Cold weather, warm hearts in our winter gardening efforts

Seema Misra Thakur & Rahul Sujan

As we enter August, winter has delivered some of the coldest mornings we’ve seen in recent years. 

The sun played hide and seek during the first fortnight, as clouds and fog descended on City Rd, making it feel like we were on a snow-clad mountain. 

One of our volunteers aptly remarked, “These chilly mornings with a wind chill of three degrees and lower are not for the faint-hearted to be up and about gardening.”

Despite the chill, our dedicated and strong-hearted volunteers braved the cold during the first week’s gardening bee. 

Bundled up in beanies and their warmest winter jackets, they tackled the maintenance tasks with unwavering commitment. They raked leaves, nourished young seedlings with organic fertiliser, and tended to our worm beds, accomplishing all with great enthusiasm.

During the second fortnight of July, winter rains took over the garden bed watering chores, freeing up some of our gardening session time. With the outdoors freezing, the gardening team moved indoors to the Boyd lobby for spring planting discussions. 

The creative members of our group got busy painting artwork on our signal rocks. These Southbank Sustainability Group (SSG) winter artworks will soon be on display in our garden beds. 

Keep an eye out for your favourite red, green, and yellow signal rocks, which indicate when our plant produce is ready for community harvesting.

It’s not just the SSG members anticipating the arrival of spring and warmer weather; even our feathered visitors are eager. 

During our last working bee, the gardening group was delighted by the visit of a wattle bird in the gardens. This bird species has been a rare sight at Boyd Park recently due to ongoing construction activity.

Requests for planting some community favourite herbs continue. Parsley, coriander, and other herbs have been planted in the garden. These should be ready to harvest in the next few weeks as warmer weather arrives. 

We will share this information on our SSG Facebook community page. If you have creatively used a herb from our SSG gardens in a recipe and would like to share it, let us know. We might feature your recipe (with due acknowledgement) on our social platforms.

In recent months, the SSG Events team has brought you some great educational sessions on Native Edible Plants and Food & Fashion Sustainability. At the upcoming Active Southbank Community Association’s Festival at Boyd on August 18, the SSG team will host a painting and planting session for kids and parents. Visit our gardening space to participate in this session as we share, educate, and learn with the youngest community members. The volunteer team will discuss the existing plants and biodiversity of the Boyd community gardens.

An upcoming educational event in spring, “Bee for Biodiversity,” will be held for the children of Southbank. Details of this event will be posted on the SSG Facebook page and on the Bulletin Board at Boyd closer to the date.

Sustainability in daily life and beyond

“Plastic Free July” is a global initiative that began in 2011 in Western Australia and has since garnered international attention and support. It was launched to highlight the need to reduce single-use plastic consumption. The National Science Research Agency, CSIRO, estimates that Australians generate 59 kg of single-use plastic waste per person annually. Find out four easy ways to ditch plastic for Plastic Free July – CSIRO.

Supporting a plastic-free initiative can be incorporated into daily life through small, everyday actions. Here are a few useful reminders for local market shopping:

• Choose produce with plastic-free packaging as much as possible.
• Bring your own hygienically cleaned containers for shopping at market delis.
• Use mesh bags for fresh produce such as vegetables and fruits.
• Buy in bulk from grain grocers using your own jars and containers.

For more sustainability tips regarding plastic-free living, read the article created by South Melbourne Market: BYO Reusable Containers for Your Market Shop | South Melbourne Market. 

About the group 

SSG is a solution-focused community group of Southbank residents, working to bring positive change in sustainability practices. Email us. •