Extending Middle Head Garden

December was a very busy time for construction at Middle Head and Mackie Lane.  Three new beds have been built at Middle Head making a total of six long beds.  Work continues at Mackie Lane, check out the new wind breaks. There is a collection of photos showing the gardens progressing in the Middle Head and Mackie Lane Photo tabs. 


Membership of our gardens is open to Mosman residents.  You can contact us at mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com or just come and see us at the gardens.


Middle Head gardeners usually go on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday afternoons from 4.00 till 6.00.  Mackie Lane has working bees on Sundays 3.00 to 5.00 with refreshments at 5.00.  

Mackie Lane and Middle Head News

We braved the bad weather last Sunday and started planting at Mackie Lane. The Mosman Daily came and took photographs, see this week's edition.  

Planting and mulching continues on  Sunday 11 December. We have crows so will also be making a scare crow which should be fun for the kids. If you can help on Sunday we need darning needles and thick thread. Also we need used ice cream container lids and little bells.

There is a bit work for the construction crew, digging a hole for the pond and moving some materials up to the back of the site.  The major garden construction has been competed at Mackie Lane. Many thanks to everyone who contributed at the working bees, especially the construction team that did a lot of heavy work. Over the next month we will make two more high beds, install the pond and sort out our materials bays.  The Sunday working bee starts at 3pm refreshments at 5 pm (BYO).  There are less tasks to do, so things are getting more social.

At Middle Head, the NPWS have a Corporate Group volunteering on 16th Dec to build new beds.  MCG members are helping with design and quality control on the day. We hope to construct and fill three new beds.

Support
Thank you to our Mackie Lane organisational supporters:

• Mosman Council – soil and Kimbriki materials
• Ausgrid and Mosman Council  - fence and water connection
• Bunnings -  hardware
• Honeysuckle Garden Centre - garden pots
• Milson Community Garden - seedlings
  

New Members
If you would like to join, please let us know. Hope to see you at a garden soon.

Mackie Lane Planting Day Sunday 4 December - 3pm

We are now ready to plant our first crop.  It has been just five weeks since we were given access to Mackie Lane and we have made incredible progress. 

The site has been cleared, stage one garden beds built and filled with soil, sunflowers are growing along the nature strip and the water has been connected. We even have an outdoor setting under the tree for our afternoon refreshments.

A big thank you to everyone who worked at Mackie Lane.

Our first planting day will be this Sunday at 3.00 pm.  It will be a kids’ planting day with garden coordinator Flicc Walsh  guiding us through the planting plan.  The theme is companion planting.  The Mosman Daily hope to have their photographer there at 3.30 pm. The construction team has the day off!

Please bring children, gardening gloves, small gardening tools, drinks and snacks.  Rowena is promising another amazing warm from the oven cake and Kirsten and others are decorating the garden to help celebrate our first planting.


Project Local voting reminder - closes Friday 2 December 
If you haven’t voted yet, please log onto the Project Local site - http://projectlocal.com.au/ and vote for Mackie Lane Community Garden. You need to register and click on ‘Mosman” where it asks which newspaper. You can vote 10 times.  Please add a comment and pass this on via your networks. Voting closes this Friday.  If we win  the garden will get a grant of $2,500.

Support
In addition to the 30 or so Sunday volunteers, we have had great organisational support:

• Mosman Council – soil and Kimbriki materials
• Ausgrid and Mosman Council  - fence and water connection
• Bunnings -  hardware
• Honeysuckle Garden Centre - pots
• Milson Community Garden - seedlings

Mackie Lane - Working Bees on Sundays 3pm to 5pm

The Sunday 13 November working bee finished the long run of low beds and made a great start on constructing the high beds.  The high beds are raised up on two pallets.   The gardens beds are clad with used hard wood fence palings.  All our beds are made from recycled timber from Kimbriki.


Two tonnes of aggregate and four tonnes of garden soil were delivered by ANL as part of the support provided by Mosman Council.

The group is meeting now each week between 3 pm and 5 pm on Sundays and we are hoping the garden will be operational in a few more weeks time.  We are waiting for Sydney Water to connect water on instructions from  the land owner Ausgrid. Ausgrid have have been wonderful supporters of the project.

If you would like to join in the Mackie Lane Community Garden come along on Sunday.  Email us at mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com and we will put you on our email news list.

There are more photos in the Mackie Lane Photo tab.

Mackie Lane Progress - Next Working Bee 13 November

Another great day at Mackie Lane on Sunday. More than thirty volunteers came,  braving the heat and a thunder storm.  Our first garden bed has been filled and a second bed is built and ready for soil.  Sun flowers have been planted along the fence. The shade cloth has been removed from the fence and recycled as weed mat between the soil and aggregate.

Garden Coordinator Flicc Walsh has presented a draft garden plan.  The first two long low beds (green) are  built and there is now the harder task of building the other beds which will be higher to cater for those of us with dodgy backs.

The group voted to keep meeting on Sundays to push on with building the garden.

There are more photos in the Mackie Lane Garden tab. Here is Flicc's design. Click on the image to expand.

If you would like to join in the Mackie Lane Community Garden come along on Sunday.  Email us at mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com and we will put you on our email news list.

Mackie Lane - Next Working Bee Sunday 6 November

Our first working bee on Saturday 22 October was very successful. We cleared the weeds, dug out a couple of trailer loads of clay, pruned and fertilised the tree and laid the the first of many loads of mulch. 

The next working bee is on Sunday 6 November 3pm to 5 pm with refreshments for workers and visitors at 5 pm.  If you are interested in community gardening please drop by and will show you around.   Contact us at mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com

It is already starting to feel like a community garden with our comfy straw bale seats shaded from western sun under the tree. The stainless steel workbench is from Kimbriki.

The interim Mackie Lane Community Garden Committee is:

Gill Lee - Chair
Flicc Walsh  - Garden Coordinator
Tina Jackson - MCG Vice President
Nick Collis-George

Many of stayed for refreshments after a hot afternoon of site clearing.  There are more photos in the Mackie Lane Photos tab. 

Mackie Lane Goes Ahead

Mosman Community Gardeners will gain access to the Mackie Lane Community Garden site on Friday 21 October 2011. We are grateful for the supportof Ausgrid and Mosman Council. Mosman Council has offered assistance in the form of purchasing materials from Kimbriki to construct the garden beds. Mosman Council has also recently provided MCG with a $1,500 Community Grant.

Our priorities are to clean up the site and plan the construction of the first stage garden beds. We are having a working bee Saturday 22 October between 3.00 and 5.00 pm, with refreshments for workers and visitors at 5.00 pm. Everyone is welcome to drop by and catch up with developments. If you would like to help with the cleanup please bring gloves, hat, enclosed shoes, water and either a spade, shovel, strong dustpan and brush, hammer, or wood saw. We will be removing excess gravel, soil and weeds. We may also make a start de-nailing and trimming a pile of old fence palings which we plan to use for stage one garden beds construction.

Please avoid parking in Mackie Lane which is narrow and residents have difficulty getting into their garages. There is usually space in Lang Street, especially further down.

If you are interested in joining Mosman Community Gardeners and the Mackie Lane Community Garden please have a look at our Vision and Policy statements on this website and contact us at mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com

Mackie Lane Community Garden

Mosman Community Gardeners are hoping to establish a new community garden in Mackie Lane next to the Midas Car centre. The land is owned by Ausgrid and leased to Mosman Council. MCG, Mosman Council and Ausgrid have signed a sub license memorandum that gives MCG, as invitees of the Council, permission to use an 8-metre strip along Mackie Lane.  The Council and Ausgrid have agreed to jointly pay to fence this area. Mosman Council has called for tenders. We are hoping work will commence in September.  The Council has offered to install water to garden. 

MCG has made a comprehensive proposal  to Mosman Council to manage the community garden and we have asked some modest  financial assistance for building the garden beds.  

We are now inviting community garden supporters to register their interest with MCG to join Mosman Community Gardeners and the Mackie Lane Community Garden. 

Our email contact is mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com

Council Rejects Rosherville Garden - this time

We are very disappointed to report that at its June meeting, Mosman Council decided not to proceed with a community garden at Rosherville Reserve at this time.

However, has strengthened it support for community gardens and set a goal to have a community garden established with 12 months. Some funding has been allocated.

If you would like to be involved in establishing community gardens in Mosman contact us  email mosmancommunitygardeners@gmail.com or ring Nick on 0421 008 485.

The Mosman Daily published the following report.

Vegie patch gets chop

MOSMAN residents want a community garden - just not in their backyard.

Plans to establish the area’s first council-supported community garden in Rosherville Reserve were ditched last week.

Despite a year-long campaign by the Mosman Community Gardeners group to find an area suitable for a fruit and vegie patch, the council scrapped the proposal at last Tuesday’s meeting.

Rosherville Community Garden Group co-ordinator Tina Jackson said she was “bitterly disappointed” in the council’s lack of faith, as it had given in-principle support to the project last year.

“We feel the council has let us down,” Ms Jackson said.

“Community gardening isn’t just about growing fruit and vegetables, its about growing the community as well.”

Would you support a community garden in Mosman? Tell us below.

But the good news is the council has promised to set up a community garden somewhere in Mosman in the next financial year.

Residents who spoke against the proposed Rosherville garden at the meeting said it would impact on the “natural environment” of Chinaman’s Beach and the reserve.

They also argued “possums and vermin” would eat the vegies, vandals would destroy it and the garden would only benefit a select few.

Councillor Warren Yates accused objectors of “vetoing” the project through their dogged opposition.

“I can’t believe we’re allowing a group of residents to veto the garden,” Cr Yates said.

“It’s an attitude of not in my backyard.”

Neighbouring council areas including North Sydney and Manly have flourishing community gardens.

Benefits of community gardens:
* Promotes healthy eating, light exercise and mental wellbeing.
* Connects people through the shared activities and pleasures of gardening.
* Helps the environment by reducing food miles. Encourages composting and worm farms, which reduce food waste in landfills.
* Support new gardeners by putting them in touch with experienced ones.
* Provides opportunities to share a wide variety of skills and knowledge such as horticulture, botany, garden design, engineering, art, event management and fund raising.

Mosman Community Gardeners is a community group committed to working together to create a thriving network of community food gardens around Mosman to demonstrate, promote, educate and advocate environmental sustainability through growing food locally.

This gardening network will offer local residents the chance to meet neighbours and experience a greater sense of community connectedness through the shared activities and pleasures of gardening.

MCG is currently running a model community garden at the NPWS Middle Head kitchen garden site under the auspices of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

We have prepared a comprehensive proposal to Mosman Council for a community garden in Rosherville Reserve. See our Rosherville Community Garden website.

If you would like to join Mosman Community Gardeners and help promote community gardening in Mosman please contact us at mosmancommuntygardeners@gmail.com.