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Several years ago, Council established its first community garden on Council land at Buna Reserve, pictured below, as part of the Heidelberg West Neighbourhood Renewal Program. This garden was developed following a planning exercise for the Reserve which involved consultation with the local community. The Banyule Community Health Service manages this garden in conjunction with local residents who are the plot holders. The Bellfield Community Garden also recently started operating at the Bellfield Community Centre following a community consultation process. There are also a number of existing community gardens on church and education department land within Banyule.

During the 1920's and 1930's the concept of growing alpines in non-rock situations took root, this together with the appearance of the garden centre in the second half of the 20th century brought about the third period in this history. People began to see the full range of flowers which were available together with all types of easy and cheaper methods for cultivating alpines without having to make a rockery. So, interest switched to the plants and away from the rock structures, and this is the key feature of this third period in the history of rock gardening.

It could be argued that sports also provide a vehicle for academically poor children to succeed at something. Indeed, it is now recognized that beyond the value of physical exercise, involvement in sports contributes to a person's mental health, which one imagines, concerns the development of self-esteem. The difference is that horticulture inevitably demands knowledge and an understanding of theory. It is almost an umbilical chord, linking the practical with the intellectual. A gardener always learns something of a theoretical nature, whether it be plant nutrition, pathology or color schemes. It is no exaggeration to say that good gardeners are always thirsty for knowledge.

It's easy to learn to talk with house and garden plants, since these are particularly eager to discuss matters such as fertilization, watering, shade, grafting and transplanting techniques, etc. But in addition to such mundane affairs, plants (particularly large trees) can give you helpful advice on all sorts of matters. Take them your problems; ask them what they think you should do. Some of my best friends and most trusted advisors are trees.

lavender plants

The first step is learning how to utilise the space you have. As the saying goes - it's the size you have but what you do with it that counts. There couldn't be a better statement in gardening terms. Many small town gardens have some truly stunning designs. In fact, in my town there is an annual 'secret gardens' day where local people open up their gardens for anyone to come and take a peak. There is also a prize for best three at the end of the day. It's a large affair and although the number grows each year, there are usually around 200 participants and many more visitors.

Bark beetles, like the notorious Dutch Elm bark beetle, can destroy entire geographic regions of trees. However, it is not the beetle that destroys, but the disease spores it carries. I have had some luck wrapping the trunks of young trees with cloth strips soaked in hard cider, but for mature trees, Dursban - a toxic, organophosphate insecticide - applied to the trunks of the trees fully six feet up in early fall is the only known cure. The pine-bark beetle is another scourge, and equally poorly controlled. I have had some success with pyrethrines (natural organic compounds from the Chrysanthemum family) and verbenone, a natural organic terpene from the verbena family.

I need to be honest with you for a second. You see, I'm not really good at waiting several years to add a plant here & a plant there to my garden. I'm the kind of person who sees something beautiful, then tries to find a way to make it happen in my own garden. Sometimes the ideas work out wonderfully, and sometimes I learn a lesson from the whole process. In any case, my garden is always better because of it.

The first Garden Warfare was a relatively bare-bones budget experience, not much more than a series of menus leading to online competitive multiplayer matches or a cooperative survival mode. Variations of four zombie characters and four plant species engaged in brilliant and chaotic battle across a variety of cartoon landscapes. Between rounds they'd retreat to the menu screen, licking their wounds and spending earned coin on sticker packs filled with upgrades, equipment and new character variations.