Our experience related to Jess’ points…
1. No information.

2. Our experience accords with Jess’ point two regarding age profile, though we have been predominately attracting women in their twenties.

3. Reasons for food growing in the Eastern suburbs appear more diverse than Jess’ findings. Health I would put before environment. Acquiring skills is well up there at the front.

4. Most of our course attendees are home gardeners, with the remainders community gardeners or people planning to garden in future.

5. Attending our six session courses fulfils the social need Jess refers to. Students have sometimes continued to meet after the end of the courses.

6. We have started to attract people of NESB.

The community compost bins in the Barrett house footpath garden continue to be used, mainly by people living in the nearby apartments. Fiona replaced the Aerobin with Geddye bins on account of the cockroach infestation of the Aerobins. These work better.

The footpath garden has proven a point of contact with people walking by.

Most home gardeners in Randwick manage small spaces as in accord with Jess’ findings. Their attendance at the Forest Gardening course signifies they want to plant fruit trees as ell as vegetables. Training in making container gardens is important.

Having worked with City of Sydney as community gardens/landcare coordinator, I too enjoyed the support of Clover and Monica Barone and that of some other staffers. This must be tempered with both supportive and regressive staff and with old approaches to organisational structure and community engagement. Planning, too (when I was there)… for example the City’s Street Tree Master Plan makes no allowance for community plantings of fruit or nut trees on footpaths. People removing trees from their property cannot count fruit species as their replacement when they receive the City’s go-ahead for removal and replacement The City will not allow street tree pruning for solar access to PV panels and solar water heaters — the City does not recognise solar rights. These things dent the City’s reputation as a progressive local government and need reform.

There is also no culture of entrepreneurialism within the City staff. To regard the role of community gardening coordinator as that of a civic entrepreneur (as social entrepreneur trainer Ernosto Sirrolli said the role should be) that makes it possible for communities to take their own initiatives on public land was somewhat alien.