Smart gardening info

Missed out on attending one of our free smart gardening workshops? Check out the notes to learn more about how you can  garden smarter.

A Beginners Guide to Chickens

Learn how to keep chickens in your own backyard. They not only provide you with fresh eggs, fertiliser and insect control,  they make fantastic pets! These notes will guide you through how to select, house, feed and care for chickens in your backyard.

Download 'Beginners Guide to Chickens' workshop notes (pdf, 3.1MB)

Organic Gardening

Are you interested in going organic in your garden? Growing your fruit and veggies organically cuts out the addition of chemicals and pesticides, giving you healthier food and a healthier environment. To learn more about how you can make your first steps into organic gardening, check out these workshop notes.

Download ‘Intro to Organic Gardening’ workshop notes (pdf, 1.7MB)  

Creating a Food Forest

Learn how to create a ‘food forest’ made up of a diverse mix of edible plants from the groundcovers up to the canopy. Just like other forests, the various plants complement and support each other while providing a rich variety of harvests.

Download 'Intro to Food Forest' notes (pdf, 0.7MB)

Composting and worm farming

Find out about different composting and worm farming techniques, how to trouble shoot common problems and how beneficial the compost and worm castings are to your garden.

An Edible Garden in Flemington

My Smart Garden hosted an edible garden open day showcasing wonderful examples of food gardens in Moonee Valley. Here is the design, crop rotation system and photos of the awe-inspiring private garden in Flemington.

Wicking Beds

Would you like a garden bed that needs less water and maintenance than a conventional garden bed? Try a wicking bed! In a wicking bed, water moves upwards from a reservoir at the bottom through to the top, watering the roots of the plants from below. Check out the notes below for more information on wicking beds and how you can build one at home.

Download ‘Build a Wicking Bed’ workshop notes (pdf, 0.7MB)   

Design an Edible Garden

A great garden starts with a great design. It also means you can increase the productivity of your garden with a lot less work.  Using the principles of permaculture, the notes below will show you how to design a food garden to give it the best chance of thriving to become an abundant oasis.   

Download 'Design an Edible Garden' workshop notes (pdf, 1.3MB)   

Keep Your Cool with Trees and Vines

The right trees in the right places can make such a difference to the comfort and beauty of your home. And it’s a long term investment so you want to get it right! Check out the notes below to help design your garden to protect your home from winds and summer heat and to make the most of winter sun. 

Download 'Landscape Design' workshop notes (pdf, 0.4MB)

Meet Your Garden Bug Life and Control Pests Naturally 

Discover the wondrous soil microbes, and both the problem and beneficial insects in your garden. These notes will teach you how to improve the health of your soil, how to attract the good bugs to control the unwanted ones and how to control pests the organic way.

Download 'Meet Your Garden Bug Life' workshop notes (pdf, 0.5MB)

Raingardens     

A raingarden resembles a regular garden but with a major difference - it receives rainwater from hard sufaces such as a downpipe from a roof, paved areas or roads. The soil, gravel and plants in the raingarden reduce the flow of water that would wash pollutants like dog droppings and fertilisers into our creeks and bays. Importantly, it means valuable rainwater is directed into your garden.

Raingardens are self-watering and use less drinking water compared to a regular garden. When planted with native species, raingardens are low maintenance.

For more information on raingardens and how to build one, visit Melbourne Water's raingardens website at  www.melbournewater.com.au/raingardens

Already have a raingarden? Then register yours online today at www.melbournewater.com.au/raingardens