February: Sustainability Month

2019 started wonderfully by welcoming children and parents back with their home-grown sunflowers from last year’s contest, to see who grew the tallest one. It was lovely to hear all about their experiences of what was the first time growing a plant for many. Once the winner emerged with a 47cm tall plant, the children could add their plants to Southbank’s community garden. Some of these sunflowers are now proudly hosted in the green planters near the kids’ playground, with each young grower’s name next to it. Apart from bonding with the youngest community members through gardening, the holidays gave us the perfect opportunity to bond with our own members through sustainable holiday activities. On December 8, we had a fun wreath-making day, where we built our own zero waste Christmas wreaths using native plants and other natural materials from the garden. It was a day that wouldn’t have been possible without the generous help of MICM (Melbourne Inner City Management). MICM’s growing support of our group’s efforts and work in the community was also shown through its donation of a watering trolley we desperately needed so we can cover the watering needs of the whole garden. A big thank you to Dorothy and the MICM team. With Boyd Park construction work now being carried out, our garden is entering a hiatus. While we’re waiting for this work and our new garden site, it’s the perfect time to visit other community gardens in the area. Well-established gardens like in Docklands and Port Melbourne are perfect grounds to learn how other community groups work on building strong gardens and bring more practical long-term gardening knowledge to our group. It will also give us gardens to interact with while we’re waiting for ours, and the opportunity to meet more like-minded people in neighbouring communities. The first garden tour will likely be on Saturday, March 2 to the Docklands garden. We’re also continuing sustainability education this month, by organising a recycling learning day later in February, where Council will help residents learn more about recycling in Southbank, restrictions, recycling myths, and future plans. For details or to join the community gardens tours or recycling learning day, keep checking our Facebook page facebook.com/SouthbankSustainabilityGroup, or email us: [email protected] Lastly, with the National Sustainable Living Festival happening this month, we encourage everyone to go to as many sustainability activities as possible happening all around the city and Boyd. More details at: www.slf.org.au Artemis Pattichi  Southbank Sustainability Group