Gardening guru Costa Georgiadis meets Samford's green thumbs during special visit

Gardening guru and television presenter Costa Georgiadis was all smiles over the weekend when he met with local green thumbs after making a special trip from Sydney to Moreton Bay.

Costa was the guest of honour at a special announcement on Friday morning made by the volunteers behind the Samford Edible Garden Trail, who happily shared their vision of creating a community garden for residents to grow and share their own food.

The community garden will be built adjacent to the Samford Scout Den, with the design phase for the garden now underway.

Susanne Engelhard, who helped set up the Samford Edible Garden Trail, said it was exciting to have Costa visit the region.

“Costa had a fantastic time here in Moreton Bay and we loved having him here,” she said.

“He ran Friday’s event for us, held workshops, spoke about important things you need to remember when gardening, such as looking after your soil and composting, and collected designs for the garden which were made by the kids.”

Susanne said there was a running joke of the morning which kept everyone entertained, especially Costa.

“I was talking about the history of the land, and how we were looking for the perfect spot to establish the community garden,” she said.

“When we connected with the Scouts and discovered this piece of land, we set up an agreement to use that land at a cost of $1 a year.

“Costa thought it would be funny to hand the dollar over to the scouts, who then handed it back to us, and then it was handed over to the bank.

“From that, Costa then spoke about the importance and value of money, and how the dollar coin is round, signifying community connection, and how everything has a special value to it depending on how we value it.”

Speaking during a Facebook live feed, Costa described the event as “pretty special”.

See the gallery of photos from the event below. 

Have your say on the garden design

Susanne and a dedicated group of volunteers who are determined to bring the garden to life are now in the next phase of determining how the garden should be set up.

“We are now in the design phase and as a group we will gather in June and work out our plan,” she said.

“We will start by looking at some grants, and then our focus will be to put a call out for people to get involved in some working bees.

“We also currently have a competition to name the garden. If you have an idea, you will need to submit it to us by June 30.

“We want the name to reflect the area and the history and what it means to us as a community.

“We are also seeking expressions of interest from a local artist or creator to see if they would be interested in creating a design for our welcome archway or gate.

“If you would like to get in touch with us, we can provide more information for you.”

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Garden Trail to be rescheduled

Sadly, due to the intense rainfall that drenched the Moreton Bay Region last week, the much-anticipated Samford Edible Garden Trail, which was scheduled for May 14-15, had to be postponed.

“Because of the rain we had to postpone the trail, which we hope to hold again in June,” Susanne said.

“We will hold it as soon as possible and give people two to three weeks’ notice.

“Anyone who has tickets will be able to use them that weekend instead.”

A total of 10 private gardens and three working farms were due to open their gates over the weekend.

However, Susanne and Costa still gave people a glimpse into some gardens by going live on Facebook.

You can follow Samford Edible Garden Trail on Facebook by clicking here.

See more photos from Costa's visit below. 

Sightseeing across Samford

During his visit, Costa also got to explore more of the region by stopping in at local businesses, including the Samford Patisserie and Café, and meeting with locals in the street.

Costa also led a panel discussion which was held on Saturday night, which produced lots of food for thought and inspiration.

In attendance was Phil and Alice from Loop Growers Farm, Rob from Food Connect Brisbane and Micah from Moreton Bay Council’s Grow it Local and Community Garden Program.