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Merri-bek Community Gardening

Author : Jessica Peeler

New look Merri-bek Community Gardening

Posted in Uncategorised By Jessica PeelerPosted on

New look Merri-bek Community Gardening

RGBArtboard 4SML

We are so excited to share with you the new look Merri-bek Community Gardening.

With the financial support of Merri-bek City Council and with our members’ endorsement and the permission of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Council we adopted our new name at our AGM in late Jan 2024. We are excited to share and celebrate our shared culture of caring for the land and each other. 

Merri-bek Community Gardening continues our passion for supporting the community to garden and grow in Merri-bek.

Pentridge Community Garden –

Posted in Uncategorised By Jessica PeelerPosted on

From these humble beginnings Pentridge Community Garden has thrived and grown into a beautiful community space.

As part of their journey, Pentridge Community Garden Inc have set up their own organisation separate from MCG, and are now custodians of the site.

We are so pleased to acknowledge all the successes and positive actions that have been a part of the MCG and PCG relationship over the past 7 years. The members of PCG, represented by a passionate organising committee have built a beautiful community space, and held space for numerous partner organisations to grow and garden together. Licence negotiations, funding, grants and opportunities have been managed through MCG to benefit the Pentridge group and we are so pleased to have helped them grow this far.

You can connect with Pentridge Community Garden in their new virtual home: https://www.pentridgecommunitygarden.org/

Register for our FREE ‘Grow Your Own Way’ course!

Posted in Community gardens, Education, West Brunswick Community Garden By Jessica PeelerPosted on

This is a special call out for youth/adults experiencing some kind of disadvantage, including: mental health challenges, any form of disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Asylum seekers, migrants, lgbtqia+ members, older people, any other.

 
Have you had a hard last year and need to reconnect with nature and meet like minded community members?
 
Are you a Moreland resident and would love to join the amazing West Brunswick Community Garden?
 
Would you like to increase your gardening knowledge and join the awesome Angelo Eliades, facilitator of the courses?
 
Don’t wait any longer and come and join our 8-week course beginning next week (14th April).
 
  • Two courses will run in parallel (am and pm sessions), with 12-15 participants in each of them.
  • We have funds to receive 1 support staff/per group if needed (please get in touch if this is needed).
  • Participation is free.
  • Upon completion, participants will receive a 12 month free membership to West Brunswick Community Garden.
  • Questions? Contact Fransisca: communication@merribekcg.org.

Please visit this link for further information and to register your attendance. 

 

Moreland Community Gardening thanks VicHealth through the Reimagining Health Grant for the funds to make this possible.

Food Forest working bee

Posted in Dunstan Reserve Food Forest, Events, Propagation By Jessica PeelerPosted on

Thank you to everyone who came along to today’s working bee in the Food Forest! We got loads done, including:

  • Removing the dying Kangaroo Apple
  • Cutting down the dead Abyssinian Banana 
  • Taking cuttings from our Mulberry tree
  • Smothering the Kikuyu around our Carob tree with (biodegradable) weed mat and mulch
  • Weeding the paths
  • Weeding and mulching around the Lime
  • Bagging our bananas to protect them
  • Most importantly, eating plenty of cake for Richard’s birthday!

It was great to meet some locals who discovered the working bee through the new noticeboard (it works!).

If you’re looking for tasks to do in the Food Forest, please keep an eye on the newly mulched areas and remove any weeds that make their way in. There will also be some more carob pods to harvest very soon – wait until they’re brown and dry before picking. 

Lindy
Sam
Jess, Judith and Lindy
Mulberry cuttings
Ian & Richard
Before
During
After
Carob
Bananas
Garden helper
Huge olives!
Abyssinian Banana mid-chop

Why we love communal gardening!

Posted in Communal gardening, Dunstan Reserve Food Forest, Pentridge Community Garden, West Brunswick Community Garden By Jessica PeelerPosted on
Did you know that although our gardens have personal plots, over half of our garden space is dedicated to communal growing area? There are several advantages to this…
 
🌱 You don’t have the pressure of running a whole plot on your own. You can share the load with others! This is especially beneficial if you’re new to gardening.
 
🌱 If you go on holidays or want a break from the garden, you don’t need to stress about keeping your plot maintained.
 
🌱 Gardening with others is a great way to meet your neighbours and expand your knowledge!
 
🌱 The amount of people who can join our gardens is virtually unlimited, with no wait lists for joining as a communal gardening member (if you feel so inclined, you can join PCG here and WBCG here).
 
🌱 You have the option to adopt a personal plot in addition to your communal gardening membership, if one is available.
 
🌱 You have the space to grow a huge variety of different crops without being limited to your plot space & crops that grow well together.
 
🌱 There is always PLENTY of produce to go round. We often have so much left over that we give it away to people walking past the gardens!
 
🌱 Our plot holders get involved in the communal space too, sharing their knowledge and excess produce. 
 
If you want to check out one of our gardens before committing to a membership, come along to a working bee and say hi! You can see what’s happening here. 
Communal garden beds at PCG (a small fraction of the growing space!)
Excess produce at PCG
Communal pumpkin patch at PCG
Communal hydroponic system at PCG
Excess crops at WBCG
Communal garden beds at WBCG (a small fraction of the growing space!)

Our first bananas!

Posted in Dunstan Reserve Food Forest, Events By Jessica PeelerPosted on

Libby and Jess were very excited to discover the first fruits on our banana plants in the Food Forest! 

These plants are thriving in our subtropical garden. They do need to be thinned out as they are currently growing in very large clumps. We’ll be doing this at a working bee later this year, so keep an eye out for that if you’d like to get involved.

The next Food Forest working bee will be on Sunday 20th February from 10am – 2pm. All welcome and no experience necessary – just bring yourself and a pair of gloves. Hope to see you there!

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