Girrawheen Community Garden

Louise Kaestner
Jan 12, 2025
3 min read

Source: Screenshot (2025)

Response from Girrawheen Community Garden

The Girrawheen Community Garden is a humble garden located in the City of Wannaroo. The response from Girrawheen Community Garden was a paragraph response. It addressed my questions in a different manner. Their response arrived on the 6th of January 2025.

My questions were:

What inspired you?

How long have you been running?

What was your original source of funding?

How much was it?

What are your ongoing costs?

How do you fund the garden now?

Any grants you recommend?

What are your two best crops?

What are your two worst crops?

Do you use fertiliser or worms?

Do you use any Indigenous crop?

What is one tip or trick you’ve used that has impacted your success in a positive way?

What is one mistake in the garden you wished you’d never made?

The Girrawheen Community Garden response is:

The Girrawheen Community Garden has been operating for 4 years. Before that various community minded people had been trying to start a Community Garden but nothing had come about. Then the City of Wanneroo were awarded a grant of $50,000. I think it was a LotteryWest grant. The CoW then chose Perth City Farm to engage with the local community and to come up with a design for the garden, working within the parameters of the site picked by CoW. The site is is two parts, one part is between the Library and another Community building and the other part is behind the Community building, this area is fenced whereas the other part of the garden is unfenced. The fenced area contains compost bays and bins, a worm farm and a small frog pond as well as garden beds. The Garden is now funded by Containers for Change collection, the occasional Swap Meet stall and Community Grants such as from the Lions Club, City of Wanneroo, Commonwealth Bank Community Grant and recently a Community Support Grant from Big Rock Toyota. We have a very small membership fee of $5 to $20 dollars depending on whether it is for one person or a family and if they are eligible for a concession rate.

Our ongoing costs are quite small. We are lucky that we don't pay any water charges as the water comes from a bore in the area owned by CoW. The area is serviced by drip irrigation of raised beds and the ground area. We grow quite alot of plants from seed. We do purchase soil to replenish the garden and things like soil wetter and we occasionally buy a natural fertiliser.

We have had success growing bananas and various herbs also broad beans. We encourage the local Community to cut small amounts of what we grow in the front garden, unfortunately sometimes people will dig up a complete plant or cut bananas before they are ready which can be frustrating. We grow Warrigal greens which is a native crop also Rosella's in the summer but they die off in the cold weather.

The Garden takes part in local events such as the CoW's Evening in the Park and Girrawheen Neighbourhood Network children's events. We recently had an Open Day with a guest speaker talking about Native edible plants, Garden Tours and an Afternoon tea which attracted over 40 people from various parts of Perth.

Our biggest struggle to to attract new member as our core group is only small, about 12 people and most of us are over 55. We advertise on Community radio, in Community newspapers and locally in the Library and other Community buildings to try to attract new members. Our future is uncertain because of this and also the fact that the area where we are is due to be completely redeveloped by CoW in the coming year or so. At the moment we are not sure what a new garden would look like for us.

Synthesis for Girrawheen Community Garden

This is another new garden with funding sources from both grants and membership fees. They do their best to remain sustainable and live within the environmental boundary by working with the environment instead of against it. Their drip irrigation is an example of this.

girrawheengarden@gmail.com