The City of Sydney’s popular community gardens program is turning pockets of urban spaces into productive organic gardens run by local residents.
Bourke St community garden in Woolloomooloo is one of the City’s 19 community gardens where urban green thumbs meet to grow local food, foster friendships and embrace sustainable living. Now, an updated community garden policy and guidelines will make it even easier to set up more of these highly valued green spaces.
“Community gardens encourage locals to get back to growing their own food in the heart of the city,” Lord Mayor, Clover Moore said. “These special gardens offer Sydneysiders a place to socialise and grow their own fresh produce.”
“There are already a few innovative community gardens in our local area, using rainwater and composting systems and native stingless bees. We hope the simplified policy and guidelines will encourage more of these great ideas into action.”
The Bourke St garden has recently produced a bumper harvest of lemons and limes, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, kale and rocket. A communal herb garden boasts rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage and parsley.
Garden coordinator Georgina Bathurst has been involved with the garden since it began four years ago, watching it grow from four members to 25 and aged from their thirties, to retirees.
“I love our garden – it’s social and fun,” Ms Bathurst said. “You can have a gentle potter around, or do some real grunt work and get your hands dirty.”
“We have a really diverse group of members and we all take time to help each other out. One of our members writes about food and plants. She lives in an apartment and has never had a garden so she joined to learn how to grow what she writes about. Another member studies horticulture, so it’s a real exchange of information and skills.”
The City has released an updated policy with new set of user-friendly guidelines to make it easier for people like Georgina manage and expand community gardens or for newbies to set up a space from scratch.
The step-by-step guide contains information on basic garden layouts, types of construction materials and composting, and details on insurances and grants.
The guidelines incorporate popular feedback from the community and are designed to:
- Encourage long-term opportunities for the community to help build a greener future;
- Develop gardening skills for community gardeners in the inner city; and
- Foster the “feel good” social side of community gardens.
For more information go to: cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/community/participation/community-gardens
For media inquiries or images, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Adviser Claire Thompson, phone 02 9265 9582 or email cthompson1@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, contact Matt Levinson on 0499 319 385 or email mlevinson@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au