With spring in the air it is time to spring into action and prepare garden beds to sow those summer-growing vegetables.

The Congolese Women’s Association have been busy at the Community Farm at Gateway Island preparing their garden beds and carrying in bags of mulch to ensure the garden beds are water efficient.

The Community Farm has an irrigation license, purchasing temporary water from the Murray River each year for hand watering garden beds.  Like many irrigation farmers throughout the Murray Darling Basin, we are very grateful that water prices have fallen this year.  Whilst our farm are small consumers of water, a 1,000% price hike in 2019/20 was extraordinary!

Work is underway preparing garden beds to plant seeds collected from previous year’s crops of White Daikon Radish, Okra, Snake Beans and Eggplant.  Having depleted our seed stock, we are grateful to source seed for this summer’s Bitter Melon crop from a Wodonga gardener.

Talking about gratitude, we are most grateful for the years of technical and practical support from AT Jones Irrigation Specialist in Kiewa Street, Albury.  Their sturdy and reliable irrigation systems require minimal ongoing maintenance, but the occasional problem solving exercise in order to continue to stay off-grid.