Growing your own - Together

If your jaw has dropped at the price of a lettuce in the supermarket, if you’ve searched in vain for bok choy, if you’ve wondered what you can do with kent pumpkin for dinner (again!) – you may be one of an increasing number of Australians who are wondering how they might grow their own. The answer may be just down the street.

Shoppers may also be increasingly concerned about costs to the environment when out-of-season produce is flown in from overseas, adding to the problem of global heating. They may also have doubts about the sustainability of industrial-scale production, which can impoverish the soil and require increasing amounts of commercial, inorganic fertilisers.  

For those who are renting and can’t dig up the front lawn, or whose outdoor spaces aren’t vegetable friendly (too shady, concreted, or filled with kid stuff), and who don’t know how to start, a community garden can be the answer. It offers a friendly entrée into the magical realm where seeds turn into juicy carrots and crisp lettuces and seedlings sprout heads of broccoli. Community gardens are also a place for learning, through closely observing the various habits of vegetables as they grow. Families with children know how important it is for youngsters to understand how seeds patted into the soil push their way up as sprouting plants, where the green and orange and red on their dinner plates come from, and why they taste so satisfying.

And then there’s the advantage of being able to ask fellow gardeners for advice: people who know that a handful of lime can sweeten the soil for snow peas and can tell you what season to plant your zucchini (hint: not in winter!). People who lend a hand with setting up a frame for those peas to climb up, who offer you a punnet of seedlings and their excess cucumbers. (And perhaps a recipe for turning them into bread and butter pickles.)

Getting to know the locals strengthens neighbourly spirit and can contribute to a more supportive and resilient community.

There are many successful models of community gardens. In some people rent or are assigned an individual plot, where they grow and harvest what they like, according to their preferences. Other gardens are communal, in that everyone works together to raise the plants and share in the bounty. Many enterprises are organic – places where harmful pesticides and herbicides are off limits.  

For more about how some enthusiasts in Littlehampton in South Australia support their neighbours at their Gum Tree Community Garden, and how the Walyu Yarta Community Garden have been set up in the Adelaide Parklands, see  

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-19/community-gardens-offer-free-produce-as-rising-costs-bite/101165388    

By Wendy Morgan

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