A beautiful sunny morning for a working bee, and the Orchard Pod had lots of jobs on.
- Weeding and mulching the orchard
- Mowing and Whipper-Snipping
- Pruning and Cleanup
- Orchard edge Cleanup
Thanks to all those workers that came along.
Our annual review of the PODS and POD system. All POD members and Facilitators should attend and all members that have an interest in the PODS should come along to.
POD Facilitators please have info and summary on your POD ready for discussion.
Any new POD-related items should be forwarded to the Secretary or Chairperson please.
The Meeting is at 3:30 pm Sunday afternoon.
All Members are welcome
The 5th Sunday in the month brings us to a Plotholder Pod Working Bee.
So it’s time for some Garden, Plot and path maintenance. So bring your muscles, your hat, some water and your inclination
Please contact Rob if you have a plotholder-issue that needs addressing.
See you there
Cajanus cajan/Pigeon Pea – Source: Wikipedia
Pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan, has been cultivated for at least 3000 years, is a perennial (although seed yield drops considerably after the first 2 yrs.) legume of the semi-arid tropics and very drought resistant and heat tolerant. It enriches soil through symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Pigeon pea can be used as a Green manure, the nitrogen attached to the roots is released when the plant is cut back, however most of the fixed N is transferred to the seed after flowering. It tolerates poor soils better than some other green manures and ground covers. Seedlings emerge (under irrigation or after rain) 2-3 weeks after sowing, growth is slow until the taproot develops.
Sunday was the Construction Pod Working Bee, and its was hot early.. and stayed hot.. but lots of work got done as you can see below.
The Jacaranda at the front gate of the garden is now in full bloom and makes a spectacular backdrop for the garden.
Jacaranda in bloom
So the first job of the day was making the new Scarecrows for the garden.. and lead by Michelle and helpers, the kids got heavily involved and the outcome was fantastic.
Take a look at the pictures below.
New Scarecrow thanks to the garden kids
New scarecrow number #2
Keep an eye out for the new guardians of the garden… They are watching :)
Meanwhile, the new shade/seedling house for the garden was also taking shape.
Planning the new shade house
Construction underway
Seedling/Shade house starting to take shape
Construction complete.
Just the finishing touches to go now..
The Seedling/Shade house has two levels, and was constructed to allow wheelchair access.
Shade cloth and the finishing touches will be added over the next month or at the next Construction Pod Working Bee
We did manage to save Petra from the Native Raspberries…
Pruning the Native Raspberries
and Leeanne helped keep the kids and Michelle cool.
Keeping the kids cool
Next Week:
Orchard and Fruit Fly POD Working Bee – Sunday 2nd November – 08:00
Monthly Garden Meeting – Sunday 2nd November – 10:30
Another sunny day was on show for the workers at the Gumnuts/Bushtucker Pod Working Bee this Sunday.
Also enjoying the weather and the produce was this strawberry-eating Magpie family.
Jobs today included, weeding and watering the Bush Tucker area.. and planting out some new Lomandra on the north-eastern border of the garden.
The un-planted border on the north-eastern side
Prepping for the new plantings
Planting, Papering and Mulching the new Lomandra
Planting complete
Watering in the new plantings
So if your passing the garden and looking for a job to do…
…relax and do a bit of watering of the new plantings.
Next Week:
Construction POD Working Bee – Sunday 26th October
It was Vegie Pod’s Working Bee last Sunday and a good turnout saw lots of work completed.
New Compost Bins, New Vegie beds, New Asparagus beds and some general work and weeding around the communal vegie area.
Working in the Communal Vegie Area
New Compost bays for the Vegie Pod
Moving and planting out the Asparagus crowns.
New Asparagus planting bed.
Colin planting out the Asparagus
The workers learning about Asparagus planting
Planting Asparagus crowns
Learning by doing – Asparagus
After a successful and rewarding Working Bee, morning tea on the shed verandah had some welcome visitors.
Local Maggies getting some morning tea.
Thanks to all who pitched in.
Next Week:
Gumnuts POD Working Bee – Sunday 21st September
It was a busy day at the garden on Sunday, with the BCC Community Conservation Partnership Breakfast event on in the park next to the garden, the Construction POD Working Bee and a stall selling goodies on behalf of the garden to the visitors from across Brisbane.
The BCC event attracted in excess of 100 visitors, many of whom took the time to tour the Yoorala St Community Garden – both officially and unofficially.
BCC Community Conservation Partnership Breakfast
Carolyn works the stall ready for the visitors to the garden
Here are just some of the goodies donated, cooked, made and supplied by garden members and friends.
Stall Goodies
Stall Goodies
Stall Goodies
Meanwhile the Construction POD working bee continued with some tidying up and sorting of the equipment area.
Working on the equipment area
Tidying up and ‘paving’ the equipment area
To add to the excitement of the morning, a Tawny Frogmouth that seemed unwell was also found resting in the Garden. After some investigation he was picked up and taken to the local bird vet. At this point the condition of the the bird is unknown.
Tawny Frogmouth resting at the garden
‘He’ was transported to the local bird vet for a checkup
The raised garden beds were planted out with seedlings from the Vege POD.
Planting in the Raised Garden Beds
Lisa and Petra show of the carrots from their plot.
Organically grown carrots from a members plot
Starfruit and Cumquats from the communal orchard.
Produce from the Orchard.
Colin giving BCC Community event visitors a tour of the Garden.
Touring the Garden
Thanks to all who worked, cooked, sold, toured and talked on a very busy Sunday.
Next Week:
Plot Holders POD Working Bee – Sunday 31st August
This is the last reminder to contact Angelina about a Mulch and Manure order for August 2014.
Today is the LAST day to place your order.
Orders
- Please fill in the attached order form and email it to me before Friday 22nd of August.
- Please note that the price for Lucerne is now $16 a bale due to a difficult growing season.
- I have source a supplier who can deliver sugar cane for $5.50 a bale, but delivery may take anywhere between 1-4weeks once the order has been placed. This is because our order will need to be included on a truck that is delivers in the same area.
- Lucerne is better for your plot as it feeds the soil but if you cannot afford it then go for the sugar cane. Maybe consider by 2 bales of lucerne and 1 bale of sugar cane!
Payments
- Do not do anything now – Payment will be required once the orders have been confirmed with the suppliers.
- I will email you once this is done!
Delivery
- Your manure order will be ready for pick up on Friday 29th August at 4:00pm.
- We will need as many people as possible to help unload the truck. Please let me know if you can help.
- Deliver dates of the Lucerne and or Sugar cane will be advised once the orders are placed.
Other
- Please note we will need a minimum of 60 bags (1pallet) of manure.
- We will need a minimum of 10 bales of sugar cane.
- We will need a minimum of 30 bales of Lucerne.
Contact Angelina today! to ensure your order!
If you can help with the unloading… Let us know
Members from the Yoorala St Community Garden attended the 2014 Spotless Suburbs Awards on Tuesday 19th August, and were very pleased to be part of a big win for The Gap across many awards.
The Gap featured in many of the Spotless Suburbs Awards.
Overall Spotless Suburb Award – The Gap, Brisbane
Overall Spotless Schools Award – Payne Road State School
Catchment Champion – Sown Nursery
Environmental Innovation and Protection – Payne Road State School
Catchment Champion – Payne Road State School
Awards were also won by Hilder Road State School. – Fish Creek 4061
A fantastic effort by the entire Gap community.
Congratulations to all the Winners