Well, a bunch of us finished our Sustainable Landscape Design course this week, and we are all pretty proud, as out of 45 people starting across two streams, two and a half years ago, apparently only 16 of us have got through. Apparently the course is one of its kind in the world, with a similar title anyway. It was a great exercise in getting your head around designing on the computer, dropping all those bad gardening and landscaping habits and just coming to appreciate what we have around us and how divine and precious it is. It seemed apt tonight when I went out in to my garden and found about 10 tomatoes on my vines. They've come a bit early this year, thanks to all the rain.
And, what a fantastic bunch of people we've met over the last two years, and have to thank them for being so inspiring and knowledgeable, Frances, Mim, Brad, Stu, James, Kerry, Helen, Gary, (Swinburne teachers) and Bruce, Tracey, Ryan, and all the fantastic staff at Sustainable Gardening Australia (my volunteer job). I also have to thank Andrew for his help when I was struggling with getting my head around some complex building aspects, and without whose help the green roof would most certainly not have got up so smoothly. I also have to thank my family, especially my son, Sebastian for putting up with the infernal tirades at the Vectorworks software programme (oh, and the vodka helped too).
Blooming and Bold
Without the buzzards and bees
Where would we all bee?
In an outdoor room
Searching for shrubs and trees ...
A blog by Nicolle Kuna, author, Green Spin (or) Promoting the Green Message (2012)
A blog about sustainable landscaping and some eco-humour and eco-creativity which helps open up audience receptivity.
Inside this blog we look at everything that is encroaching in to our natural urban landscapes –outdoor rooms (errchkem), weeds, nutrients, and the way these affect our rivers, ground-water and general environment. It's easy to forget that all our eco-systems are interconnected. The first few months of the blog are reflections on the benefits of gardens vs constructed backyards (a la the outdoor room phenomenon). More nature in our midst is a blessed thing! There’s a bit of art to add extra colour and gardenesque inspiration.
Also see our website on social marketing for greenies
TIME FOR A GARDEN CHECK-UP ?
Nicolle and her fellow-workers do site visits from inner Melbourne out to northern suburbs, and can help with all the issues that crop up (pardon the err ... pun) with gardens, as with the wider landscape:
eg. plant recommendations, landscape materials to use (life cycle analysis, inputs, outputs, waste and recycling aspects), fertilisers to avoid, how everything we do affects local habitats, etcetera. Workshops can be arranged, to suit the needs of the group.
To contact us – go to the contact us page http://www.converseconserve.com as the contact facility on this blog has been giving us mischief.
What’s orange and black, homeless
and likes
to pounce?
A hopping mad Xmas beetle
in its new outdoor room.
Proper attribution for above garden design goes to
Andrew Jones, artist and designer.
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