Stanthorpe

Community Garden

Welcome to an exciting new development taking place within the community.........

Stanthorpe's very own community garden

                                                                                                                                                  

So, What's been happening?

 

We have made many piles of compost over the past 10 weeks, the first pile has been resting for some time now and will be ready for use in just over one month. Thanks to Sarah for all of your guidance.
The drop-off bays have been constructed and are full of manure/compost, mulch, tree prunings (ready to be mulched with our new mulcher - it is super-dooper!!!) and grass clippings delivered by our regular local lawn mowing man who drops off clippings weekly. He is as happy for the depot service as we are for the clippings.

The greenhouse was one of the first jobs completed and it is filling up with new plant deliveries weekly. Here we spend some quite time propagating and dividing. The Two bins at the front of the picture contain our brewing comfrey tea - thanks for the supply Julie and Kim.

The two raised beds for people with disabilities have been constructed from ironbark timber sleepers and filled using the 'no-dig gardening method.' We filled the beds half way with soil and then layered newspaper, lucerne, soy bean mulch and compost and applied a decent amount of blood & bone in between each layer. One of the beds has already been planted out with some winter veggies that are just powering on.

The herb garden is now complete and ready to plant and the retaining wall has been mulched and secured with some wire (mesh) and old railway sleepers. A beautiful granite rock has been exposed (cleaned and polished) at the end of the retaining wall. These features have added a wonderful new dimension to the site.

The area surrounding the raised beds has been compacted and had a setting agent applied to create hardened paths taht can be easily accessed by all members of the community.

 

We are currently in the process of constructing a variety of garden bed allotments to demonstrate to the community the different materials and resources that can be utilised by the home gardener to help make gardening cost effective using local and recyclable materials. Such materials include the timber sleepers (as represented above), corrugrated iron or colour bond and rammed earth constructions.

Water-wise gardening techniques are being experimented with and one exciting style of garden bed is the wicking bed. The wicking bed operates

 

 

On Tuesday 10 August - local residents met to talk about the creation of a community garden

All who attended the meeting exchanged ideas and values of environmental, social and cultural significance to the project. Some of the issues raised include: the love of gardening; the interconnection from gardening together as community, and,  the contribution towards the process of social inclusion; a commitment to organic gardening principles; a commitment to water-wise gardening practices; the importance of soil quality on site; the topography of the site; accessibility, for the benefit all residents and visitors; an appreciating of, and learning to, garden in our unique four seasons climate; the importance of wildlife interaction within the garden; the inclusion of interactive and sensory areas within the garden for children and people with disabilities; and, the health benefits of participating in gardening practices and through the consumption of organic produce.

Seven potential garden sites were proposed (view the community garden meeting notes here) and the next meeting will involve visiting the nominated sites to select the site for the garden.  

The enthusiasm displayed by all attendees was overwhelming and thanks goes out to all participants who have contributed their knowledge, ideas and values central to the creation of a shared vision for Stanthorpe's community garden. 

 

The community garden sites visit is coming up...... 

On Wednesday 13 October, the Stanthorpe community garden group will meet to visit the proposed community garden sites. The group will meet at the Post Office and from there we will walk to the sites to gauge access and determine the potential of each selected site. 

The Potential garden sites are :

1.            Kilpa street  (Fenced area behind kidspace) – This fenced area is council land.

2.            Darryl – Baptist church (9 Hillcrest Street) – This site is privately owned, has good access and comprises a long narrow section of land (approx. 5/6m wide and 20m long). The site is divided into two sections and is partially very well fenced. Town water supply is available.  There may also be the potential to add tanks to existing buildings, pending further discussion.

3.            Rotary site (Railway Street-next to tennis/netball courts) – This council owned parkland provides good access and is not fenced. Water mains run past the site and the development of a garden may require the extension of water facilities onto the site.  Alternatively, water supply may be available with the addition of tanks to existing buildings??? This would require further discussion.

4.            Stanthorpe State School  - The site is not located at the State Primary School. The site is Primary School land located on Darcy Street, on the right-hand side of the road and in through a gate labeled “Scouts,” the site is predominantly bush land and partially fenced. Water availability is yet to be determined.

5.            Roly’s vineyard church (85 Connor Street) – This site is privately owned and has good access. The site is partially fenced. Water could be supplied from a good bore.

6.            Carramar – long term – This site has a lot of potential, as we had discussed at the previous meeting, however, access to this site should be considered in the longer term.

7.            QCWT - (Cnr. N.E. Hwy & Caves Road) – QCWT have shown considerable interest in the development of a community garden at this location. The site is not fenced. Water is available on site supplied from a good dam. QCWT have demonstrated long-term interest in the use of any excess organic produce from the garden for the QCWT restaurant.  Accessibility may be an issue, as people would require vehicles/bikes , etc., to travel to the site.

Michelle has kindly developed a google map to help identify site locations, view this map here.

 

Site Assessment & Evaluation Day

Site evaluation day arrived and the clouds parted for a couple of hours during that rainy spring for us the group to conduct the site visits and evaluations. The factors used to gauge site suitability were identified at the meeting on 10th August. These include: tenure, location, water, size, accessibility, soil, topography, exposure, security and existing infrastructure.

Firstly, we visited the Baptist Church site. This is a small, sheltered site that the group found ticked many of the boxes in the selection criteria. Then, we traveled directly across the road to the Rotary site. We found that this site presented quite different qualities to the previous site; however, the group felt that this site too, presented great potential for the creation of a garden. Our minds began to wonder - two great sites, in close proximity, both with good but very different potential, could it be possible that these two sites could be developed as separate community gardens, whereby one may compliment the other.

We then spoke about the pros and cons of other sites:

(1) Vineyard Church - this site presents many qualities that fulfill the selection criteria;

(2) QCWT - this site has potential for the creation of a garden, however, there appears to be much concern over issues of distance and accessibility;

(3) Primary School site - this area is predominantly bush land and there has not been allot of interest in this site;

(4) Carramar - this is a great site but must be considered in the long-term.

Out of interest, we drove past Carramar for those who were not aware of the land area, future possibilities etc., and then on to Kilpa St. Kilpa St is a site with much potential also, it is very accessible, partially fenced, rocky in places, however has no existing buildings for water catchment.

 

And the consensus is.......

Hi gardeners,

 'The consensus is in from the group but access to land remains in the loop.'

 We have collated the data from the site evaluation and the consensus is that the preferred community garden site is the Rotary Site (Railway St.) and the second preferred site is the Baptist Church site, feedback further suggests that these two sites may work well in conjunction with one another.

In terms of access to land, the preferred Rotary site is council land, previously thought to have been leased by Rotary. New information from Council indicates that the Rotary site is actually leased by the Stanthorpe Tennis Association until December 2019. At present we are waiting for information from the Tennis Association regarding the terms of this lease.

 The Baptist Church site is the second preferred site available for consideration. I have spoken with Darryl from the Baptist Church, who is happy to talk with the Church regarding initiating action towards the development of a garden at this site. The Baptist church site may be a good starting point for the group and provide some ideas and activities to keep the enthusiasm rolling. If anyone within the group would like to pursue this idea, could you please get back to us with your response?

Join Our Online Forum

The community garden website now has a link to an online forum - here you can discuss anything related to the community garden - current issues/meetings/future plans or any interesting ideas.......... Whatever you like!

To join the forum, simply click on the forum link on the community garden website. Once the forum page appears, you will be required to login in order to participate in discussions (this will require you to submit a username and password). You may join in on current discussions, or post a new thread for discussion.

 

 

Links and Information

 

The Australian City Farms and Community Garden Network is an informal, community-based organisation that connects people interested in community gardening across Australia. The ACFCGN website provides a great online resource for anyone interested in community gardening. Access the Australian City Farms and Community Garden Network's website here.

 

To find out about the latest developments or to become involved in the creation of Stanthorpe's community garden contact: