We hope you enjoy looking at the journey we have taken from the very beginning when we were first granted permission to take on this little strip of land.
Read through our early newsletters for stories on how our founders struggled to find an appropriate plot of land before the North Beach Tennis Club kindly surrendered some of their council land for our community garden.
These photos will take you through the growing pains and amazing support we have been given by those who have volunteered their time, skills and manpower to not only get things started but also maintained as we grow. I’ve broken our growth into different areas for easy access and reading:
- SEED FOR THOUGHT
Scouts were sent out to find an appropriate plot of land. Several were considered including this long strip behind the North Beach Tennis Club. After some inquiries and negotiations we procured with this area of land for our Coastal Community Garden.
Our new plot of ground prior to any work yet with plenty of potential.
What’s going on here?
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- Before this we had a very memorial day on the 10th December 2022 wen we had the handover of the license agreement and ‘Breaking Ground’ ceremony organised by Fiona Blackham from the City of Stirling, with Mayor Mark Irwin and Council members Felicity Farrelly and Tony Krsticevic, David Harbridge from the North Beach Tennis Club and of course our Coastal Community Garden committee.
2. THERE’S MOVEMENT AT THE PATCH
November 2022 saw some of the early site materials were donated, and began to pile up on the parking area above the garden. These included huge logs, boulders, bricks, paving and other materials.
February 2023 volunteers came to help move and stack some of these materials before they could be relocated in the garden.
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The materials were then fenced off and excavation of the land began thank to Dan and The Artisan Co. who joined us in establishing our new garden.
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3. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT – FUNDRAISING
April 2023 we joined the stalls outside the Henderson Centre with our fundraising raffle tickets and membership forms. This was carried on at the North Beach Tennis Club as we sold toasted sandwiches to those attending tennis tournaments.
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Thanks to a couple of grants we were able to purchase a shipping container for our shed and a water tank. Unfortunately the day the tank was delivered it was stolen which meant purchasing another and securing it the day it arrived.
4. FOUNDATIONS
In June 2023 our shipping container was delivered and before being installed the slab and the area was prepared and container craned into place. Our second water tank was also put into position thanks to Dan and The Artisan Co. who have joined us in establishing our new garden.
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Also in September work started on laying paving along the fence line also by the Artisan Co grew and some of our committee members. Then our first in ground garden bed and fruit and nut trees donated by Dan, were planted.
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5. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT – BUSY BEES
We had teams at work in the garden and committee members meetings all working together to keep the momentum going. This later included the community getting involved with our busy bees. Many hands make light work, so they say.
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6. WORKSHOPS
We had some wonderful people provide our members with a variety of workshops including making and setting up our wicking beds and composting.
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- MAINTENANCE & MORE
More labour was needed when we had unexpected burst irrigation which washed away some of our newly laid paving.
Not only has Dan and his team from and The Artisan Co been hard at work laying the foundations to The Patch, but other tradies have been employed to help.
Liam from North Beach has also paved an amazing space beside our shed which has already been utilised by other tradies and gardeners. A level area which can be used for many things.
Gaia Organic Gardening has also been hard at work putting in more raised garden beds, a paved area around the existing garden area and installing more irrigation.
Other from the community have stepped in to give us a helping hand with cladding the wicking beds, making a rack in our for our tools, donating a compost bin, potting containers, tools and equipment such as surveillance cameras.
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8. EARLY PRODUCE
Our first summer was a difficult time to establish The Patch as we didn’t have running water only a tank which provided water to the garden via watering cans and then a hand held hose. We had fruit and nut trees which needed watering every second day.
Reticulation was so appreciated. It wasn’t long before we started to see fruits for our labours, but with this new growth came more challenges. Our garden was being raided from the air in the form of Corella’s.
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9. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The latest busy bee: Planting – here there was a great team of volunteers who helped plant our new and original wicking garden beds with herbs and vegetables which also went in to our large in ground bed and around some of the fruit trees. Holes were dug for more fruit trees many of which were bush tucker plants as well as white and black mulberry, banana palm and two dragon fruits. More cardboard and mulch was also laid and the area generally tidied up for our Open Day, 26th October.
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10. OPEN DAY
Open Day was Saturday 26th Oct 2024. It was a great success thanks to all our volunteers and visiting community from in and around the area. Thanks everyone who came. Please also check out our video on our home page which was done at the same time.
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To be continued…….