Reg Kidd, Garden Guru

My vision for Orange is to maintain what we have, but always plan for the future. Places like the Lake Canobolas Earth Sanctuary are being developed for the future. I would also love to see the development of more community gardens where people can meet and older people can pass on tips to younger people.

	For over 20 years Reg has been doing the ABC gardening talk-back program, offering practical advice to people with questions about their plants and gardens. He worked at TAFE for a number of years developing horticultural courses until 1998 when he left to set up his own business, AgAssist. Reg has been involved in many garden initiatives in Orange including the Orange Botanic Gardens.
Image courtesy: Elisabeth Edwards

I was raised in Frederica Street and both my parents were keen gardeners. We had a standard quarter-acre block where everything happened. That was where you played cricket and where you had your cubby house. Basically your life revolved around backyards, parks or open paddocks.

In those days most people had a vegetable garden and most would have fruit trees. As kids we would go fruit picking in the school holidays for cherries, apples, pears and plums. There were lots of orchards in that part of Orange and part of the fun was pinching peaches or apples on the way home from school. Those were the days when everyone made relish and preserves and there was always fruit being swapped, always someone giving someone else potatoes.