Green gardeners pick up tips at Sustainability Expo

Cooking class

Kevin and Dianna Drew

Caitlin Cullen video by Nev Madsen

Newtown Park’s 100th birthday

Carnival of flowers 2012: Laurel Bank Park

Stewart Dorman cab driver

Milliner Bellinda Haase

Weekend sport wrap-up

Harlaxton Post Office

Toowoomba dancers from QJAM

Firefighters backburn Toowoomba escarpment

Paramedics deliver baby

Emerge Fashion Extravaganza

GARDENING guru Jerry Coleby-Williams let himself go to seed before hundreds of Darling Downs eco-warriors at the Pathways to Sustainability Expo.

It is anything but criticism of the Gardening Australia host – under a wide-brimmed straw hat, he looked every bit the backyard statesman.

Calm and collected under intense interrogation by passionate green-thumbs, he planted seeds of wisdom to help every family reduce its ecological footprint.

“People here are actually connected to the environment directly through things like farming,” he said.

“They tend to have a very high environmental IQ.

“Some people just asked some questions I had never been asked at a gardening seminar before.”

Visitors traded secrets about everything from compost to woodchipping while espousing the health benefits of “growing your own”.

The day’s best advice came from Mr Coleby-Williams.

“A family that gardens together is generally a happy family,” he said.

The day was organised by environmental advocacy group Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment at the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE.