Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
LIVING IN A WEEDY FUTURE
Insights from the garden
Lesley Head
The garden as study site - and what it says about nature
On a hill close to the centre of Wollongong, New South Wales, remnant stands of
spotted gum (
Eucalyptus maculata
) are protected in a small formal reserve and in
some private gardens. Three different householders living on different sides of that
hill represent some of the variability in how Australians understand and experience
gardens, nature and weeds. Lennie and Connie's backyard was dominated by an
extensive vegetable garden and chook shed maintaining traditions they brought
from Italy more than 40 years previously. The productive vegetable garden was
meticulously weeded. Lennie had established some small vegetable beds on the
adjacent reserve, where he also grazed his rabbits in their mobile hutch. He was
very careful to protect spotted gum seedlings, which he marked with stakes and
tape, and was in active discussions with the local council officers about these
activities. In talking about his garden, Lennie did not talk about endangered species
but rather about productivity and his family and being involved with the soil.
Nevertheless the outcome was ongoing stewardship of a locally endangered species.
On the other side of the hill lived Kris, an environmental scientist. The remnant
stand of
E. maculata
and other eucalypts was the reason she bought her block, which
contained a number of very large spotted gums. She had been actively trying to
restore the native vegetation since moving in, by removing 'lawn, trees, azaleas,
geraniums . . . and a whole lot of other pests'.
Further down the hill, in Mira's backyard, the strongest impression for the visitor
was of order and tidiness. Mira described this area as being like a 'small house',
which it was necessary to look after, clean and decorate. When she mowed her
lawn or fed her roses, she was loving and nurturing a garden which was 'everything
in my heart'. Despite, or perhaps because of, her demanding full-time job, her
morning routine began with half an hour in the garden. She described this as a time
Search WWH ::
Custom Search