Please note this is a repost from my wifes blog http://arabelleswindow.blogspot.com.au
I'm so keen to share the past three weeks of community garden progress with you. It's been busy, hard work, but exciting as we start to see things taking shape. Look below to see the progress to date...
WEEK 13
Thursday
Hubby has been hard at it, clearing walking tracks through several acres of land.
Ben is removing the screws from and old shed roof so we can use the tin elsewhere.
The front garden is starting to flourish and flower. Its so lovely to see colour from the road now- it brightens the place up.
It may be air conditioned, but it's now in the right position! It was moved to the side of church on Tuesday, and is ready to have a new roof and be used for secure storage.
Several of us helped with the removal of these internal shelving supports from the shipping container. It was a tough job, but hubby had a bright idea- the steel can be recycled into picnic table and chair frames. I like his thinking.
The shipping container in its new resting place, out of sight. The pavers from a no longer used pathway will eventually be all removed and used elsewhere too.
Saturday
Today, the church had a working bee. So many awesome people gave up their time on a Saturday to make the place look amazing. Here, the lovely Marika is beautifying the building with her soapy broom :)
The kids church area is now clean and open! The helpers moved the old shed into the shipping container, removed all of the gear into it as well, replaced pavers and generally did an awesome job.
Honestly, the amount of work that was done today saved us weeks. The tin was carried up from the back, ready for use. So much organising, tidying, cleaning, repairing went on. We can't thank everyone enough.
WEEK 14
It's time to build a bridge. Mick did just that.
It is getting side rails, but for now, we have something wide and strong enough for even the ride on mower to cross.
This is the result of hours of hard work. Ben raked and dug for hours. I knelt down and painstakingly pulled as many Singapore daisy roots out as I could find. Then, Ben and I put cardboard and newspaper down, before hubby jumped in to help load wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow load of mulch for Ben to dump and me to spread.
When it was all done, I found a new home for all the beautiful bromeliads lovely Lorraine had donated.
So happy with the result!
This is our first large, completed garden bed. I was thrilled to discover a strangler fig growing up in the centre. In ten or so years time, this will look like tropical paradise.
WEEK 15
Monday
This has been a big week!
We love council clean up time, especially when doing a community garden. We just missed out on a free, giant tumbler compost bin. But we did score free hardwood planters, hardwood lengths and some tin sheeting. Hopefully, the tin may be used create compost bays.
Tuesday
After a phone call from Tony, the patient home renovator who has allowed us to remove a truck load of pavers weeks ago, we were back today to collect some more.
Yes, I am in a skip full of building rubble. Hubby and I had an interesting time collecting pavers from out of the skip and moving the car repeatedly for trucks to use the driveway. At least we managed a full trailer load.
Thursday
Community garden day. Sadly, only 1 helper turned up. People are allowed days off. I do admit though, this added to my lack of motivation. But even when feeling flat, all three of us did well. Slow progress is better than no progress.
Shane did a brilliant job raking the weeds and leaves off this, and removing much of the Singapore daisy too. It made weeding so much easier- as did the curb side score of a padded floor rug. My knees were grateful!
Another garden bed almost ready to go.
The front garden looks so beautiful and has become so lush in only a few weeks. Regular weeding and watering helps of course.
Hubby and I found something much better than cardboard or newspaper for the weed matting- we found piles and piles of carpet. Thank you, council clean-up! I am so keen to get it put down, mulch over it and get the gardens planted out.
Low maintenance gardening- here we come.
Thursday afternoon, and hubby and I were back into paver collecting. This time, from a side pile, which nearly gave us a whole trailer load.
The very last load from this house will be in 4-6 weeks time. Finally, I think we have enough!
Friday
This morning, while still in my pj's, I sat myself down and patiently collected the seeds from some dried agapanthus flower heads I'd been saving.
I filled my 26 peat pots with seed raising mix, carefully sowed the seeds before spraying well with water and covering. Hopefully, in several weeks, I'll have my own collection of seedlings ready to plant out in the community gardens.
Hubby and I also decided to escape for a bit, and of course, we ended up at Bunnings, where I went instantly to the garden centre. I purchased some wild iris tube stock and more fertiliser. Even though it's worth it for the gardens, our poor car wreaks!
I really can't wait to get some more garden beds established and begin the planting out. Hubby has said I'm responsible for the garden beds-I couldn't be happier!
Much more coming soon! Until then, thanks for reading :)
