Hello Community Garden Members
We toured some of the proposed potential sites for our first community garden. Here are some points raised on the day with pros or cons for each site:
– Upper Kedron Recreational Reserve Upper Kedron road. This site had ample space and close to toilets. The soil is poor as is most locations around Ferny Grove. There was a feeling it was isolated and not visible to the wider community. After some discussion it was suggested that this could be over come with signage and promotion.
– Ferny Grove Bushland – next to the Ferny Grove High School. This area has an existing permaculture site created by the High School. This site offered a good opportunity to develop a partnership with the High School. Soil is poor and area available may be too small. It also is heavily shaded from the morning sun. The site is surrounded by large trees. We may have to use new materials with this site as well which could limit our vision of a sustainable community. The High School has very good support facilities for a garden and we may be able to obtain the OK to use the facilities.
– Ferny Grove Bushland – behind Ferny Grove Police Station. The soil is better on this site. The best location would be close to the train line it is open and clear from trees with ample space to expand. The area is subject to flooding and has the risk of being washed out but this should be a rare event if at all. It is a good distance away from the road and it would be desirable to have vehicle access to the park. The area has black soil and will not have vehicle access in wet weather. It has good visibility from the Dog Park and Samford road. Toilets may be a problem for this site.
– Park land on Movilla ST Ferny Grove. The site is surrounded by Townhouses which have no space for a food garden. This gives good scope to bring locals in to grow their own food which fits with the vision of Transition Town. It is a small park but there is enough room for a good size garden. There are a number of young trees that will grow which would cause some problems. Public toilets are with in 400m. The park has poor soil.
– Cassimaties Park Samford road Ferny Grove location in the middle of the circuit path. The site is close to toilets. There was some concern about the site being so close to the skate park. As Ian mentioned this also gives the potential for a positive if the kids are engaged in the project. The soil is poor.
– Parkland on Coachwood ST Keperra. The park is too small to place a garden in this site it would take up too much space. The Park has a number of large trees that would interfere. There is a stream of granite through the park and it is hard to say how far that spreads. There was a feeling that we could involve the community here I will discuss this further below.
We ran out of time to look at more sites. One point raised suggested that we should consider a park close to Ferny Grove to start with. The members involved in the project at the moment live close to Ferny Grove and members who are already busy are more likely to be involved if the garden is close to home. It is a good idea to create a community garden in Keperra Ferny Hills or Arana Hills but I think we would be better off if we engage the community in that area find people interested in a community garden and guide them to developing their own garden. By engaging the community and guiding interested members they are more likely to take ownership and we are truly helping to develop better communities. I think all though we see the Grove area as one community the rest of the suburbs are not at that point yet and see themselves as individual communities.
As mentioned part of the criteria for Council approval is that the site be within 400m of a toilet. If the park does not have a toilet and it is a site we like we do have the option of looking at grants to build toilets. It was mentioned on the day that we should not necessarily rule out sites with poor soil straight off as the soil can be built up.
I hope this helps to start debate and choose a proposed site for the garden. I would like to know what you think. The next step will be to choose a site so we can move to the next stage. If you have not been involved in the community garden project before and are interested we would welcome your involvement. The more members we have the better the project. I am keen to keep the project moving as this will give Transition the Grove something to show. Not sure if it worked but I have attached a couple of emails from Anne123 for some points of interet in community gardens. Look forward to the discussion.
John Jordaan