Community Projects

This blog is another article from Grow! Spring Edition, 2024. Grow! Is a new zine for garden and art inspo in the South West of Victoria, Australia.

Community Projects:

Gardens can be more than the space surrounding your home. They can also be spaces for public use including parks, botanic gardens, community gardens, gardens in town spaces, and some curated natural spaces.

Many of the public garden spaces I have mentioned are imagined, created, and maintained by members of the community, often on a volunteer basis. Places such as community gardens are valuable resources for inner city spaces where people can build community whilst looking after their own wellness at the same time. They are also becoming more popular in regional and rural areas too.

Two community gardens I know of in my local area are Warrnambool Community Garden and Camperdown Community Garden. I’m hoping to get one up and running in Terang, but that’s a work in progress. (If you’re interested in getting on board with that, send me an email)

Even if you have your own patch of land to work on, getting involved in a community garden project can be a great way to contribute by sharing knowledge and doing something to ensure food security.

A community project I’ve been involved with for a number of years is the Terang Community Park and Wetlands (TCP&W) on Foley St, Terang. It is across the road from the wetlands at Terang College, another great project I’ll explore in a later edition.

TCP&W was started as a direct result of a council call for information on what individual communities want and/or need.

The project is situated in a corner of the Terang Dry Lake, a volcanic formation that has had an interesting and varied history. It is pumped dry now, with various sporting developments on parts along with farming. The area was chosen as a place to increase parklands including a wetlands area.

This is an ongoing project, but with the input of community members it will become a place for future times people to come and marvel at the beauty of plants, nature, and wildlife.

Have a hunt around your community for ‘garden’ projects you can contribute to. You won’t regret it!

Til next time!