Organised by local community group Slow Food Singleton

Date

About

Visit 11 local gardens in & around Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley & chat with the gardeners to learn about techniques for growing vegetables, fruits & other edibles. Learn about gardening successes and failures, and how you can grow food in your own garden.
Choose the gardens that you want to visit and make your own itinerary for the day.
Addresses and details of gardens will be sent to ticket holders in the week before the Trail.

Proudly organised by local community group Slow Food Singleton www.facebook.com/slowfoodsingleton and featuring the gardens of members.

A summary of each garden is further down this page.

Visit our hub for the day at the Singleton Community Garden: see what's growing, chat to gardeners; the Singleton Red Cross stall will sell homemade sandwiches, wraps, cold drinks, cakes & slices; learn about Slow Food Singleton, the Singleton Seed Library, the Community Garden & Bush Tucker garden.

Location

Get directions

TICKETS PRICES ARE:

• $15 adult
• $30 family
• $10 Slow Food Singleton current financial member
• $5 for volunteers who want to go on the Trail before/after their volunteer shift

Please purchase via the 'Get tickets' button.

Tickets will also be sold at Singleton Community Garden, Bathurst St Singleton (cash only) on the day of the Trail from 10am to approx 1pm.

ACCESS TO GARDENS
You will need to provide your own transport to each garden.
Ticketholders will receive full details of the addresses, opening hours and accessiblity of each garden in the week before the Trail.
Please note that for wheelchair/mobility walker access, all would require heavy duty assistance across mowed grass, uneven ground & woodchip coverings etc, especially some of the rural gardens.
Pets are strictly NOT allowed on the Trail, and children need to be supervised.
Note that Trail day will run regardless of the weather; a bit of rain doesn't deter gardeners!

A summary of the gardens:
Below are photos & descriptions of each garden (addresses & details will be sent to ticketholders in the week before the Trail).
Some of these gardens were in our 2022 and 2023 spring Trails, although they will look different this autumn, and there are 5 new ones!

Singleton Community Garden (open 10am to 1pm-ish)

Our wonderful Singleton Community Garden on Bathurst St (near Harriet St) will be the hub for the Trail.
Chat to the gardeners and see the extensive range of vegies growing in raised beds (8 new ones have been recently added), a new corn plot and their excellent composting systems.
Join up with the Community Garden on the day! (Only $20/yr).
See the separate listing for the bush tucker garden below.
Slow Food Singleton will also sell tickets for the Trail (cash only) and have info stalls: learn about the Slow Food movement, our local activities, our monthly Crop Swaps, the Singleton Seed Library and 'borrow' some seeds (if you are a Singleton LIbrary member) or BYO seedlings to swap! Join up with Slow Food Singleton (only $20/yr).
The Red Cross Singleton Branch will have a stall (cash only) from 10am until sold out, selling sandwiches, wraps, slices, cakes and hot and cool drinks.

Bush Tucker Garden at the Singleton Community Garden (open 10am to 1pm-ish)
(also talks on bush tucker plants at 10.15am, 12pm and 1pm)

The bush tucker garden at the rear of the Singleton Community Garden was established a few years ago, and is now undergoing refurbishment. It contains native plants including lillypillies, bush figs, finger limes, paperbarks, lomandra, hibiscus and tea trees.

Hunter Region Landcare Network (HRLN) are working with local indigenous partners to help re-establish the bush tucker garden. On Trail day, HRLN are launching the garden as a Landcare site with the ambition of attracting more interest, community participation and hopefully ownership of this fabulous resource, with participants assisting with the upkeep and maintenance of the garden, so that it can be enjoyed by the Singleton community and offer a working place where Indigenous workshops can be hosted.

A garden just east of Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)

This garden is fully fenced and netted (bird and possum proof), constructed 4 years ago on a former half-sized tennis court. It has a concrete base and 22 raised beds, most holding 2 cubic metres of soil, plus there are many pots. Beds are constructed with standard sized treated pine sleepers and metal corner posts, lined with plastic and internally braced.  Also see custom-designed trellises. There is a vast variety of crops: berries, dwarf trees, stonefruit, vines, perennial and seasonal vegetables, fruits and herbs. Good use is made of horse and chicken manure, spoilt hay and other compostable materials for filling the beds. A seaweed / water fertilising system (using a 1000 litre IBC container) and 4 composting bins also feature.

A garden in The Retreat (open 10am to 4pm)
(there will also be cooking demonstrations with fresh produce at this garden throughout the day)

The main veg garden space in this large garden is a 10m x 19m fully enclosed and netted structure. Inside, the garden beds are raised wicking beds, growing all sorts of seasonal vegetables. Vertical gardens are a feature this time, with beans and tomatoes. There is also ground level bed outside this enclosure for things that won’t be eaten by birds, etc. The East garden is a raised 6m x 7m bed, with masses of pumpkins. There are 2 bulk compost bins next to this bed.

A garden just north of Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)

This is a small garden located on a rural-residential property near town. Their clay soil is difficult to grow in, so they have constructed 4 wicking beds in which a variety of seasonal vegetables and herbs are grown. A couple of citrus trees are also grown in smaller wicking beds. A passionfruit vine is also thriving. It is a very water efficient garden as they rely on tank water.

A garden in downtown Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)
 

This garden, run by a community group was established in 2012 and grows food crops to make and donate items and meals to local groups. It has several garden beds, some with filtered shade cloth covers. A variety of vegetables and citrus trees are grown. They have a worm farm, composting area and seed saving, as well as succulents and companion planting.

A garden approx 10km from Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)

This large and open garden is in a rural setting, surrounded by paddocks. The house garden, established 15 years ago, has raised recycled wood and rock-edged beds. There are citrus & fruit trees, seasonal vegetables are grown randomly and a lot of vegetables are self sown. The gardens are well mulched with hay and there is also a greenhouse.

A garden in downtown Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)

This is an urban backyard garden in progress. They are struggling with the previous owner’s use of chemicals, and are hoping for a chemical free garden, no longer using any chemicals themselves. Cardboard, mulch, composting (tumblers), dense planting and rain water tanks are used. Rockmelons, spaghetti squash, kiwi, mango, snake beans and Madagascar beans currently grow, as well as loofahs to use in cleaning. They also grow Columbian native plains, plaintain, corn and maize. They have chickens, ducks and a worm farm.

A garden in downtown Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)
Singleton Red Cross will also be selling plants from this garden.
At 11am, there will be a talk by the gardener about keeping bees in a modern (Australian invented) flow hive

A garden with a large open space surrounded by lots of fruit trees (fig, citrus, native finger lime, macadamia), berry and rhubarb patches. Vegetables are in wicking beds, with new ones being added since the last Trail. Another interesting feature is a shallow vegetable bed above concrete water tanks that are being used as a retaining wall. There is also a good compost area. There are 3 Japanese mini forests in the adjoining paddock with the alpacas. These are an intensively grown ecosystem of trees and groundcover in a small space (note the mini forests and alpacas won’t be accessible).

 A garden in Jerrys Plains (approx 37km west of Singleton) (open 10am to 4pm)

This garden was established on a rural residential block at the edge of the Jerrys Plains township three years ago, on compacted clay soil, heavy with rocks and extreme exposure to westerly and southerly winds. There is a high diversity of planting that includes many fruit trees, a small olive grove, seasonal vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants (Western, Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs). Raised garden beds using the Hugel method are also set in the garden. All are integrated into a diverse collection of plants that provide micro climates for the food plants and habitat for local wildlife. Swales are used to capture rainfall. All plant material is recycled through the worm farm and composting beds.

A garden approx 35 km east of Singleton (open 10am to 4pm)

The orchard is the feature of this rural property. It contains peaches, plums, apricots, apples, avocado, fig, pear, oranges and a small grove of 100 year old quince trees. There are also strawberries, The house garden contains mixed fruit trees; lemon, pecan, mulberry, apple and peaches. The gardener is trialling growing an olive tree and lilly pillies.

A garden approx 17km east of Singleton (open 10am to 2pm)

This 100 acre farm is inspired by biodynamic and permaculture principles. About 20 acres is under cultivation, mainly a wide variety of fruit trees - apricots, plums, figs, apples and stone fruit. There are also vegetable and berry gardens, with sheep and chickens used to keep grass at bay. They have a greenhouse and a composting system. The remaining property is managed for wildlife habitat.

Questions?
 

Contact Event Organiser

If you'd like to join local community group Slow Food Singleton (just $20/yr) please fill out the form at https://form.jotform.com/213097318871865