In the 1970s, Liz Christy launched the world’s first nocturnal “guerrilla gardening” forays in the slums of New York, transforming derelict street corners into public gardens.
Time and time again, nurturing plants together has become a way for communities to bond, proving that the instinct to create beauty, salvage hope or build a community through growing life runs deep in all of us.
In the past few years, a response to the alienating effects of modern life in Ireland has been the rapid growth of the community gardening movement, which takes its lead from projects in America, Australia and the UK.
Projects have already kicked off in urban and rural locations. Some of the longest established are in Cork. Claire Osborne — with her colleague Elinor Rivers — was one of the founders of the Cork initiative in 2003. Osborne grew up gardening but is also a yoga teacher, while Rivers, another experienced gardener, has a background in counselling. Osborne says: “Really, we needed all those skills. It was about building up relationships and social development, as much as the environmental aspect.”
Eight diverse projects emerged, some in schools, some in underresourced communities. “We really work hard to involve every community at every stage of every project,” says Osborne.
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Each of the eight gardens has its own identity, depending on the interests of each community. At the Project school, the plan was to cultivate a beautiful ornamental space, with many of its plants grown by the children. The garden blends trees, perennial flowers, bedding plants and herbs. More recently, climbers have been added to trellises. Meanwhile, at the Blarney Street school, the focus is more firmly on fruit and vegetables: the school has a weekly gardening club and will soon be harvesting potatoes and vegetables, as well as tending newly planted fruit trees.
Up in Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal and Fermanagh, community gardens have also been evolving. These gardens support communities in growing their own vegetables — improving wellbeing and building understanding.
Working with local community groups, the Organic Centre provides qualified organic gardeners, who lead weekly sessions focusing on growing your own food. Over time, the skills are passed on, but the benefit tends to be as much in the shared experience.
The Dublin community garden scene is more diverse. There is a range of projects, most famous of which was the Dolphin’s Barn garden, created last year on a patch of unused land. Although now on hold — the owner plans to landscape the site — for many, the project was a taste of what a community garden could be.
Planting began at the Dolphin’s Barn garden with a row of potatoes. The cultivated area was extended to include scallions, onions, celery, garlic, fuchsia, nasturtiums, forget-me-not seeds, parsley, rosemary and thyme.
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The gardeners’ system involved building a series of rows of earth on which they planted herbs, flowers and vegetables. In between the rows, the ground was mulched to reduce weeding. Last year, the garden yielded a rich harvest. Since then, because of the landscaping plans for the site, the fruit trees and bushes have been relocated to other community gardens.
Lara Hill was first drawn to the Dolphin’s Barn garden because she wanted to grow something organic. When the project was put on hold, she became the prime mover behind a garden at St Joseph’s school in Finglas, where she lives. “There was a teacher gardening with the kids, and they had a big strip of wasteland full of litter, and all overgrown,” Hill says. “She knew I was interested and said, ‘One day you might get your crew up here.’
“The principal was really supportive, so we cleared the land, put in some fruit trees and have begun to grow vegetables. It will be next year before we get our first full harvest. But in September, we’ll be contacting parents and inviting them to get involved.”
For herself, Hill is clear about the appeal: “It’s a nice, natural way to chat to people who wouldn’t normally meet each other. I’ve learnt a lot.”
Paul Baynes has been involved since the start of the Dolphin’s Barn project and is clear about his motivation: “The three Ps: packaging, pesticides and preservatives — it was an alternative to building up food miles, it’s more environmentally friendly and it’s a non-commercial thing.”
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Kaethe Burt-O’Dea, the brain behind the Sitric composting garden in Stoneybatter, had a more local agenda. After three years of waiting for Dublin city council to respond to a proposal for an urban composting pilot project, she grew tired. “We just thought, ‘Well, there’s a scrap of ground at the end of the street — maybe we should just do it’,” she says. “We started with two compost bins last year, encouraged people to recycle their organic waste and now we have more compost than we can use.”
“For me the social aspect is as important as the environmental one. It’s heartwarming and people really respond to it — we’ve had two parties for the garden and there’s been such a wonderful feeling of community.”
Cork gardens, www.corkcommunitygardens.com; Organic Centre, www.theorganiccentre.ie; Sitric garden, Kaethe@desireland.com; Finglas garden, contact Lara Hill on 086 171 7726; Dublin gardens, www.dolphinsbarngarden.org