Tamborine Mtn Edible Garden Trail

“The Tamborine Mountain Edible Garden Trail is an annual event showcasing our community’s best edible gardens. Our mission is to inspire and educate people about sustainable gardening practices and the joys of growing your own food. Each year, we open the gates to various gardens, allowing visitors to see firsthand how local gardeners create and maintain their edible landscapes.”

Book tickets for the 23rd March, 2025 via www.tmediblegardentrail.com.au

Interview with the TMEGT Organiser, Bronwyn Kelly;

What was the main catalyst for starting an edible garden trail on the mountain?

I had been visiting the Samford Edible Garden trail with friends for a number of years and really admired the event they put on. After getting to know the wonderful organisers it became more and more appealing to bring the concept to the mountain. However I did feel like it was a bit an undertaking given that they have a crew of about 100 volunteers, an organising group and sponsorship, and this wasn’t really within my capacity. So after much discussion around an alternative format; digital-only programs, social media for marketing as well as family and friends’ support, it felt like something I wanted to have a go at! The gardens were pretty much the easy part. Permaculture friends came on board enthusiastically and local groups like the men’s shed helped with recycled signage and the whole thing began to take on a life of its own. The fact that it did move so fast showed there was a real interest in this type of growing and the desire to share gardens with each other.

Can you tell us a little about the defining features and style of some of the growers opening their gardens on the Tamborine Mountain Edible Garden Trail in 2025?

Well, one garden is not like the other, that’s for sure! We have four returning gardens and three new ones this year. The Wild Hillside is a testament to being able to garden on any terrain. It’s steep and unruly (in a magical kind of way) and there is so much food growing, but because it’s all mixed in with ornamentals you’d almost never know! My Grateful Garden is like a love letter to herbal medicine. Every space is growing something to eat or something to heal the body. It’s definitely a garden that requires exploration and time to ponder the usefulness of what’s growing. We have gardens that are utilitarian and designed to grow food on a larger scale for the community and gardens that feel delicate in nature, with ferns and rare macadamia growing side by side. There’s a permaculture garden that showcases layer upon layer of subtropical forest - a true feast for the senses. That’s really just a taster of what’s on offer this year.

Who have been your biggest inspirations in the food growing space?

Honestly, everyone! I feel like I’ve found my tribe with gardening and food-growing folk. They want to be healthy, to get their hands dirty and in the soil, and to tend to something that sustains them. Louise from Little Green Patch was my initial inspiration up here. I attended her two day workshop a few years ago and it was so helpful to see what home food growing could look like on the mountain. She was logical and comprehensive and first introduced me to the concept of mimicking the forest in our own backyard. A permaculture design course then followed with Permaqueer, which focussed heavily on social permaculture and food sovereignty and security. These were big topics that got me thinking about how to connect members of the community with each other in the food growing space.

Further afield I’ve had the opportunity to learn from Thiago Barbosa, an expert in Syntropic agroforestry. This style of growing focuses on building energy in a food growing system and I’ve never seen anything like it! Every plant has a life cycle and each cycle supports the growth of the next one. Using this style of growing, hundreds of plants can be put into an area where people often grow just 10 or so and the way it builds soil health is really next level.

What are your thoughts on weeds and the various stages of life and death playing out in the garden?

Weeds are plants too! They are simply plants serving a purpose. If the soil is bare they are thereto cover it. If another plant has finished its life cycle and left a gap, they may come and take itsplace. They really are part of ecological succession.

What sorts of foods are grown on the trail? What seem to be the easiest and more challenging types?

We have changed the time of year for this upcoming edible garden trail, mostly to show folks what grows in the summer season. Last time we ran the trail in early spring, so the gardens will look completely different this time of year. At the moment it’s all about corn, sunflowers, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, sweet potato, tomato and beans! They all grow pretty happily up here but also depends on your own microclimate. For example, a few friends are growing black turmeric for the first time. Everyone planted them at the same time and mine came up a month later than someone else who lives just around the corner! That doesn’t make a lot of sense if you think we all live in this mostly subtropical climate, but you need to consider the amount of sunlight, how healthy the soil is, what’s growing nearby, how wet the season has been and even whether some of the rhizomes have rotted…the list of factors is long and makes life interesting!

What power do you believe we have as individual gardeners and growers to create positive change and solutions to global challenges?

I love this question! I think we can all sometimes feel a little insignificant and powerless. On the surface, me growing a round of corn in summer doesn’t mean much. But it means quite a bit when you realise the corn came from non-GMO seed saved locally and acclimatised to these growing conditions (therefore it will be more robust). It means I’m connected to my neighbours and fellow growers and we share tips on growing, harvesting and storing. It means the food waste I create goes into my compost bin and turns into black gold to be used to build healthier soil each season that enriches my corn crop. So there really is so much about food growing that connects us to ourselves, each other, and country. And when you’re that connected you’re definitely creating a lighter footprint on the planet and contributing to our world in a more appropriate and sustainable way.