ON SUNDAY 17 July Coffs Regional Community Gardens members and visitors tackled a working bee followed by a social lunch where the garden’s pizza oven was fired up.

“We were so lucky with the warm sunny day, and we welcomed some new visitors – locals and from further afield,” Lara Reading, Gardens Secretary told News Of The Area.

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“During the winter plants generally don’t grow as much, so we use time normally spent on mowing and weeding to clear out old beds or prune back plants past their best, so they get nice, new growth coming through.

“We also have equipment maintenance and other projects, such as clearing out greenhouses and making new compost bins.

“There is always something to do in the garden,” she said.

During working bees the Garden Coordinator Susan Kiriazis recommends which jobs are time well spent, while members can throw in suggestions.

“Sunday’s event was divided into clearing out the weeds and tidying the area, and continuing to work on the Mandala project,” said Lara.

Members are under no pressure to do any job too hard for them.

“Personally, I love getting out in the sunshine and putting in a bit of hard graft,” she said.

“I’m an office worker and it’s a tonic to feel physically tired and to get dirty nails.”

“The garden is quite low-lying and has a beautiful stream running through it, so paths and some gardens were impacted by the long, wet autumn, but luckily are recovering well now.

“The local council (Coffs Harbour City Council) has been great too, by providing us free mulch from tree clippings which they even delivered for us,” said Lara.

The garden is largely dedicated to food plants with some flowers to attract the beneficial insects and is run on organic and permaculture principles.

“Members can grow whatever they choose in their own plots, and we also use the garden to support local community groups, such as kindy and refugee family groups.”

The garden is run by the simple ethics of ‘Care of people, Care of the Earth and Sharing our surplus’, not just about growing vegetables but whatever gives members and others pleasure, sharing bountiful crops with each other while growing in a sympathetic way with nature.

“There is a strong emphasis on the community and we encourage any locals to visit,” said Lara.

“We regularly run education workshops, from soil health to making sourdough bread.”

As part of these principles the members have set up several features they are monitoring and are pleased with the results,” she said.

“We have a wonderful Mandala Garden, which is currently undergoing an overhaul using the Hugelculture (or hugelkultur) method, which is an old, traditional way of building a garden bed from rotten logs and plant debris.

“We also have an established African keyhole garden, which has been very successful.”

Other initiatives include mosaics and other art works, bee hotels, kids’ areas, pizza oven and bush tucker crops.

“We currently have vacant plots and there are positions available on the garden committee, so would love to see more members join us,” said Lara.

For information about the regular fundraising plant sales and workshops go to the garden’s website – http://www.coffscommunitygardens.org.au/ or Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/coffsregionalcommunitygardens/

The garden’s annual meeting is on Sunday 4 September, at 11am onsite.

“This meeting, as with all committee meetings, is open to all and we encourage input from existing and new members alike.

“It’s your community garden,” said Lara.

By Andrea FERRARI