Homegrown fruit and veggie lovers are in for a Sunday treat, with the chance to visit three different and inspiring productive home gardens opening in the Yarra Ranges Shire with Open Gardens Victoria on the 4 February 2024.
These three gardens provide an opportunity to learn from experienced home produce gardeners and gain insights into the many aspects and challenges of food growing and production in the suburban environment.
First stop, Buttenshaw Farm in Montrose?a highly aspirational three-quarter-acre organic and permaculture micro-seed farm garden at the base of the Dandenong Ranges. Natalie and Mark Buttenshaw?s magical garden is just seven years old and bursting with fruit and nut trees (pecans, walnuts, macadamias, almonds, chestnuts, 25 different heirloom apples, avocados, and a myriad of different citrus trees) alongside raised vegetable beds filled with a collection of rare and heirloom varieties and herbs and interspersed with colourful flower plantings. “We are growing the things you won?t find on supermarket shelves, unusual varieties, and making sure that the seeds live on and are available for home gardeners,” says Natalie.
Just 10 minutes away in Mooroolbark, you?ll find Instagram-famous veggie gardener Tim Johnston‘s The Aussie Veggie Patch. Tim?s 800m2 chemical-free garden demonstrates the wide variety of produce that can be grown on a standard suburban block while also providing space for bees, chickens, a children?s play area, and a ...