And I LOVE them. Do you? You may like to buy this new in 
Malak Community Garden
malak community garden and my sisters' kitchen invite you to join us for:
free gardening workshops
free cooking sessions
free feed
free plants to take home
children welcome
transport available
- grow your own food
- cook from your garden
- shop healthy, save money
- medicines in the back yard
- art in the garden
monday 3.30pm
february 20 to may 7
chambers crescent theatre
malak shopping centre
more info, call 8945 7347 or email natalie.sprite@gmail.com
everybody welcome
plant a seed
relax in the garden
share a recipe, food and laughter.
A joint Australian, Territory and City of Darwin initiative
MSK is supported by financial assistance from the Government DIAC under the settlement grants program funding program
Malak Kitchen Garden
Workshops Outline
|
Session |
Contents |
Resources |
Link to kitchen |
To Take home |
|
Garden Tour and Weed intro |
|
Sweet leaf sticks Potting mix Pots |
Include sweet leaf in salad or side dish |
Sweet leaf sticks to plant or put in a pot |
|
Weed ID |
|
Pumpkin cuttings Air tight bucket Mulch |
Pumpkin to give association to new planted ground cover |
Knowledge! |
|
Making a banana circle |
|
Laminated picture of banana circle |
Use leaves for presentation Have green bananas or flower in dishes. |
Banana Suckers |
|
Swales |
|
Mulch Chilli plugs Okra seedlings |
Okra and or chillies |
Chilli plants |
|
Propagation- Rhizomes |
|
Pots Pieces of ginger Potting mix/ coir |
Ginger and lemongrass- maybe a curry paste? |
Lemongrass and chilli divisions |
|
Propagation- seeds |
|
Dry okra pods Packets of seeds and dif brands |
Snake beans/ okra |
Packets of okra seed |
|
Propagation- cuttings |
|
Sweet potato/ taro and cassava Secateaurs |
Sweet potato/ taro/ cassava or their leaves |
Cuttings of these plants? |
|
Food forest and pruning |
|
A tree Manure Tools for digging |
Limes |
|
|
Herb spiral |
|
Thai coriander Gota cola Cardboard Mulch |
Thai coriander |
Cuttings |
|
Water Plants |
|
Bath or tub Manure mulch or filler material Maybe fish |
Kang Kong |
Cuttings of Kang kong |
|
Coconuts |
|
Different type of coconut Spike Scraper Machete Tin of coconut milk
|
Something with coconut milk |
|
|
Using native in the garden |
|
Tree Tools etc |
Native fruits?? Dried if not fresh available |
|
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|
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Art in the Garden.
Much has been happening in our little patch of dirt, including some beautiful art under the direction of community artist, Janie Andrews.
The rains have rained, but the gardeners have kept gardening. We’ve built the soil up, added manure and mulch and there’s a new irrigation system ready for next Dry season.
A toad fence was also built but we found that without a trap, we were just creating a barrier and the toads continued tohang out at the fences. The structure of the garden also meant we could onlythe defend a small area. And then there was the problem of who was going toclear the traps out each morning. As Community Gardener, Liam Golding said, "At the end of the day, we don’t really have the personel. The problem of cane toads is bigger than our garden, and really, toad fence or no toad fence, we’ve pretty much lost the battle. When toads first came to Darwin, everyone was really motivated, but that’s gone. The drive has gone out of the community for catching them. We’ve lost the battle of the toad."
On a more joyous note, Art has come to the garden. Community artist, Janie Andrews worked with a group of people from My Sisters' Kitchen to create gorgeous flower beds from recycled fridges. Flowers will be planted in them next week.
We were blessed to have the very kind support of Bunnings in the form of paints and brushes.
Thank you Bunnings!
“It’s a edible landscape, but the buildings aren’t gingerbread.” Liam Golding, Community Gardener.
The first stage of the Malak Community Garden is coming to the end of it’s Dry season’s design. At the moment we’re getting into Stage Two which involves remulching and getting some Wet season plants in.
Stage two also involves expanding to the other side of the building. This part is dark in the Dry, but gets really good sun in the Wet. This next part of the garden will be a bit more open plan. Members of My Sisters’ Kitchen can use it to plant vegies and herbs. The initial garden was a bit too small for lots of people to do lots of stuff without annoying each other - ‘hey! That’s my spinach!” More space means more spinach. More spinach means peace in the garden.
Stage three will involve planting fruit trees on the other side. These will be permanent and will grow tall and catch the sun. Stage Three will also involve using recycled fridges in a wicker box design. In this design, the bottom third of the fridge is full of empty stubbies, then there’s a layer of hessian. The top two thirds are full of earth. A hose takes water to the bottom and the plants take it up when they need it. If there’s no rain, they need watering weekly. Less, of course, with all the rain. Wicker boxes save water and are good for balconies.
More news soon. Happy horticulture!
