EVERYTHING in the garden is growing so well at the moment here in South Gippsland with a kind winter, moderate spring and good recent rain.
The tomato plants are coming on well and sure to have fruit by Christmas, there’s a blaze of healthy colour everywhere and the lawns are luminous green.
All was in readiness for Saturday’s 17th annual Inverloch Uniting Church Open Gardens Day but you had to get in early to avoid the worst of the wet weather that rolled in strongly through the afternoon.
But that’s gardening.
Among the organisers manning the welcome stand at the church were Bev Phillips and Liz Catt, both delighted with the hardy souls who’d turned out to support the day.
“This would be our 17th year, with a couple missed for COVID and we’re just so grateful to our gardeners for making their homes available,” said Mrs Catt, one of the founding organisers of the long-running fundraiser.
“The funds raised support Frontier Services, do you know who they are, and some of the projects we have around the church. There’s always something that needs to be done,” said Mrs Phillips.
Frontier Services is Australia’s oldest bush charity, assisting people in remote location around Australia for more than 100 years.
“We also have the ‘Memory Café’, a dementia friendly event that we run on the third Wednesday of each month, the next one being on November 30, at the Inverloch Uniting Church, from 10.30am to 11.30am. Gold coin donation.
“It’s a great time to be going out visiting gardens, with so much going on,” she said, notwithstanding the wet weather rolling in.”
There were a wide variety of gardens on offer.
Brian and Michelle Millane, who live in one of the newly established Inverloch area, arrived to “a blank canvass” in May last year and in that time, have managed to transform the place.
“Brian’s the gardener, I pick the flowers,” said Michelle during a visit to the property on Saturday.
Three veggie patches and raised veggie beds, some close to the backdoor for ease of collection, are enjoying the showers. Tomatoes are well established, natives are a feature and the lawns are looking healthy too.
Grevillea Green Carpet provides ground cover, with Kangaroo Paw doing well, some fine examples of Callistemon and the mauve flowers of a native hibiscus catch the eye.
“We’ve received a lot of good advice from Melaleuca Nursery and Brian propagates a lot of the plants himself. But there’s still more to do,” says Michelle.
The payoff is a blaze of healthy colour and plenty of veggies for the table.
Diane Mathers and her late husband started their garden from scratch 13 years ago, and a plumber by trade, he made sure everything, front to back, was well watered and well organised.
“He didn’t believe in watering systems but put in 11 taps just for the garden,” said Diane on Saturday.
“It’s all fed from a water tank which thankfully is all full again now, after this rain.”
If there’s a word that would describe the garden they’ve created it would be “tranquility”.
Large, carefully placed potted plants, a central expanse of lawn, edged garden beds, and a productive veggie patch all blend into the background of a lovely suburban home. A delight.
And there was more to see around the town.
The Inverloch Uniting Church Open Garden Day is an annual event not to be missed for those looking for advice when planning or improving a practical garden. Don’t miss it next year and fingers crossed for better weather.