Phillip Naughton
Gardener Kew High School

The Kew High School Gardens benefited from above average Spring Rain. The lockdowns caused some loss of time lost during the middle of the year, however, the gardens were kept maintained and tidy. Over the past two years, new gardens have been regenerated along the Burke Road Fence, the Burke road bus stop, the Jacaranda car park and behind the VCE court yard.

During term 2 and 3, the gardens were weeded and mulched. The vegetable garden boxes have had perennial shrubs added due to the predation from animals. The herb garden pots were tidied up.

The Landscape lads helped with the fencing around the native plant garden along Burke Road and finished off the planting out the grasses. They also pruned out the ornamental pear suckers from the shaded garden north of the Library.

The school’s alumni coordinator, Elise Dunstan, along with Kirsten Lomax, developed a team of volunteers and we worked on a new school garden project. The Theatre retaining wall is being made into a vertical green wall. This will be ongoing and many more hours of work will be required.

Next year looks like having more support from students and alumni. There will be many more shrubs to plant out and gardens to regenerate.