Seed planted for community garden in East Sydney

Seed planted for community garden in East Sydney
Image: Resident green thumbs convene at the East Sydney Neighbourhood Association headquarters. Photo: Alexander Lewis

By Alexander Lewis

East Sydney green thumbs are one step closer to realising their dream of a community garden on the site of a soon to be demolished preschool.

More than 20 residents convened at the East Sydney Neighbour Association (ESNA) centre on Tuesday night to discuss forming an incorporated group, which is a prerequisite to apply for a community garden on council land.

The City of Sydney has allocated space for a community garden in a new pocket park that will be constructed following the partial demolition of the two storey KU preschool at 222 Palmer street.

But the demolition will not commence until the council has finished constructing a new preschool on the corner of Bourke and Liverpool streets, which is expected to be early next year.

East Sydney resident Lynn Balzer said locals had already begun growing herbs communally in pots on the footpaths.

“We’ve gone ahead and filled our little lanes with as many plants as we can find,” Ms Balzer said.

“There’s a lot of people who don’t have access to land, who live in apartments. A lot of people don’t realise that they can grow their own food in the city.”

She said that more than 50 people had expressed interest in the community garden.

“We understood there was an overwhelming desire within the community to have the garden.”

“Basically we wanted to ensure that people in the community knew this was happening.”

Sustainability expert and founder of the Sustainable Chippendale footpath gardens Michael Fobbs, who spoke at the meeting, said food was the biggest consumer of water.

“The tummy of the average Sydney person uses about 3000 litres of water a day,” Mr Fobbs said.

He said that in addition to fostering sustainable living, fruit trees amidst the concrete jungle created a sense of community. “It seems to create a social glue. It gives us a talking point, a reason to stop and pause.”

There are currently 23 community gardens within the City of Sydney local government area with none in Darlinghurst at present.

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