Verges gardens are not community gardens

Many arguments and disputes develop when people use the same words but mean different things.

Almost every person who complains about councils clamping down on their activity says that they were doing it for the community.

Community food gardens have lots of complications - storage, access to water, community compost, insurance, etc - which is why they need planning and governance with an incorporated association and formal agreements with relevant councils or land owners.

The complications of verge gardens are different and mainly social, with many competing users and uses of the space.

For group projects, it’s important that all your members understand this and you all work together with a shared purpose. One member’s dispute with neighbours or council could derail your whole project.

For all verge gardeners, keeping the design of verge gardens simple and avoiding the additional complications of food gardens will make your task much easier. It will also reduce the likelihood of getting into a dispute with your neighbours or council.

Keeping it simple with local native plants for shade, habitat, and biodiversity is the key to making verge gardens accepted by the majority of people and replaces grass as the norm.

This free article is part of the Understanding the Space section: bite-sized introductions to gardening in these small but wonderfully complex spaces.

Next: Can't we do more than just one?