Permaculture Cairns

Thanks to the 2010 wet season rains and lots of hard work by Permaculture Cairns members the garden is currently thriving and full of life.  Recent achievements have included completion of raised bed gardens, progress in weed barrier planting, establishment of garden borders, compost making, and reorganisation of the shadehouse.  Locals and visitors are welcome to join in the work and fun of creating a productive garden for the benefit of the Cairns community.  Upcoming events include cool season planting, crop harvesting and a host of other activities promoting sustainable gardening and community development in the Machans Beach area.  Many thanks to the Machans Beach Public School for its continuing support to the garden. Workshops & PET days are held at the garden on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month between 9.00am and 11.30am. Members can also be at the garden anytime on saturdays and on weekdays after 3pm. Some members are also meeting tentatively every 2nd and 4th thursdays of the month from 4pm.                The garden is located at the back of the Machans Beach State School, Cnr of Christensen St & School St, Machans Beach. (Entrance to the garden and parking area is on School St - See map) For any enquiries about the garden and upcoming events contact: Murray Korff, Machans Beach Community Garden Team   Tel: 0419 490 881 or (07) 4030 7803 during business hours.

Sunday the 20th June, A sprinkler system has been added to the citrus garden and more sprinklers will be added to other parts of the garden shortly. On Sunday Beth, Trevor and I laid out some mulch over the paths near the herb spirals. We also planted pumpkin, citrus trees and egyptian spinach. The school holidays will be starting next Friday on the 25th of June. If anyone is able to help out with watering over these 2 weeks they can contact me on 0432 379 553. This monument was constructed by the students of the Machans Beach School. The two herb spirals constructed on Sunday the 2nd of May 2010. Jock. Sunday the 6th June Jock, with the help of Helen, Bernice and myself dug up some cassava roots in the banana circle at the southern section of the garden. Cassava does have a toxicity problem but is easily overcome. (See Cassava in Wikipedia). Jock's method is to boil the roots for several  minutes then discard the water, which contains toxins. To plant the cassava again, it is a simple matter of chopping up the trunks into pieces of about a foot long, then plant. All sorts of fruits and vegetables in the garden are either ready for harvest now or will be shortly. Another working bee will be on Sunday the 20th of June. Trevor Sunday the 30th May  Jock and Robert installed new sprinklers during the week – works well. The spinach, egg plant and basil are looking good and are ready for harvest. The next working bee is next Sunday on the 6th of June. Ceylon Spinach trellis Trevor Sunday the 16th  May  Leon and Jack, pruning contractors, got to work on a few of the trees in the garden today. Bruce took a few photos on the day. From left to right we have Jack, Leon, Trevor, Jock and Murray (with Bruce taking the photos) Jack, Leon's son, prunes one of trees beside the shade house. It pays to be careful doing this sort of work. You can see the benefits of pruning in this photo -   more light is allowed to get to the plants. Trevor

Care of the Earth, Care of People, Share the Excess

"© 2008  Permaculture Cairns. All Rights Reserved."