Armidale Tree Group is a not-for-profit community venture which has a brilliant native nursery in Armidale. The group is self -funded, not government funded, and survives on plant sales and contract planting.
One of the greatest unavoidable costs to any nursery is water. The Tree Group’s town water rate bill in the spring quarter last year was $780! In an effort to reduce this, the ATG applied for assistance from the HiCUB project and received financial help to install a windmill with a line to the dam.
The last quarterly bill was reduced to $28. The iconic Australian windmill proved that it’s possible to reduce costs!
Horticulturist, Rob Johnson, explained that the mill, which was erected at the edge of the nursery, pumps from the dam in Black Gully which is part of the 3ha Crown Reserve managed by the Tree Group. This is one of the few surviving urban remnant woodlands.
“The dam was originally built in the creek to irrigate the Newling playing fields and provide water for Newling House, the male residence of Armidale Teachers College, and we have been able to pump all the water we need from there,” Rob said. “We also were able to put in a 2,000litre back-up tank with a pump for those very rare occasions when there is not enough wind to supply our needs.”
The floods in Armidale recently caused a little damage. Rob said that he hadn’t seen the creek break its banks the way it did, in the 18 years he had been there. The season has still been very good with humidity and stock is in really good condition.
The Tree Group has supplied a lot of the plants for the HiCUB plantings, including those planted last Sunday by Armidale Bowling Club into the boggy ground below the dog-walking area. Bottle brush, Tea trees and Lomandra should do extremely well there. So, anyone wondering about gardening in this weather, or needing something to soak up wet patches, should check out what’s available and take advantage of the local knowledge of the staff at the Tree Group. The nursery, in Mann St, is open 9-5 Monday-Friday and 9-1 on Saturday.
Not content with water rate savings, the Tree Group now has a 3kw solar power unit which feeds back into the grid. Last year’s quarterly bill of $440 has been reduced to a credit of $6.
“This means, as well as reducing our costs to allow us to survive in this industry, we are also reducing our carbon footprint,” Rob said, “It’s a win-win situation.”
The HiCUB project is now nearly finished and plantings have been messed up somewhat with the recent rain, but we are sploshing around and have completed quite a few of the Creekland plantings with new England Mutual and EcoLogical each planting their sites last week.
A twilight planting is planned for Walcha on Thursday December 8 and the community is invited to come along from 4pm.
The website has details of all the upcoming events: www.hicub.com
