Community garden going strong after more than a decade

By Simon Ruppert

Jun 16, 2020

Homeowner’s who reside at the Benalla Tourist Park have been developing a community garden for more than a decade.

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The garden was set up about 12 years ago for residents to grow vegetables, meet new friends and socialise in a community garden at the rear of the village.

Resident Heather Wallace said it started off when a couple of residents got together to develop somewhere the community could grow fresh fruit and veg.

“They set it up in a location where they can't build any houses as there is a pond there,” Ms Wallace said.

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“A lot of the residents came off farms and spent their whole lives growing.

“So this gives them a chance to keep doing that.

“We've got a number of plots in the garden and it's a wonderful place.

“People can go there and talk and laugh and enjoy working with the soil.

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“We have quite a number of residents that utilise it now.

“Over the years some have stopped and new residents have taken over.”

Ms Wallace said the community garden also provided fresh fruit and veg to all residents.

“So this year we had lots of pumpkins and we were able to give every resident half a pumpkin,” she said.

“And if people want something we have a barter system so some people might swap a green pepper for an eggplant, for example.”