Bayside Men's Shed bring new life to Rockdale Community Garden for spring

They have been helping members of the newly-formed Rockdale Community Garden to transform a vacant patch of ground at Subway Road Reserve into a thriving vegetable and herb patch.

The residents approached the Men's Shed at a community information day at Bunnings and asked for help.

"I said anytime we can help, let us know," Bayside Men's Shed volunteer, Fred Poole said.

"They said they needed self-wicking garden beds," he said.

"They relied on our expertise but I'd never heard of a self-wicking garden bed. I had to look it up on Google."

"Instead of just building four walls for the garden beds we had to fill the bottom with scoria, a porous rock, and fill it with water so it would be self watering. Then we had to add a pipe that stabilised any water overflow so that the plant roots wouldn't rot."

Rockdale Community Garden spokesperson, Valarie said residents were able to start the garden with the help of a community grant from Bayside Council.

"There was a vacant block of land that wasn't being used so the residents approached the council to build a garden to grow herbs and small vegetables," she said.

"There's a lot of units around there and the focus is on having a community space where everyone can come, share and reconnect."

The Men's Shed volunteers finished the four garden beds in June which are now sprouting their first crop of strawberries.

"It was a bigger job than I thought it would be but the volunteers had fun building it," Fred said.

"We had quite friendly arguments or discussions about getting the garden beds as perfect as possible.

"They want to grow herbs and vegetable for the community to share.

"This is the beginning of their plans. Their next project is to put trellis up to grow beans which I hope we will also be involved in, too."

For details about the Bayside Men's Shed phone Fred Poole on 0490 191 766.

For details on the garden go to the Rockdale Community Garden site on Facebook.