Other community gardens

Last weekend was so eventful the reason for the pillaging was passed over quite perfunctorily. I need to do justice to the wonderful day we spent with fellow community gardeners last week. Yes, there are more idiots who community garden, in fact a whole busload of them. Under the auspices of a university project we toured around each other's garden.
It was hard to feel modest - ours was by far the best! The best in so many ways. Being a guerilla garden - still no claimants for the land - we do not have any interference from council. Ms Mova pointed out that we don't have the council funding available either hence our rather rapacious attitude to the deserted community garden. It really wasn't me standing proprietarily on some timber texting the Ideasman to come with trailer.

There was a garden on church ground, (spiritually sound) and a garden on the Diggers Club. If your veggies don't grow you can drown your sorrows or gamble your produce away if they do!

We visited two council gardens, very different in appearance but all with the same intention: To bring community together. We saw sweet potato plots, mixed individual vegetable plots, a mandala in the making, a newly planted orchard, a hedge which wasn't a hedge (for council purposes), open land, a pizza oven and a collection of Waste is Art sculptures. Now, we can compete with the sculptures - ours are moveable, changeable and disposable! Lots of waste. Perhaps the windblown shed ( a victim of last night's storm) could qualify too.

At one garden we were told that the gardeners had a real handle on things. Each gardener is issued with a handle for the water tap on purchased plots! One feeling soul said that every seed we plant is a political statement. Another said that education is happening at a lot of different levels. Mostly ground level I presume.
We heard that 'they' don't understand vegetables. I must admit I have difficulty translating-especially the squeals when they are untimely ripped from the earth. someone referred to companion planting, not only plants but people. Wonderful!

I came back filled with ideas of making our council strip a wonderful orchard full of pawpaws, lilli pillis, tamarillos, finger limes and native raspberries. I will touch a local native plant nursery for some donations I feel. Oh, I remember I owe them some money for my last lot of lomandra and lilli pillis! We love the idea of an open day to celebrate our first anniversary, sustainable living workshops circulated around the different gardens, a bus tour to visit all the gardens as part of a sustainable living push.

We heartily agree with the motto of another garden Grow With Others.

So there we are. What did the other gardeners think of ours? At the end of the day the only words I kept hearing repeated were, Cocktails in the Garden! Sounds like we have a winner and hopefully a few new visitors this weekend!