Community garden planting ready

Simply, nothing tastes better then a fresh tomato straight from the garden, or a hint of fresh basil in your pasta.

Gilgandra, doing what they do best, now can share this experience with visitors and residents alike, as the Gilgandra Community Garden begins to shift dirt.

The Gilgandra community garden group, consisting of 10 dedicated individuals, put together an expression of interest to the council some months ago. When the council responded saying the garden was serendipitous to the Coo-ee Heritage Centre, the group knew they had hit the jackpot.

“All the landscaping was coming along at the heritage centre, and it seemed like it would align really well because we wanted the garden to be situated just behind stage near the centre,” said one of the founding members Jennie White.

“Dubbo landscaping offered us to grade it, and they even left us some composting. Plus, Ahrens have already given us three tanks that are from their site, recycled tanks.”

Mrs White said the idea for the garden was a joint effort, and after a few years with limited human interaction, she wanted to create a focus on health and wellbeing.

“Gail Babbage and I are mad gardeners, but we are also very mindful after COVID-19, how the town closed down and people were very cautious, and people’s mental health suffered,” she said.

“We were mindful too of the way people were, how no one wants to stand near anymore. Trish Henry also had the idea and had been speaking with some of her friends, and we came together to develop the idea. We started meeting at the end of last year, and it’s all come together really fast.”

The garden has potential to develop beyond the typical community garden. There is word of garden boot sales if there is glut, produce swapping meets, and decoration competitions to get the preschoolers involved.

Mrs White said they organising committee really wanted to have visitors welcomed to be involved, and inclusive to the whole community.

“We know there will be campers nearby here and we don’t mind if they pick a little bit, or if the kitchen at the Coo-ee Heritage Centre use some. We also made sure we use crushed granite around the garden so it is wheelchair accessible, and some of the tanks are lower ground so it’s easier for every one to access,” said Mrs White.

The garden tanks were laid in recent weeks, and the committee are already working on planting.