Kananook Community Garden

🌱 It's National Gardening Week, and we're digging in!🌱

From Monday 12 October, it's a whole week dedicated to getting your hands dirty, and here at Kananook Community Garden, we're all for it.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few easy ways to celebrate:

🌿 Plant up some herbs in a sunny spot or a pot
👢 Upcycle an old gumboot, paint tin or teapot into a quirky planter
🪧 Make funky veggie patch markers from old bricks or roof tiles
🐝 Build a bee hotel for our native buzzy friends
🌳 Plant a tree (your future self will thank you)
☕ Pop in for a cuppa and a chat with fellow gardeners

No plot yet? Come say g'day! A community garden is a great way to grow your own veggies and meet a friendly bunch who are always happy to share a tip or two.

📸 Snap a pic of what you get up to and tag us. We'd love to see it!

Dig in and celebrate! 💚

The flowers are blooming and the bees are very very happy 🐝

Growing News from Kananook Community Garden 🌿

Our artichoke plant has gone from "quite big" to "someone please check on Chris." 😅 Our membership coordinator is standing next to it for scale, and honestly, Arthur is winning!

Look at the star of the show: a full-size, ready-to-harvest artichoke. It's not small, the plant is just enormous. 🌱

We're taking guesses: How tall is this beast? Best guess wins bragging rights. And tell us in the comments what we should cook with our giant harvest! 🥇

Want to grow your own giants (or just chat to friendly gardeners)? Come say hi at our monthly 'Growing Bees'. 2nd Sunday each month.

Would you like to join our friendly garden community?
👩🏻‍🌾 No experience required.
👩🏻‍🌾 Shared growing knowledge.
👩🏻‍🌾 Social events.
👩🏻‍🌾 Membership $40 annually. (concession available)

Message to arrange a tour or come to our next open garden day on Sunday 13 September from 10am-12.30pm.

Happy growing!
💐🍓🍎🍅🌶️🍉🍑🍋‍🟩🍋🌽🥕🍆🍠🫑🥬🫛🍐🥦🥒🫜🧅🥔

Kananook Community Garden Open Day/Working Bee 🐝

13th September, 10-1pm.

Come down and have a walk around the garden, see what we get up to, have a chat and some morning tea.

2ND SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH.

Another day, another 3 cubic metres of mulch delivered. Hard but gratifying work by 5 awesome members. Thank you 😊 🪏👩🏼‍🌾

Laying cardboard for w**d matting. 50 barrow loads & spread out. 🫩

A very productive morning at the garden today. Thank you to 7 members who helped move the 3 cubic metres of mulch! 👏🏻🪏👩🏻‍🌾👨🏼‍🌾 Followed by an excellent morning tea and conversations.

🌿 Spotlight on Frankston Indigenous Nursery!

Did you know Frankston has its very own indigenous plant nursery, right on our doorstep? Frankston Indigenous Nursery grows beautiful, locally-native plants sourced from right across our municipality — and every seed and cutting is collected locally by their team before being lovingly propagated on-site.

The nursery is run by a dedicated group of permanent staff alongside a wonderful team of community volunteers, and they offer a great range of local, drought-tolerant plants at prices that won't break the bank — everything from tube-stock and 6-inch pots up to 30cm young trees.

They also support community Friends Groups with plant orders, making it easy for groups like ours to get our hands on quality local natives for planting days and garden projects. 🌱
If you're after hardy, locally-suited plants for your own garden (or want to help green up our community spaces), it's well worth paying them a visit!

Would you like to join our friendly garden community?
👩🏻‍🌾 No experience required.
👩🏻‍🌾 Shared growing knowledge.
👩🏻‍🌾 Social events.
👩🏻‍🌾 Membership $40 annually.

Message to arrange a tour or come to our next open garden day on Sunday 9 August from 10am-12pm.

Happy growing!
💐🍓🍎🍅🌶️🍉🍑🍋‍🟩🍋🌽🥕🍆🍠🫑🥬🫛🍐🥦🥒🫜🧅🥔

Wicking bed conversion 🪏👩🏻‍🌾

Converting to a wicking bed is genuinely one of the easiest upgrades you can make to a vegetable plot — most of it is just digging and lining, and two people can knock it out in an afternoon.

The Process

- Dig out the bed Remove soil to about 30-40cm deep across the whole plot, setting the soil aside on a tarp for reuse.
- Line the base
Lay heavy-duty pond liner or builder's plastic across the bottom and up the sides to create a waterproof reservoir.
- Add drainage pipe Lay a slotted agricultural pipe along the base, running it up to the surface at one end (this is your fill point).
- Add the water reservoir layer
Fill the bottom 20-30cm with scoria, gravel, or coarse sand — this is where the water pools and wicks upward.
- Install an overflow Drill a hole through the liner at the top of the gravel layer and fit a pipe or fitting so excess water can drain out and the bed can't drown itself.
- Add a barrier layer Lay shade cloth or geotextile fabric over the gravel so soil doesn't wash down and clog the reservoir.
- Refill with soil Shovel the original soil back on top (mixing in compost is a good idea while you're at it).
- Fill the reservoir
Run water down the fill pipe until it starts coming out the overflow — the bed is now ready.
- Plant as normal
Once set up, you water through the pipe instead of overhead, and the bed draws moisture up from below.

Benefits

1. Far less watering
The reservoir keeps plants supplied for days, cutting watering frequency dramatically.

2. Healthier root growth
Roots grow downward chasing moisture, making plants more resilient and less stressed.

3. Water efficiency Almost no water is lost to evaporation or runoff since it's delivered straight to the roots.