TTKD May Meeting - Permablitz updates and future ideas plus a general gardening discussion

At our May meeting we will get an update on the vege gardens that TTKD permablitzed in 2009 and 2010. We will hear from Louise Orr, Brenda Whybrow and Carol Shantal about what worked, what didn’t and what’s happening now in their gardens.

It would be great to start thinking about doing some more permablitzes soon!

We will also have a general group discussion about gardening in our community. Have a think about what you have grown well, what you have tried to grow but haven’t been able to and what you would like to grow but don’t even know where to start!

When: Wednesday 18 May, 2011
Where: Kenmore Library
Time: 7:30pm

Remember we are at a new venue: Kenmore Library at the Kenmore Village Shopping centre.

Here's the details for getting in:
Use the After Hours Lift Entrance on the ground floor. It’s under the library, right by the car park, behind the library’s main escalator entrance. Someone will be there to take you up to the meeting room. If you arrive late and there is no one there please press the buzzer for meeting room 3 and someone will come down and let you in.

Want your garden permablitzed? Here's your chance

We have decided to attempt a more ordered approach to picking properties to blitz, using the ancient art of a roster.

So, if you want your backyard turned into a sustainable fruit and vege garden, send us an email at transitionkenmore'at'gmail.com. Just change the 'at' for an @ first.

Please let us know if you have attended any blitzes we have held to date as we will be giving preference to those that have, but even if you havn't, put your name down and soon enthusiastic gardeners will be heading your way.

Building a chicken tractor - In pictures

At our World Environment Day 2010 permablitz, folks from Transition Kenmore built a chicken tractor.
Chicken tractors come in various shapes, sizes and designs but the essential point is that they are a "movable chicken coop without a floor". This allows the chickens to live outdoors but with some protection from predators. It also allows then to peck, scratch, eat and fertilize the area. Once they are done you can move the tractor to a new area and plant in the newly fertilized space they leave behind.

Here's a few pictures of the chicken tractor we built, based on the book: "The Permaculture Home Garden" by Linda Woodrow. There are of course lots of other possible designs (just do a google search for chicken tractors)

Setting up the frame

Covering the frame with a wire mesh

Ready for their new home. A roost has been added, which is hidden by the covering.

Ploughing starts immediately

Permablitzing Anstead - Pics from our World Environment Day blitz

A couple of weekends ago Transition Kenmore carried out its June Permablitz on a sunny but temperate Sunday morning.

Holes were dug

Coffee trees were planted

The soon to be Chia patch

Shoveling soil and compost

Ready for planting

On goes the Chia

Relaxing afterwards. Thanks to everyone who came.

Permaculture co-founder David Holmgren Coming to Brisbane

(This is an cross post from the Brisbane Transition Hub)

Transition Kurilpa and the Brisbane Transition Hub are hosting an evening with:

David Holmgren, co-founder of permaculture.

on Future Scenarios

JUNE 15th

South Leagues Club
Davies Park, West End (map)
DOORS OPEN 6PM FOR TASTING AND A 6.30PM START

Cost $10/5

“The simultaneous onset of climate change and the peaking of global oil supply represent unprecedented challenges for human civilisation. In this workshop I will present an integrated approach to understanding the potential interaction between Climate Change and Peak Oil using a scenario planning model. In the process I introduce permaculture as a design system specifically evolved over the last 30 years to creatively respond to futures that involve progressively less and less available energy.”

Permabltiz for World Environment Day

This week is World Environment Week

Transition Kenmore is ending the week with our next Permablitz out at Anstead on Sunday June 6th from 8am.
We will be planting some food trees, sowing a small crop and building a chicken tractor!

Please email transitionkenmore"at"gmail.com if you would like to come and want to know the address.

There are a number of other great event happening around SEQ for world environment day/ week. You can find out more about them on the CCNQ website

Here's a brief summary

Saturday 5 June:

Morningside festival         3pm – 7pm
Really Really Free market          10am – 4pm
Logan Eco Action Festival LEAF         10am – 5pm
Boonah festival          9am – 3pm
Plastic Fantastic !?!         6pm – 8pm

Sunday 6 June

Sunshine Coast Environment Festival          9am – 4pm
Tea and Seed Stories          10.30am and 2pm
Transition Kenmore Permablitz          8am – 11am

Saturday 13

June Gold Coast 'Green Day Out'

For more info go here

Permablitzing Chapel Hill - Pictures from the March Permablitz

On Saturday the 13th of March Transition Kenmore carried out its second Permablitz in Chapel Hill.

One of the first jobs was clearing away weeds from around the section

Garden boxes, ready for mulch and new plantings. Plus a very large pile of mushroom compost.

Planting in the newly cleared side of section

Planting strawberries

A much smaller pile of compost than when we started

The very professional looking chook-house

Planting done, growing begins......

Transition Kenmore in the news

Transition Kenmore's permablitz of Louise Orr's garden featured in this weeks Westside News. If you didn't get a copy you can view the story online here.

If you have come across our blog after reading about Transition Kenmore in the news, and want to know more about permablitzs and how you can have your lawn turned into a productive vege garden then have a read of this. More information about the blitz of Louise's garden can be seen in our before, during and after posts.

Transition Kenmore is a local community group who cover not just Kenmore but the whole of the Pullenvale BCC ward. Our permablitz campaign is just one of the things we are up to at the moment in trying to raise awareness of, and take action against, issues of climate change and resource depletion. So if you are interested in taking some small steps towards more sustainable suburbs then come along to our Earth Hour dinner this Saturday, one of our monthly meetings, or get in touch at transitionkenmore 'at' gmail.com


Lastly thanks to the Westside News for their positive report on the work we are doing.

Permablitz time! - Come along and help out at our next garden blitz on the 13th of March

Transition Kenmore is performing our next permablitz on Saturday March 13th in Chapel Hill.
Start time 7:30am.

Helping out at one of our permablitzes is open to all, not just our regular members. As in Melbourne, we are using the system that once you have attended 3 blitzes you can add your own place to the list of upcoming blitzes.
For a background on permablitzes and the results of our first blitz last year see here and here. If you want to come along email us at transitionkenmore 'at' gmail.com so we can let you know the address and get an idea of numbers for morning tea.

Blitz details

We will be chopping down some shrubbery, creating 4 garden beds, composting,mulching and planting and also finishing a chook house!

Needed on the day: wheelbarrows, cardboard, pruners, shovels, trowels. For those helping with the chook house, drill, screwdriver.

AND .....Plants. Any seedlings you might have popping up in your garden and would like to share would be welcome or any other vegie or herb seedlings or plants you might like to contribute.

Don't forget: hat, sunscreen,water bottle and gloves.

If you don't want to miss out on the fun let us know you are coming at transitionkenmore 'at' gmail.com just so we have some idea of the number of bodies for morning tea!

Come for a little or a longer time, we'd love to have you along.


Ps: Louise (whose yard was the subject of our first blitz last year) has been happily eating from her garden all summer and sharing with her neighbours. Its a great way to spread the word!

Costa Georgiadis from Costa's Garden Odyessey talks permablitz

Costa Georgiadis is an enthusiastic advocate for sustainable gardening, which he promotes on his TV series Costa's Garden Odyssey.
Hear the garden guru talk permablitz with Ruby Vincent on her radio show "A Question of Balance".
Listen here

Its fair to say Transition Kenmore isn't being quite as ambitious with our blitzes compared to what's happening in Melbourne, yet (no ponds for the moment and less cost to the householder). But Costa gives a great overview of what permabltizes can achieve and the enthusiasm and sense of community these events have created in Melbourne, something we definitely want to replicate here.

On the topic of Costa, it's worth mentioning that his new series begins 8pm on Thursday, 18 March on SBS One.
Enjoy.

Ps: for a primer into permablitzes and what Transition Kenmore wants to achieve see this post.

Permablitz - Turning disused lawns into community vege gardens

Last year Transition Kenmore carried out its first permablitz. But what are they exactly?

Permablitzing started in Melbourne a few years back and involves transforming lawns and disused yard areas into bountiful food producing gardens. The name is a melding of permaculture (the food production philosophy embraced by the Transition movement among others) and Backyard Blitz.

It works like this, a group of people get together, select a property to "blitz", design a new garden producing veges, fruit and herbs according to permaculture growing principles and then get together one morning/day to create the new garden. TTKD's first permablitz was very successful, just check out the before, during and after.
Although TTKD members carried out our first blitz, the general public are welcome to help out, and like our members are eligible to have their own place "blitzed" after attending three blitzes themselves.

Permablitzing has a number of benefits, producing healthy, sustainable local food for the household in question, sharing gardening and permaculture know-how throughout the community, strengthening community links and they are also good fun!

Importantly, we have plans to take permablitzing one step further by creating community permalblitz gardens, these are blitzed gardens where the produce is available to the local community free of charge to come and pick, promoting healthy sustainable food beyond our group and into the wider community.

Transition Kenmore is keen to get behind the permablitz philosophy and make them regular events on our calendar. Our next blitz is in mid March so if you're a TTKD member; belong a gardening group here on the west side of Brisbane; or are an interested member of the public and want to get involved. Drop us a line at transitionkenmore (at) gmail.com

Permablitzing Kenmore - Part 3

Wow, what a boon this rain has been for the permablitz garden :) I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - note that the herbs are already being well harvested! The madagascan bean is thriving, as is the cassava. I've had a bit of trouble with my resident possum, she seems to REALLY like corn. I've planted another lot since the permablitz, but virtually as soon as it comes up she eats it. And she quite likes young tomato plants, although I've noticed that once they start to grow she leaves them alone. Obviously has a sweet tooth and likes the young pick. Bit of creative protection is needed I think....

Anyway, hopefully soon I'll have some pumpkins, melons or sweet potatoes to bring along and share. Feel free to drop by and have a look for yourselves if you're in the area :)

To see the progression from bare earth to productive garden, check out parts 1 and 2 of our series on Permablitzing Kenmore.

Thoughts and plans for TTKD in 2010 - Your feedback is welcome

The start of a new year provides an opportunity to think about what Transition Town Kenmore can achieve in 2010 in the Pullenvale ward, and as part of the growing Transition Town Network around Brisbane.

We currently have plans for a bunch of new initiatives for the coming year but would like to hear ideas from everyone for ways to meet, actions to take, workshops to do and topics to learn about.
So, if you have an idea, request or thoughts on our current plans, please leave a comment.

Some of our thoughts to date for 2010 include;

Community dinners
Part of the Transition philosophy is community building and we understand that attending our midweek meeting can be difficult for some. So, we'd like to get everyone together on a semi-regular basis to meet, eat, get to know one another better and talk about how to kick on as a group.

Permablitz's
After the success of the first permablitz we are keen to continue blitzing gardens on a monthly basis. The basic rule being that once you have attended three blitzes then you can put your own garden on the roster to be blitzed. We also like the idea of turning front gardens into mini "community gardens" where anyone can come past and grab some fresh produce. If you want to be part of the blitz group and are not already then email either Carol, or transitionkenmore[at]gmail.com

TTKD sub-groups
It has been observed that the most effective Transition Town groups are those that have multiple subgroups working on different areas. The new year should see our packaging subgroup up and running again but we would like to see various members set up their own subgroups to take action on a specific area they are most passionate about.
An example would be a "local food" subgroup who would organise the permablitz's, try to progress a community garden and (if necessary) help members share round excess food from the growing number of permablitz's gardens, etc. Something to talk about at our first community dinner perhaps?

Meeting speakers and workshop topics
We plan to continue our monthly meetings during 2010 and run more workshops than in 2009, but we would like to hear from you about what topics you would like our meetings to cover.


Any thoughts or requests? If so, please leave a comment.

Permablitzing Kenmore Part2

Well what a resounding success the first permablitz was! Fourteen enthusiastic and willing helpers turned out to transform a sad, weedy garden into a fantastic edible landscape. It was a very warm morning, even by 7 am, however the old saying 'many hands make light work' couldn't be more true - in just over two hours we had composted, mulched, planted and watered the whole site - and even had time to make a temporary compost heap out of the removed weeds. Not to mention the split logs generously provided by a couple of TT folk to make paths so that all plants are within easy reach - very helpful for watering already.

The mushroom compost I had delivered was great value - rich and fertile. Both the compost and sugarcane bales were delivered by Sapar Landscape Supplies at Mt Crosby (3281 7888). At about $48 m2, the compost was very reasonable - the delivery price to Kenmore is not cheap ($66 for 2m2) but on balance it was certainly a good trade off for me - I didn't have to worry about trailer hire, driving over to Mt Crosby, unloading the compost etc - so worth considering if you are time and equipment poor like me.

The amount of plants donated was incredible - seedlings, cuttings, seeds - of all different types. Rockmelons, watermelons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and corn went into the steep 'garage garden' (as I can't help but think of it). The narrow garden leading to the front door is now a fabulous herb garden with parsley, thyme, basil, oregano and lemon grass. In the front yard is some beautiful cassava, lettuce and galanga, not to mention one very special peanut tree. A young helper even pointed out a native tree species, a tuckaroo, already growing in the garden, which I would never have recognised and probably pulled out as a weed. Now I know better! There were even a couple of Madagascan bean seeds which I have potted out until they are ready for planting.

Best of all, the home-made lemonade, peach and iced tea ice-blocks to finish it all off were a very welcome treat. Let's definitely make that a feature of all our permablitz efforts!

Thank you so much Transition Town folk - what an amazing effort by all :) Just being able to enjoy a few moments each morning watering and wandering around the garden is truly lovely, and I can't wait to share the harvest. Next post - exploring water efficiency options. Any ideas?

Permablitzing Kenmore

You can see why I was more than happy to be the guinea pig permablitz garden! This garden is an exercise in the importance of planning, planning, planning. Check out the interesting ‘garage garden’. Apparently the driveway was too steep to use, so the then owners decided to turn it into a garden – rendering the double garage unusable without extensive renovation and waterproofing (the amount of water that raced through there back in the May floods had to be seen to be believed). The garden was planted out - with declared weeds. These then had to be removed, leaving unsightly stumps and not much else. An efficient drip and spray watering system was installed to water those weeds – unfortunately, because of current water restrictions this is not allowed to be used either (okay, that one was hard to foresee, but for anyone thinking of using one, well worth considering now!).

With all the benefit of these prior learnings, I thought the best thing I could do was to call in an expert to help me plan what to plant and where. Scarlett Patrick from Brisbane Local Food was fantastic with the help and advice she gave - even taking time out from her own house-painting to come out to my place to have a look. She has some awesome gardening tips on her own blog too - check out her no-dig gardening powerpoint, and the photos of her regular garden harvest - you can find it on her profile page at http://brisbanelocalfood.ning.com/.

I think she was a bit daunted when she first laid eyes on the site, but quickly advised composting, mulching and came up with some ideas for edible plants that are relatively easy to grow and will hopefully thrive. So a big thank you to Scarlett for her generous time and advice.

Next thing, I co-opted my eldest son and we got stuck in and started weeding – a very hot experience last weekend I must say. I concentrated on the herbaceous weeds whilst he applied muscle and machinery to the woody weeds that were sprouting up everywhere. The most common one appears to be chinese elm which seems to be rampant around this area. I think the cobblers peg has been unchecked for a long time and it has taken months of continuous removing and binning to even make a dent in it. I’ll keep you all posted as to how successful we are at keeping this down. We made great headway and finished the day off with a thoroughly enjoyable water fight (buckets only of course!). Next post, I'll upload the photos of the prepared areas and the types of plants that Scarlett recommended.