Joe’s Connected Garden

In Argent St, Elizabeth Grove (and the street behind) an unexpected delight lies behind the relatively normal front yard facades of 4 suburban homes, in the form of Joe’s Connected Garden. 

The garden is actually 3 connected backyards- Joe’s Garden, Rosanne’s Garden and Mary’s Garden- with gates leading from one to another, along with one garden across the road- Irene’s Garden.  

The gardens are planted and cared for by the residents, but a special mention must be made of Rosanne who, despite many health l limitations, puts in an immense amount of time into the daily care of the garden.  And of course Joe, who’s knowledge and obvious ‘green thumbs’ has been a major contributor to the actual planting of the garden and ongoing work.

 
Permaculture organic gardening techniques are utilised in this marvellous ‘private community garden.’  All of the gardens are abundantly growing a huge range of fruits and vegetables, along with some other plants.  Fruit trees abound- the gardens boast over 400 varieties of fruit- including a large number of fig varieties , especially in Irene’s garden.  One fig is the fascinating sandpaper fig, which Joe tells was used by the aboriginal people like sandpaper, to smooth their carved wooden implements and weapons.  There are also lots of citrus, stone fruits, a large pomegranate tree and lots more, and even quite a range of tropical fruits such as bananas, avocados and mangoes, due to the clever creation of micro climates.  

 
Grape vines hang overhead, along with other vines and creepers here and there.  Raised beds containing a mass of lush strawberry plants and all kinds of other edibles are scattered throughout the garden.  A mass of enthusiastic spinach, silver beet and chard take over the ground level of Irene’s Garden seasonally.

In Joe’s Garden an in-ground swimming pool has been turned into a beautiful water garden, which is not only a delight to look at but a storage area for rainwater, available if needed.  Under Joe’s back veranda are a mass of plants in pots, many destined for a spot in the garden when the time is right.
 

Across the road in Irene’s garden is the plant nursery where they grow many varieties of plants from seed, cuttings etc for sale to the public, as a way of helping cover the water bill and other expenses the garden incurs.

Joe’s Connected Garden could not be as lush and successful as it is without the enthusiastic help of many volunteers who put in many hours of work over the year to carry out a myriad of jobs that need doing in such a large area of garden, such as planting, weeding, mulching, pruning and harvesting. One project undertaken was to install bird netting over much of the garden to lessen how much produce was getting lost or damaged.  

 Also, a small army of volunteers put in a lot of hard work to prepare the gardens for events, such as the (soon to be defunct) Open Garden Scheme.  The gardens usually get several hundred fascinated visitors during this event!
 

Helping out in the garden has been a great way for the volunteers to learn more about sustainable home food growing from someone who has so much skill, knowledge and experience-Joe has formal tertiary qualifications in urban permaculture design- as well as the great feeling helping brings and the spirit of community and well-being built through shared interest, good conversation and a connection with the earth and its abundance.  All helpers also get to share in the garden’s bounty, taking home excess produce and sometimes a plant from the nursery.

Although there won’t be any more Open Garden events at the garden, due to the closing of the program, Joe hopes to run other events, such as workshops and guest speakers, so it would be well worth taking the time to visit next time such as event is held, especially if you have an interest in creating your own flourishing organic food garden.  Well done all those involved!