Veggies 🥦   Berries 🍓   Fruits 🍋   Chickens 🐔

Meet the gardeners and their garden

Rachel’s gardening philosophy used to be “if we can’t eat it, we don’t plant it”!  But she now also enjoys natives and flowers to attract bees. Both Rachel and Rob are keen gardeners, bringing different skills and interests to the garden, while Euan and Amelie also get in on the act.  Rob’s espaliered apple and pear trees are sturdily impressive and his greenhouse, created from salvaged materials is home to young seedlings.  Rachel adores her chooks and working out how she can manage to fit even more food into their 795 square metre block.

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Come to see, learn and be inspired!

• Almost the entire front garden has been converted to food production, with a large summer vegetable patch pumping out corn and tomatoes; pumpkins are grown on an arbor to take advantage of vertical growing space; the back garden is home to a huge variety of greens. 

• The chickens have what Rachel describes as the ‘Taj Mahal’ of chicken coops at the back of the garden, adjacent to a tree-house that is well-used by the children.

• Many of the edible plants are also grown to contribute to a sensory garden, with lemon verbena and rosemary creating fresh and fragrant spaces.

• Ask Rachel and Rob about how they preserve the food from their garden.  Their well-stocked pantry – 200-300 bottles each year - provides them with home-grown food, regardless of the season. 

• Fruits and berries in this garden include: blood and white flesh plums, apricots, cherries, apples (pink lady and golden delicious), nectarines, peaches, pears, mulberries, lemons, limes, mandarins, grapes, passionfruit, raspberries and strawberries.

Parking and accessibility

Parking in Matthew Street.  While relatively flat, this garden is densely planted and has some narrow access pathways and raised edges.

Address

​11 Matthew Street, Wonthaggi