Tended Earth partners with schools and communities across Melbourne’s inner north to transform urban land into biodiverse, resilient gardens that support wellbeing, learning, and ecological repair.

Community-engaged

Projects

Tended Earth supports community-engaged urban restoration projects and 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.

Land Restoration in Public Schools

Investment Opportunities

Tended Earth partners with local public schools to deliver hands-on “wild gardening” learning initiatives that build curiosity, connection, and capability in students while creating beautiful, biodiverse school gardens. “Wild Gardening” activities will include building natural habitats for local fauna, increasing biodiversity by planting ecologically appropriate species, propagating plants from seeds, and caring for wild gardens.

Importantly, Tended Earth will help public schools build connections with local experts, environmental community groups, learning institutions, and the City Council. These connections strengthen the knowledge and skills required to sustain ongoing community-engaged land restoration in schools.

We are seeking investment in Tended Earth to fund the facilitation, mentoring, and coordination required to deliver these initiatives. This financial support will enable long-term program sustainability and help schools leverage additional grant funding — creating measurable ecological, educational, and social impact.

Invest in Tended Earth

Hands-on Support

Services

Tended Earth provides practical support to help schools and workplaces restore and enhance urban landscapes across Melbourne’s inner north. Services are intentionally designed to build community, knowledge and capacity - empowering schools and workplaces to become stewards of land restoration within their own grounds. Core Services offered by Tended Earth 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.

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TAFE Student

Learning Opportunities

Tended Earth provides hands-on experience for Horticultural Students who are interested in community/open-space projects.

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A woman planting a young sapling in a garden bed surrounded by wooden fences.

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 rigorous, 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, 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.