The Buy Nothing table was chockers this weekend.  We had a few visitors from the Buy Nothing Rivervale group and lots of items found new homes. We had books, chairs, baskets, electrical equipment and sporting gear looking for a new home.  

The quirkiest 'trash to treasure' find was old speakers that are going to be upcycled to become bird nesting boxes.  

A lot of the bok choy and other vegetables had gone to seed, so we pulled them out and bagged them ready to go feed Sandra's chickens.  We refreshed the garden beds and planted some new seasons crops including zucchini, capsicum, rockmelon and more.

Hope everyone is taking cuttings, growing seeds etc for the November Celebrate Belmont fair.  The fair will be held at Wilson Park, which will make it easy for us to showcase our garden.  We were able to pull out some self sown chives and pot these up.

If you can provide any cuttings or seeds to be grown on, get in touch with Sandra.

There was only a little bit of gardening to do this month, and we didn't have all the supplies needed to create our terracotta pot person.  So we enjoyed morning tea and discussed our plans for the future.  There's lots coming up in the next few months:

Seniors week runs from 11 to 17 November.  We are applying for a grant to host a morning tea in the garden.  Sandra is preparing the grant application.  

Jupp Lane is going to be bigger and better this year.  It's moving to Wilson Park, which is great news for us as we can showcase our garden and sell plants at the same time.

So can everyone please try and grow some seeds/seedlings, cuttings etc to sell on the day.  This is our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Ideas include:

• House plants, they're really popular right now.
• Succulents, very easy to grow from cuttings
• Summer produce like tomatoes, capsicum, zucchini etc
• Upcycled garden containers - decorate tin cans, glass jars, moccona coffee jars etc

Next month we will be planting our Spring produce.

It's your community garden, so we want your input into what we should plant.  The more input you have, the more the garden becomes useful to you.

Thanks very much to Christine! She painted our great new sign that really attracts interest in our garden.

We need any spare terracotta pots that you can find. 

Please check with friends and neighbours to see if they have any unwanted pots needing a new home. The pots don't have to be in great condition.

When we have enough pots and supplies, we will be making a friend for Straw Barry out of the pots.

The garden beds are now reticulated, thanks to the City of Belmont. We had a late planting day where we put in Silverbeet, Garlic, Peas, Salvias, Marigolds, Violas and more herbs.

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We held our first official buy nothing, or swap table this month.  Everyone went home with lemons

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world.

Through Little Free Libraries, millions of books are exchanged each year, profoundly increasing access to books for readers of all ages and backgrounds.

The group came together today to create our newest member Straw Barry!  Valerie came up with the idea and did all the prep work.  We had a few helpers come along to assist with building and installing Barry!  

Our garden is going to be reticulated by the City of Belmont. This will mean we won't need to water the garden.  We will still need to keep a roster of garden visitors to check on the garden health and spot any issues early on.

So that meant that we had to clean out all the garden beds in preparation for the retic installation.  So the beds do look a bit empty at the moment.  But watch this space for the garden to burst into life after the retic is installed.

Thanks to everyone for a very productive and interactive meeting after our AGM. The same committee members have been re-elected:

• Sandra Maynard-Chair
• Steven Webster-Vice Chair
• Janet Webster-Treasurer
• Committee:
  • Felicity Hatzus
  • Tracey Orr
  • Alan Perkins
  • Giacinta Smith

At the May meeting, we will be creating and installing our brand new scarecrows. If you would like to help make a scarecrow at home, or have some supplies that will allow us to create a scarecrow then bring these along to the meeting.

Useful material includes:

• wood to build the cross frames
• hammers
• nails
• old clothes - long sleeve shirts, trousers, boots, belts, hats.
• old pillowcases - for the head
• straw
• felt - to create a face

See this Cheat Sheet for some ideas.

Our next meeting at the garden will be Sunday 4th March, 10.00am to 12 noon.  We will be planting new veggies in at least half of the beds and leaving some until the weather cools down in April.
We now have access to the community centre so you can make a cuppa ( you will need to bring your own mug)  and use their facilities.
Bring along anything that you would like to swap-seeds, plants, produce, books-the more the merrier. There is not much pickings in the beds at the moment, so all goods welcome, as are you.

  CITY OF BELMONT
BELMONT INTEREST GROUP (B.I.G.) 
 
 Propagation from Plants and Seeds 

A general talk and demonstration by Sandra Maynard from the Belmont Community Growers.

Monday, 19 March 2018
2pm to 3pm
Light refreshments from 3pm.
 
No bookings required for this FREE event.

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​Ruth Faulkner Public Library
215 Wright Street
Cloverdale WA 6105