Working Bee — 23 August, 2009

We had an ambitious schedule on this spectacular Sunday. As well as our newly arrived shed, we had the steel posts for the front security fence to erect, the garden maintenance, planting new orchard trees, setting out new garden beds for the TAFE students, and our first Annual General Meeting.

We managed to concrete in the gate posts and the corners. The intermediate posts remain to be done.

The bed set out for the sustainable yard. The green manure crop (vetch and lupins) were slashed, allowed to wilt for 2 days, then rotary hoed into the soil.

The beds are 2 metres by 3 metres with 1 metre paths. initially they will have banked edges, with the material from the paths placed onto the beds. We are looking for suitable raised edging material.

The weeds and reeds that were covering the site earlier in 2009 were slashed and piled into windrows. They were turned by tractor at least once, and have now become rich humus with many worms evident. Some of the humus from the centre of the windrow was collected and used to mulch the trial garden beds.

These beds were established from the existing unimproved soil for the Slow Food Celebration and have had no additional nutrients or compost. There has also been precious little rain, although the beds have had a weekly watering.

During the adventures of moving the shed, we were given permission to collect cow manure from the paddocks across the road. Not wanting to let any steaming piles go to waste, we spent a happy half hour filling a trailer with wonderful manure.