Dorrigo Community Garden - Bedding Down for the Future

The Dorrigo Community Garden gives community members the opportunity to grow fresh food in a productive garden that fosters community, encourages sustainability, promotes healthy living and allows diverse cultures and generations to come together and learn from each other.

In 2023/24 the Community Garden received a grant of $3,850 from Bellingen Shire Council's Environment Levy Community Fund to build more garden beds.

This project involved the construction of six raised garden beds which were designed to enable people with limited mobility to garden safely. Three of the beds can be used while seated, either in a wheelchair or garden chair, while the other three can be used whilst standing so the gardener does not need to bend, squat or kneel on the ground. In addition, the space between the beds is wide enough to allow wheelchairs and people with mobility aids to pass each other.

The garden beds were constructed by two local handypersons using timber donated by a local sawmill and re-purposed corrugated aluminium which was donated previously. The soil was sourced from the nearby Dorrigo Train Museum and supplemented with mushroom compost. The beds will be housed in an enmeshed tunnel to protect the crops from birds and insects.

The Community Garden grows a range of produce and in the last year has had an abundance of tomatoes, basil, beans, garlic, spring onions, rocket, leafy greens, brassicas, persimmons, pumpkins and potatoes which it shared with volunteers and the wider community. The new beds are an important extension of the existing garden which will enable more people to become involved in the gardens and learn about the environmental benefits of growing your own food.