One of the attractions of The Siding was that adjacent to our land was a small pocket of neglected road reserve. It presented another opportunity for an urban greening effort in our street…
Once our new neighbours had settled in, the seed was planted for what would become Rutland Corner, the urban orchard or officially, the ‘Community Food Tree Project’.
Below is an image showing the plan for the site. Plant selection includes: olives, drum stick, guava, citrus, mango, mulberry, avocado, pecan, Brazilian cherry, apple, plum, pear, apricot, pomegranate, and loquat. We also have a variety of herbs and some native bush food.
With a thick layer of road base underneath the site, we were extremely thankful when the council offered to come in with some big machines to remove it. We’re happy to dig up couch grass, but this needed a bit more than human power.
And then the fun began. Friends and neighbours donated money and trees. We organised a planting day and lots of people came to plant ‘their’ tree.
We’ve since hosted workshops, to learn how to prune our trees or make fruit fly traps. We have visited other gardens and community projects. Or we simply get together at Rutland Corner for some weeding or mulching, a cuppa and a chat.
Rutland Corner is also a ‘sharewaste’ site. Anyone is invited to drop their food scraps in one of the compost bins which were purchased with community grant funding from the Town of Victoria Park (thanks again!).
More info:
Our neighbour Lindsay Miles wrote a blog post ‘How We Started an Urban Food Tree Project‘ in November 2017 for her site ‘Treading my Own Path. .
You can join the Rutland Corner Facebook Group to hear what’s happening, learn about upcoming events and activities.
