Parking: Parking is limited so please enter the Ecovillage via Wolghine Ave, then take the first right onto Willerin Lane. Follow the signs to park your car – Gardens 4, 5 and 6 are all a short walk from there! Please see our volunteers if you have mobility issues and need to park closer.

About: Mark Tupman is a soil, compost and productive gardening wizard who taught horticulture at TAFE, is the horticulture manager at the Ecovillage and runs Productive Ecology – a local consultancy and education business that specialises in establishing integrated living production systems. If you’ve got a question about soil or plants, we reckon Mark knows the answer.

His latest project is turning a 2-acre agricultural block at the Ecovillage – which only a few months ago was bare paddock with a handful of goats – into what will be a vegetable growing powerhouse. See how he’s set out a dozen, 12m-long beds for maximum efficiency and productivity; how he’s pumping life into the soil using cover crops and the power of photosynthesis; and how companion planting and other techniques allow him to go fully organic with bumper yields. This site will also become a hub for workshops and an educational space at the Ecovillage into the future.

Mark will discuss how to establish a productive garden from scratch, so if you’re starting on a new site or you’re new to gardening (or even an old hand), don’t miss this opportunity to share in Mark’s extensive wisdom!