Green thumbs for good mental health

The gardeners of Balgowlah are celebrating and growing in a beautiful new space, thanks to a total transformation of their community garden on Griffiths Street.

Gardening is proven to be good for improving your mental health, and the 80+ members of Balgowlah Community Garden are great examples of how getting out into the sunshine, getting your hands dirty and reaping the fruits of your labour can put you in a good mood.

“Many studies have shown that being in a natural environment is good for ones mental health and personal wellbeing,” says Louise Robertson, Chair of the Balgowlah Community Garden Management Committee.

“Garden membership encourages a wide variety of activities as well as providing many opportunities for social interaction within the community”.

Louise got involved in the Balgowlah Community Garden six years ago after retiring and moving to the area.

“I wanted to meet new people in the neighbourhood and do something meaningful,” she said.

Wanting to improve the garden, the committee applied for a grant for a new shade structure through our Community Development Grant Program a couple of years ago. They also approached Council for help in designing a space that would work better for their growing membership. Council’s landscape architects came to the rescue with a beautiful plan that not only features the shade structure but eliminates clutter, increased the amount of garden beds, made the garden flow better and is accessible for all users with ramped concrete paths.

New stairs, made of beautiful sandstone and a huge bench seat built into the retaining wall, give even more space in the garden.

An old pallet compost area was removed and a new modular compost system was installed on the southern fencing out of the way. A handy bay was incorporated next to the driveway as a temporary holding space for things like a mulch delivery or removal of garden waste that can’t be composted. This keeps it out of the way to allow the gardeners to do smaller barrow loads without tripping over it.

Construction took less than a month, so the disruption to growing time (and the neighbours!) was minimised. Members are now harvesting their winter crops of cabbage, spinach, carrots, peas, rhubarb and lettuce and getting ready for planting their spring carrots, beetroot, cauliflower, broadbeans and sweet potato.

Balgowlah is one of six Community Gardens across the Northern Beaches, which are managed by the community, but overseen by Council on Council land.

Find your closest garden in Avalon, Newport, Nth Curl Curl, Manly Vale, Freshwater, Balgowlah or Seaforth and check our Community Garden page for more info on how to get involved.