A new volunteer gardening group has started work in Beechworth, with five members of the ‘Beechworth Green Team’ rolling up their sleeves at the town’s Railway Precinct Park on 9 August.

Set up by Beechworth History and Heritage Society, the team will hold regular working bees to help care for some of the town’s public gardens and support Indigo Shire Council’s horticultural staff.

BHHS secretary Peter Kenyon said Beechworth’s parks, gardens and streetscapes were part of what made the town such a beautiful place to live in and visit, but maintaining them was an enormous job.

“We thought there was something very practical the community could do to help," he said.

"Rather than simply noticing when a garden needs attention, we can get together for a few hours and do something about it.”

The Railway Precinct Park was chosen as the group’s first project, and neighbour Peter Hempenstall soon joined the five volunteers as they worked their way through garden beds removing chickweed, wild radish, wireweed, couch grass, cape weed and others before they set seed.

“The extraordinary growth of weeds across the North East this winter has made the task pretty pressing,” Peter said

“Cape weed is everywhere this year.

"Spraying has its place, but in established garden beds it can be a fairly blunt instrument.

"Careful hand weeding lets you remove the weeds while protecting the plants you want to keep.”

Peter said the group also hoped its contribution would be about more than weeding.

“There’s a lovely idea behind it: these are our public spaces," he said.

"The council looks after them on our behalf, but the community can take some ownership of them, too.

“Nothing really beats the quality you get from people working carefully, by hand, and there’s something very satisfying about gardening together.

"You can see the difference you’ve made at the end of a morning.”

The Green Team will continue working at the Railway Precinct and hopes to build a pool of volunteers who can participate as often or as occasionally as suits them.

“You don’t need to be an expert gardener and you certainly don’t have to turn up every time,” Peter said.

“If you enjoy gardens, enjoy Beechworth, or simply like the idea of leaving a little corner of the town better than you found it, you’d be very welcome.”

Anyone interested in joining the Beechworth Green Team can contact Peter Kenyon on 0439 975 311 or email beechworthhistoryandheritage@gmail.com.