Joe's Connected Garden

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Adelaide, SA
Joe's Connected Garden

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Community garden with five adjoining properties linked by gates, about 500 varieties of fruit, small nursery with low cost plant sales to maintain them.

This is a new kind of community garden where neighbours have joined together to link their gardens and share the harvests. It is not just about growing food but creating community and fostering respect for the earth and each other. The three original gardens are lovingly tended by Joe Kielnerowski and Rosanne Parker assisted by friends, neighbours and local community gardeners and follow permaculture and organic principles. From the four gardens available on the first opening, there are now around fifteen connected at two close locations, plus some satellite gardens belonging to regular volunteers. We currently have some wonderful helpers who always go home with some plants or produce from the garden and hopefully information to enable them to set up their own gardens at home. We especially love mentoring families with young children. We also have associations with local schools who have supported us over the years and now the classes visit for sustainability and environmental education. Joe has qualifications in urban permaculture design and is occasionally available for garden design projects. In our first opening back in February 2013 nearly 1000 people came through as part of the old Open Gardens Scheme. We have since opened up five connected gardens each year for Open Gardens South Australia and once the Covid lockdown restrictions are over we would like to put on other events with an educational and conscious living focus. Please let us know what you would like! Suggestions are short courses on gardening and permaculture, film, music or meditation gatherings, discussion groups etc. There is also a small nursery in one of the gardens specialising in warm/dry climate fruits. This is simply to fund maintenance of the gardens (and to give away to our volunteers) and we have a plant sale at the open garden and then once or twice during the year that we promote on the page. We are members of the Rare Fruit Society of SA and grow a very large variety of fruit (over 500 different types) including Mediterranean, native, subtropical and exotics. We maintain an extensive fig collection of around 250 varieties and also collections of guavas and mangoes which we are trialling in response to our changing climate. For inquiries, speaking engagements, to arrange a garden club or private group, visit please call Joe on 0402 298 409 or Rosanne on 0402 140 219. Events in the garden, such as workshops and busy bees, can be seen on Facebook or AgriAdventures and booked via AgriAdventures events. Location of the gardens is Elizabeth Grove, half hour north of Adelaide, South Australia. Since we started this page right after the first Open Garden in 2013 our activities and following have grown and we intend to expand what we are doing further in the coming year or so. If you have suggestions about what activities or workshops you would like please let us know as we are very flexible. Most events are free or very low cost. As well as the original group of five gardens at Elizabeth Grove, there is now another group of six gardens a couple of kilometres away at Elizabeth East with extra activities such as beekeeping, aquaponics and poultry raising. A beautiful new indoor activity space is nearing completion which opens up the possibilities of services we can provide. This page and the associated groups are maintained by Rosanne with very occasional identified input from Joe.

29/10/2026

GROW FREE CART 24 DEPTFORD ST ELIZABETH GROVE OPEN 24/7 ALL FREE HELP YOURSELF
Cart has been just topped up, lots of choice today, thank you for the donation

29/10/2026

These are so cute!
Baby ducklings hatched this week found their way to the pond - no trouble swimming!

28/10/2026

BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY 14 NOVEMBER
Sorry have been dragging my feet a bit on this but here is the link so we can have a rough count of who is coming to the party. We need numbers for catering and it will take less than a minute to fill out and tickets are FREE.

BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY/SOCIAL EVENT 14 NOVEMBER We have had a birthday celebration each November for some time for Joe’s and Rosanne’s birthdays a few days apart.

28/10/2026

FIG CIRCLE
Many people are hesitant to plant a fig tree because they fear it will grow too big. Many of us remember when house blocks were a full quarter acre and a giant fig tree covered most of it. Today's baby sized blocks would not contain a treelike that obviously. However, those monster figs were probably never pruned and had been there decades and were so tall they were bird feed only. As you can see in the picture, you can easily keep a fig to a manageable size - between 1.5 and 3 metres - by correct pruning. This means one very hard prune only a year in winter; just chop it off to somewhere between knee and ankle height and it will shoot beautifully in spring and be loaded with fruit late summer through autumn. They will grow in pots if your dirt is really limited but they are not quite as nice as those grown in the ground. When we started we put 21 figs in concentric circles in a 6 x 6 metre square and they still fruit wonderfully each year. Super special prices for the bundles: 10 figs for $130 or 21 for $225. Different varieties - we have about 400 to choose from.

27/10/2026

GROW FREE CART 24 DEPTFORD ST ELIZABETH GROVE OPEN 24/7
Tomatoes and squash plants, home grown broad beans ready bagged, also capsicum seconds from a friend who grows them for the market. The capsicums are fresh but need to be used asap because they all have some slight damage.
EVERYTHING IS FREE First come, first served. Please do not knock on the doors of the house and keep the noise down out of consideration for the residents. Thank you!

25/10/2026

SPOTLIGHT ON FIGS
Figs are our great specialty. We have a significant collection in over 400 pots, nearly all different varieties. At some stage we will likely sequence them to identify duplicates.
This collection is probably the largest available to the general public in Australia. All sorts of colours, sizes and flavours.
Figs produce better and more consistently when in the ground. Most of the ones in the sale can be pruned to knee high each winter, which will limit their size and root spread, as long as they are consistently pruned heavily at that time. Never miss a pruning! They will produce figs all along the new growth in autumn. Some varieties, such as Black Genoa, have a 'breba' crop at the tips of the old wood which ripen at Christmas time. To get these figs, which usually are different to the main crop, you usually need a bigger space to let the tree grow large, preferably far from any buildings where roots can intrude.
We have selected a number of varieties for this sale that we have found will produce well in our climate, although soil type and watering frequency will make a difference.
The trees are quite mature, in compact 5 litre bags, and should produce this coming autumn if planted now. They are available at well below wholesale price, because, as you are aware, we wish people to be able to afford to grow many varieties of fruit at home.
If there is high demand and some fig varieties run out, we will see if we can add any from our collection backups. Figs are one of the best fruits to grow for many reasons: they love our climate and do not need a lot of water, they taste heavenly and are highly nutritious, they are not prone too disease, apart from one good winter prune they are low maintenance but best of all they are very expensive to buy in the shops IF you can find them so having your own is a real luxury. Also, they don’t keep well so shop figs are well past their best: eat as soon after picking as you can for maximum pleasure.

24/10/2026

LOQUATS
Recently we advertised a couple of boxes of loquats on the grow free cart and weirdly the post went viral with many thousands of people reading it. I had no idea that loquats were so popular! They are very easy to grow and our nursery now has a number of 4 year old trees that will fruit in a couple of years for only $15. Order through the square site https://joes-connected-garden.square.site before they run out. Attractive evergreen tree which fruits in spring ushering the feast of summer fruit so get one of your own of you really like them as they are not usually in the shops. Our trees are available for pick up on Thursday (2 to 4) or Saturday (10 to 3) at Elizabeth or by arrangement at Brompton if that is too far for you to travel.

23/10/2026

PLANT SALE PROGRESS REPORT
We still have stocks of most things so the sale will be live for a bit longer. Joe is having to do it by himself as I am still unable to walk properly. He has his system so if we all try and stick to it, there will be no frustrations. Pick up times are 10 to 3 on Saturdays and 2 to 4 on Thursdays, all from Andrew's Urban Farm at 45-47 NORTHAMPTON CRESCENT ELIZABETH EAST on the deck at the back. Please do not go to the Argent St site as, although some plants are kept there, all orders will be available for collection at the Urban Farm. When your order is ready for collection you will get an email from Joe so don't go before you get that email or we may not be able to find your order. If you live near the city or way south, there is the option of picking up your order from Brompton where Joe will deliver those orders around 10.30 Sunday and you can collect any time after that. I hope that works out for everyone.
There were a lot of new names ordering and we had a grow free post go viral so just a brief word of explanation about who we are. We are not a commercial nursery but three retired people - Joe, Andrew and Rosanne -with a passion for plants, especially unusual edible ones who grow things as a hobby. So all proceeds from the sale go 100% back to the garden to pay the bills for plants and water and we do it as a labour of love so we can provide cheap plants to encourage people in the area to garden and Joe can provide classes to school children during the week. Thank you for choosing us rather than a commercial nursery.

Send a message to learn more

23/10/2026

THE BIG ROOM UPSTAIRS!
Here are a couple of pics of our room for rent upstairs; they are a bit dark as they were taken at night these show the size and features of this lovely room. This room is a little higher rent than the others as it is a studio apartment and you are getting so much more.
• As well as this room as your private space, you have access to the common kitchen and the very large community lounge (pictured).
• It’s a huge room about 7 x 9 metres taking up the whole of the upstairs space. Equal in size to two normal sized bedrooms. It is furnished with a Queen bed and desk.
• It’s very quiet and private avoiding some of the problems that can occur when strangers share a house. Raise the roller shutter and you have a view of the tree tops.
• WIFI, electricity and water included.
• Electronic keyless entry front and back door and bedroom door.
• There a little kitchenette with a sink, small fridge and microwave so if you like simple meals in private you can or you have the choice of using the communal kitchen downstairs for cooking, socialising and eating.
• Ensuite bathroom so no waiting or sharing.
• Split system air conditioner for year-round comfort
• Communal areas large lounge room lots of seating with television. Kitchen dining, laundry covered veranda leading to the large connected permaculture gardens running on the ethics of Earth Care, people Care, Fair Share, planted with food, especially a wide variety of fruit you can pick as well as a Grow Free cart out the front.
• There are three other women living in the house with our concerns for privacy and comfort paramount.
• Quiet street with good neighbours situated in Joe’s Connected Garden at Elizabeth Grove with Joe as your back neighbour.
• All inclusive price $395 per week gives you the space and privacy of a house at least $200 less.

22/10/2026

AUCTION OF HOUSE ACROSS THE ROAD FROM JOE'S
Four bedroom house with large garden at 11 Argent St Elizabeth Grove - directly opposite Joe's house - being auctioned next Tuesday. Take a look if you would like to live near us! Late news Tuesday likely price around $599,000 now as prices are dropping. Lots of land and accommodation at a very reasonable price.

Address

6 Argent St Elizabeth Grove
Adelaide, SA
5112

Telephone

+61402298409

Website

http://joesconnectedgarden.wordpress.com/, https://joes-connected-garden.square.site/

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