but if you have tools you are happy to bring they will be welcome.

We will be able to join in the Kiama Community Garden morning tea from about 11. So please bring some food to share or a gold coin donation to cover the tea and coffee etc.

If that is not enough Landcare for one day, there is also the Bombo Landcare groups afternoon session from 2 till 4 that afternoon.

Please pass this info on to anyone you think will be interested.

Below is information about a wonder event being put on by Kath and Keith of the Australian Plant Society.

Keep Saturday July 26th FREE
Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all well and rugging up when you get out in the garden or bush.
Our next event is a biggie, with a full day dedicated to learning about propagating and caring for your native plants with two workshops by Angus Stewart.
Please RSVP to harryphillips_1@bigpond.com to secure a place, also let him know if you are a current member or not.

We will have food available onsite by http://www.fredsbushtucker.com.au, which is a great chance to sample some of our native bush foods, so be ready to challenge those tastebuds.

Please pass this info on to anyone you think may be interested



Thanks,

Kath and Keith
 
 


 
 
 

 



 

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Dates for your Diary

The community garden is open practically every Wednesday and Saturday morning, so just drop in if you want to get involved. Starting time may vary with the weather, but being there by 9.30 am is a pretty good bet.

To support gardening activities, monthly general meetings are held to exchange ideas about what you'd like to grow, do, or see happening in the garden. This is also a good time to hear what the governance group are currently working towards and discuss management of any garden pests or problems that might be present.

General meetings are held in the garden at 4.30pm on the first Thursday each month.

Dates for the rest of the year are as follows:

3rd  July
7th  August
4th  September
2nd  October
6th  November
4th  December

See you at the garden soon!



Thursday, June 5, 2014

This Saturday 7th June our Community Garden will be the venue for a talk being provided by the Australian Plant Society (APS). The talk is being given by Graeme Errington.
 
Kiama Community Garden Members are welcome to attend the talk. 
  
Below is information about the talk provided by APS and a link to their web site.
 
 
 
Graeme Errington – Technical Officer, Rainforest Conservation Project, Australian PlantBank has kindly agreed to talk to the group about his recent work at Mount Annan.

Graeme originally trained as a horticulturist and has worked at Mount Annan Botanic Garden for 15 years, 8 years as a seed collector. His recent work has focused on the seed biology of rainforest species.

 
The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust have run a successful seed conservation program for over a decade. The program is now accommodated in the Australian PlantBank, and continues to collect suitable species from dryland communities. Rainforests have been a neglected area in terms of seed conservation due to the variability in seed storage behaviour of many species. Through the collection and assessment of species from rainforest communities we can determine, which species can be seed banked and which species require alternatives such as tissue culture or cryopreservation.
 
Graeme's talk will cover, the collection program, seed storage behaviour as it relates to rainforest species and a bit about the new PlantBank.

Date & Time: June 7th 2014 at 11a.m.
Venue: Kiama Community Gardens, Havilah Place
Parking:   Please park in the Kiama Leisure Centre car park, in Havilah Place.  Access to the gardens is by entering the gate to the soccer fields and walking to the left along the fence line.


* * * Please note this is an outside venue.  Therefore please come along well prepared (wooly hats, scarves and gloves) * * *

After Graeme's talk we shall be firing up the wood stove oven for some yummy home made pizzas.  Please bring along a selection of your favourite toppings to share on the day.

Finally a "Gold Coin" donation will be in place on the Saturday, these donations will go directly to the Community Gardens, for kindly allowing us to use their space.

Looking forward to seeing you all there, for what should be a very interesting talk.