Community Garden | Hawker Community Gar

Hawker Community Garden

A place to meet, socialise and get involved in organic gardening

Aims

Through this project we aim to transform unused land at the Hawker Shops into an attractive and productive community garden. It will become a place where local community members can socialise and work together to create and enjoy a shared garden, and learn about sustainable living.

We will demonstrate priniciples of circular economy, using recycled materials, composting and worm farms in our design. We will plant trees to improve carbon capture, and help to manage urban heat sinks from the surrounding car parks. Did you know that surface heat mapping showed the Hawker Shops was 2-4 degrees above the mean (34.4 deg) at mid morning in summer?

The concept and plan

The site is unused land behind the toilet block at the shops. We are building the garden in 3 stages, to test the concept and as funding becomes available. All garden beds are communal - there are no individual plots - and produce is shared.

The garden beds are made from plastic IBCs and designed as wicking beds to reduce watering needs. The beds will be framed with timber for aesthetic and safety reasons.

We will hold market days and workshops (composting, seed raising etc) to provide opportunities for local community members to socialise, learn about organic gardening and exchange knowledge and ideas.

Stage 1

Stage 1 was completed with support from the ACT Government under the ACT Community Gardens Grants Program.

Activities began with an Open Day (27 February 2022) where we built two wicking beds as part of a demonstration activity. We built six more beds in March and early April with help from local community members. The shade tree strip was planted in May with deciduous trees and low shrubs.

Floriade Community 2022

We participated in Floriade Community in spring 2022, planting bulbs and annuals to create a colourful display and brighten up the public space around the public toilets.