9 things to get you into Street Gardening Mode!
1- Read Council guidelines
Read them through carefully. It’s important to know where your council are coming from - even if it may be communicated with little accessibility and warmth! There are important things to think about with this being a public space and I go through them in detail in my book, Melbourne Pollinator Corridor Handbook. Read here for City of Port Phillip’s nature strip guidelines. Read here for a little article of mine on how you can best work with these guidelines.
2- Observe the space.
One of the more important things you can do the when venturing into a new street gardening space is to see how the space is used already. This will give you an idea of what challenges there might be as you create a garden, how you can design around these observations to make it easier for yourself and give yourself more of a chance of success….and less friction! Things like…is the space used by people? By cars? And as what? A path? A play area? Do owners take their doggies onto it regularly?
3- Design around cars…
Make room for car doors and allow spots for people to jump out without them landing on your garden.
4- Build a raised bed…
Going down into the ground is just not practical (and sometimes not even possible!) in most street squares so think about how you are going to SECURELY build upwards. Remember you want to withstand standing on, walking over….. and at least a few years of this! Try a reflector on the edge to help pedestrians at night- especially at the beginning!
5- Talk to your neighbours!!
At the very least out of your neighbourhood, get your neighbours (and their doggies!) on board with your project. Say hi as many locals as possible while you are out gardening! If you are the first garden in your street you need to do this a lot —and constantly !—as it will be brand new and some people just don’t like change good or bad. Engage engage engage…..and do it some more.
6- Take a compliment!
If passers by say something positive take it graciously—please don’t grumble or vent at them! Remember that those strangers are going out their comfort zone to say something positive to you….keep the positivity going!
7- Expect challenges
They will happen- all the time- when you are least expecting them! You have embraced your public space and want to create something beautiful on it— which is awesome!—but other people and doggies need time, especially at the beginning, to learn about you and your garden. Perhaps put up some small, polite signage to explain what is going on— with your name and a contact number/address/email on it. This keeps ‘community engagement’ and your presence going even when you aren’t there
8- Stay determined
Fix up anything that goes awry quickly and quietly- so no signs about owners removing their dog poo!!!!! Pedestrians will respect this, owners of doggies will get on board quicker and you will be a lot happier for it. The best way to get rid of dog poo and people trampling your garden is by raising it and filling it with many plants asap. But know it might still happen from time to time!
9- Expanding your street gardening
It’s so awesome to be keen but I recommend that, if you have grand plans, you start small and dip your toes gradually in the street gardening water. Start with the patch outside your home and gradually expand as going big straight away without community trust and experience is an enormous challenge!