Issue 27 August 2003
Reshaping Australian gardens and our attitudes to garden maintenance and design are passions for Sue Booker.
"For too long we've chosen plants and perpetuated gardening techniques that were unsuited to the Australian landscape," she says.
Ms Booker is one of the first graduates of the Melbourne Water Green Gardeners training program. The free program covers sustainable garden design, soil and plant health, plant selection, chemical-free pest control, stormwater issues and water-efficient gardening.
She describes the Green Gardeners program as brilliant. Particularly useful for her was information on stormwater management, including how to contain an area to prevent runoff into waterways and bays.
The program is designed for nursery staff, horticulturists, landscape and garden designers, landscape architects, garden maintenance specialists and professional gardeners.
The TAFE-accredited program is funded by Melbourne Water as part of its commitment to industry partnerships. It was developed by Sustainable Gardening Australia, the Landscape Industries Association of Victoria and Holmesglen Institute of TAFE.
The program follows the development of the successful Melbourne Water Green Plumbers – Caring for our Water.
Melbourne Water has also funded customer education material produced by Sustainable Gardening Australia that relates to the impact of garden chemicals and fertilisers in the environment and alternative strategies for home gardeners.
The Green Gardeners program consists of three workshops, each of two hours, hosted by local councils. Graduates receive a certificate, a statement of their results and a chance to promote themselves via a free listing on the Melbourne Water Green Gardener website (see link, below). The program now has more than 100 graduates.
Ms Booker says she has always been interested in techniques, products and biodiversity that allow gardens to be self-sustaining, and that the program has given her "tons"of sustainable gardening ideas for Tree House Landscape Design, the business she has owned and managed for the past three years.
"I'll interview clients differently now and present them with different ways of designing," she says."I'll implement an audit system so that clients can see that the products and the design I'm using will be better for the environment."
Her ideal garden would have thick plantings, lots of mulch to minimise evaporation, and drip irrigation. It would feature plants that cope with Australian conditions such as our natives and drought-tolerant plants from the Mediterranean.
Most lawns would not exist, but if her clients insisted, she would recommend a native variety that requires less water. Recycled bricks and timbers would replace pebbles and other non-sustainable materials.
And water-saving devices would feature strongly, with rainwater tanks attached to houses, grass swales to filter out contaminants, and greywater would be used for wetland plants.
Melbourne Water and councils are conducting 10 community evenings across Melbourne to discuss catchment issues and stormwater management, wetlands development, water-sensitive urban design and sustainable gardening advice. Information on the community evenings is available on the Green Gardeners website.
Contact Mary Trigger, Melbourne Water Green Gardeners Project Manager,on (03)9850 5155 or mary@sgaonline.org.au