Our Mission is to work together to restore biodiversity in shared urban spaces through the co-creation of beautiful wild gardens that facilitate learning, build community, and support ecological repair.
Community-engaged
Projects
Tended Earth facilitates community-engaged urban restoration initiatives - helping restore urban land, strengthen community connections and foster shared care of the land. Our projects support learning, wellbeing, and ecological resilience through hands-on design, planting, and long-term stewardship.
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![Two children planting flowers in a garden bed on a sidewalk, one boy with red hair wearing black shorts and a black shirt, the other child working on the soil wearing a dark hoodie and gloves.]()
High School Wilding, Brunswick
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![People planting a young plant in the soil during a gardening activity outdoors on a sunny day.]()
Co-Restoration of Yakai Barring
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![A young boy wearing a black and blue plaid shirt, beige shorts, and sneakers pushes a black wheelbarrow filled with gardening tools and supplies along a dirt path next to a grassy canal.]()
Rewilding Moonee Ponds Creek
Meet the Founder
Jo Keeble
Jo Keeble is the founder of Tended Earth, leading projects that integrate scientific expertise, hands-on ecological practice, and collaborative work with schools and communities.
With a PhD in Medical Biology and over 15 years of research experience, Jo brings a collaborative, evidence-informed approach to designing and restoring urban landscapes. Over the past five years, she has co-led a residential garden design and installation practice (Wild Urban Green), alongside delivering community-based planting and restoration projects across inner-north Melbourne.
Jo’s work is grounded in collaboration. She works closely with students, educators, councils and community members to co-create outdoor spaces that support learning, wellbeing and ecological resilience — with a strong focus on long-term care, stewardship and capacity-building rather than one-off installations.
Tended Earth reflects Jo’s belief that meaningful environmental change happens when scientific understanding, local knowledge and community participation come together — creating landscapes that are both ecologically rich and deeply valued by the people who use them.
Core Values
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Each landscape is a living learning environment. Through shared field discovery, we explore and shape urban wild gardens together, strengthening our understanding as we adapt and learn through hands-on experience.
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Biodiverse landscapes and inclusive communities strengthen and reinforce one another. Our wild gardens are welcoming, accessible spaces where all voices are valued, and people feel supported to connect and contribute.
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Our work is grounded in connection and care for the living landscapes that sustain us. Through ecological restoration, habitat creation, and ongoing stewardship, we support the repair and renewal of biodiverse urban environments.
Our Vision, 2026 - onwards
Rewild High Schools
To facilitate community-engaged urban land restoration for learning, wellbeing, and biodiversity.
We believe every public high school should have the opportunity to create wild, restorative gardens that foster curiosity, connection, and ecological repair. By engaging in hands-on “wild” outdoor learning, students, staff, and families can explore, learn, and care for living urban landscapes — strengthening both educational outcomes and our natural environment.
Drawing on collaborations with local experts and pilot studies at Brunswick Secondary College (BSC), Tended Earth is refining a framework for Rewild My School to guide high schools in creating thriving, biodiverse outdoor learning spaces.
We are seeking philanthropic support to make this vision a reality.
A Closer Look at Wild Gardens
Field Notes
Tended Earth supports curiosity-led field studies that explore the ecology of our gardens — from seed set and pollination to propagation and habitat making. Guided by experts, these observations build shared learning and deepen connection with the living systems we restore.
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![Colorful flowers with pink and white petals blooming in a garden bed with dark soil.]()
Seed Set as an Ecological Indicator
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![A young boy with curly red hair wearing a navy and white school uniform crouches down planting pink flowers in a garden bed. He holds a large piece of bark and looks at the plants. Two other children are visible in the background, with one standing and the other bending over, near a red-brick school building.]()
Creating Habitats for Local Fauna
Hands-on Support
Services
Tended Earth provides practical support to restore and enhance urban landscapes across Melbourne’s inner north. Services are designed to empower schools and workplaces to become stewards of land restoration within their own grounds. Our core services are:
Rewilding Programs - hands-on programs to help schools and workplaces create and care for biodiverse wild gardens
Project Proposals - practical, site-specific designs that help you secure funding and approvals.
Planting Days - facilitated school and community planting days.
TAFE Student
Learning Opportunities
Tended Earth provides hands-on experience for Horticultural Students who are interested in community/open-space projects.
