WOULD you grow and share vegetables with your neighbours?
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It is an initiative which has divided the city since Ballarat City Councillor Amy Johnson proposed establishing communal fruit and vegetable boxes on nature strips.
The idea is to plant “verge gardens” with free, low-maintenance, edible plants for the community to share.
While the nature strip has long been deemed a no-man’s land, this model would allow residents to have greater ownership of the strip of land out the front of their homes.
The idea comes off the back of other success stories including Ballarat resident Lou Risdale’s laneway project.
Ms Risdale started a free-food initiative in the laneway near her house in Ripon Street as part of a global trend where neighbourhoods share their fresh garden produce.
The Ballarat mother combined the #FoodIsFree initiative with the idea of guerrilla gardening which involves randomly beautifying an area.
Since she started the project in October hundreds have flocked to the garden some taking what they needed and others leaving seeds in her letterbox or dropping off herbs and fruit.
In principle, the initiative is blooming with positives from free nutritious food for people who need it, social interaction, instilling community spirit and fighting Ballarat’s surge in obesity and cardiovascular disease.
But the idea has not been without its share of controversy from people suggesting the concept was flawed and that it could devalue properties if gardens were inconsistent, unkempt or presented safety hazards. Others questioned how health and safety standards would be addressed.
Ballarat councillor Vicki Coltman told The Courier earlier this week, that while she wasn’t opposed to the idea, nature strips were typically an extension of a footpath.
That means that everybody who uses them, including the elderly and people with disabilities, need to be considered in any major overhaul of the council’s nature strip policy.
While some councils, such as the City of Sydney and Marrickville, actively support their local green thumbs, others still threaten to fine residents for tilling their nature strips.
If the City of Ballarat moves ahead with this initiative it must have clear guidelines on how it will be rolled out.
One way could be mirroring the model of the City of Sydney.
While that municipality has incorporated the “vegie verges” into its footpath policy, all plans must be approved by the council first.