The community garden experience < our gardens

SYDNEY'S FIRST - Glover's Community Garden

Story + photos by Russ Grayson, 1994

Glovers is a shared community garden where vine crops are grown over fences to make best use of space.

Vegetables, herbs and fruit trees are mixed in a display of colour and diversity. Flowers are interplanted with the vegetables as part of the gardener's insect pest control strategy and to encourage pollinating insects.

Over 15 years ago, a group from the Rozelle Community Centre approached the local hospital to request use of a small portion of land for a community garden.

They got the land. They also gained the cooperation of the hospital in the erection of a chain link fence and the provision of water.

In April 1985, Glovers Organic Community Garden was born.

Soil the first priority

The first priority was to build up the shallow soil.

The 'no-dig' method, ascribed to Sydney gardener, Esther Dean, was adopted.

"It is very fertile", it is full of worms and produces quite prolifically", explained Margaret Andresesen, coordinator of Glovers garden, about the soil.

Participation varies between four and ten regulars.

"The main workday is Saturday, with two or three people", said Margaret. "When we go home we just share the produce".

Other members garden during the week.

A hillside of vegetables

Occupying 600 square metres of north facing, sloping land, Glovers garden receives plenty of the sunlight which fruit and vegetables need to grow strong and healthy.

Standing at the top of the garden and looking out over the space to the football field below and, further, to a branch of Sydney Harbour, Glovers looks to the visitor like a patch of edible shrubland.

At the eastern end are a few trees and an old, small building which serves as a storage shed and tea making facility. A table and assorted chairs occupy the shade below a celtus. The space between the celtus and the main part of the garden is occupied by compost bays and a shadecloth-covered nursery.

Surrounding the garden, the chainlink fence serves as trellis to climbing beans and other vine crops.

Immediately upslope and outside the fence are a number of overgrown terraces. These were cultivated in earlier days when there were more gardeners. Today, they are covered with kikiyu grass, evidence of the fluctuating participation which has characterised the garden.

To the imaginative visitor, Glovers - with its white concrete building, herbs, vegetables, climbers on trellises and young citrus at the bottom of the garden - might appear as a transplanted piece of Mediterranean garden.

Management

Production at Glovers varies with the season and with the rotational planting program.

Crop rotation ensures that the soil is not depleted of nutrients. Root crops follow green vegetables which follow the legumes which replace the fertilising nitrogen in the soil.

Glovers garden produces vegetables, fruit and ornamental flowers. Potatoes are grown in old car tyre planters.

"Three quarters of my vegetable needs come from here now", said Margaret.

Making compost

As well as the planting of leguminous species, Glovers maintains soil fertility by producing its own compost.

"We make it in rough layers and turn it about every two days or so a fortnight. This quick compost method kills the weed seed", Margaret explained.

Pigeon manure, which is richer than chicken droppings according to Margaret, is blended with comfrey, yarrow and other materials.

Comfrey tea is a liquid fertiliser produced by the gardeners. "You can make a liquid manure out of anything. I know people who make it out of Wandering Jew", said Margaret.

With the plant material added to a container of water, the concoction is left to stand for several weeks.

Crop diversity

Tree crops have not been widely planted. At present, they consist of two orange trees, a lime, mandarin and a carob.

As for the tamarillos: "They died fairly rapidly", lamented Margaret.

Seeds

Seeds are obtained by allowing part of the crop go to seed, then collecting it.
Other seed sources Eden Seeds, the Seed Savers Network and East Gippsland Seed Farm.

Lesser-known plant species hve been established. The winged bean, a staple of Asia little known in Sydney, yields an edible pod. The New Guinea bean, really a long, narrow, edible squash, covers a fence.

Another lesser-known crop is Indian red corn, the crimson kernels of which are less sweet than common corn. This variety was selected because, growing tall, the kernels are out of the reach of rats.

A shared garden

Unlike community gardens in Melbourne and elsewhere, Rozelle is not subdivided into allotments, each gardened by an individual or family. Glovers is cultivated in common. the work being coordinated through in a log book. Entries are made after every gardening session.

"This is our means of communicating with each other", explained Margaret.

Concern for the future

New gardeners spend an initial period before formal acceptance. This ensures compatibility and commitment to the goal of working to obtain food rather than simply a social activity.

But, despite the evident success of Glovers garden, Margaret is concerned for the future. The problem is attracting new gardeners, she explained: "That's the main threat to our long term viability".

It's a threat for other community gardens as well. Whether the increasing interest in community gardening brings new people into Glovers, whether it continues on in its present manner or whether falling participation forces the garden to close, only time will tell.

Educational role

Glovers provides a fine example of organic vegetable and herb gardening, so it should be no surprise that TAFE and community permaculture courses have made use of the garden for site visits over the years.

While Rozelle Hospital was in use, the garden provided a therapeutic venue for patients.

The future of Glovers

Despite low participation, Glovers attracts people who stay with the garden for some time. The garden remains a relatively secluded place... a protected, somewhat old-world garden.

It remains the only community garden easily accessible to the people of Rozelle and the Balmain peninsula.

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PAGE UPDATED... Thursday, 29 September 2005