Veggies 🥦   Fruits 🍋 

Meet the gardeners and their garden

Farmer Adrian (“call me AJ”) has been working in community gardening and horticulture across Bass Coast for 11 years. He’s also taught horticulture and permaculture at Bass Coast Adult Learning in Wonthaggi. The Cape Farm is the local community’s newest baby, almost a young seedling that was officially opened in late 2022. The Cape Farm has sections where members from the local community grow their own food, as well as large-scale market vegetable gardens. It’s still early days, but some of the market garden produce is making its way out to food collectives, some is being donated to food relief organisations, and some is available for sale through honesty boxes locally.

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How does your garden grow?

While I am the full-time farmer here at the market garden, both the market and community gardens benefit from many volunteers and members who help with soil preparation, planting, harvesting and other tasks. We currently have a large four-bay composting system and mulching takes considerable time across the garden. Some of our members are great with construction, so our new greenhouse has just been fitted with easy-to-open dormer windows to provide some cooling breezes when required for our seedlings.

What are some of your gardening challenges?

Wind! It’s the same challenge in many parts of Bass Coast. We have installed vertical shadecloths around the boundaries of the garden as well as between growing beds to dampen the strong southerlies.

Be inspired and learn!

Adrian says: The Cape Farm features 375 wicking garden beds which provide a low maintenance and sustainable approach to water management. We also have the ability to directly feed the soil with compost and worm casings in little hatches in these wicking beds.

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Garden extras

The Cape Farm will be selling both farm-fresh seasonal produce and seedlings, grown with love by our wonderful community members.

Address

Sunlight Boulevard, Cape Paterson