March Monthly Meeting - Kentgrove

What a lovely day for our Garden Club meeting and what an incredible location. Peter Styles had arranged for us to tour the gardens of Kentgrove on the outskirts of Goulburn, owned by his friend Doug Rawlinson.

Kentgrove was built around 1840 – it was originally established as an orchard (up to 30,000 fruit trees) with an amazing history and Doug has certainly done a huge amount of work to revitalise the property since he bought it 10 years ago.

We entered the outer cannery building first and what a surprise – Doug has transformed this 200 sq metre part of the old building (whilst appearing semi-unrestored) into a landscaped temperate rainforest room with ponds, raised walkways and rainforest plants.

The effect is absolutely breathtaking but it is more than that because it supports birds, relaxation and contemplation. We had our morning tea meeting in the actual old cannery (Kentgrove even sold their Argyle jam to England in the 1880s) with our usual runaround of members’ gardens & shenanigans.

We welcomed 2 new members, Merri (who is into biodiversity, bush & animals) and Dave (after 6 years of mulch & water his soil is still very hard, both from Lake Bathurst, and we also welcomed back Vicki, an original member who carries 25 watering cans a day to keep her tomatoes going! What dedication.

Meeting Time!

 Joy asked do you need to tickle runner beans with a feather when flowering? No, no need for sex. Peter & Maria had bumper crops of tomatoes and fruit, Peter & Liz-Ann’s olive trees are currently looking good and Jackie & Doug watched a big kangaroo jump over the 6’high fence into their home paddock.

Irene & Lloyd’s granddaughter had been recently married at Harper’s Mansion in Berrima, a National Trust property, and they recommend we should visit it's gardens, maze and ancient roses.

Lots of members have lost most of their fruit & vegetable crops due to birds – parrots & cockies particularly. Pick your tomatoes green before the birds get them – they will still ripen indoors.

Another common problem is water repellant soils; despite all the rain, it’s not sinking in.  Wazza’s tip was a few drops of environment friendly dishwashing liquid (no phosphates or nasties) in a bucket of water splashed over gardens.

He also said Elephant garlic (Russian garlic) is a cross between leek and garlic and that with any garlic, pick long stalks and hang (not short) – don’t break garlic cloves apart – only break apart when you are planting (March to June) to avoid fungus & mould. For bigger cloves, compost the soil and cut flower heads off the garlic when they appear.

Doug, Kentgrove’s owner, talked to us about the property’s history and entertained us with interesting (true) stories from days past, including arsenic and lace, and explained about the work he has put into the house, the buildings and the gardens from when he bought it in a dead and desolate state, due to years of drought.


Then we wandered outside through the Victorian Kitchen Gardens (on the old tennis court) with its hops arbour. Doug is all about sustainability and climate changing gardening and has even set aside a wooded conservation area of 14 acres in perpetuity.

Your group can visit Kentgrove (small entry fee applies) by appointment, ph 4822 1133 and Doug happily accepts bus tours – Kentgrove, 67 Gorman Road, Goulburn 2580.

Liz-Ann