Building a "Community" garden...

Our community has been fortunate to be able to secure a grant to build a "Community Garden" through  Sustainable Gardening Australia & the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust. There has been a lot of decisions to make, and ideas to follow up. The struggle to find a site that would work for us, took us through two other options before the local council was able to commit to "our site". Sitting between Commissioner's Creek and the local swimming pool, it has huge potential. The garden isn't a garden where people have an allotment. Rather it is a garden for the community. To garden together, to catch up, to chat, to laugh and to share skills.

willow tree removal - photo thanks to Yackandandah Community Garden web site

There has been community forums to talk about what we want to use the garden for. This was a really interesting session. We have people who are keen amateur gardeners through to professional nursery men. People in their 20's through to people in their 70's. People who have large country gardens and those on town blocks. We are a true cross section with a wealth of experience. We pooled our ideas to come up with a draft plan.

Brainstorming design ideas

Plan designed by Tabatha Barclay

 It has been a wet winter, but on Sunday things started to progress.The two donated 22,000lt water tanks were man / woman handled into place. It has been fantastic to see what has been donated. We are very fortunate.

many hands make light work

We are using a shipping container as our shed, and will cut a door and add a roof with veranda to make it look more like a "shed".

fancy foot work to attach the moving chains

The positioning of the container at the top of the site has the potential to go so very wrong, but thankfully went really well.

So after a morning of progress, a cup of tea and scones was just what we needed.

As a keen gardener, it is so exciting to see progress. Can't wait for the raised beds to go in, and w can start planting!