• Rhyll McMaster grows her veggies in this apartment block in Chippendale - this is the view from her apartment looking to the east
Here is Coco’s story about how to grow veggies in a Chippendale apartment.
Coco Sekiya, an intern at Sustainable House, is from Japan and studying at Sydney University. Coco says that she had never heard of growing veggies in an apartment until she met a Chippendale gardener, Rhyll McMaster, who grows and eats her veggies and doesn’t need to buy them.
Blog by Coco Sekiya
On 6th March this week, I visited one Chippendale resident Rhyll McMaster who is a neighbour of Michael Mobbs who I am interning with.
Rhyll lives in a ground floor apartment in Chippendale, Sydney, in a large complex of flats that many families and singles live in.
Rhyll showed me around her garden in a courtyard in the apartment block. Edible plants including Thai basil, Lebanese Cucumber, Parsley, Rocket, Okra, French Sorrel, Chilli and Capsicum, Asparagus, Fennel, Artichokes and Sweet Potato leaves that she’s growing, made me glad to see how wonderful she’s gardening in an urban setting. Rhyll loves cooking some vegetables from her garden, so she hasn’t bought salad vegetables from the shop since summer started.
• Rhyll’s veggies grow outside her unit which is on the western side of the internal courtyard of the apartment complex and gets morning sun through to about mid-day
Rhyll moved to this place a few decades ago and knew how to grow plants and food as she managed a farm in the 1980s. However, gardening in an urban situation is different from the one on a farm.
On my phone I recorded some of Rhyll’s story.
Rhyll:
“Hello my name is Rhyll McMaster. I’m a poet and novelist, and I love to garden. I live in a courtyard garden situation.
Gardening in an urban setting is sometimes not easy as you may not have much space, and may need to use garden pots to plant, and cannot get enough sunlight sometimes.
The courtyard that has my garden is facing east, but it is set in the middle of a big building complex of flats, so sometimes the garden’s in shade because of the buildings.
But in the morning, facing east, the sun comes in and through the garden. I have a low wall so the pots down below the wall are still in shade in the morning.
As the sun progresses north, the sun comes down over the top of the buildings, so we get the sun fully on the garden beds from mid-morning.’
Also, Rhyll’s next-door neighbour’s garden gets morning sun, but because it is blocked by the building, he only gets full sun from mid-day onwards for a couple of hours and there’s a part that does not get sun all day. In winter, as the sun has a lower path in the sky, they get more shade in their garden.
• Looking up at the sky to the north after mid-day, the sun has moved out of view from the garden and is moving to the west
• Yes, my drawing is simple - I hope it tells the story accurately, though!
It doesn’t mean that we can’t grow plants in the shade and not having enough sunlight in our garden could sometimes be to our advantage.
Rhyll showed me Thai basil that she made cuttings from to plant in the neighbour’s shaded garden bed, and the cuttings are doing very well in the shade. Also, Cucumber and Okra below the wall in shade seemed to be growing very well.
• Rhyll’s okra plant
• Cucumbers
I learnt that if we put a plant in the place with lots of sun all day, it dries up faster and gets more heat especially in summer, so we need to take care of it with more frequent waterings.
I measured the surface temperature of the brick in shade and in the sun. It was 3pm in one of the hottest days this summer and the temperature was 38 ℃.
• I measured the brick tiles in shade at 38 degrees
• In the direct sun the same tiles are 49 degrees!
You can see it shows the surface in shade is 38.9℃ and in the sun it is 49.7℃, very hot!!
Here’s one tip from Rhyll for gardening:
Rhyll sometimes takes fallen paperbark from the native paperbark trees in the surrounding streets and puts it on the bottom of the planting pots to prevent the drainage holes leaking too fast. It is cool to reuse found materials, and she puts some of the paperbark into coolseats compost bins near her apartment to turn it back to soil.
Rhyll:
“It is important to see how each plant grows and know what kind of habitat they prefer. You need to put “right plant in right place”. Just try and see what happens, and if it does not work, try another way.”
After showing me around her garden, Rhyll kindly showed me an edible hedge she’s growing in a raised bed garden in the footpath verge with Michael Mobbs in Shepherd Street in a footpath community garden in Chippendale.
• Three little new Chilean Guava in a raised bed garden, Shepherd Street, Chippendale, NSW
In Chippendale, people have community gardens in the footpath that anyone can grow plants and enjoy.
Rhyll:
“I planted Chilean Guava in one of the garden beds along Shepherd Street that will eventually grow into a hedge with the help of Michael. I’m looking forward to seeing it growing and see people enjoy the fruits sometime.”
• I have measured the little plants so I can compare their height and width now and at the end of my internship this university semester
Rhyll talked to me very kindly and calm, which made me think she might get a rich and caring mind from gardening in amongst the busy life in an urban city.
My blog above is below in Japanese - I hope this blog will bring more apartment gardens in Japan.
by
Coco Sekiya
私がインターンをしているマイケルさんの隣人のRhyllさんの家を訪問しました。
RhyllさんはChippendaleの多くの人が住むマンションに住んでいます。
彼女のガーデンはアパートの中庭にあり、タイバジル、きゅうり、パセリなどの野菜を育てています。都会の環境で多くの美しい植物を育てている様子にとても驚きました。
普段はガーデンでとれた野菜を使って料理をしているそうで、夏が始まってから一度もお店でサラダ野菜を買っていないんだそうです。
Rhyllさんは数十年前にこの場所に住み始め、以前に農場を経営していたことから野菜の育て方は知っていました。しかし、都会でのガーデニングは全く違うものでした。
Rhyllさん: 私はRhyll McMasterといい、詩人と作家をしておりガーデニングが大好きです。都会でのガーデニングはスペースがなかったり、栽培に植木鉢をつかう必要があったり、十分な日差しを得ることができないなど大変なことも多いです。
私のガーデンがある中庭は東に面していますが、大きな建物の真ん中にあるため日陰になってしまうこともあります。
しかし朝には東から太陽が上がってきて庭に日差しが入ります。植木鉢に光が届くように高さの低い塀を置いていますが、それでも日陰になってしまうことも多いです。太陽が北に進むにつれて建物の真上に移動し、お昼前になるとたくさんの光を庭に取り入れることができます。
（南半球のオーストラリアでは太陽は東から北を通って西に沈みます。）
また、彼女の隣人の庭は朝に太陽の光を得ることができますが、建物に阻まれて1日中光が届かないところもあります。冬には、太陽が低い位置を移動するためさらに影が増えてしまいます。
しかし、日陰が多いということは植物を育てられないということではなく、時にはそれが利点となることもあります。Rhyllさんは1日中日陰となる場所で育てているタイバジルを見せてくれましたが、とても良く育っています。また、塀の下の日陰で育てられているオクラやきゅうりもとても元気です。
もし太陽が1日中当たる場所で植物を育てようとすると、特に暑い夏には土が早く乾き、さらに水をやるなど定期的なお世話が必要になります。
これは日差しと日陰の煉瓦の表面を測った様子です。
夏の暑い日に計測し、気温は午後3時の時点で36℃でした。
日陰だと38.9℃、日なただと49.7℃となっているのがわかると思います。とても暑いですね！
ガーデニングのヒント:
Rhyllさんは道に落ちているネイティブペーパーバックの木を植木鉢の底にしき、水が土に留まるようにしているそうです。たまたま見つけた素材を再利用し、使い終わったあとコンポストビンのCoolseatに入れ、土に戻すことはとてもクールです！
お庭を見せていただいたあと、彼女はMichaelさんとShepherd通りにあるコミュニティガーデンで育てている植栽を案内してくれました。
Chippendaleでは誰もが好きな植物を育てて楽しむことができるコミュニティガーデンというものがあります。
Rhyllさん: Shepherd通りではチリアングァバと呼ばれる植物をMichaelさんと育てており、いずれ道路沿いの植栽へと育ちます。成長を見て、人々がそこから採れたフルーツを楽しむ時を見るのをとても楽しみにしています。
Rhyllさんは私にとても優しく落ち着いた口調で話してくださり、ガーデニングから都会の喧騒の中のひとときの心の余裕と豊かさを得ているのかもしれないと思いました。