"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is to plant a tree today."
Chinese proverb
They say we plant fruit and nut trees for our children, I guess hinting at the fact that they take a few years to reach full maturity. Appropriately, we have been fortunate to have a small action group of members take on the role of managing our orchard. They have been quick to assess any shortfalls and are taking early action on regular monitoring, irrigation, nutrition and soil, understory plant selection, weed control, pruning and thinning to give our young fruit trees the best possible start while keeping to our organic principles. Thank you to Chris and Janis for getting the ball rolling and to Annette, Jennie, Rory, Trevor, Apisara, Mary and Wayne who are ready to offer assistance. We have a great range of fruit trees in the orchard with the capacity to add a few more this year. Check out the list below and if your favourite fruit or nut tree is not represented put in your bid by sending an email to the garden address (see below).
In the Orchard
Apple - Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Red Fuji
Peach - Golden Queen, Okee Dokee
Almond - All in One
Pear - Duchess, Nijisseiki
Plumcot - Spring Satin
Nectarine - Fantasia, Goldmine, May Grand
Cherry - Lapins, Compact Stella
Apricot - Moorpark, Divinity
Plum - Luisa, Mariposa
Tangello - Minneola
Lemon - Eureka, Meyer, Lemonade
Orange - Washington Navel
Blood Orange - Cara Cara
Fig - White Adriatic
Mandarin - Mircot
Lime - Tahitian
Pistachio - Female and Male
Avocado
Grapefruit - Marsh, Red
Cumquat - Chinotto
In the raised bed area
Guava - Strawberry
Dwarf Banana (and Lego friends) - thanks Janis
Let us know if you have a favourite that's not represented.
Report on the Members meeting on Wednesday 1st March
Thank you to our members who were able to come along to the meeting at Seaford Community Centre on 1st March.
Our Chair, Rory, addressed the meeting and presented a short history of the Seaford Wetlands Community Garden and Wetlands Biodiversity Project from its original inception in May 2021 to the present day. He identified five areas of focus corresponding to the Raised Beds enclosure, the Orchard, the Market Garden, the Natives, and the Wetlands Biodiversity, inviting members to join action groups to concentrate on a particular area. Each action group will formulate a plan for development and maintenance of the area and make recommendations to the committee.
If you were unable to attend the meeting but would like to be involved with a particular area or
areas please let Rory know via email to the Garden address or chat to one of the committee.
Mid Coast Sustainability Inc. will conduct its first Annual General Meeting on Thursday 30th March 7pm in the Sun Room, Seaford Community Centre
RSVP on the Eventbrite page.
Nominations for the committee are welcome. Please download the nomination form (on the Eventbrite link), complete and send via email to seafordcg@gmail.com by Wednesday 29th March. There will be light refreshments at the meeting.
Meet our member - Kaarin Wilkinson, our MCSI Secretary
Before my retirement in December 2018 my working life was in education at all levels from birth to adults with most focused on early childhood education. I have always been involved in community not for profit organisations and since retiring I have continued to give time to community groups.
I have been on the Midcoast Sustainability Inc committee since it was established and I am enjoying connecting with new people, as well as some old friends, as the community garden grows. I have a large (too large for my now aging body) home garden at Moana where I have lived for 37 years. I have leased bed S16 to plant some things I don’t grow at home. My seven year old granddaughter assists me with this.
The Shed has arrived!
At present it is still a flat pack but a 3D working bee is on the cards for sometime soon.
Highlights from the Garden
The spectacular flower of the globe artichoke from Sky Lambert's great garden. It is a variety of a species of thistle which has been cultivated as a food. The edible part of the plant is the flower bud before the flower blooms. Nicely framed in this photo by an excellent crop of sweet basil, a zucchini? and maybe a red capsicum in the background.
The Seaford Wetlands Community Social and Gardening Group
All members are very welcome to come along to the social/gardening group held in the Garden enclosure on alternate Fridays from 9am-11am (the next meeting is Friday 31 March). Have a chat over morning tea/coffee (you may need to bring a thermos until we sort out a kitchen), do a bit of gardening, maybe work on an area of the community garden - there is no set agenda.
Contact the organiser Mel Styles through the garden email address.
Fundraising BBQs - More help required
With all the activity we have had this year our working funds are rather depleted. We do have a generous grant from Green Adelaide (check out their link below for a very informative website) but it doesn't cover expenses such as sheds, tools, pergolas, fences etc.
One of our useful avenues of fundraising has been conducting BBQs at Seaford Bunnings. We have signed up for two BBQs at this stage and we are seeking help to run these from our membership and friends. If you can help for a couple of hours or more on either or both of these two days we'd love to hear from you. The dates are -
Sunday 26th March and Sunday 30th April - we operate from 8.30am - 4pm
Please drop us an email to seafordcg@gmail.com or phone Wayne 0413 440 545
Coming Up in the Garden and Wetlands in 2023
Orchard development and maintenance
Bunnings BBQ fundraiser - Sunday 30 April
Paths around the raised beds, sensory garden, wet area
Construction of shed(s), meeting area, greenhouse
Entrance archway, gates and locks
Market garden area development
Wetlands view pergola
Natives (including native edibles) planting
Wetlands planting day May/June
This project was seeded by
Our Committee
Our committee is Rory Fitzsimons (Chair), Kaarin Wilkinson, Tony Watkin, Jan Brown, Melissa Styles and Wayne Good. If you have any questions or ideas please contact us via Facebook, on our website or on the Seaford Wetlands Gardeners chat.