A weekend focusing on gardening aims to help bring life back into the yards damaged in last year's bushfire in the Tathra district.
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The Garden Recovery Forum will be held on Saturday, August 24, in Tathra then eight inspiring gardens in the town will open to the public on Sunday, August 25.
"Sixty-five people lost their houses, but lots more people lost their gardens," one of the event's organisers Pip Marshman said.
"There's probably hundreds more that had damage to their gardens."
She and co-organiser Christine Hamilton said it was hard to speak for all the people affected by the March 2018 bushfire, but while some who had moved into their new houses were feeling positive others still needed help.
"It's not even two years and we're really just starting to get into the recovery stage," Ms Hamilton said.
"We just thought that people needed some help generally, that people were struggling to decide what to do with their gardens and how to even start it.
"So basically the forum aims to provide inspiration and knowledge to give people a little bit of a kick start."
Half of the gardens available to the public on the open garden day are ones that have been planted since the bushfire.
"The idea of that is for them [the owners] to be talking to people about why they've done certain things, the way they approached everything," Ms Hamilton said.
"A couple of people who had gardens burnt said they were able to replant it the way they wanted, but that's not always the case."
The free forum will feature presentations on subjects such as soil treatment, water harvesting, local plants, composting and sustainable design and includes guest speakers, demonstrations, a barbecue and giveaways.
It will be held on August 24 from 10am at the Tathra Surf Life Saving Club.
The free open gardens day will be on August 25 in the Tathra district. The addresses of the gardens are:
- 6 Riverview Crescent, Tathra River Estate, 10am-12noon;
- 19 Thompson Drive, Tathra River Estate, 10am-12noon;
- 14 Thompson Drive, Tathra River Estate, 10am-12noon;
- 72 Bega St, Tathra, 12noon-3pm.
- 51 Bay St, Tathra, 11am-1pm;
- 45A Andy Poole Drive, Tathra, 11am-1.30pm;
- 9 Ocean View Terrace, Tathra, 1.30-3pm;
- 47 Wildlife Drive, Tathra, 1.30-3pm.
The weekend's events are open to everybody and organisers would love to see people from the Reedy Swamp, Vimy Ridge Rd, Brogo and Bemboka areas attend, as those regions were also impacted by bushfire last year.
If you want to attend the forum register by contacting Ms Hamilton on 0429 941 500 or bctathra@bigpond.new.au.
The weekend is supported by the Bega Valley Shire Council fire recovery and resilience grants program, Bega Rotary Club and Landcare.
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
