Put your hands and soul into the dirt of your local community garden and let new friendships bloom.
The warm touch of the morning sun, the joyful sound of birds and a nice chat with others are great reasons to join your local community garden.
Gardening is one of those few activities that relieves stress, provides a low-impact form of exercise, and serves as a good excuse to build a sense of community. There are many community gardens on the Lower North Shore like Cammeray and Artarmon where all you need to bring are gardening gloves and a love of growing plants.
On the Northern Beaches, Karen Bond become a member of the Newport Community Garden at Woolcott Reserve eight years ago. Being in touch with nature, improving mental health and being part of the community motivated Karen to sign up.
“I wanted to meet new people in the local area and learn about sustainable and organic gardening for my mental health,” she explains.
Karen says the garden is a very peaceful, quiet place. “We’ve got lots of local birds, and it’s a nice place to sit and read a book, have a picnic or a glass of wine. It’s my happy place.”
Every community garden runs differently. Manly Vale’s is made up of communal garden beds where members grow vegetables to share, and individual ‘private’ plots which a household can rent per year as their own space to grow and harvest what they like.
Harriet Peel, assistant coordinator of the Manly Vale garden, says: “Community gardens are special places because you can meet your neighbours, be close to nature, help reduce food waste and expand your palate. You can also make a bit of healthy mess, or just enjoy all the surprises that the ecosystem has to offer.”
Yalith Ratnavibushena of Allambie Heights makes the most of his overseas training in horticulture, agriculture and landscaping to share his knowledge and passion with Manly Vale gardeners.
Being an active member for more than 12 years, Yalith, 72, says gardening is ‘like a meditation’ and is good ‘because you are in a natural environment thinking about ecosystems, soil, and all the important things for life.’
To join a community garden in your area, visit gardenclubs.org.au/locate-a-club/ or your local council website.
