If your garden is approved, a Partnership Agreement will be drawn up between the City and the Garden Committee. The Agreement will outline the roles and responsibilities of each party, and how we will work together over the next 3 years to establish your community garden.
This is where the work really starts!
Funding the garden
Consider grants, sponsorship, donations, and use free recycled materials to help fund your garden. The City will ensure there is a suitable water source connected to your site, will cover water connection costs and annual water usage costs. The City will provide Public Liability Insurance for your garden during the life of the Partnership Agreement, until your garden becomes an Incorporated Association. You can also submit a request to Council for budget to support the construction of your garden.
Planning the garden
Decide upon the final design and layout; and develop the necessary policies and procedures to ensure the garden operates safely, sustainably and inclusively. The Sustainability Team can assist you in this process, and a Community Design Day will be organised at the site of your garden to allow all interested community members to provide feedback on how they would like the garden to look and feel; and this feedback should be used to inform the final design, layout and material choices used in the garden.
Building the garden
This can be hard, but rewarding, work. Consider building your garden in small manageable stages. While most of the work of building the garden should be done by the garden committee and garden members, there are some infrastructure items that the City or its contractors must install for liability reasons. The City’s Sustainability Officer will discuss this with the garden committee during the planning stage.
Managing the garden
Community gardens take ongoing management. You will need to dedicate time to managing your finances, on-site maintenance, communication with members, planning events and activities, becoming an incorporated organisation, and much more.
Promoting the garden
Membership of community gardens goes through ebbs and flows – sometimes you will have more interest than you can accommodate, other times your membership numbers may drop. To maintain the long-term viability of your garden, you will need to regularly undertake promotion and marketing to ensure that would-be members get to hear about the garden and have the chance to get involved.