Community nursery construction gets underway

Construction of the Margaret River Community Nursery is under way at the Old Goods Shed on Clarke Road.

Following the closure of the Tube Nursery in Cowaramup, the not for profit nursery was established to provide tube stock of local native species required for revegetation projects by Friends of Reserves, Nature Conservation Margaret River Region, the Capes Foundation, DBCA and the Shire of Augusta Margaret River.

A spokesperson said the group was aiming to provide a space “where everyone can participate in the regreening of ‘our place’.”

With funding from the Shire, volunteers began the work of construction and planting, while a busy bee saw the recently-erected perimeter fence covered with windbreak fabric and construction of 16 sturdy nursery benches.

At the old Tube Nursery site, Jeremy Ackerman hosted a propagation workshop to teach all aspects of preparing and planting from locally-collected seeds. Sixty trays were planted with 20 different species, to remain there under Jeremy’s care until the new nursery is completed. A subsequent workshop resulted in another 60 trays planted.

Further workshops will be held to learn about propagation from cuttings and to plant out enough cuttings for next season’s revegetation projects. Regular busy bees will also be held to finish construction of benches, set up a wash station (does anybody have an old bathtub to spare?), construct soil bays and build workbenches and storage shelving.

For more info email mrcommunitynursery@gmail.com.