Community gardens are places where you can grow food, create habitat and connect with nature and other community members.
Community gardens can be located at various places. They could have fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, insect hotels, bee hives, chickens and frog ponds.
They are places where community members can learn new skills, help improve access to fresh food, make new friends, and share in the work of maintaining the garden.
Check out the timetables for the following community gardens in Blacktown City:
Bidwill Community Garden
- Location: Chestnut Crescent, Bidwill
- Contact: 0415 836 531 (Marge) or email arnesenlisa.la@gmail.com
- Opening times: 9 am - 2 pm on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays
The garden has themed garden beds of edible and non-edible plants, including vegetable gardens, orchard of fruit trees, a native patch and succulents! The garden has received a number of grants to make it as water-wise as possible, and features a drip irrigation system, a waterless composting toilet and rainwater tanks.
Bungarribee Community Garden
Bungarribee Community Garden Timetable(PDF, 103KB)
This garden has attractive, productive vegetable beds, with natives and flowering plants to attract pollinators. It also features a drip irrigation system and rainwater tank.
Lalor Park Community Garden
The Lalor Park Community Garden is a not-for-profit community focused group run entirely by volunteers. The garden grows a variety of vegetables, fruit and herbs. The group hopes to inspire sustainable productive home gardens by providing the opportunity to learn through workshops run by local volunteers.
Quakers Hill Uniting Community Garden
The gardening group at Quakers Hill Uniting Community Garden is a strong mix of local community members, Noah's Ark Pre-school children and parents, as well as individuals and families from Quakers Hill Family Services and Quakers Hill Uniting Church. They all get the invigorating joy of working in the garden and seeing the garden grow.
Riverstone Community Garden
- Location: Park Street, Riverstone
- Contact: North West Community Services 9627 3622, or email reception@nwcs.org.au
- Opening times: Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am to 2 pm
This garden has some community beds for organisations (Bhutanese group, Dementia Connections, Mens’ Shed) and some individual garden allotments. A representative of the Royal Botanical Gardens attends the Community Garden once a month (Thursday) to provide information and gardening tips. Contact North West Community Services for dates and times.
Showground Community Garden
This productive, diverse garden is used for growing vegetables, fruit trees, native plants and shrubs. There is an irrigation system to water the garden. Gardening activities are shared. This garden has concrete paths and raised garden beds to provide access for people with disabilities.
Willmot Community Garden
- Location: Willmot Public School
- Contact: 9628 0222 (Marie)
Willmot Community garden is cared for by the community and the school. Please contact the School Office for more details.
The first step to create your community garden is to find a group of enthusiastic and committed local residents to support the possible new garden. As a team, you can share ideas, the workload involved in setting up a garden, and at the same time develop relationships to ensure your garden is successful. We recommend a garden start-up group of 12 or more people, with the aim of growing this group to at least 15-20 community members once the garden is up and running.
Spending some time in an established community garden will also help you gain an understanding of what's most needed to start-up a successful garden and to keep it going strong. So if you have not been involved in a community garden in the past, get in touch with some existing gardens and pay them a visit.
The Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network (ACFCGN) website is a great resource. Their blog post In designing community gardens, social design comes first is a must-read for anyone interested in starting a new community garden. City of Sydney's Community Garden Guidelines is also a useful resource that outlines considerations and steps involved in establishing a new community garden.
Permission will be required from the land owner to establish a community garden. Blacktown City Council supports a 'bottom-up' approach for new community gardens, where community members form a group and approach Council or other landholders for access to land and assistance.
For more information on starting up a new community garden, call us on 9839 6055 or email ourenvironment@blacktown.nsw.gov.au.
Blacktown City Council Community Gardens Policy(PDF, 190KB)