March/April 2022

Plenty of rain continues into autumn as we transition to the cooler season crops. Over the past couple of months gardeners have enjoyed sharing some good harvests of butternut and Kent pumpkin. Green beans and baby eggplants lingered as we embarked on clearing beds, turning over soil and adding manure to prepare for fresh planting. We have set up some new climbing frames and planted lots of snow peas, snap peas, broccoli seedlings, garlic, onions, radishes, lettuce and coriander. Special mention to the ongoing efforts from our wonderfully enthusiastic young Duke of Edinburgh students.

Alongside this, our big fundraising effort for the new garden shed has paid off and we have progressed to the point of ordering the shed. The raised accessible garden beds have recently been tested by some wheelchair users, Michael and Mel. Plus we had a visit from the new Mayor of Willoughby Council Tanya Taylor who has kindly shared her mother in law’s tarragon chicken recipe which you can find in the Recipes section. It’s called Raewyn’s Poached Tarragon Chicken.

” Thanks so much for taking me through Market Garden Park Community Garden. It was great to see you all and hear about the plans you have. The gardens are really lovely – you should be proud of what you have established – both physically and also for the well-being of those who have helped develop the gardens and those who enjoy it. ” Tanya Taylor, Willoughby Council Mayor

” I was impressed with the level of accessibility that had been thought into it. I think community gardens should be inclusive for all as it is a great way for the community to connect, socialise and engage .. often people use gardening as a means of therapy and well-being.” Mel Harrison

 

Left to right: Mayor Tanya Taylor, Annette, Garth and Bronwyn.
Mel trying out the accessible raised beds
Morning tea time
First lot of broccoli planted on 28 March 2022
Gardening can be all about observing .. these caterpillars and their eggs on the underside of young leaves need to be manually removed or they can quickly munch up a whole crop of l broccoli seedlings
Garlic popped up on 1 April 2022 .. a week after planting
By 13 April 2022 the garlic looked like this
Radishes and snap peas coming along , 13 April 2022
Pumpkin picked on 13 March 2022 and allowed to cure until the stem dried out fully
We shared the pumpkin on 13 April .. it was a biggie

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