Garden club grows interest

MAKE the grass greener on your side of the fence with the help of the Bendigo Garden Club.

About 60 passionate green thumbs meet once a month at the Bendigo Showgrounds to share ideas, knowledge and enthusiasm for all things gardening, and secretary Laurelle Smith said the club caters to all skill levels.

“People who are genuinely interested in gardening know that it comes fairly naturally to them but there are novices who don’t know and can learn skills through the gardening club,” she said.

While Bendigo’s warm climate, and in place marginal soils can bring about challenges for gardeners, the club encourages representatives to persist.

“Members have to persevere to build up their gardens, build up their soil,” she said. “To have a decent garden you’ve really got to work at it.”

People who are part of the club can purchase a variety of garden goodies at the meetings and are invited to bring along pieces from their own backyard to show.

Ms Smith said the club aims to have a different guest speaker present at each monthly meeting, covering a range of topics.

“It might be spring flowers, it could be vegetables, something that you grow,” she said.

“If people are interested, they can learn how to grow them or how to propagate, what’s successful, what ideas they use.”

A flower arranging group also exists within the club, teaching members how to display some of their garden’s own offerings.

The club also organises garden tours around the Central Victorian region and runs a stall at the Bendigo Agricultural Show which Ms Smith said is “always very popular”.

For more information or to get involved, search Bendigo Garden Club on Facebook or contact 5447 0017.