Have you given up the quiet of the country for something smaller and more exciting in town? Maybe you’re renting and can’t cut up the landlord’s prize concrete landscaping, or perhaps you’re on a large property and want to hear more than the wind when you’re weeding around your lettuces?

It sounds like you’re ready to enter the world of community gardening and, these days, it’s friendlier (and easier) than you might think to set one up. Gone are the times when community gardens were shacked up with waste management at councils. Today, some councils even have dedicated staff on hand to help you get started, and the wealth of resources now available will stretch your memories of gardening with Grandpa.

Getting a group together

“It’s so important to try to get a mix of people involved,” says Annie Walker, the City of Sydney’s first dedicated Community Gardens and Volunteering Coordinator. “Amazing things have been achieved by three or four people, but so that everything can be divvied around, it’s better to have a core group of 10.”

As with any community group, gardens are usually run by a committee comprising at least three positions: chairperson, secretary and treasurer. Depending on how formally you want to run your group, what you’re looking to achieve and how many members you have, the structure of your community garden is something that can change over time and be adapted as the situation demands.

At the Glebe Community Garden in Sydney’s inner west, which I help to run, we also have a public officer whose role it is to get the word out among the community, and a deputy to assist the chairperson. Branching out from this are sub-committees devoted to projects or features we want to offer. Other gardens have large committees as they have more members, while yet others are really tiny — it depends on the style of management everyone agrees to.

“Randwick Community Garden has an ongoing workshop program which the members run,” says Annie. “One of them is dedicated just to running regular workshops for new members, who get trained in composting and gardening.”

Aside from that, members of your committee will ideally have good people skills, basic project skills, be able to manage the books and reach out to members who speak English as a second language or who have disabilities. Even if you’re only there to garden, it doesn’t mean there’s no need for a proper structure.

Choosing a site

Perhaps the second most important element to think about when setting up a community garden is choosing a good location with plenty of sunlight. “Solar access is vital,” Annie says. “You need enough sunlight to grow a variety of vegetables, in summer and winter.”

As many community gardens are set up on disused land or in remnant blocks, essentials like this are frequently overlooked. Where do shadows fall from surrounding trees or buildings? Is there still plenty of sunlight in winter, when the sun is lower in the sky? Where does the morning sun strike? How hot does it get in summer?

“Another important tip is to find a location where you can get support from other community groups, or a school, or where there are enough residents living,” Annie advises. Any garden is only as good as the group who tends to it, and if they can’t get to your space easily, they’ll likely drop out and the garden will start to wither.