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Member News 2022
November
Next Working bee
Sunday 13 November 2-4.Shared afternoon tea at 4pm weather permitting.
A message from the compost team
‘If you can’t chew it, bin it’ (in the Council Green Bin)
The compost team cannot chop up woody stems! Woody stems must be disposed of in the green wheely bins for the fortnightly Council collection.
December 18th – TNG members’ Christmas Celebration in the garden – more details to come.
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A message from the President about the Central area
Dear Neighbourhood Garden Members
I would like to take this opportunity to bring you up to date with our plans for the central area and the community beds, following on from my earlier advice of 31 October.
The plan is to level the central area of the garden and to rebuild the community beds in a different configuration. There will be one 10m long by 1.5m wide community bed where the bottom old community bed was and one 7m long by 1.5m wide community bed at the top of the central area where the tables currently are. These beds will also act as retaining walls for the levelling work.
Prior to building these new community beds we need to level the central area. We have been working with Kingborough Council for some time about our plans and they have very kindly agreed to level the central at no cost. A very supportive gesture on their part for which we are most grateful.
Once the central area is levelled, Council will lay base material and crushed gravel on top.
There is some work that we need to do prior to Council undertaking their levelling/earth moving. Firstly we need to remove all the weeds and vegetation from the central area. We will do this by mowing down the grass and then covering the area with cardboard and lucerne. We will start this work at the working bee this Sunday (13th) and continue until we have it all covered. All assistance will be most gratefully accepted.
Council have indicated that they would be able to start their levelling/earth moving in February/March. As all the activity will be in the central area there will be no impact or disruption to individual beds.
I hope all that makes sense. Please feel free to contact me if you would like any further information.
Thank you
Michael Lynch, President
October
Next working bee Sunday October 16-2-4pm. Shared afternoon tea at 4pm, weather permitting.
Main tasks will be to mulch the perimeter and generally tidy the garden ready for the Festival on October 30.
TNG Spring Festival Sunday Oct 30 11 am - 3 pm
This is our major fundraising activity for the year and the opportunity to welcome the community into our garden.
What do we need?
Please respond by email if you can help out with the following:
Cakes: We need donations on the day of café style cakes – the sort that can be cut up into generous slices.
Volunteers: needed for the following shifts:
9.30-10.30 am : Set up
Food and hot drink sales 11 am-1 pm and , 1 pm-3 pm
Seedling sales 11am-1pm and, 1pm-3 pm
Sow-your-own table and gardening advice: 11 am-1 pm and 1 pm-3 pm
Take down and pack up 3-4 pm
Participants: We will also have a few stalls with local groups/businesses promoting and selling. More are welcome, so if you have a group or business that would like to display, just let us know now.
Buskers wanted: Are there any musicians out there who would like to come along and busk for an hour or so? Let us know by return email please.
Social research Reminder
University of Tasmania is conducting social research and interviewing community garden participants. It involves only one 50-60 minute interview, possibly in the garden. If interested please ask for details via email.
All enquiries to tng@taroona.tas.au
September
Next working bee: Sunday 18 September – 2-4pm.
The main task is to cover the weedy areas around he perimeter fruit trees with cardboard and mulch. If you have large sheets of cardboard please bring them along. Please remove all plastic tape and staples first.
October working bee will be on Sunday 16 October. This will be an important working bee as we will be preparing the garden for the Spring Festival on Sunday October 30th.
Spring Festival Sunday October 30, 11am-3pm
Thank you to the volunteers who came to the garden last weekend to prepare seedling punnets for sale at the Spring Festival. We have over 120 punnets prepared.
The festival will feature seedling sales and the traditional food and hot drinks for sale. In our next newsletter we will be asking for donations of café style cakes and for volunteers for various tasks. Please keep the day free to assist. This is our one and only fundraising and community event for the year.
Social Research
UTAS has been in touch to ask if any of our members would like to participate in a research project titled Nonreligion in a Complex Future: Community Gardens. Participation will involve an interview of about one hour. The letter of invitation is attached. Please email back if you would like to volunteer to participate and/or if you would like more information.
What to sow and plant now
Spring is upon us! This is the prime time for sowing and planting vegetables. Our planting guides are here:
https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/planting-calendar/
Do you still wish to garden in your plot?
We have a waiting list for a plot. Please let us know if you no longer wish to continue gardening in your plot so that we can quickly hand it one to the next family on our list
August
Working bee (weather permitting): Sunday August 14, 2-4pm. Please come along to help the committee do some early preparation of the garden for our Spring Festival on October 30.
How to stop theft of produce? Any thoughts?
Over the years a variety of produce has sadly disappeared from our garden. Recently an entire crop of broccoli was ripped from the plants in one of the plots, to the great frustration and annoyance of the gardeners who were looking forward to enjoying the ‘fruits of their labour’. Do you have any ideas about what can be done to prevent, or at least minimise theft? We would welcome your ideas (send in return email). All suggestions will be considered seriously – so don’t confine your ideas to the conventional!
Ideas/contacts for trade show at Spring Festival
Sunday October 30 – TNG Spring Festival
We will invite members of our community into the garden to purchase seedlings and enjoy morning/afternoon tea/lunch. Peter is organising a sumptuous food range, and we will be appealing to our member cooks to donate café style cakes. We would like to have a small range of appropriate and relevant ‘trade tables’. If you have something to sell, a community group to promote or information to share, (or know someone who has) please respond with ideas to this email address.
Seed sowing day Sunday 11 September, 2-4pm
The aim of this workshop is to prepare and sow seedling trays to propagate for sale at the Spring Festival. This year we are not sowing tomatoes for sale, but concentrating on fancy lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, snow peas and some other greens. Come along to help with the sowing, and if you would like to prepare some to take home for your own use, bring your own clean seedling trays (or butter/margarine containers etc). We will have potting mix, labels and seeds to share.
Be active on Facebook
TNG has a Facebook page which is looked at by many, but few people are posting. Please post some photos of your gardening successes, handy hints and tips related to gardening etc. Your first post will not appear immediately as it will have to be approved by admin, but don’t be deterred. We have had to put some screening in place in order to prevent a large number of inappropriate foreign language posts that have been occurring lately. All garden, vegetable and TNG relevant posts are welcome.
Pickling olives
Our website has a link to a new video from member Adel about how to pickle olives.
https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/gallery/
IMAS Development - Southern Futures
Two local consultation sessions are advertised by Southern Futures:
Online: Thursday, August 18, 7.00-8.30pm.
On-site: Saturday, August 20, 3.30-5.00pm. Please meet at the IMAS gates.
See taroona website https://taroona.tas.au/news-2023/imas-developments/ for more information about the developments and for accessing the online session.
July
Next working bee: Sunday 17 July (this coming Sunday) from 2-4pm.
We will have a shared afternoon tea at 4pm if the weather holds. Hot drinks are provided.
We hope to see you there.
Help wanted – New Plot Build
At the working bee on Sunday Christophe will be constructing a new plot for a lucky new member. We welcome anyone who can help – no experience or expertise necessary and all tools will be provided.
What to sow and plant now
In the depths of winter there is very little that can be sown or planted now. See our guides here:
https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/planting-calendar/
The good news is that you can prepare your plot for Spring by removing weeds and spent vegetables. Look in the chamber under the worm farm to see if there are any worm castings you can add to your plot. Use a rake or hoe to extract it. You can also add a bag of sheep manure to your plot. Find it in the bays near the compost.
Do you still need your plot??
Our waiting list for a plot is growing. If you no longer need your plot, please don’t wait until the end of the year to let us know. Tell us now and we can make an eager local happy.
Saturday 30 July – Grand Opening of the Children’s Fun and Food Corner (mud/sand kitchen)
More detail on our website and facebook page closer to the date.
Free Workshop- make a mosaic plot number sign
Sunday July 24 – 1-4pm
Would you like to make a colourful and arty sign for your TNG plot? We have all the materials needed to make 8 or 9 plot number signs from recycled tiles and other materials. For more information or to book in, please respond by return email. Not suitable for young children, but an older child accompanied by parent is OK. There is no charge and all materials are provided.
This weekend – workshop in the community Hall
Stitching and Japanese Rock Wrapping Workshop
Sunday, 17th July 2022 at 10am – Fee payable on booking - Register at www.eventbrite.com
Dates for your diary
Saturday 30 July: Grand Opening of the Children’s Fun and Food Corner (mud/sand kitchen)
Sunday 14 August: working bee 2-4pm
Sunday 30 Oct: TNG Spring Festival at the garden
June
Working bee at 2pm this Sunday, 19th
Tasks: straightening the perimeter edging on the top side of the garden and continue the mulching of the perimeter
Sunday, 19th June at 4.30pm
Winter Solstice event. All TNG members and families are invited. Let's celebrate the cold and darkness as we approach the shortest day! Peter will be preparing some delicious hot food, gluhvine and a non alcoholic spiced fruit punch.
We will toast marshmallows in the fire pit. Please bring your own mug. Rug up, wear a beanie. Bring your lanterns.
We hope to see you there.
Stitching and Japanese Rock Wrapping Workshop
Sunday, 17th July 2022 at 10am -- Taroona Community Hall
Register at www.eventbrite.com
Come along to learn some new skills.
Protect our native wildlife and our pets.
Winter brings rats and mice into homes and gardens looking for shelter. Poisons are dangerous so please remember-
1. Use manual traps
2, With poisons read the labels. Those marked 'caution' are a better choice than those marked 'poison'.
Keep warm and active. Gardening is good way to do both!
May
Next working bee: Sunday 15 May, 2-4 pm
Shared afternoon tea at 4pm. Hot drinks will be provided.
Newspapers!!!
If you have old newspapers please bring them along as we are planning a mulching binge in the Long Orchard.
Plastic D handle for garden fork
Plastic D handle for garden fork – a new one was left in the shed ready to repair a garden fork – if anyone has seen it or has inadvertently relocated it, could we have it back please.
Tasks seeking willing workers
We have a few small tasks looking for someone to do them
- Sand and repaint the white timber bench in the garden. This is a faithful replica of the old design of Queensland Railway station benches and provides a relaxed and laid back seat in the garden. Its original gloss has weathered over ten+ years.
- Refurbish the timber seat outside the lower entrance and move it into the garden.
- Repair tools as they become broken and bent.
We are also always ready to welcome new volunteers to the mowing and composting teams.
Enquiries to any of the above to this email please.
The Winter Solstice
MONA has its nude dawn swim, but we are planning a much more comfortable celebration possibly involving hot drinks and a fire pit in the garden. For your diaries….4.30pm on Sunday June 19th. More detail later.
April
Next working bee: 2-4 pm Sunday 24 April
Please come along to our April working bee. There is lots of weeding to do to keep our garden looking nice and being productive.
Free Fruit Tree Workshop and information session, Sunday first of May, 1pm – 3 pm.
Everyone is invited to a special workshop and information session with emphasis on care and maintenance of fruit trees. Ragus, head gardener at Spring Bay Mill at Orford, will lead us in an exploration of the health of the garden, with emphasis on the fruit trees growing in the ‘Long Orchard’ around the TNG perimeter.
Not just for TNG members, but other members of the community with an interest in gardening are warmly invited. There is no charge for participants.
Weeding please!
If you cant get to the working bee, please do some weeding in the perimeter areas under the fruit trees on your next visit to the garden
Please make sure to put weeds such as oxalis and rope (twitch/couch) grass in the green bins for disposal off site. Also include in the green bins any woody stems too coarse for composting. Other vegetable waste can be placed in the compost ‘waiting’ bays, preferably after being chopped up.
Rogues Gallery of weeds here: https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/weeds/
Other TNG Events coming up in the next few months
Working bees are scheduled for Sunday 15 May, Sunday June 19 and Sunday July 17.
Exact date to be announced for the following:
June: Solstice Celebration
July: Workshop for members to make a mosaic plot sign
August: Workshops on basket weaving and pottery
October: Spring celebration
March
Next working bee, Sunday 13 March 2-4pm
Bring fruit to share at 4pm. Hot drinks provided.
Annual General Meeting – 7.15pm at St Lukes Church Hall, Wednesday March 30
Please consider nominating for the management committee. There is no need to fill out a form or to find a nominator. Self nominate by sending a message to this email address. For more information about management committee duties, just email this address.
Summer vegetables are coming to an end
Time to get rid of spent vegetables and weeds and to replenish the soil in your plot ready for autumn and winter vegetables. Please make sure to put weeds such as oxalis and rope (twitch/couch) grass in the green bins for disposal off site. Also include in the green bins any woody stems too coarse for composting. Other vegetable waste can be placed in the compost ‘waiting’ bays, preferably after being chopped up.
Rogues Gallery of weeds here: https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/weeds/
We have had a delivery of soil and compost mix. Please get a barrow load or two to replenish your plot. Fill to a maximum of 10-20 cm below the top so as not to cause the sides to bulge out and possibly come adrift.
Planting and sowing guides are on our website here: https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/planting-calendar/
February
The first working bee for 2022 will be held on: Sunday13 February 2-4pm
At 2.15 we will have ‘Five minute weed talk’ to make you familiar with the top two ‘nasties’ in the garden.
Shared afternoon tea at 4pm. Hot drinks will be provided. Please bring some fruit to share.
As this is the season of such lovely fruit, we will forego other snacks and just have fruit for afternoon tea.
Fees due
Thank you to all those who have paid their 2022 subscription. There’s just a few outstanding. See our how to pay page for details:
https://taroona.tas.au/neighbourhood-garden/how-to-pay/
Thanks to our specialist teams!
A hearty thanks is due to the members who have volunteered to do the many tasks around the garden. We do not always see them working, but we do see the effects of their work. There is a mowing and whipper-snipping team, a fruit tree carers group, compost makers, those who weekly put the bins in and out, waterers and weeders. And of course the big team repairing plots successively around the garden.
Spare produce?
Please put spare produce from your plot (and from the home garden) onto our free food shelves. Do not let it over mature in the ground. Someone will be grateful to have it.
Contributing to the garden
We ask members to contribute 6-8 hours a year to carry out tasks (not associated with maintenance of their own plots) to keep the garden healthy and productive. This would amount to one working bee per quarter, but if you cant help out on Sunday afternoons, there are tasks that can be done at other times. At the moment we particularly need help with compost manufacture and with keeping the inner perimeter weeded. Please consider volunteering for a task. Just let us know about your particular interest in a return email.
Basket weaving workshop
Basketry and Japanese Rock Wrapping workshop, in the garden Sunday February 20th.
More information here: https://taroona.tas.au/data/documents/Basketry-workshop-final.pdf
Coming up
Our AGM is due in March, and we hope to have ‘long table lunch’ to celebrate autumn. More information later.
Survey of members about dogs in the garden
Everyone should have received a brief survey email from our President Michael Lynch. We need to have your answers by February 28th.