Berkeley Vale Neighbourhood Centre is currently working with the local community to establish a community garden in the Berkeley Vale area. The garden is aimed at building a sense of community and contribution, while growing fresh tasty fruit and vegetables, with some learning on the way about native and indigenous plants, heirloom crops and many other aspects of the garden world.
Please feel free to join us in this wonderful community spirited project. Come and have a few laughs and share your knowledge or just come and have a sticky beak and tell us what you think of the project.
It is a place without barriers so all walks of life are welcome. It is also a place where future generations can keep connecting.
Would you like to be an active member of the Berkeley Vale Community Garden – contact Gillian on 02 43885801
It has been so long since I posted an update about the garden. Many of you may think we have given up on it. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. The committee of Berkeley Vale Neighborhood Centre Inc agreed to spend some more funds on the fencing to try and make the site as secure as possible. This last link of fence went up at the end of January going from the Community Hall fence to the Scout Hall gate.
With all the rain is hasn’t been the most conducive time to be on site as it does get very boggy. Thanks to Paul who has been going in and mowing etc to keep the grounds tidy.
It is hoped to hold a meeting very soon and start looking at layout, getting the beds on site, the concrete sink on a bench near the tank, garden membership and then starting the gardening itself.
The tank now has it’s tap on (thanks Ron) so we will be able to start the storing of water for our garden when it rains.
At the moment the grass is a bit long and unruly so I can see a site tidy up happening very soon.
The next step is deciding whether we are going to have a grass base or take the turf up, put down landscape matting with crushed granite or how it will be. We also need to construct a bench to house the cement tub and sorting space for when we harvest our crops.
Once there is some water in the tank and the ground area sorted we can then get the beds down to the site and work out the layout and start filling them with soil ready fo planting.
And very importantly we need to source some funds for the materials we will need in future as well as the extra fencing for the land we have permission to use but haven’t fenced yet.
As you can see it has been a while since I last updated where the we are up to with the garden. Work at the site has slowed due to rain and people being away throughout the past few months.
On Saturday, 8th October, Charlotte, Hans, Ron and myself decided to get the tank site finished despite the threat of rain. Ron collected the trailer load of road base that we had paid fo many months ago and the four of us proceeded to shovel the base into the area we had started.
Once that was done it was time to roll the tank out of the garden area and set it up onto its new home. We managed to do this without too much effort outside of ensuring the tank outlet for the tap was placed on the correct side facing the garden. Hans then set about preparing the pipework fo the inlet and outlets. Unfortunately as you will see in the photo we didn’t get the inlet pipe fitted that Saturday due to not having a long enough pieceof pipe. But thanks to Han’s commitment to our project he went down on the following Monday and finished the job. We now just have to fit a pipe with tap and the tank will be able to collect and hold the water we will need for our garden.
Where to next – mowing the site, working out how the garden base will be, getting the beds on site, filling them with soil and commence gardening with workshops on how to etc.
Today was a session of heavier work. Hans, Charlotte and I removed a trailer load of the stale sand from The Berkeley Centre’s sandpit (as
it is due fresh sand) whilst Ron and Nick went to Kimber’s Timbers to purchase 4 sleepers to create a secure frame to fill with the sand.
When we all got back to the garden site Paul joined us to build the frame (this required sawing, digging post holes and screwing support
posts in place), put in the sand (which wasn’t enough) so Ron went to Tumbi Sand and Soil to purchase some road base to put on top of the sand.
Unfortunately time was against us today so we have a credit for another trailer load of road base to collect. This will then be compacted to a level area ready for the tank to be rolled into place. Who needs the gym this gardening work is a healthy workout.
Slow and steady but we are getting there. Once the tank is in place it will then need to be joined to the hall’s downpipe for water
collection as well as having overflow taken away to the storm drain. We are also planning on putting in some low growing natives around the base of plates to ensure that the Scout Hall grounds are left tidy and enhanced.
Sorry I forgot to take photos today but when the tank is in place we will provide photos of the changes.
It was a beautiful day for those of us who attended the working bee to clear the corner of the Scout Hall grounds to prepare the space for the tank. A trailer load of lamandra and stumps were levered out of the ground through shear determination from our volunteers.
Thank you Nick, Hans, Paul and Ron. And thank you to Charlotte for helping them load the large clumps into the trailer as well as clearing the shrub we left in place of the paspalum and grass that was choking it.
Overseeing us all was Paul’s son Logan who attends the day group using the hall next to where our garden is located.
Nick delivered 2 tumbling compost bins and a cement laundry tub he has donated for use in the garden.
The next working bee is to put 4 sleepers in place to be filled with sand for the tank to sit on. I have also put in an application to the Tooheys New Crew for help.
Here is a picture of the fenced garden area with the 10,000lt water tank waiting to go into its spot.
We will be organising a couple of working bees to:
Clear the area and put a base down for the tank, connect it to the adjacent hall’s gutter for rain collection, clear the garden area of grass and put down a base, put in the raised garden beds, fill with soil and start gardening.
The first section of fencing was erected on 11/4/11.
A 10,000lt tank has been purchased due for delivery to the site on 18/5/11.
An initial workshop with 11 attendees was held on the 2/5/11 to work on a vision for the garden as well as a management plan. We have decided to meet every fortnight on a Monday at 10am at The Berkeley Centre to get moving ahead on the garden. Once we have established a routine the meetings will go to monthly.
The group is keen to see Myrtle Brush Park become a hive of activity by building on what we have started.
Joanne has joined the Management Committee as she is dedicated to see the garden fenced and actively being used.