Grant success will lettuce grow a garden
Published 2nd November 2018
| 2 November 2018 |
A community garden will spring up in Wakefield.
Community gardens will bloom in the Wakefield area, after Council secured a $48,000 grant to help promote a healthier, more active community.
Wakefield Regional Council has been partnering with Flinders University Nutrition and Dietetics through their student placement program to assess the viability of community gardens for our region. This work enabled Council to apply for and receive the grant of $48,000 through SA Health’s Healthy Towns Challenge.
Mayor Rodney Reid – a keen gardener himself – said the project was all about encouraging communities to dig in, eat healthier and be more active through gardening.
“A community garden promotes positive mental health and wellbeing, encourages greater connection to the environment and allows us to work together to make great spaces in the Wakefield region,” Mayor Reid said.
“We are pleased by the number of community groups who have already expressed an interest in participating, from schools to the established gardening club, to name a few.”
The grant funds will be used to purchase some of the materials needed to establish a community garden, such as garden beds, utensils, seedlings, fruit trees, soil and mulch.
In addition, Council will be working with Conservation Volunteers Australia to hold free weekly outdoor sessions where participants will be guided in establishing the garden and practical conservation activities such as planting trees and creating food gardens to encourage a community of ‘green thumbs’.
A recent survey was undertaken by a Flinders University dietician student on placement at Council to test if a community garden would be supported by locals.
“There was a lot of interest in a community garden concept from across the region, with overwhelming interest from Balaklava,” Mayor Reid said.
The pilot community garden will be established in Balaklava.
A few locations have been considered with the final decision to be made in collaboration with the community.