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The Power of Community
By Lis | July 3, 2009
There’s very little that could be more powerful than a group of people with the same goal working together. Last Saturday, after one hour of throwing ideas around, 12 of us permablitzed for 3 hours to transform a neglected patch of yard into a productive herb and vegetable garden. What was achieved in an extremely enjoyable morning would have taken the owner of the property at least 36 hours to achieve on his own … probably longer given that the group dynamic meant that energy levels were high and everyone was motivated to get the job done quickly.
In the 3 hours we transformed this:
into a mandala garden full of vegetable seedlings:
with paths for easy access to all parts of the garden:
we also turned this neglected garden bed:
into a herb spiral with lots of tiny plantings which are hard to see in this photo, but that should be lush and green by spring:
and this weedy patch:
into a lovely pond area ….
… one that attracted a frog immediately!
we also built a quick compost bay and made a Cambodian compost to help feed the lemon tree:
… and even the leftover sand and gravel were transformed!
Meanwhile, I’ve been plodding on with my own daily gardening which has achieved way less than we managed to achieve as a group last Saturday and, as I sit here wondering whether it’s about to snow, I have to admit that most of it’s been armchair gardening … but more on that in the next blog.
Topics: Community, Permablitz, Pond, garden, permaculture | 3 Comments »
July 15th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
What a mammoth effort! Especially like the pond area.
August 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
all that lavender and agapanthus – just like our front yard! although we’re renting, we’re blitzing it up as well – have hoisted out the agapanthus and planning to plant some indigenous plants to attract birdlife.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
It looks great.
the pond is particularly nice.