Getting started with community gardens

Have you given up the quiet of the country for something smaller and more exciting in town? Maybe you’re renting and can’t cut up the landlord’s prize concrete landscaping, or perhaps you’re on a large property and want to hear more than the wind when you’re weeding around your lettuces?

It sounds like you’re ready to enter the world of community gardening and, these days, it’s friendlier (and easier) than you might think to set one up. Gone are the times when community gardens were shacked up with waste management at councils. Today, some councils even have dedicated staff on hand to help you get started, and the wealth of resources now available will stretch your memories of gardening with Grandpa.

Getting a group together

“It’s so important to try to get a mix of people involved,” says Annie Walker, the City of Sydney’s first dedicated Community Gardens and Volunteering Coordinator. “Amazing things have been achieved by three or four people, but so that everything can be divvied around, it’s better to have a core group of 10.”

As with any community group, gardens are usually run by a committee comprising at least three positions: chairperson, secretary and treasurer. Depending on how formally you want to run your group, what you’re looking to achieve and how many members you have, the structure of your community Garden is something that can change over time and be adapted as the situation demands.

At the Glebe Community Garden in Sydney’s inner west, which I help to run, we also have a public officer whose role it is to get the word out among the community, and a deputy to assist the chairperson. Branching out from this are sub-committees devoted to projects or features we want to offer. Other gardens have large committees as they have more members, while yet others are really tiny — it depends on the style of management everyone agrees to.

“Randwick Community Garden has an ongoing workshop program which the members run,” says Annie. “One of them is dedicated just to running regular workshops for new members, who get trained in composting and gardening.”

Aside from that, members of your committee will ideally have good people skills, basic project skills, be able to manage the books and reach out to members who speak English as a second language or who have disabilities. Even if you’re only there to garden, it doesn’t mean there’s no need for a proper structure.

Choosing a site

Perhaps the second most important element to think about when setting up a community garden is choosing a good location with plenty of sunlight. “Solar access is vital,” Annie says. “You need enough sunlight to grow a variety of vegetables, in summer and winter.”

As many community gardens are set up on disused land or in remnant blocks, essentials like this are frequently overlooked. Where do shadows fall from surrounding trees or buildings? Is there still plenty of sunlight in winter, when the sun is lower in the sky? Where does the morning sun strike? How hot does it get in summer?

“Another important tip is to find a location where you can get support from other community groups, or a school, or where there are enough residents living,” Annie advises. Any garden is only as good as the group who tends to it, and if they can’t get to your space easily, they’ll likely drop out and the garden will start to wither.

“You’ll need surveillance of the garden to reduce vandalism,” Annie adds. Water tanks, irrigation systems, tool sheds and even composters are all targets for bored vandals or envious neighbours who perhaps can’t afford them. Nearby public transport or parking should be considered, and access to water is obviously crucial, as is safe footing and secure fittings.

“We’ve had all sort of things go missing,” says Glebe Community Garden Treasurer, Margaret Teague. “The other week, we found a dent in one plot that looked like a polar bear had rolled around in it.”

But that shouldn’t discourage you from working communally. Community gardeners come from all walks of life and don’t just live in tiny apartment blocks, Annie says. “There are lots of people who live in small houses and there are people who are really interested in the social aspect of it or who just want somewhere to compost their food scraps.”

While the environmental movement fuelled community gardens in the 1980s and 90s, today’s gardeners are driven more by concerns for food safety and the simple joy of growing and eating their own produce in an atmosphere of rising food prices and food safety issues. “There’s such a big interest in food: organic food, food miles, trying to reduce packaging,” Annie says.

“Certainly in the past three to four years, people have had a better understanding about climate change and the impact of food [on climate change], and how great it is to grow their own food. Plus, there’s more media interest as well, so gardens are now better publicised.”

Once you have a core group of gardeners committed to the project, the next step is to approach council.

Getting off the ground

The first thing council will probably do is offer you some training. Garden design, soil fertility, composting, permaculture and even worm farm handling courses are often run by councils and offered to community gardening groups to get them going.

“One thing I’ve learnt in this job is that not everyone attracted to community gardening has gardening skills,” Annie says. “If people who access the garden get training, then the garden as a whole does better. They have more confidence and they have a bigger success rate, so they’re not put off by a failed tomato crop, for instance.”

Aside from inspiring more confidence, working together on a course in gardening allows groups to bond and develop ways to co-operate. “In community projects of any kind, you need people skills, project skills and conflict resolution skills, and you don’t always get that,” Annie says. “A lot of people in community gardens don’t even know how to run meetings. All those skills are really important as well.”

Glebe Community Garden meets once a month and the members’ garden at different times as most are busy during the week. Newtown’s Angel Street Community Garden, despite its small size, meets every week and has a social aspect to its group, which can be as important as the garden. Many other gardens meet once a month or so and they cope well without too much administration.

Aside from the food growing and friendship aspects, the physical presence of a community garden is another form of public space enjoyed by the neighbourhood at large. There are many gardeners who can tell you of being surprised to find locals just sitting on a bench or lawn in the garden, admiring the beds.

Says Annie: “People living in the city want to meet other people and be involved in something that makes them feel part of a community. Gardens are way of getting to know people and being connected to a place.”

Now, play nice

That’s not to say community gardens are all models of diplomacy and friendship. In the past, many were known for just the opposite. While this writer has been fortunate not to have encountered any conflict or disagreement a good chat couldn’t resolve, for years community gardens were reputed to be hotbeds of ego-driven drama.

“Things that often cause conflict are when plots become available, the use of any pesticides, or people clashing,” Annie says. “We have helped facilitate conflict resolutions in community gardens where even the best mix of people haven’t been able to resolve a personality clash, or even when there might be really different visions of what a community garden could be.”

Clear guidelines go a long way towards helping members work peacefully with each other. New members need to know how the composters work, for instance, while even seasoned gardeners sometimes need gentle reminding not to leave the hose unfurled or to put down the tomato dust. “In some cases, there can be language barriers among members and these can also create misunderstandings,” Annie adds.

Meeting regularly and making plenty of space in the agenda for discussion is one way to ensure everyone’s voice gets heard. You might not want to use the formal motion and nomination structure some groups use, but at the least it’s expected that big decisions will be put to members in a vote.

“Whether it’s meeting and talking about issues at working bees or communal meetings, the more you make decisions as a group, the less likely your garden will be dominated by just a couple of people,” Annie says.

Harvest the benefits

If you’ve managed to gather a group, forged your bonds over training, reached out to council and settled on a site, then it all looks good — you’re over the easy part. The next stage is where real rewards come forth and, with luck, produce you’ve grown yourself for the table.

With site and access secure, your next task is to develop and grow the garden you’ve just founded into the hive of activity you want it to be. Designing beds, organising supplies and erecting a sign are some of the early activities most people associate with community gardens but, really, those sorts of frills come at the end. Concentrate your efforts on getting together a good group of people and a great site and the rest should follow.

“You do meet the most wonderful and diverse range of people in community gardens,” says Annie. “It takes a lot of effort to set up and maintain a community garden. Everyone’s passionate about what they’re doing and very committed.”

Getting help

• A useful resource for those planning to start or find a community garden near them in the rest of Australia is The Australian City Farms and Community Garden Network website: www.communitygarden.org.au
• The City of Sydneyhas produced Getting Started in Community Gardening which you can download at: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Residents/WasteAndRecycling/WhatYouCanDo/CommunityGardens.asp (PDF, 3MB). It’s a handy, free 77-page reference with plenty of tips to get you started. One thing it doesn’t contain, Annie reveals, is a list of all community gardens as so many are tucked away, like hidden gems. She’s still getting to know all of them. “It’s quite inspiring how many there are.”

Juan-Carlo Tomas is a Sydney journalist with a passion for food and cooking, and a keen community gardener.