General News
10 February, 2022
Bruce’s garden growing tall
AT the ripe old age of 87, Bruce Sainsbury’s green thumb has helped to sprout a thriving vegetable garden as part of Terang and Mortlake Health Service’s social support group.
AT the ripe old age of 87, Bruce Sainsbury’s green thumb has helped to sprout a thriving vegetable garden as part of Terang and Mortlake Health Service’s social support group.
The garden area at the rear entrance of the Josie Black Community Health Center was established in efforts to help cater the social support program to the wants of its clients.
Few have taken the opportunity the way Mr Sainsbury has during his decade as a client of the social support group.
He has supplied all the seeds to be planted across four large, raised garden beds which currently feature tomato, lettuce, capsicum, beetroot, corn, beans and peas.
Mr Sainsbury said he has been growing the vegetables with the group for a number of years, selecting what to plant based on what would maximise yield and work well together.
“It’s the most you can get in a small space,” he said.
“It stops the wind and the bugs getting through, and they’re more or less complementing each other.
“The time of year also determines what gets planted based on what is in season. Tomatoes are best planted around November to give you three months of good weather.”
Once the produce is ready for harvest, the vegetables are shared between social support clients for them to whip up a range of tasty meals.
The burgeoning garden beds are a point of pride for Mr Sainsbury, not just as a weekly activity but a passion he has enjoyed throughout his life.
When speaking with Western District Newspapers among the vibrant crops last week, he fondly recalled memories of agriculture which had lingered through the years.
“I started off gardening with my mother when I was a little one,” he said.
“I used to go and get in her garden and pinch her cucumber, grab a salt and pepper shaker and eat it, skin and all.”
He also acknowledged the sweetest yields were not always the ones you grew yourself.
“When I was about eight or nine, I used to swim across a river in Wagga to a Chinese garden, which had watermelons and rockmelons,” he said.
“I couldn’t swim but I could float down and dog-paddle my way to the bank, then grab a watermelon with a length of vine still attached.
“I’d put the vine in my mouth and dog-paddle back to the other side, punch a hole in the watermelon and eat it on the riverbank.”
Terang and Mortlake Health Services health and leisure assistant Catherine Hayden said the social support service, much like the garden beds, was something the clients could make their own.
Feedback plays a key role in shaping the activities which are implemented under a simple ethos of by the clients, for the clients.
While the social support service includes plenty of excitement, such as the return of bus trips across the region last week, there are also a range of activities available at the centre; including helping Mr Sainsbury cultivate the garden.
“We’d love to welcome anyone who is like-minded who would like to come along and mess around in the garden,” Ms Hayden said.
“If anyone out there would like to come along on a Friday morning, they would be more than welcome.”
Anyone wanting to become a client of the social support group was invited to visit the Josie Black Community Health Centre on a Friday morning and speak with one of the staff members. All are welcome.
