Here are our new gardening times for Spring and Summer till the end of 2012.
Feel free to save and print this poster. Maybe you could put it up on a noticeboard.

National Tree Day July 2011

We couldn't have asked for better weather on National Plant a Tree Day on July 31: the sky was beautiful and clear. National Plant a Tree Day is sponsored by Planed Ark and includes tree planting activities held across the country, including the Chadstone Food Forest (CFF).  Thanks to the excellent organisational skills (advertising, tree purchasing, funds finding, phew!) of Jono, the CFF hosted a hugely successful tree planting event. 


Digging, planting, weeding, chatting...

   

Seila demonstrating how to shovel mulch

Plenty of time to sit on the grass and enjoy the sunshine while planting trees

Roughly 25 people planted over 200 native plants, including 'nurse' wattles and other nitrogen-fixing plants to feed and protect our fruit trees and add nitrogen to the soil. We also did some weeding and some more of the ever-present mulching. All round it was a fun day, thanks in part to the totem-tennis and hand-cart rides for junior tree planters (and the odd senior planter) and refreshing oranges for all (thanks John!).


    

Post-planting orange refreshments

Our almond tree in bloom



Junior planters relaxing with some totem tennis after a solid 10 minutes of tree planting

Monthly sessions through autumn and winter 2011

Hi everyone

It was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day for our community tree planting (oops, ‘mulching’) day at the Chadstone Food Forest on Saturday.

The Waverley Helpmates and Ashwood School had already done a fantastic job digging the holes, planting most of the trees, and starting the mulching on the previous Thursday – a big thank you to Heather and Michael and your respective teams (and to Patrick for facilitating).

So on Saturday, all we had to do was cover the rest of the area with wet newspaper and top with a thick layer of mulch. Easy, right?

After 2 and a half hours of getting-water-soaking-newspaper-laying-newspaper-carting-barrows-of-mulch-repeat, I think I speak for all of us when I say our weary muscles were ready for a break and some much-appreciated BBQ sustenance whipped up by Chef Colin (thank you Colin!) and complemented nicely by lettuce, beetroot and nasturtium salad from the Ashwood College Permaculture Food Garden (thanks Mariette!). Then we were back at it for another few hours.  All in all it was a great effort, and I think a few prizes are in order:

• Katie, Nick, Lilli and Jack for the most environmentally-friendly family transport, arriving on bikes, trailers and scooter.
• Heidi for the most trips up and down the hill carting mulch – a lesson in stamina and determination!
• Linda K and Lucien for innovation in wheelbarrow substitution.
• Colin – for the best snags and veggie burgers in the greater Chadstone area (and there was lots of BBQ competition around on Saturday).
• Mariette and Seila, who did a mad dash from working at the Ashwood College Garden to Batesford Reserve, for the most working bees that can possibly be fit into one day.

And finally, a big thank you to Patrick and James, the Council contractor, for showing up early and pointing us in the right direction.

Bye for now.