A productive day

Last Saturday the 24th September a small but happy bunch of gardens got a lot done.

The Tomato seedlings from the hot house were planted out.

Two beds on the middle terrace we prep'ed then they were "no-digg'ed" and then planted out.

Les continued his heroic efforts building the "Great Wall of Les".

...and the bathtub wormfarms were completed and a house warming party was thrown for them with lots of fresh organic matter for all.
There will be NO working bee this Saturday (1st Oct) due to many gardeners being away for the long weekend.

The next working bee is Saturday the 8th October.

Hope to see you there with gloves on.

Working towards Summer! Saturday 24 September

We've all been enjoying the sunshine recently, with our Spring plantings now bursting into active growth.

But its time to remove some of the winter veges before they pass their peak. Then in return plant an abundance of green.

The time has arrived for Silverbeet, Rainbow Chard, Spring Onions, Beetroot, Leeks, Parsley and Lettuce.

Work to be done includes:

• Preparation of new raised beds
• Planting lots of seedlings
• Watering
• Work on the worm farm
• Share morning tea
• Enjoy each others company!

Hope to see you there - We'll probably begin early to beat the heat, with action well underway by 8.30

REMEMBER: All parking at the Leisure Centre and entry via the gate leading into the soccer fields.

Governance Meeting 21 September

If you are interested in the running of the gardens, deciding on policy, future directions etc then please come along and join us at this month's Governance Meeting on Wednesday 21 September at 6.30.

For venue details and/or to ask any questions then drop us an email at kiamagardens@gmail.com

Please note, that because of the governance meeting there will NOT be a regular general meeting at the gardens on Wednesday

"Wow, the garden is really 'Pumping'!"

Spring has well and truly arrived at the garden; as one visitor was overheard to say, "Wow, the garden is really Pumping!". Well, if we do say so ourselves, it really is!

The photograph to the left is the top terrace where we are growing cabbage, brussel sprouts, potatoes, carrots, beetroot, onions, garlic, turnips, spinach, artichoke, beans and peas. And of course salad greens and herbs. Oh, and citrus and passionfruit!

The second terrace too is really coming together. We have recently rejuvenated and planted out a few beds. In these new beds we have beans, corn and zuchinni already showing great promise. And our first pumpkins are in. While the broccoli and cauliflower are finished we are still cropping snow beans and now broad beans too. In order to extend our planting area and help stabilise the terrace we commenced building a terraced retaining wall last weekend (that's it to the right).

We will be planting our cucumbers into these beds. And the best news of all is so many of these crops are coming on from our very own seeds, saved from our very first crops last year. And of course we are enthusiastically producing compost (that's some of the crew turning our heap below); recently adding a new composting area on the middle terrace.


COME JOIN US THIS SATURDAY 17 September, when we will:

• Continue building worm farms from old bath tubs
• Plant out choko vines
• Trim and feed passionfruit vines
• Feed artichokes
• Complete work on retaining wall terrace
• Plant out cucumbers seedlings

It must be Saturday (again)!

Come join us this Saturday 10 September from 9 onwards to toil on:

• Building a retaining wall. We will be filling 'sand' bags with soil and using them to reinforce the slope of the second terrace. This will allow us to build-up the slope so we can plant out our cucumber seedlings
• Turning compost
• Planting out seedlings and direct planting more seeds
• Making a support for our freshly planted out bean seedlings
• Creating worm farms. We will continue work on building worm farms from old bath tubs
  

Remember: All Parking at the Leisure Centre. Enter the garden through the gate from the Soccer fields.

Spring is bringing out the punters!

Last Saturday saw a record crowd turn up for our working bee, we got a lot done and we had a good time. Which is what it is all about. The photo to the left is us taking a break, enjoying morning tea together.

This SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER will see us gather again. The list of jobs is varied as usual:
- Plant out corn seedlings
- Prepare the top slope for planting out cucumber seedlings
- Plant cucumber seedlings out
- Continue feeding the fruit trees
- Direct planting zucchini seeds in raised domes
- Plant up seeds such as zucchini and pumpkin to grow on in the hot house
- Plant out bean seedlings in top terrace and interplant with bean seeds


Gabrielle and Julie will be there at 9 to 'direct' proceedings this week. Come early and put in a couple of good hours before the sun gets too high in the sky! There is plenty to harvest and share too - including our first crops of artichokes and broad beans.