Tag Archives: Gardening

Skill Share Saturdays, held at the Planetary Health Centre on the first Saturday of every month, are a way to re-set and put aside a few hours each month to have some fun and learn something new: from Tai’chi to fashion upcycling, bushcare and more.

Do you baulk at killing garden pests? Chris McDonald, Principal Gardener at the Brahma Kumaris Retreat Centre, Leura, shares tips for keeping the pests at bay without killing anything, harming the environment or ourselves.

Local permaculture expert, Rowe Morrow, has adapted her home to reduce her impact on the environment, cope with climate change, flooding, heat, drought, fire and rising energy and food costs. She provides inspiration and guidance for how we can too.

As the Blue Mountains awaken to the vibrant colours of Spring, the Mid-Mountains Garden Festival is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary this September. The event is a much-loved tradition featuring a diverse array of local gardens, each offering a unique experience for visitors.

There is an army of hard-working environmental warriors all around us: in soil, on plants, in the air and in the water. Insects are our hidden allies. They protect, develop and maintain our natural environments, and yet their contribution is so often misunderstood, ignored or actively maligned.

Bill Dixon has cultivated a rainforest garden on a ridge in South Springwood. He talks about how growing rainforest species can be an adaptive response to local climate conditions.

Bundjalung Yaegl woman and Bullaburra resident, Janelle Randall-Court, has a long history of working creatively to inspire people to care for Country. We interviewed her after watching her give a cultural presentation for Greening Australia’s Cooling the Schools Project.

Rain gardens are a brilliant way to manage water runoff. Recently Council teams and contractors collaborated with Sydney Water to create three different types of native rain gardens at Glenbrook Visitor Information Centre, showcasing how sustainability and beauty are the natural features of these innovative but simple water management solutions.

Volunteering offers mutual benefits for the helper and those helped. Along with a sense of empowerment, purpose and contribution, it can give us skills for the workforce, new friends and social connection. While this list is by no means exhaustive, it offers a wide range of options for where to help out in our local community.

Led by First Nations students and community, Blaxland High School has established a native food garden and students are using crops grown in the garden as ingredients in food technology classes. The school received injections of expertise from many quarters including an Aboriginal-owned social enterprise to learn about and embrace the use of native plants for cooking and sustainability.