All green thumbs on deck for nursery opening

Supporters of the Margaret River Community Nursery joined volunteers last week to celebrate the opening of the new facility on Clarke Road.

Built and run by volunteers, the nursery is growing thousands of native plants for bush regeneration and rehabilitation projects in the region.

The project was conceived last June and secured seed funding from the Shire of Augusta Margaret River’s Environmental Management Fund.

Work on building the nursery commenced in October and by the end of November, volunteers had built nursery tables, greenhouses and shade houses to raise local native plants from seed and cuttings. The project also involved installing an automatic reticulation system with assistance from Margaret River TAFE Horticultural students.

MRREC Coordinator Peta Goodwin welcomed the new venture to the site which also hosts the Community Garden and the Community Pantry.

Councillor Tracey Muir thanked volunteers on behalf of the Shire, and said it was “amazing” what the group had achieved in a short period of time, while the Shire’s Senior Environmental Officer Kay Lehman said the quality of the plants looked fantastic.

Propagation workshops were held in spring by experienced nurseryman Jeremy Ackerman, so when the new nursery reticulation system was commissioned in early December, plants were ready to be moved to the new facility.

The nursery is now growing over 12,000 tubestock plants representing 58 different species ready for the next winter planting season.

Organising group member Wayne Prangnell said the project has been “really successful because of the fantastic support and efforts of volunteers”.

He recognised 50 volunteers from community who had been involved in building and running the new nursery.

“The Nursery is progressing to its next phase and we are now formalising a management committee and are calling for nominations for a minimum of five positions on the new committee”.

Nominations close March 21 and can be emailed to margaretrivercommuntynursery@gmail.com.

“In addition to volunteers involved in running the nursery, we are interested in people with governance and business experience,” Wayne said.

The Community Nursery also acknowledged the support of businesses and the Shire, which provided funding for infrastructure local businesses including Shelter Construction, Podmores, Specialised Welding, AMR Plumbing and Gas, Aqua Allsorts and Lazarus Horticulture.