Community gardens

Sharing a community garden can expand your knowledge of gardening, allows you to share fresh fruit and vegetables, and helps keep you fit and active.

Community Gardens involve the collective gardening of a single piece of land by a community group, both on privately owned land or on land owned or managed by Council. They are great places to learn more about gardening, share your top gardening tips, reconnect with nature, share your fresh produce, stay fit and active and make new friends.
Community Gardens can be based on a shared model where planting and harvesting is carried out communally, or on an allotment model where individuals are allocated a space within the garden to cultivate produce for their own use, or for sharing and swapping with other gardeners.

Community gardens in Darebin

Keen to join or visit a community garden near you? Visit The community gardens listing on the Food Harvest Network website has a full and up-to-date listing of all community gardens and contact details.

You can also view our Sustainable food map(PDF, 7MB) which lists Darebin's many fantastic local food and gardening initiatives, including community gardens, seed libraries, compost hubs, food swaps and farmers markets

Start your own community garden

You will need to consider some important questions before starting your garden. Is the land suitable and is maintenance possible? What will be the costs to develop and maintain the garden? What management structures will work best?

Our Communal food garden (community garden) assessment guidelines(PDF, 1MB) can assist a community group assess the suitability of a particular site for growing food on a communal basis. The principles in the guideline apply whether the site under consideration is on Council/public land or is privately owned. The guidelines also outline the process/steps and responsibilities of both the applicant and Council when assessing a potential site for a community garden.

Groups applying to establish a community garden on Council owned or managed land are required to use the Communal food garden site assessment checklist(PDF, 36KB) to assess the suitability of a potential site.

Other great resources can be found at Darebin Food Harvest Network - Resources. Talk to other community gardens and committees about what works for them.

Planting nature strips

Communal gardening can also take place on nature strips provided our Nature Strip Guidelines are followed. See Nature Strips and Street Trees.

All Nations Kitchen Garden

Council collaborated with members of the Northcote Library Food Garden and the local community to develop an accessible urban food demonstration site. Located in All Nations Park, on Separation Street, Northcote (behind Northcote Plaza and opposite Santa Maria College), the All Nation Kitchen Garden design incorporates permaculture principles and is based on a multilayered garden of fruit trees, edible understory and ground cover.

A passionate group of local residents care for and manage the site in partnership with us. The goal is to sustainably produce local food and to provide opportunities for education and community building.

If you are interested in getting involved, contact the Environment team, or drop by the site on a Sunday when the group are having a working bee.