SATURDAY morning “socials” have started at the Greenbushes Community Garden following the completion of a project to install a sheltered pergola and seating within the grounds of the garden.
Residents are invited to meet on the first Saturday of the month from 9.30am to share morning tea and view progress at the garden, which is situated at the town’s main intersection and business area.
Greenbushes Community Garden Coordinator Tracy Lansdell said the aim was to make the garden the “hub” of the community where people could get involved in workshops or projects or simply just enjoy the company of others.
“The garden has become such a nice space to sit, relax and have a chat that we’ve decided we would like to have monthly community morning teas with everyone from our wider and local community welcome,” Ms Lansdell said.
“All people need to bring is a small contribution for morning tea which can be as simple as a piece of fruit or a vegetable.”
On November 1 a group of local seniors attended morning tea at the garden to view progress of a number of new projects funded through a grant of $8609.70 from the Department of Local Government and Communities.
“We would like to express our thanks to the Department for the funding which helped us to construct the new pergola and a materials storage area for mulches and soils to be used in the garden,” Ms Lansdell said.
“These new features at the garden and a Frog Pond workshop earlier this year also funded through the grant and assistance from the Blackwood Basin Group, have greatly improved the capacity of our group to “grow” our membership,” she said.
Ms Lansdell said as a result of the Frog Pond workshop new members had joined the garden and other people in outlying towns had signed up for regular newsletters and workshop invitations.
“I think the workshop was of such interest to people that it really raised the profile of our garden and as a result we’ve hosted several other Community Garden groups from the region who are keen to see how we went about getting our garden off the ground.”
Plans on the drawing board for 2015 include a new nature play area for children, more habitat garden areas and a workshop focusing on getting the best out of fruit trees with noted West Australian gardener Peter Coppin.
The next meeting of the Greenbushes Community Garden group will be held at 4.30pm on February 11 and in the meantime social morning teas and other activities including busy bees will continue throughout the holiday period.
