Verge Gardening
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farming the urban footpath MAKING PRODUCTIVE USE OF URBAN LAND
REALITIES OF VERGE GARDENING
The established practice of planting native and exotic plants on the verge, the space between the footpath and the road, extends habitat for wildlife in our cities. Now, the growing of food extends habitat for humans.
Road verges are public land
Growing vegetables and herbs on the verge has been done for at least the past 20 years, however the planting of edible trees on footpaths is a much older practice. In some parts of our cities it’s not uncommon to encounter olive or other fruit trees planted by immigrants decades ago.
This should be anticipated and it’s best to adopt an attitude of sharing.
The gardener has no property claim to the verge as it is public land. The verge is accessible to anyone and nothing can be done if people help themselves to what you grown there.
Neighbours may complain Not everyone will like your turning footpath lawn into footpath food. They may complain to council. This has led to the removal of a number of verge gardens.
Develop a good argument about the social benefit of verge planting and how you will maintian the garden. Some councils have adopted policy to allow verge gardens.
Your verge garden may be damaged Young fruit trees may be stolen from verge gardens or the garden vandalised. This is uncommon, but it happens. Dogs and cats might find the verge garden a pleasant place in which to play, poop or rest and may damage plantings.
A FEW GUIDELINES The popularity of verge gardening makes time spent doing a little design thinking a good idea.
Check with council Verge land is administered by councils. Does your council have a policy or procedure for verge gardening? Do you need permission to farm the verge?
VERGE GARDEN SAFETY
A sturdily constructed verge garden in Marrickville in Sydney’s Inner West. Vegetables and culinary herbs have been planted. Space has been left for opening vehicle doors and embarking/disembarking. The footpath is left clear. The raised construction reduces trip hazard potential and lifts the planting above dog urination height. The garden is visually presentable and is less likely to attract complaints to council.
Take care constructing and managing your verge garden: ■ building and managing a verge garden may involve stepping out onto the street; be aware of traffic ■ do not place your tools on the walkway where they may be a hazard to passers-by ■ avoid planting species that are irritating, toxic, thorny or could otherwise annoy pedestrians and children.
IDEAS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN THE CITY… publication produced by Community Gardens Australia
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THE NEEDS, SOLUTIONS, FUNCTIONS & YIELDS OF YOUR VERGE GARDEN A needs, solutions, functions and yields analysis is a useful way to start design thinking about our verge garden. Try this for yourself. Make four columns on a page headed: needs, solutions, functions, yields.
Then answer these questions: ■ what are the design and maintenance needs of a verge garden and their solutions? ■ what functions will the verge garden perform; these might be of only indirect use to people or no use at all ■ what are the yields of the verge garden — those things that are of direct use to people?
Having done this, ask: ■ how can we provide the needs of the garden? ■ how can we make use of the functions? ■ how can we use the yields? Like any garden, regular maintenance is important to obtain yields and make the garden look good to passersby and neighbours.
FUNCTIONS
NEEDS
SOLUTIONS
Access to and from street — for pedestrians including people with limited mobility/wheelchair; people exiting and boarding vehicles; space to open a car door
Leave access to the street at either side of your verge planting and/or include a path through it. A width of 1.2 metres would be minimum. The space should be wide enough for people to manouvre a wheelchair or pram between the paved footpath and the road edge.
Thoughtful species selection
The selection of edible fruit or nut trees should avoid those that:
Opening car doors: Leave a sufficiently wide strip unplanted or left to lawn between the gutter and the outer edge of your verge garden. This might difficult in inner urban areas where footpaths are narrow.
are known to have vigourous root systems that could lift footpath paving and road surfaces or damage buried services such as water, gas and sewer pipes ■ are likely to grow tall enough to make contact with overhead power and broadband cables. ■ Avoid: - plants that overhang the footpath and get in the way of pedestrians (periodic pruning may be needed)
Livable cities, urban amenity — the productive use of public land; simple lawn to productive ecosystems: ■ urban revegetation and the development of the urban tree canopy and understorey ■ improved visual aesthetics and streetscapes ■ improved food security for households.
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- plants that children may pick, taste and unpleasantly surprise them — chillies, toxic species, thorny plants etc - plants dropping fruit onto parked cars and the footpath where squishy fruit could become a slip hazard to pedestrians. Maintenance of plantings
Regular irrigation; mulching to reduce evaporative water loss and to break down and feed the plants; management of insect pests and plant diseases to avoid becoming a vector for their spread; fertilising with compost.
Containment of compost, mulch in the garden
Especially if the garden is on a slope, install an edges around it so that mulch and compost are not carried into the storwater drain during rain.
Aesthetics, and what happens to the garden when you move
DESIGN, TEXT & PHOTOS by… Russ Grayson
New pathways for public engagement with public space. Productive use of urban water and land (conventional verges consume water, fossil fuels and council time and funds).
YIELDS
Aesthetics: Keep garden well planted and looking good to avoid complaints to council; a garden that looks good is usually a garden that is well maintained.
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Moving house: If you move house, will you restore lawn to the verge or take measures to ensure the garden is maintained?
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Community Gardens Australia PRODUCED by… Community Gardens Australia
Provision of environmental services: ■ filtration of air ■ slowing of rainfall runoff and assisting it infiltrate as soil water ■ provision of habitat for insects, birds and small reptiles ■ carbon sequestration in organically-rich soils.
DISTRIBUTED by…
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food to supplement a household’s diet learning exercise and health.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International Public License. http://creativecommons.org Community gardens, non-government educational, advocacy, local government, sustainability educators and community organisations may reproduce and distribute this brochure under this same Creative Commons licence. This Creative Commons notice must appear on the document. Please inform us if you reuse the brochure: info@communitygarden.org.au
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