Autumn Working Bee and Barbeque - Sunday, 4 May 2014

The large section of the Indigenous Garden laid bare by the Metro cabling works and platform repair will need some hard work and TLC now that the grimmest part of summer is over. Metro management has funded replacement plants and has made sure that mulch was spread over the whole area, including large segments of Merri Common, to ready the soil for replanting. 

And so a Re-Planting Day has been  scheduled for:

Sunday, 4 May, from 10.00 till 2.00

Come to the Merri Common with some gardening tools - wheelbarrows, shovels, spades, picks - and an appetite for a BBQ lunch!

Plans for the Charles and Clarke St interface with the Station precinct

In February the Stationeers submitted an entry to the "Transforming Darebin Competition" for the Rucker Ward category.  Sadly we missed out on this terrific initiative, but below is the concept - we aim to push on with this through landscaping efforts and arts-based grant submissions in future.

Metro and the Indigenous Garden - a Sorry Tale of Woe

By now most will be aware of the devastation wreaked on the Indigenous Garden by various Metro works - first in installing a new, additional access pit to underground infrastructure in the middle of the garden bed, and then in undertaking repairs to Platform 1.

awesome

While access by VicTrack and Metro to their own land to undertake maintenance is perfectly acceptable, our plantings left specific, agreed access corridors for maintenance staff to access existing pits and infrastructure, which have been entirely ignored.  We question whether the extent of damage inflicted was truly necessary.

As a result, the considerable outputs of community and contract labour, along with grant funding from the City of Darebin, have been all but swept away - we estimate only 20% of our plantings remain intact on this difficult site.

Apologies to everyone who has put in so much hard work on this garden only to see it substantially destroyed. Metro has apologised for the repeated error and will fund the replacement of the plant stock. We have recommended that in future Metro work teams first consult our committee, meet on site and gain assistance in navigating the crew around plantings.

Working Bee and Presentaton Ceremony: Rifle Club Mural and Nearby Gardens

Sunday, 25 August, promises to be an eventful day, for not only will we have another working bee, but the Rifle Club mural and our tree plantings will be officially celebrated!  Darebin Mayor Tim Laurence will officiate.
 
The working bee will take place in the Indigenous Garden and on the western side of the track, including the terrace. People working in the Indigenous Garden where we will do weeding, top-up mulching and infill planting will need hand trowels, spade, wheelbarrow, broom/rake.

Those working on the western gardens will be engaged in weeding, pruning (hedge) and rubbish collection and will need to be supplied with shears, trowels, tarps/bags (for weeds and rubbish). 

As we need to shift quite some mulch, the more wheelbarrows and spades you can bring the better. And don’t forget to wear sturdy shoes and gloves, the latter especially when you collect rubbish. Should you find any sharps, let me know and I’ll pick them up with tongs and put them in a special container. 

Start as usual is at 10.00 am, but we will break at 11.45 to go towards the Rifle Club where the ceremony will be held on the lawn or, if it rains, inside. Refreshments will then be served in the rifle club. 

Movie Stars

Did you watch us on Gardening Australia on Saturday, 27th July?  We did!  We watched us heaps!

Great to see some effective community work profiled nationally.  Well done everyone.  Topped off the very next day by another tree planting frenzy beside the Rifle Club!

Watch the Story

Rifle Club Mural and Working Bees for July and August 2013

The Stationeers have been busy this year with the Northcote Rifle Club in commissioning the mural you see on the side of the club building. The Stationeers and Rifle Club are grateful recipients of a community grant from the Darebin City Council (DCC) for the mural and associated plantings.

The Rifle Club called for expressions of interest from community artists under advice from DCC and settled on Graffic Creative on reviewing their collective's portfolio of similar work.  Jimmy B led a team of artists in designing, installing and painting the "nature and wildlife" themed mural, incorporating elements of street art to more traditional artistic elements.

Looking good.

The next stage is a community planting day on Sunday 28^th July from 10 am to about 2 pm. We will be planting mature trees next to the Rifle Club and the new mural.

If you are interested please meet at the front of the Rifle Club and bring gloves and any of the following tools:

• Shovel or spade
• Wheelbarrow
• Mattock
• Crow bar

Refreshments will be provided

FUTURE WORKING BEE: Sunday 25^th August
Activities: general maintenance of previous planted areas

Summer's Desolation, Autumn's Promise

Amazing - our plantings on the South-West site are looking incredible after only six months and a long, dry summer, helped in no small part by local residents stopping to pull the odd weed week after week. Thanks to everyone who continues to look out for the success of these plantings.

February 2011

September 2012

May 2013

The late Spring 2012 plantings in the Indigenous Garden have taken a real beating over the 2013 Summer - extra waterings from both Council and Noleema Services have kept everything basically alive, but a very dry Autumn sure hasn't helped.  That said, it's not all bad news - we're looking at around a 60% survival rate, and a lot of specimens are coming back either from their own rootstock or from seed.  Here are some samples of what you can find sprouting on site if you take the time to look closely:

Tufted Bluebell (whalenbergia communis), resprouting from rootstock

A more advanced Tufted Bluebell

A Drooping Cassinia, or "Chinese Scrub," sprouting from seed (cassinia arcuata).  We didn't even plant this one - a hardy plant indigenous to the Merri area that has held on tight along the train line and has taken the opportunity presented by a freshly exposed site to sprout from seed and claim back some territory.

Chocolate Lillies (dichopogon strictus), resprouting from root stock

Old Man's Beard (clematis microphylla), hanging on tight

Native Spear Grass (austrostipa scabra ssp falcate),
resprouting from root stock

Wallaby Grass (austrodanthonia caespitosa), resprouting from rootstock

Nodding Salt Bush (einadia nutans), sprouting from seed.  A vigorous groundcover for
difficult sites and a fantastic fodder plant for local fauna - sweet red berries.  The leaves are salty.

It can be tricky working out what's native and what's exotic at this early stage - personally I'm still going crosseyed trying to identify wallaby grass from buffalo or any other introduced species - but once these get going it will become quite clear.  A good soak over Winter will give this site a much needed boost and with some infill planting we should see some decent results come late Spring.