The Sydney Edible Garden Trail, is a celebration of the many ways that Sydney residents are creating food security and building self-reliance, saving money and the environment, while enjoying the health benefits of homegrown fruit and vegetables. The aim is to encourage and inspire growing edible produce in street gardens, home gardens and public spaces across Sydney.
The event will also showcase sustainable practices such as mulching for water conservation, recycling and composting to increase soil fertility and reduce landfill, planting to encourage bees, home food production to increase food security, and organic growing techniques to reduce chemical use.
You’ll also have the opportunity to learn about:
- – aquaponics
- – worm farms
- – wicking beds
- – banana circles
- – caring for poultry
- – companion planting,
- – crop swaps
There will also be workshops and talks. This is a community not-for-profit event with profits going to participating school and community edible gardens.
Weekend tickets from $25 (family and children's tickets available). Tickets are valid for both days of the trail. BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE! The first 40 visitors to each garden receive a free packet of seeds for growing your own edibles. ALREADY HAVE YOUR TICKETS? Login for address details of all the gardens and to plan your self-guided trail.
Available Here
Newport Community Garden
A not for profit, member based Community Garden in Newport. The garden has been running for about 4 years. There are approximately 30 gardens beds, a native bee hive, compost, worm farms & a green house. Child friendly, composting. We grow organic fruit, herbs and veggies.
We will be holding compost and worm farm workshops. You can purchase organic seeds, seedlings, chilli relish, kombucha and kombucha kits.
Hope to see you there.
Workshops/presentations
- Composting workshop/presentation – 11am on Saturday 21 March.
- Worm Farm workshop/presentation – 11am on Sunday 22 March.
We are a group of local neighbours who enjoy gardening and growing our own vegetables. We are all learning together and from each other. We get together every weekend (saturdays or sundays) everyone is welcome to join, no previous experience needed!
If you would like to learn more about our garden, or come and visit us please email us to: newportcommunitygardenau@gmail.com
Our gardens are located in Woolcott Reserve (Woolcott st, off Gladstone st.).
Newport Community Gardens Inc. is a not for profit incorporated association
Objectives
- Local Northern Beaches residents creating sustainable gardens in public spaces
- Strengthening the local community, improving health and reconnecting with nature
- To establish ecologically sustainable gardens for the production of vegetables, herbs, fruit and companion plants within Pittwater area
- To enjoy and forge friendships through shared gardening.
- Membership is open to all Community members willing to participate in establishing gardens and growing sustainable food.
- Subscription based paid membership.
- We meet at the garden every weekend in the morning (sometimes on a Saturday, sometimes on a Sunday). Contact us through our email below and come and visit us!
For enquiries contact newportcommunitygardenau@gmail.com - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/newportcg - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newportcgnsw
Mona Vale – Jillian’s Garden
My name is Jillian Brooker and I built this garden together with my dad, 10 years ago. Dad and mum have lived here for just over 60 years. On the property we have compost bins and a worm farm.
The pictures show our “critter free” raised beds. Also what we call the Mediterranean Garden, with a large macadamia, a fruiting coffee tree and 4 different citrus varieties.
Raised vegetable garden beds in Jillian’s garden, with protect cages
In preparation for the open garden we have planted butter head lettuce, bush cucumber, spinach, kale, beetroot, radish and more. Other trees we have are avocado (with plenty on this season) banana, fig, two olive trees and passion fruit. In pots we have dragon fruit, pomegranate, Blueberry and many herbs.
For the trail, we’ll have different displays set up on trestle tables for people to look at and ask questions. For example:Making a bee hotel, The dangers of micro plastics, Growing from seeds, Worm juice, Jams and pickles we have made from our produce, Cracking your own macadamia nuts.
There will be an activity for smaller children that will be like a “Where’s Wally” theme. Finding the hidden insect hotels and counting them. Finding the bananas, etc etc. They will be given a sheet of paper and pencils with the questions and hints and a colouring in page. All based around learning about our back yards.
Small garden tour on the hour. Starting at 10am.
Elanora Heights – Permanora – Selena’s Garden
We have 1200 sq m permaculture garden with and a sustainable house. We have chooks, worm farms, composting, native bees, native bush tucker and medicine plants, edible fruit, vegetable and medicinal plants, water features, citrus grove, raised and no-dig garden beds, herb spiral, aquaponics, a green wall, rain water tanks, gravity fed watering.
Frenchs Forest – Amanda & Phil’s Garden
The garden isn’t your typical permaculture garden. It is a work in progress but I would describe it as a permaculture garden for people who want a neater more stylised landscape. I have gone for a little bit of a Bali feel, yet have used many edible plants and trees (including natives).
Plants include Queensland arrowroot, native current hedge, coffee arabica, port wine palm, black sapote, banana, Davidson plum, guava, edible bamboo, native ginger and turmeric to name a few.
I have both native and European honey bees and plenty of nest boxes. This then leads out to a bushland area which I’ve planted out with various bush tucker plants like cut leaf mint, macadamia, native tamarind, Dianella and more.
My front is where there’s still work to be done. I have planted three planter boxes on the verge which have mango, avocado, lychee, pineapple, chilli, and strawberries growing in. I also have various fruit salad plants (three in one grafted fruit trees), passion fruit and various herbs.
Amanda and Phil’s garden will be open as part of the Sydney Edible Garden Trail on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm only.
Killarney Heights – Ping’s Garden
Inspired by the books of “Animal Vegetable Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver and “Introduction to Permaculture” by Bill Mollison, this progressive and young garden is all about learning the characteristics of the season, the weather, the land, the soil, the sun light, the insects and the pests, whilst trying to grow a diverse variety of edibles and bee loving plants.
The garden started as a concrete covered backyard, and through trials and errors, eight raised garden beds with climbing structures were installed on heavy clay soil over a six year period. Along with existing raised sandstone beds, the garden hosts a wide variety of herbs, edible and medicinal perennial and seasonal plants as well as seasonal flowering plants to attract bees.
With the aim to be self-sufficient from the land, this evolving no dig organic edible garden is a journey of discovery.
GARDEN OPENING TIMES OF THE TRAIL
Sat 10-12 noon
10:30 to 11:00 am: Garden tour, plant selection and organic pest control- I will show and tell how I have been dealing with the “unwanted/wanted visitors/residents” in my garden, including rats, possums, caterpillars, powdery mildews, fruit flies, ants, spiders, curl grubs, stinky bugs, wasps, bees, ladybirds, birds, moths, butterflies, cats, kookaburra, wild rabbits, bush turkeys, lizards, snakes, frogs
Sat 1-3 pm
1:30 to 2 pm Garden tour and on how to make little goes long way with watering when you don’t use wicking beds system. I will show and tell the importance of constant watering how I set up my gravity watering systems including collection of grey water from shower and rain, drip irrigation, and ollas. The strategies to keep the soil moist and healthy and the plant happy with as little water as possible.
Sunday 10-12 noon
10:30 to 11:00 am Garden tour and on identifying the characteristics of my garden and making most of what nature gives, the importance of solar access and support structures (trellis, stakes, fences and walls) to the plants, composting, earth worms and worm farms.
Sunday 1-3 pm
1:30 to 2 pm Garden tour and on pollination, yields of crop, harvesting at different stages, harvesting different parts of the plants, preserving and enjoying produce from veg garden in different ways including eating fresh drying, dehydrating, snap freezing, wild fermentations. Propagating and seeds saving.
Voluntary gold coin donation to the garden tours and information sheet. All money collected including the garden tours, plant, seeds sales will go to The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife. https://www.fnpw.org.au/
Please dogs must be left in the front of the house on leash. The closest public toilet is at Forestville shopping centre opposite the Forestville Library (2 km, on your way in). Please no photos, no filming, no news reporters.
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Purple podded peas harvested from Ping’s garden
Balgowlah Heights – Tim’s Garden
Tim’s garden is a custom built, raised “U” shaped veggie bed with a frame and metal cage over it to stop wildlife getting in. It is also a wicking bed which is fed by a water pump on a timer.
It’s on reddit and has had over 170,000 views. It’s about 7m2 of growing area with an additional wicking garden bed added to the front to attract pollinators. There is another 7m2 wicking that I built but this is more for shrubs! There is also a native beehive and composter onsite.
Tim’s garden bed is covered to protect his plants from local wildlife
Manly – Katja’s Garden
OPEN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 10-2pm
Katja’s garden is a small urban permaculture garden filled to the brim with edibles. Every inch is used to grow food in raised garden beds, wicking containers and pots.
Join us for a tour and see how we manage to grow a large percentage of our fresh veggies, fruit and herbs in this small urban garden. See our worm farms, compost bins and native bee hive.
We will have a tasting of seasonal produce, seedlings and seeds available for purchasing on the day. Pop into our local coffee shop just around the corner for delicious fair trade, organic coffee – all the coffee grounds are recycled by us!
Katja’s garden in Manly
Fairlight – Rob’s Garden
Our garden is in the backyard of a semi-detached house so space is pretty small. It is a kitchen garden designed on ‘Permaculture Principles’ working with the natural attributes of the site and using organic and some biodynamic practices.
Our aim for the garden is to be as productive as possible in the limited space, to be able to eat something from the garden every day and share when we can, and to be an example of what can be achieved in a small urban situation.
You will see intensive vegetable growing, compost, liquid manure, worm farm, seed-saving, rainwater tanks and use, chickens, permaculture design principles in action, use of the nature strip to grow fruit trees.
We are child-friendly, dog (on a leash) friendly, but unfortunately not so accommodating for wheelchairs owing to a small step at the gate and narrow side path, however we welcome and will assist the adventurous!
Edible backyard garden in Fairlight
For Our Ku-Riung-Gai, Mosman And North Sydney Readers
You too can visit a local Edible Garden - the Ku-ring-gai list is HERE - the Mosman list is HERE and the North Sydney list is HERE