
Sustainable Gardening Australia Foundation
SGA s principal purposes are to: encourage, educate and enable home and professional gardeners to adopt sustainable gardening practices to protect or enhance the natural environment or a significant aspect of it; and provide information or education about, the natural environment impacts of gardening on the natural environment, soil conservation, water quality, biodiversity and ecologically sustainable development. SGA provide educational information to increasing numbers of readers because of its significant online presence and dedication of its staff and volunteers. All our activities aim to inspire, empower and connect individuals, communities and organisations to contribute to sustainability. ACTIVITIES Educational Workshops/Webinars We have continued building capacity to run a webinar program and facetoface garden training workshops. We are always developing new course content to meet customer demands. a. Educational events in partnership with local government, libraries and other community organisations 51 training sessions were delivered to over 1,200 participants. As well as our sustainable gardening education service to local government, we are increasingly providing workshops and webinars for a wider variety of organisations such as neighbourhood houses, local indigenous nurseries, libraries, corporates, large businesses and community groups such as gardening clubs. b. Our Master Class program was redesigned and expanded. 21 Master Classes were presented to 746 gardeners. Risks of Chemical Garden Products to the Natural Environment and Humans SGA s guide to risks associated with chemical pesticides and herbicides, called WiseGardening Choices to Protect You and the Planet is available on app which we have developed. It is based on publicly available robust scientific information and, via easily understandable symbols, shows risks of over 850 chemical garden products to birds, bees, fish, worms, frogs and a range of mammals, such as pets. It also shows risks to aquatic species apart from fish and indicates ingredient persistence and mobility in soil, risks to human and whether product ingredients are carcinogens or endocrine disruptors. Safer nonchemical approaches are also listed. WiseGardening app has over 9,600 users and 58,000 views. SGA Website Sixteen new articles have been added to the site on a range of diverse topics. This brings the total number of informative articles to 445. The site had 706,000 unique views per year and over 380,000 users over the year. Newsletters Free monthly newsletters (Cuttings) featuring website articles have been sent to over 17,000 subscribers. Quarterly newsletters (Flourish) have been sent to 239 paying associate members (Friends of SGA). Social Media SGA Facebook followers have increased to 25,700 and Instagram followers to over 7,800.