Kandos Gardens Fair 2018 – Save the Date!

Posted on October 13, 2017 by conventandchapel

Photo 10-10-17, 11 29 14 am

The popular biennial Kandos Gardens Fair is back again and not to be missed by garden lovers. Put Saturday and Sunday 7 & 8 April 2018 in your diaries!

20171003_094514 This is our fifth Kandos Gardens Fair and will not disappoint enthusiastic gardeners. The theme is “Every garden tells a story…” and we have a diverse range of wonderful gardens open for our visitors. Eleven town and country gardens will represent the Kandos Rylstone area – they range from iconic pastoral properties, to town gardens and even a Convent. Different gardens, different locations, different styles.

Of course there will be guest speakers, workshops and demonstrations to participate in. As well as a wide variety of market stalls and entertainment and exhibitions at the various properties.

So much to take in! We recommend scheduling the full weekend to make the most of this exciting event.

If you’re interested in holding a market stall in one of the wonderful gardens, please contact us and we’ll let you know details.

We look forward to seeing you in 2018.

save the date

Preview – a Courtyard Garden

Posted on November 5, 2013 by conventandchapel

‘The Hall’
June and Brian Keech 23 Rodgers Street Kandos
A little over three years ago this small, unique, courtyard garden was a rough patch of kikuyu and weeds. An area was levelled and the workshop erected using recycled materials. The brief was to have a low maintenance and water efficient garden. A small rainwater tank supplies drinking water. The majority of plantings were ‘potted-up’ from the owners’ previous garden and chosen for their hardiness, diversity of foliage and variety of shapes and colours. Succulents, agaves and other desert plants sit happily amongst hardy trees and shrubs from the Mediterranean Region. Prominent throughout is Garden ‘Art’, all of which has been salvaged from tips and throw-aways and reinvented. It is an easy-care garden which looks good all year round. And the best feature for the owners? No lawn mower!

Attractions at the Hall:

Found Objects Stall
Basket Weaving & Floral Work
Ad-Hoc (recycled furniture for home and garden)

The Convent Gardens

Posted on August 6, 2013 by conventandchapel

An early photo of the Convent gardens with formal hedges and garden beds.

Built in Spanish Mission style in the 1930s and home for many years to the Good Samaritan nuns, the Convent is a landmark in Kandos. The building was constructed with great care to detail and specifically built as a Convent with nun “cells”, a Chapel and Sacristy. A Grotto was added in the 1950’s. After the departure of the nuns in the 1970s, the building became a Presbytery for local priests until being privately sold in the last year.

A dated low maintenance canvas to build upon

The gardens, which were formal and well-tended by the nuns, became low maintenance over the last few decades and the new owner is now keen that the gardens do justice to the stately building and the Convent continues to play an important role in the community.

Whilst still finding its feet, the Convent gardens intend to balance productivity and industry with a relaxed country atmosphere and a long-standing heritage of roses. Very little of the original gardens are still in place, other than some old rose bushes. At the Kandos Gardens Fair, visitors will be able to view photos of the gardens throughout the Convent’s life. The new owner has inherited a blank canvas to build upon.

Baby steps to redesign the garden

So far, raised vegetable beds have been incorporated to support a keen cook, herbs have been added, which are a passion for the new owner, and the rose garden has been substantially supplemented. The Grotto has also been restored.

All these activities are understandably very new and will take some time to reap rewards. And much more is planned for the future.

The new owner is excited to be part of the community and participate in the Kandos Gardens Fair. Please say “Hi” when you visit and feel free to give feedback on the gardens as they begin to evolve.

The owner has a blog that you are welcome to visit or follow

http://conventandchapel.com

The new raised veggie beds

The BIG KGF Raffle – Coming Soon!

Posted on August 6, 2013 by conventandchapel

So many great prizes for gardeners! And thanks to our generous local sponsors.

September is our raffle month. We will be sitting inside IGA at Kandos on three Fridays in September – 6^th , 13^th and 20^th. Hopefully we will get good warm Spring days because it can be a bit miserable in front of the opening and closing doors. However we can’t complain – the more IGA customers that come through the doors, the more tickets we will sell!

We are lucky to have such a good business like IGA in town who supports local volunteer groups to hold raffles. Just imagine if we had to sit outside! We will also be selling tickets at Rylstone Markets on 14^th September so please drop by.

We have found the raffle is a good money-raiser and also an opportunity to promote the Kandos Gardens Fair. Our cork-boards will have a poster, photos of past KGF events, a list of our wonderful sponsors and a list of prizes. And there will be a whole bunch of orange flyers to hand out.

Support from local businesses in supplying raffle prizes has been gratifying. As an example Bruce’s Garden Centre in Dabee Road, Kandos, donated the wine barrel planter and three bags of fertiliser as part of our first prize. Bruce has a wonderful selection of plants, mulches, fertilisers, pots, barrels and garden art, as well as firewood (see below). Prices are good too. A number of his wine barrels and pots have been rehomed at the Convent and many other gardens in the area. It’s worth spending a bit of time at Bruce’s looking around as he has some treasures not readily found in many of the bigger commercial nurseries.

Rylstone Agricultural Supplies donated the four packs of mulch for the first prize. Colleen’s chooks (sadly no longer with us) would highly recommend the chook food from there.

Spend some time investigating Bruce’s Garden Centre and you’re sure to come away with a treasure.

A Focus on Sustainability

Posted on June 6, 2013 by conventandchapel

A theme for the 2013 gardens is sustainability. All gardens on show will highlight various aspects of sustainable gardening practices, which is so important to our environment and particularly in rural areas.

Features of gardens will include:

efficient use of water
incorporation of native plants
recycling of materials
use of non-toxic pesticides
use of organic fertilisers
composting
mulching
dry weather tolerant plants
worm farms
vegetable gardens
fruit trees
herbs for cooking and medicinal use
chickens and coops
native birdlife
weed control
animal and insect life
plant reproduction

Drawings by Bev Duff

CWA Kandos Gardens Fair 2018

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