Concord Community Garden enjoyed a busy and productive year, driven by enthusiastic and hard-working members.
Gardens
Members continued to work in two groups in communal beds, using crop rotation and companion planting to grow bountiful crops. Additional flower plantings enhanced pollination and contributed to the beauty of the garden, while expert pruning helped our citrus trees flourish.
Dedicated volunteers collected vegetable scraps from a local supermarket and Flemington Market to feed our hungry worm farms. A flourishing native edible garden bed was established following last year’s successful Bush Foods workshop. We also developed a mutually beneficial relationship with Neighbourhood Greens, which donated used soil from growing microgreens to supplement our compost and garden beds.
Our strawberry bed was emptied to provide space for a greater variety of crops and replaced by two strawberry towers constructed from recycled materials. A wonderful group of volunteers worked tirelessly to dismantle two deteriorating timber beds and construct replacement corrugated-metal beds. The salvaged timber was reused to create a beautiful native garden near the entrance to welcome visitors.
Activities
Several initiatives helped raise the garden’s profile in the community. New printed flyers were developed and distributed to local organisations, and the garden’s Facebook and Instagram pages were re-established. Opening the garden on Wednesday mornings was trialled but did not attract sufficient visitor numbers.
Visitors
The garden was pleased to host boys and their carers from the Jesus Group of Strathfield Chinese Christian Church for a tour and afternoon tea.
Biosecurity officers from the Department of Primary Industries again installed insect traps in the garden and surrounds as part of their pest and plant-disease survey. The City of Canada Bay also organised an informative and well-attended July school-holiday workshop on insect hotels, delivered by UrbanGrow.
Open Day
The garden welcomed an encouraging number of visitors to our Open Day in October. The City of Canada Bay funded a Home Composting workshop delivered by UrbanGrow and held its annual compost-bin and worm-farm giveaway. Stalls from the NSW Beekeepers Association and Neighbourhood Greens provided further interest. As an added bonus, a member of the Beekeepers Association volunteered to split our native bee hive.
Grants
The garden received a Community Grant from the City of Canada Bay to fund development of a new website and create a stronger connection with the community. Work is well underway to launch the website.
An Environmental Grant, also from the City of Canada Bay, will enable the garden to run two community workshops and a grandparents and grandchildren morning, as well as purchase much-needed soil, fertiliser and mulch to enrich our garden beds.
Membership
Garden membership fluctuates as some members leave because of ill health or to pursue other interests and new members join. We started the year with 15 members and ended with 17. We continually seek new ways to attract members.
Meetings and Working Bees
Our alternating monthly general and committee meetings, held at 8:00 am on Saturday mornings, and our fortnightly working bees were well attended this year.
Thank you to the City of Canada Bay for its ongoing support of our garden and its endeavours. My thanks also go to the committee and the members who make the garden a success.
Joyce Brett, President, 2025–26