Brimbank Guide to Community Gardening
Growing food can help improve food security, promote healthy eating, increase physical activity, build community connections and enhance opportunities for sustainable living.
‘A Guide to Community Gardening in Brimbank’ is a useful resource for residents and schools interested in growing and expanding their knowledge on sustainability and gardening.
Whether you’re growing at home, growing at school, considering joining a community garden, or starting a community garden, we’ve collated the resources you need to get going.
Link to Brimbank City Council’s information on community gardening (they are based in Victoria).
Brimbank Community Governance Handbook
The Brimbank Community Governance Handbook is a fantastic resource, particularly for those just starting out in community gardening governance. Lots of helpful information is contained in its pages as well as loads of extra resources you can find or get in touch with. Highly recommended for new gardens.
Click on the link below for more details about page other resources that could be of use for new gardens, particularly in Victoria.
Growing Community:
Starting and Nurturing Community Gardens
Growing Community fills the need for a comprehensive guidebook to starting community gardens. Although written in South Australia, the contents are applicable in other places. In it, you find information on managing community gardens. This is important, as important as knowing how to grow food, because, without effective and participatory management, gardens can become unstuck, socially and physically. The book is also about sustaining community gardens.
Together with its companion website, the booklet covers the latest evidence for the benefits of community gardening, tips for getting started, avoiding common pitfalls, sustainable and creative garden design, gardening in schools, integrating community gardens into health and community programs and more. There are model forms that new community garden groups will find useful.
The edition was funded by the South Australian Department of Health and acknowledges the support of the Community and Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association and the Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network. It was produced in February 2010.
Read more about the launch of Growing Community
Getting Started in Community Gardening:
A guide to planning, design and implementation of community garden projects
This guide draws heavily upon the excellent Community Gardening in South Australia Resource Kit developed by claire fulton, and the work of Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell of the Community Gardens Australia (CGA). It is also informed by the systems and resources developed by the team at Cultivating Community in Victoria, the folk at Northey Street City Farm in Brisbane, and CERES Environmental Park in Melbourne. Details of these organisations and resources are listed at the back of this guide.
This project was funded and coordinated by the City of Sydney Waste Education Team and produced in 2008 by Faith Thomas.
Good Practice Guide for Community Gardens
Cultivating Community’s manual for starting and managing community gardens in Victoria, produced in 2002.
The Good Practice Guide for Community Gardens manual contains practical advice in the following chapters:
- Setting Up a Group
- Finding a Site
- Garden management
- Money—managing and raising
- Publicity
- People—including volunteers and training
- Legal Requirements – including health and safety and insurance
- Evaluation
Appendices include:
- books
- websites
- organisations
- working with local councils
- potential funding sources
- checklist for effective meetings
- conflict resolution
Contact Details
Cultivating Community
Ph: (03) 9415 6580
Email: info@cultivatingcommunity.org.au
Web: cultivatingcommunity.org.au