COLEDALE'S community gardens got a royal touch recently.
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The team at the Coledale centre has been trying establish a community owned garden for a number of years.
It was pegged as a health and well-being initiative for the community and the garden beds out the back of the clinic were to be a place they could have ownership over.
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However, a number of factors, including the worsening drought, saw the gardens fall into a pretty dire state.
But the project has turned over a new leaf with some foundation support from one of the nation's best gardens.
Brenden Moore from the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens visited the Coledale centre recently to pass on some knowledge.
Similar botanical garden programs have been rolled out in Moree and Taree.
Coledale centre community development officer Rebecca Butler said the project was a way to "give back to community", while also enhancing social and emotional well-being.
But she said the gardens hadn't been looking good for a while and work had been done to make it more water efficient.
One of the beds was dug and altered so it will retain more water at the bottom of the soil and essentially water itself from below.
The centre also has a rain water tank on site.
The community centre will look to establish to form a committee who will take ownership and make it a community driven project.
The visit was part of the "community greening" program which is sponsored by the department of family and community services.
The program empowers vulnerable communities while providing a broad range of health, training, economic and social benefits.
The demand for community greening continues to grow, so our aim is to deliver 850 gardens and engage 150,000 participants by 2021.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
