Building a garden for wildlife - new horizons for the Woodend Permaculture Garden

Several conditions and events in recent years have intersected to bring us to a moment of change regarding the future of the Woodend Permaculture Garden. In the Macedon Ranges many people have their own gardens and the level of public understanding of the broader ecological opportunities of gardening has increased, including the awareness of the risks of biodiversity reduction and fragmentation of natural spaces. Over the last twelve months outdoor spaces have become a mental-health haven for coping with the Novel Coronavirus; as places to work, rest and interact. On the scientific side, developments in ecological research highlight the importance of providing for local bio-diverse food-webs and the potential for increasing wildlife, particularly in a Shire renowned for its wildlife spaces, and the relatively easy ways to address wildlife reduction especially in inner-city spaces. 

2021 into the future

Permaculture is an agricultural model that is designed to imitate the processes of nature, encouraging biodiversity and a self-sustaining ecosystem. The next step of the Permaculture Garden is to reduce human effort by shifting the focus to benefitting wildlife rather than solely to human returns. Our proposal is to revisit the existing Woodend Permaculture Garden site with the idea of transforming it into an integrated Pollinator/Habitat Garden comprising exotic, native and indigenous plantings. The Pollinator/Habitat Garden would fit in well with the plans to open up the Woodend Community Hub precinct as local recreational, reservation and community space suitable for all members of the community, including the young, disabled and aged.

What is a Pollinator/Habitat Garden?

The intent is to establish a garden that will encourage wildlife; birds, mammals and invertebrates and to provide a model space for homeowners to establish their own mixed habitat for a biodiverse future.

Most flowering plants rely on animals to pollinate and/or distribute seed. Frequently the pollinator/dispenser relationships are specialised between host and animal; these reciprocal relationships are particularly sensitive to habitat changes. 

The good news is that though insects across the world are depleted, insect species are quite quick to recover if well supported. Honey bees are the most recognised insect-pollinator; they are particularly valuable to the agricultural sector. However there are thousands of Australian native pollinators; birds, mammals and invertebrates which are extremely valuable to the overall food-web and which are at risk of being scattered into isolated communities by urbanisation. Many of these animals have significant roles in the food-web, beyond pollination. Including seed distribution, predation of pest species, decomposition and food for other species.

Urban areas do not have to be wildlife deserts though some strategies are required to ensure biodiversity and natural food-webs are sustained. A bio-diverse habitat provides for the predation and propagation behaviours of nature an opportunity to flourish for a “healthy ecosystem”, highlighting the errors of “weed” and “pest” views of our natural space. 

Learning to ‘Strike the Balance’.

Another object in integrating the indigenous plants with the existing exotic is a physical manifestation of our desire to enhance Aboriginal/European understanding of each other and our experiences in order to create a shared experience.  We hope that this project can help to identify ways for the community to respect and recognise Traditional Owners’ cultures, rights and histories and to learn from Aboriginal Peoples’ connection to Country.

Want to be part of this?

This project is only at the conceptual stage and MRSG leadership team are seeking expressions of interest from MRSG members and other Partner Community Groups. The project is expected to last 4-6 months.

Positions available include:

• Steering committee - overall guidance of the project.

• Grant identification and submission.

• Design and planning team.

• Working parties for destruction of current garden, planting of new garden etc

If you have some time to volunteer in support of this project please contact Sara Gormley-O’Brien on permaculture@mrsg.org.au indicating your preferred level/area of support.