Gardening pro Kate Wall will share her tips for successful gardening in a flood zone at an event hosted by the Slacks Creek Catchment Group.
The Slacks Creek Catchment Group is a non-profit community group that works on environmental restoration projects along the Slacks Creek corridor.
One of the groups’ founders, Anna Markul,a said the event was designed to help locals make their yards more resilient to floods.
“One goal of the Slacks Creek Catchment Group is to involve and educate local residents and help them see the connection between the creek environment, waterway health, social/mental wellbeing, and the broader environment including urban backyards,” she said.
“Slacks Creek has quite a lot of wildlife and plant diversity, especially as most of it runs through industrialised and urban areas which many people don’t realise.”
“We wanted a talk about what people can do in their own yard to help make their place more resilient to floods and relate it to the work we are doing along the creek such as improving the environment and providing habitat for wildlife.”
Gardening expert and presenter of the event, Kate Wall, said gardening in a flood zone had advantages and challenges.
“If managed well it can mean fantastic soil that is easy to grow in. If managed badly it can mean rock hard soil that is impossible to dig, that dries out readily and shrinks and expands when the weather changes,” she said.
“Flood zone gardens can be prone to water logging and drainage problems even when flooding is not a risk.”
“Understanding these challenges can mean managing them is such a way that you can easily grow a glorious garden – until the next flood comes and things get very messy.”
During the event, Ms Wall will cover topics including problems caused by flooding, preparing for flooding, drainage and water flows in the garden, the best plant selections and how to care for your soil.
“By understanding these challenges, not only can gardening be easier and more successful between floods, but you have the chance to create a garden that is resilient and there will be less losses when the next flood does come,” Ms Wall said.
“Creating a garden that is resilient to floods will also result in a garden with improved resilience to drought.”
Ms Markula said she hoped the event would also encourage locals to feel inspired about incorporating native plants into their gardens.
The gardening in a flood zone talk will be held at Griffith University’s Logan Campus from 10.30am-noonon Saturday 23 May.
