Railway House Food Garden

Please check here regularly for Railway House Food Garden updates. Below you will find application documents for joining the garden and / or garden subcommittee, details of upcoming garden information sessions, and chronological updates on the progress of the garden planning process.

If you are not already on the gardening mailing list, please email admin@railwayneighbourhoodhouse,org.au to be added.

GARDEN DOCUMENTS (click on the links below to open / download)

Garden Application Form

Garden Subcommittee Nomination Form

Garden Subcommittee Role Descriptions

GARDEN INFORMATION SESSIONS

You are invited to attend one of two information sessions so you can ask questions about the Neighbourhood Food Garden and meet other gardeners.

Hard copy application and nomination forms will be available at these sessions, as will more detailed descriptions of the subcommittee roles.

SESSION 1

Friday 11^th October

6:00 – 7:00 PM

The Pavilion – Railway Neighbourhood House

SESSION 2

Saturday 12^th October

11:30 – 12:30

The Pavilion – Railway Neighbourhood House

**************

Neighbourhood Garden Update – August, 2019

On 28 July Council resolved to support the proposed design for a community garden and the 2019-20 City of Yarra Budget contains $30,000 for this purpose. Last week we also received confirmation from the Clifton Hill/North Fitzroy Community Bank Branch – Bendigo Bank – that they will also contribute $30,000 to our garden project, matching the contribution of $30,000 from the Railway Neighbourhood House.

This is great news and allows us to complete pretty much all of the garden rather than staging the construction over two years. There are many cost savings to be made by building it all in one go.

The Committee of Management are committed to moving forward with this project. Quotes are currently underway & we have almost finished writing a Garden Manual – a management plan which will serve as the framework for the governance and daily management of the garden. This is required by Council as part of our lease agreement for the site.

Council Officers are working hard to get permits organised before we can begin construction. If anything holds us up now, it will be the permits, as anyone who is in the building industry well knows! However, our goal is to have the garden constructed this side of Christmas.

We will to provide updates on this website as new information becomes available. If you’d like to be added to the Gardening Group mailing list, please call the Railway House office on 9380 6654 or email admin@railwayneighbourhoodhouse.org.au

Neighbourhood Garden Update – March, 2019

Above are two 3-D visualisations of the community garden and restored bocce lane planned for the old bocce site located next to the Railway House. A more detailed, annotated 2-D plan is almost completed and will soon be added here. These images are provided to give a general impression of the design plan and will not show every detail. The final design and accompanying images will soon be exhibited on site.The final proposed design and accompanying images will soon be exhibited on site as part of ongoing consultation process.

Many people have asked questions about soil contamination. Detailed soil testing has been carried out on site by Prensa Pty Ltd, showing stable contaminants 30 cm below the granitic gravel surface. Consequently, we will be adopting the same soil management plan as that being used by other community gardens across the City of Yarra. Details of the soil testing report will be made available at the Neighbourhood House. It is apparently the most commonly found contaminant in our area and was used as ‘fill’ on many building sites back in the day when little was known about it. The community garden will use roughly 40 cubic metres of new soil and protective techno-fabric as a layer between the old and new soil.

The next most commonly asked question is ‘Will there be private plots?’ and the answer is NO. All beds will be cared for by groups working together – be prepared to share 50% of your produce with others or with the Neighbourhood House.

There is still much work to be done (such as lease agreements and planning permits), in order to get the project funded, built and working for our community.

The Railway Neighbourhood House is working in collaboration with the City of Yarra Council. It is quite likely that the garden will not be up and running until 2020, but this year there will be a need for some volunteer labor at various stages of the construction. We don’t know the timelines as yet and we have only just had the design plan approved, but it is a really positive project and we look forward to meeting people interested to lend a hand and interested in gardening.