The first Greater Dandenong Edible Gardens Project event was held at Dandenong Community Gardens, located behind the Dandenong Neighbourhood House.  Although progress was slowed by intermittent rain, the eighteen participants helped to transform the community gardens into a more productive, water efficient and people-friendly environment.  The rain-breaks allowed for many organic gardening workshops, social interaction, and more time to enjoy the great food that was supplied.  So what did we do, and what did we learn?

Workshops included:

• How to build and maintain a worm farm
• How to make a fertile organic vegetable garden
• Companion planting
• How and where to plant fruit trees, and more

What did we achieve?

• We fertilised and mulched the existing orchard
• We planted some orchard companion plants (including comfrey and various ground-covers)
• We built two key-hole, no-dig vegetable gardens (Huh? What are they? – You’ll have to come along to one of the upcoming permablitzes to find out.)
• We built a worm farm
• We improved the pathways
• Added compost to the vege beds, and
• Planted out the vegetable and herb bed areas!

Special thanks to DSD Tanks who donated a 5,000L tank to the Dandenong Neighbourhood house!  DSD Tanks are based in South Dandenong and supply a wide range of tanks to the Greater Dandenong region.