richmondrambles: City vegetable gardens

If you are popping into Federation Square/NGV Australia/ACMI and more then take a small detour to the roof of the Federation Square Carpark where you will find a Veggie Garden to 'die for'! This Pop up Patch is a joint initiative with the Little Vegie Patch Co and includes more than 150 recycled apple crates as the garden base.

Federation Square Pop up Patch looking towards the MCG

Each of the restaurants and cafes in Federation Square have their own plot and grow fresh ingredients for their daily menus. The plots are subscriber based and cost $3.50 per day (although you can't just buy one for a day - it's an annual fee!). This edible gardening club allows its members to grow and farm their own produce right in the centre of the city. What a great initiative.

Great use of a container - from which useful advice is available!

If you happen to be around on the weekend then there are all sorts of additional 'activities' including Scarecrow Making (and taking home) every Sunday. The trendy Taco Truck will be on-site to serve you while your child creates a scarecrow (12 - 12.30 - Free), wander through the gardens, shop for seeds etc at the garden shop, and every second Saturday there is a hands-on and interactive workshop (1-3pm - $30 book on line here) that will teach you how to grow your own produce. Don't you just love it!

Make a scarecrow, hug a scarecrow and take him home on the tram!! (FedSquare)

Melbourne is full of surprises. Recently the city opened its doors to the public for the annual weekend to visit buildings - many not normally open to the public - in a magnificent Open House initiative giving access this year to 111 of Melbourne's most significant and interesting buildings. I had gone into the ballot to visit the top of the Manchester Unity Building (only 10 people were lucky enough to win out of 35,000 applications!) - but sadly the cards didn't fall my way. The crowds for some buildings were enormous but I happened upon a roof top terrace which was fascinating. Tucked on top of a small inner city building (in Queen Street) was a whole new world.