The parks of Windsor

Well I have talked about the streets of Windsor, now for the parks. Windsor is a small suburb, you can see by this Google Maps image just how much there is a lack of open green public space.

Basically Windsor is dominated by residential and commercial buildings. There are five main public open spaces (represented by the yellow pins); Gladstone Gardens, Windsor Siding Reserve (which is the largest), James Street Reserve, Harry Gregory Reserve and Chris Gahan Reserve. According to Stonnington council, in Windsor there is only 5.33 square metres of open green public space per resident.

So with such a small amount of green space it should be quality space that can be used by the residents and other users. Unfortunately most of the open spaces fail at this basic task. One exception is Chris Gahan Reserve which is a well designed park that can be used for picnics, dog walking, basketball and oval activities. It has a good border of trees so the users have a sense of being removed from the residential property that surrounds two sides of this park.

Chris Gahan Reserve

Now for some of the not so great parks let's start with Gladstone Gardens, here is a decent size space that just doesn't do anything for me at all. It has a children's playground that borders with a massive housing commission apartment block and almost no trees on the border at all, check it out.

Not really a great picnic spot with the locals watching

A playground, and a massive apartment block next to it, yes a bit of a border of trees but aesthetically not pleasant

So next is Windsor siding, it is dominated by a warehouse storage building, a train track, a powerline and a telstra commercial building. It is a great open space for sport activities as it has a cricket net, basketball court, bmx track and oval but it's not a park I want to hang out in and read a book or have a picnic.

BBQ picnic anyone, mmm not much to look at 

And in the other direction

Harry Gregory, well there is definitely no love here, small with no tree shade and a tiny patch of grass, but there is a playground for the littlies, just watch out for the gravel though not so good to fall on.

Harry Gregory Reserve

Finally James Street Reserve, another very small space with a playground and a small patch of grass. Judging by the graffiti, empty stubbies and rubbish that is in this corner of the park social activity does happen here, just not sure how the locals feel about this park it is quite the eyesore.

Well that's all the local open public spaces in my tiny suburb of Windsor, for me there is not much on offer in terms of getting out and relaxing in the Windsor parks. Luckily I am fortunate enough to also live close to St Kilda Botanical Gardens, Albert Park, Fawkner Park and various other parks that more than make up for the lack of quality open green spaces in Windsor.

The streets of Windsor part 2

So as I walk around Windsor, I have to say that the street trees of Windsor are booooring. Now admittedly Windsor has very narrow streets and as a result the choice of street tree is limited, but that doesn't change the fact that the street trees are boring. Here is a picture of a typical streetscape in Windsor, as you can see "Broccoli trees" or Melaleuca everywhere.

So these trees are well established and have proven hardy during the drought, but still not much to look at. I can't fault the Stonnington council for keeping these trees, at least there are trees on these narrow streets.

However on other matters, I can fault the local council, first let's take a look at this.

It's a couple of street trees that have been planted at the end of my street. Many years ago, about ten, when I moved into this street these two spots were filled with established trees, the council for one reason or other (the trees may have been sick, or too big) decided it would be best to pull them out and plant two new trees. The first, and possibly second, plantings of the two trees got run over by cars so the council decided this was a problem and put in metal barriers. Since then the trees have died and been replaced another couple of times and this is the latest planting, possibly a couple of conifers perhaps the tall skinny type which seems a good choice. One would have to assume some inadequacy in the previous choice of tree for the given location, and this comes down the council, let's see what happens with their latest attempt.

Finally let's take a look at this.

So this is a small garden bed with a couple of conifers planted in it, on the my street as well. Over the last few years the local business's (and yes it is definitely business some of the time because locals aren't throwing out massive photocopiers and the like) decided to start using it for rubbish dumping. The council kept coming and cleaning it up until just a few weeks ago when this happened. Someone, not sure if it was the council, decided this was the best solution. I mean really, totally ugly, and to me it just looks like a big rubbish bin that people will be throwing stuff into until it overflows. Its early stages but there are already a few empty beer cans in there, but the people who erected the fence may have not bothered to clean up.

So when I walk down my local street I feel a bit blah with the streetscape and public spaces, however I do enjoy the private gardens, there are so many different varieties and species to look at, just a matter of looking past the street.

The streets of Windsor

I recently started an Environmental Horticulture course at the Uni of Melbourne, with the knowledge I have so far gained from this course I find myself in a very different frame of mind when walking the streets of Windsor. Once upon a time I would have walked passed the gardens in the street and would have been oblivious to what was in them. The street trees, well they were just some trees planted in a tiny bit of dirt that was a good spot for dogs to do their thing, of course not the dogs fault.

Now when I walk in the streets I notice gardens, plant varieties that are in those gardens and I look at street trees. I was out on a walk recently when this was pointed out to me, apparently it had just come into flower I thought it was magnificent.

I thought well I must find out what it is, as luck would have it.... in a lecture a couple of days later it cropped up, Dahlia imperialis AKA Tree Dahlia. It's an herbaceous perennial that grows on these tall bamboo like stems and this one is about 2.5-3 metres in height. It requires a decent amount of sun and the stems can be brittle, so a bit of protection from the wind is advisable. But if you want to have a magnificent looking cold weather flowering plant get yourself some of these, either buy yourself a tuber or established plant. Alternatively if you can get your hands on a stem you can cut it into pieces (leave two nodes) and then plant these pieces during winter at about 15-20cm depth.

Well I was going to talk about the street trees of Windsor, but I got sidetracked with the Dahlia, so that will be next posting. In the mean time for a great read check out Michael's Long Live the Tree's article, which is a bit of a lead in to my next posting.

Build your own self-watering containers

So for those who don't have much garden area having your own garden might be a matter of finding whatever you can to put some potting mix into and growing out of that, pots, tubs, barrels etc. You can also buy those self-watering plastic pots from gardening stores, they are generally expensive for the amount of growing area you get, and in my experience after a couple of summers they can get brittle and break.

So this year I have decided to make my own and I am going to share with you how I have done this. There are a few designs for this on the internet, but I wasn't happy with any so I decided to create my own. The concept is pretty simple you get a container, you use the lid as a support structure for the growing media which is fixed above the bottom of the container, except for one section which is used to wick the water up into the growing media. And now for the step by step construction plans.

 
Step 1 - First off you will need 2 containers, I went to Bunnings and got this 71 litre made in Australia for $15.99 and the smaller rectangle pot for $1.

Step 2 - Get your tools together; you will need a marker, ruler, file, sand paper, cutting blade, drill and hot glue gun.

Step 3 - Cut the edges off the container lid, knowing exactly where to cut will depend on the container you are using but you will need to leave enough of the lid so it fits snuggly when placed inside the container. For this container it was just a matter of keeping the top piece of lid and everything below was removed. I also cut the top off the pot, the height of this will determine how deep your water reservoir is I made it 9cm. Smooth the edges using either your file or sandpaper to get it to just the right size.

Step 4 - In the middle of the lid trace an outline of your smaller pot (the open-ended piece) around the main container lid. Using your knife and ruler score along these lines until the piece is ready to break away, note it is ok to make the hole smaller but don't go bigger, I found the lid more brittle so don't rush this step. Next drill holes in your pot, this will allow the water to seep into the growing media. And finally using your hot glue gun, glue the pot onto your lid. I used hot glue as it is non-toxic, I am not sure how it will go being wet but check back in 6 months for an update.

Step 5 - Put your lid with attached pot inside the main container, you can see here how the growing media will be inside the pot with water all around. If the sides of the lid seem a little big just remember that when you put growing media on top they will sink down. Finally cut a hole in the corner of the main container for watering using your blade, the height of this hole will depend on the height of your water reservoir, but I thought my corners weren't going to sink all the way down so I made the top of the hole at 10cm from the bottom of the container, and it was 2cm X 2cm.

Step 6 - Add your growing media, I added 50 litres of potting mix, the watering hole had a 1.5cm gap above it to the lid which was perfect, the lid can't be below the hole otherwise when you go to put water in your growing media and lid will be in the way.

So that's it, for $17 I have myself a self-watering container which can hold 50 litres of potting mix, a comparable sized one at Bunnings was over $40. Admittedly the self-watering component may not get a good workout until next summer but in the mean time I can make any adjustments to the design if needed. Hope you have found this useful and check back to see how it is performing.

Save water in your garden

Interested in saving water in your garden? Think maybe you are over-watering your plants and trees? Want to be able to choose new plants for your garden that are drought tolerant? Well perhaps you should check out http://www.savewater.com.au, it is filled with tips and information to help save water in your garden.

And if you are in Victoria or Geelong you should also check out another website which was developed by the University of Melbourne, http://www2.smartgardenwatering.org.au/. As well as having general tips and techniques for water saving it also has a very useful tool which you can use to optimise water usage in your garden. Basically it takes your postcode, your garden area size, what is planted, how the area is watered and a few other bits and pieces. This information is run through the fancy modelling tool and you get a report of how often and for how many minutes you should be watering for at different times of the year.

Once you have set up your garden you can save it for future use or share it so that other people can benefit from the information you have provided. Water usage is a sometimes difficult concept but SmartWatering has made an easy to use tool that will have you saving water and money and will help keep your garden looking great.

So the next time you see a neighbour who loves wasting water in their garden point them towards SmartWatering, of course if it's that elderly lady who likes to wash her concrete path well that's another problem....

Welcome to BK's Babylon

Hello and welcome to BK's Babylon, Babylon is a reference to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and its context will become clearer in the coming weeks. This blog will focus on plants, gardens and landscapes in my backyard and the area in which I live - Windsor.

But for today I will be introducing you to some of the green guys who I see on a daily basis, this is my garden.....

So lets start with a before shot, not a great picture because it was taken at night but you get the idea, not much of anything really, a Schinus molle (Peppercorn tree) in the top left, a tiny thing in the fence corner and some dirt and stuff. Oh and a guy in a hammock with a beer, yes that's me.

As a renter who would eventually have to move I decided to start taking cuttings and planting them to try and get  at least some green in the back yard. So here is the garden as it is today. Its not fantastic, but its green all year round and and is 100% on what was here before.

Now, lets take a close look at some of the individuals that make up my garden.

The Schinus molle fell over during a windy Melbourne day and had to be chopped down, it was a sad day as I lost my hammock hanging spot. However apparently trees are amazingly resilient and out of the trunk that was left it started growing stems and leaves again. You can see it in the top left corner of the above picture and a close up below, yes that is growing out of a trunk that is about 50cm high.

Next we have some Cordylines and a Birds nest fern, I planted the two Cordylines about a year and a half ago, they are growing slowly.

A few succulents, "Spike" the cactus is almost as tall as the fence and flowered this year, which was a first. Not sure how I will eventually move him as he is quite top heavy, and needs constant support.

A crop of chillis, has been really good getting fresh ones off the plant this summer.

Rosemary and Thyme, a couple of my essential herbs for cooking.

Well I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of my backyard green space and remember to check back regularly.