Barrenjoey trip

Socks get a great view from Barrenjoey On Sunday I went to Barrenjoey for the night.  It’s an hour’s drive from Chippendale to Palm Beach. On Monday I climbed Barrenjoey to the lighthouse and found a rock with a view to the south over Palm Beach and Pittwater. My socks, as seen in the photo above, obtained a fine view. All this within an hour of the city.  What a great... Read More

What we’ll do in the road gardens this Friday

Gardeners Now is our time.  Spring has sprung, warmth is in the air, green shoots are on the wing . . . hyperbole is all about. See you at 58 Myrtle this Friday at 9 am or at the bins in Peace Park, and we’ll be in the road gardens in Myrtle, Shepherd and Rose streets ’til 12. We will: -  Fight them on the beaches, we will never surrender;  I’m talking cockroaches... Read More

Wood sorrel turns up in our road garden

Wood sorrel, Myrtle road garden Luke, the chef who lives in Cleveland Street, joined us briefly for gardening on Friday and showed Karlie and I  some wood sorrel growing in the road garden on the corner of Myrtle and Pine. Luke says when he’s looking at what plants he might eat from the road gardens (and anywhere)  he relies on what his tongue tells him. If something tastes... Read More

Comments

My web manager has managed to teach me how to enable comments on this blog. A step at a time, here. Anyway, it would be beaut to hear from you with your questions, suggestions, doubts, differing views, other projects and so make this a richer place to find information. Your comments of all kinds are welcome.  Go to, please. M  Read More

New leaky drain in Pine Street

John and Helen ready to make a leaky drain Today we dug up and made a leaky drain outside Helen’s house in Pine Street. Now, all or most of the rain from the two roofs draining to the street will stay where it falls and the road garden will be self-irrigating. About 1200 litres a year falls in each square metre of this part of Sydney.  As each roof is about 30 square metres,... Read More

Orange trees in plaza, Seville, Spain

Orange trees in plaza, Seville, Spain A discussion with someone who visited the house here to inspect the design and systems, Jim from Kangaroo Valley, produced some beaut photos Jim had taken in Seville of orange trees in the streets. The one above shows orange trees shading a beautiful space and doing so with simple beauty. Thanks Jim, M  Read More

Shepherd Street raised bed garden

New garden, Shepherd St This is the new raised bed garden Sean, Karlie, John and I built last week after Sean bought or salvaged the mulch, plants, timber borders, and leaky ag pipe and we mixed our compost in with some potting mix and soil. With the left over leaky ag pipe Paul and I were able to lay about 15 metres to catch rainwater from the sidewalk along the units at the top... Read More

A surprise and a new road garden

Chickweed, Myrtle Street While gardening on Friday I met a stranger who showed me some Chickweed he had picked from the road garden. Until Luke, a chef, told me I was unaware of it or that it was there but now he’s pointed it out it’s as plain as day.  Chickweed is in several places in Myrtle Street.  So I just picked a handfull of it, washed it and put it in a salad.... Read More

Gardening and compost trial breaking myths

It’s over two years since we’ve been gardening and growing food in the streets and composting there. The compost trial results in Peace Park will be compiled by early 2012. So far the gardening and composting has broken some myths and created valuable new data. Here are some interesting facts: several people come here from nearby suburbs of Pyrmont, Ultimo, Darlington... Read More

ABC doco on Fran Bodkin

The ABC TV documentary on Fran Bodkin will be broadcast this Sunday 15th August at 1:30 PM on ABC1. This program will then be repeated on ABC1 the following Saturday at 11:30AM & will go online this Monday at   www.abc.net… Fran lives, breathes, talks Australian plants, animals and indigenous history. And Fran has inspired me every single time we’ve spoken.  Her... Read More