Victoria Park Community Garden

Louise Kaestner
Jan 12, 2025
4 min read

Source: Screenshot (2025)

Response from Victoria Park Community Garden

On 8 January, 2025, I received a response from the Victoria Park Community Garden in the Town of Victoria Park to my questions.

What inspired you?

Our community garden started when a group of interested community members under the leadership of Luke Garswood came together in 2008 to discuss how a Community Garden can be formed to provide a venue for growing food and educate locals on gardening and sustainability.

How long have you been running?

Since 2009.

What was your original source of funding?

A grant of $9000 was received from the local council, Town of Victoria Park, as part of the Federal Government Stimulus Package from the Great Financial Crisis (GFC).

How much was it?

See above.

What are your ongoing costs?

Garden consumables and supplies, replacement of equipment, PO Box rental, website hosting fees, insurance.

We don't pay rent as we have a peppercorn lease from the council.

No staffing costs as we are 100% volunteer-run.

How do you fund the garden now?

Membership and allotment leasing fees, workshop fees (engaged by the council as part of their home composting education program, plus workshops run for ourselves by volunteers), Open Day plant and cake sales, sales of our own Grow and Cook Book. We rarely apply for grants.

We recently received a grant from the Department of Communities (Open Day) and are expecting a small community grant from Hawaiian.

Any grants you recommend?

Department of Communities, local council community grants. Also check state government agencies for infrastructure opportunities (WasteSorted). Look up local businesses and sponsorship opportunities.

What are your two best crops?

Depends on the season. Right now, summer crops of tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers are popular.

What are your two worst crops?

Depends on the season. With climate change (heat and driness) and increasingly prevalent pests like fruit fly, stone fruit (apricots, plums) are getting harder to grow. Also had little success with bananas (they need a lot of water).

Do you use fertiliser or worms?

We use only natural fertilisers and mainly organic pest control methods. We make our own compost and weed tea. We also keep worm farms for vermicompost (castings). A local rabbit breeder donates rabbit poo regularly. We supplement with manure ordered from suppliers about once or twice a year.

Do you use any Indigenous crop?

We have tried to establish a communal bush tucker garden without success, though warrigal has survived and become a prolific garden escapee weed. It's not a popular vegetable with most members though. Some of our members grow bush tucker plants in their own allotments. We do have productive lillypilly shrubs in the main native garden.

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

Value and appreciate our people, and share the knowledge.

Our motto 'Come Grow With Us' is about growing community, and creating a welcoming community space, not just growing food. We work hard to engage our members and the community and build good relationships with our stakeholders and partners through busy bees, social events, workshops, activities, events like our annual Open Day and a weekly gardening playgroup called Grubs'n'Bugs.

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

Hard to answer. Some thoughts:

Gardeningwise, it is about working with nature, its cycles and seasons. We've probably made more mistakes than we've had successes!
Running a non-profit community garden is about understanding and working with people as much as it is about growing food.
It can be as easy or as complex as you make it. Over 15 years, we have made and learned from various mistakes and grown from them.
Being more waterwise while keeping crops growing as Perth summers get hotter and drier is a real challenge.
Good governance is very important: Having a good management committee ensures capable leadership and sound decision-making. This is essential for a well-run garden operationally, financially, culturally and strategically. A code of conduct, clear policies and procedures provide guidance on all aspects of operational activities. We have an annual planning process and monthly management committee meetings.
It's critical to ensure we share and document our knowledge and agreed common values and positive ways of doing things, while: complying with relevant regulatory and legal requirements; and maintaining good relationships amongst our members and within the community.
Resourcing is our biggest and constant challenge, as we have a small membership to share the workload.
The practical challenges of food growing at a time of climate change are motivating us to review the way we grow our food, what we grow and what we eat.

Synthesis from Victoria Park Community Garden

Victoria Park Community Garden has been around for more than a decade. Like other and older gardens, this allows it some perspective on what works and doesn't. Like other gardens I've spoken to, local and state government funding moves the project on a long way.

communityallotment@gmail.com