Summertime at the Southbank Sustainability Group gardens

All simple joys of summer: sunshine, friends, and good vibes to good produce in the garden.

We had it all; the year 2025 saw our community grow and almost all our working bees had a record attendance. We celebrated our accomplishments of the year at our final working bee on December 21 with a morning tea, lots of good laughs, Christmas goodies, and we also planned the year ahead.

Our community at Southbank has been steadily growing and young families with school-going children make up significant number of new residents from multinational backgrounds. The excitement of new volunteers at our working bees to learn new skills of gardening, added to our ever-growing enthusiastic team. Alongside regular tasks of cleaning, weeding, pruning and planting, building of community connections through volunteering helps people settle into new homes and country.

The gardens beds have survived the hot summer days with temperatures reaching to the forties, but the January hot days have brought some leaf burn to our fruit trees and some produce in garden beds. With continued care and efforts of our dedicated watering volunteers these plants seem to have overcome the distress. A few apples are on the verge of ripening and should soon be harvested; while the blueberries did appear on our fruit tree it seems likely the birds got them earlier than us.

Floral beds have always been the community favourite. Sunflowers bring smiling young children to our gardens. During summer school holidays as we work in the garden, the excitement of our youngest community members admiring the flowers and produce in the garden is truly rewarding.

This summer alongside our usual vegetables – potatoes, courgettes, dwarf beans, carrots, tomatoes, artichokes and lettuce, we have a new addition – corn. They did however need a few more weeks before they could be harvested in early April. Unfortunately, most got picked out despite signage put up for not picking them early. Please do look out out for the traffic signal rocks – red, orange and green – in our beds to pick the crop and follow our posts on harvest readiness. At the working bee dates on Saturday mornings, join us and do harvest some with our help. The volunteer group will be delighted to show you the garden plantings and let you know the right time to pick produce.

The herbs beds have drawn much attention by the community – we have planted a few more varieties of basil, mint, and tarragon on request by community members. Do take small amounts (once they are ready) by carefully snipping with garden scissors. This will not uproot the young herb plants and keep them thriving and healthy for all community members to enjoy.

Upcoming events

February is National Sustainability Month and Melbourne will host several events focusing on climate solutions, innovation, and community action.

Look out for more information on the upcoming social posts from Southbank Sustainability Group (SSG).

At SSG our efforts are focused on sustainable gardening. The gardening group working bees help newer gardeners to gain skills to grow small amounts of food be it a balcony or backyard.

Plant and grow herbs, a small fruit tree, leafy vegetables or flowering plants native and indigenous to attract insects, bees and pollinators.

Help us map our local insect biodiversity at the Southbank Insect BioBlitz conducted by Gardens for Wildlife City of Melbourne – March 4, 2026 from 12pm to 1pm. More details to follow on our social posts closer to date.

Choose Melbourne’s floral emblem and cast your vote by February 15, 2026: participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/floral-emblem

Working bee dates for the month of February 14 and 28.

About the group

SSG is a solutions-focused community group of Southbank residents working to bring positive change in sustainability practices. Reach us at [email protected] or Facebook or Instagram.

If you are interested in getting involved with SSG join us at a Saturday meet-up or send us an email. •