“Work in Progress” is a good way to describe this garden but that doesn’t come close to conveying all it has to offer – it’s a habitat for wildlife (and 2 lucky guinea pigs); it’s a way of connecting with neighbours; it’s a provider of healthy food for its owners and the community; it’s beautiful and practical and it has incredible potential to become even more.
Like so many suburban gardens, when BJ moved in 20 years ago it was a forest of massive ornamental trees towering over the property, blocking light and air from getting in. With much patience (a word gardeners are all to familiar with) BJ worked at clearing away some of the worst offenders while introducing a large variety of natives to encourage and sustain the local wildlife. Years of this have resulted in a beautiful native garden in front of the house, a corridor for wildlife along the side of the house and a large, sunny, airy back garden perfect for food plants.
BJ explained how almost everything we saw in the garden holds a memory of when it was planted, who helped build it, where it was sourced... It’s a garden built over time as resources became available and inspiration struck.
Once Aimee moved in, the garden garnered extra attention and the focus began to shift from purely natives to providing food for the kitchen. Vegetable beds (mixed with some beautiful ornamentals) started sprouting up enriched by worm castings, mulch, compost and a bit of trial and error while BJ & Aimee found their feet as food gardeners.
Thanks to some purchased soil, BJ and Aimee had a real problem with pH in their raised veggie beds. They’ve been working hard to get the soil to a reasonable pH and their hard work is paying off. This issue was a good opportunity for Max to talk to us about how to check and correct pH problems in our own gardens. I won’t try to replicate it here but it’s worth every gardener's time to check out Max’s blog post about pH: http://foodgardengroup.blogspot.com/2018/10/acid-or-alkaline.html That said, it was interesting watching Max take soil samples, measure pH with both a meter and a kit using liquid. I especially like that he tested ash and sand so we could see the extremes and that he added vinegar to a bit of the veggie bed so we could see the immediate impact of that. Excellent talk and demo, Max!
After the pH talk we had plenty of time to wander the garden. It feels larger than it actually is, probably because of the variety of spaces and uses that all work so well together. A small patch of lawn (lovingly maintained by 2 guinea pigs) is ringed by vegetables, trees, flowers, a cosy fire pot and a one-day-to-be garden room with a lovely view (final fit out and purpose is going to be a surprise to everyone, including BJ & Aimee)
Of course, the garden’s got the common “business corner” too where the compost and worms work hard doing their part to keep everything growing. Nothing is wasted here.
There’s also a bit of “work” being done in the middle of the veggie beds. A small, buried compost pot delivers nutrients and a water-filled olla delivers moisture where it’s most needed. Aimee explained that when they dug the olla out last season, it was surrounded by roots. It’s clearly been doing its job.
It’s impossible to talk about this garden without talking about the neighbours. BJ stressed that the neighbours have pitched in to help – even if it’s just lending a green rubbish bin for offcuts. The garden is a catalyst for building and maintaining a friendly community starting with casual chats while working in the front and growing through a very clever “soil barn” where produce is placed by anyone with some surplus to share to be taken by anyone who can use it. That is really thinking outside the square.
Which brings us to the end of our garden visit. It was a clear, blue day (we luckily scored an incredible couple of hours of sunshine in the middle of a crazy, cold and wet spring) and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. On behalf of everyone attending I’d like to thank our hosts, BJ & Aimee for opening their garden to us. And I’d like to give a well-earned thanks to Max & Gaye for all they do to organise these events and make them go off without a hitch month in and month out. Double thanks to Max for everything he does behind the scenes to keep the club ticking over including the blog which I referenced above. A final thanks to everyone who brought food & produce for sharing and for bringing great attitudes to learn, observe, chat and smile along with your fellow garden gang. We’ll see you at a garden visit soon.
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