There’s only one way to describe ‘Gardening After Floods’ hosted by Gardening Australia presenter Sophie Thomson: heartwarming.
At the aptly named The Connection, Shepparton, on Thursday, October 19, flood-affected residents and supporters gathered for the Resilience in Recovery event.
Among them the instigator of it all: Vicki Woodhouse.
While scrolling through her Instagram feed, Ms Woodhouse came across Ms Thomson’s flood recovery work in South Australia.
A message and a handball over to Greater Shepparton City Council was all it took to get the ball rolling.
“It fit beautifully with council’s plan for Resilience in Recovery,” Ms Woodhouse said.
“Some people prepare the ground; I was the seed planter.
“Other people have nurtured the idea, and today is like the harvest of that.
“Many people generally benefit from the harvest, and that’s what I’m seeing here today.”
As a Kialla resident, Ms Woodhouse knows first-hand the “layers of impact” of the 2022 October floods.
“We’re trying to re-group our whole life. Demolishing, rebuilding, displaced – we’re still not in permanent housing and probably won’t be for another year-and-a-half,” she said.
“We’ve got little pockets of the garden that we’re concentrating on maintaining to give us an activity, something that looks like it survived because it’s too hard to look at the big picture of everything that’s not working or is broken.
“We’re just breaking it down to what is manageable and possible.”
Ms Thomson’s discussions at the event varied from bringing soil back to life to free resources that are available, like mulch.
For those who did not experience water damage from last year’s floods, she suggested propagating more plants and sharing them among people rebuilding their gardens.
Whether directly flood-affected or a helping hand to those who are, all parties agreed Ms Thomson’s discussion was embracive, relative and inspired hope.
As for Ms Thomson, she was very impressed by the Shepparton community.
“It’s really beautiful, a gorgeous place,” she said.
“I’ve done a lot of work within communities in bushfire recovery, drought recovery and flood recovery, and I know how important it is to acknowledge the loss of a garden and get people gardening again quickly because that will support their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
“Everyone who attended today wants to know either how to reconnect or how to support their community; it’s fantastic.”
Anyone interested in learning more about gardening post-floods are encouraged to contact Resilience in Recovery for support at recovery@shepparton.vic.gov.au