SPROUTS: Garlic seeds have started to sprout after only a week in the Food Ladder hydroponic community greenhouse.
Jobfind, in conjunction with the Food Ladder and Katherine Indigenous Women’s Association, have started to see the fruits of their labour as the first lot of seeds began to sprout within a week of planting. The community garden is getting busier each week with more participants helping to get the 62 types of plants into the ground.
Katherine Indigenous Women’s Association chairperson Taryn Kruger has plans to engage the community with the garden. “The other way is showing them how to grow it in the beds,” she said. “Bringing back that 80s thing where everyone used to grow everything in their backyard and now it’s like run to the markets.”
Ms Kruger said tomato and rosella were two of the more popular plants, and there were plans to run a competition to see who could make the best rosella jam. Ms Kruger said they had already approached the schools, which had already started their gardens, to help them maintain their own plants as well as setting up a training garden at the community greenhouse site.
Katherine Indigenous Women’s Association have also been working with Charles Darwin University to become qualified trainers and assessors to further develop the skills with the community. Local businesses have also started putting in requests for fresh produce from the garden, with more expected to come.
