Preparing for spring planting 

The cooler weather has not dampened the enthusiasm of the members of the Southbank Sustainability Group (SSG) as they get the community garden ready for spring planting. 

Members have been busy cleaning up the beds and planter boxes, refreshing the soil and deciding what to plant. So, the garden beds may be a little bare for the next few weeks but watch out for the spring planting. 

We love to see Southbankers enjoying the herbs, greens, and other vegetables in the garden beds for their personal use. Look for the green painted stones that let you know the plants in the garden bed are ready for harvesting. As the photos show, we have plenty of rocket, pak choi, tatsoi and mizuna in the garden beds ready now to harvest.

We would love to hear from you if there is something you would like to see planted in the garden over the next few months. Simply email us at the address at the bottom of this column.

For those of you interested in growing plants on your balconies and in other small spaces we have a 90-minute workshop coming up on Saturday, August 12 at the Boyd Community Hub beginning at 11.30am. 

Sally and Ash from Ploterra will be conducting the interactive workshop on Planting for Small Places. You will learn how you can overcome some of the common small spaces or balcony gardening challenges. 

The City of Melbourne has provided support for the event which is free. Numbers are limited and you will need to register via Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-gardening-for-small-spaces-presented-by-ploterra-tickets-647648142027

Just to change direction for a moment … some members of the SSG are now back in the office and at a recent event were discussing what they can do to improve sustainability in their offices. 

You may be interested in some of the ideas they discussed, which included carpooling, competitions to reduce paper use and paper waste, asking their team members for ideas, reducing the brightness of their computer screens to reduce electricity use, asking for sustainable coffee pods in the common kitchen and eco-friendly cleaning products for the kitchen and bathroom, as well as carrying out an audit of what plastic is used in the workspace and how it can be replaced with a more sustainable approach. These ideas may be useful in your workplaces as well. 

The SSG meets every second Saturday morning at 10am to do some gardening and catch up with other Southbankers who are interested in living more sustainably. The August dates for these meet-ups are August 5 and 19. Everyone is welcome to come to get their hands dirty or share thoughts and ideas.

Visit our Facebook page if you are looking for information on how to live more sustainably. There are guides on subjects as diverse as sustainable travel, reducing the impacts of your pets on the environment, volunteering and food composting.

About the group

SSG is a solutions-focussed community group of Southbank residents working to bring positive change in sustainability practices. Reach us at [email protected] or facebook.com/SouthbankSustainabilityGroup

If you are interested in getting involved with SSG, send us an email or come to one of the upcoming meet-ups. •