All Committee members, garden members, friends of the garden and visitors to the Freshie Community Garden are to exercise the upmost care and priority to ensure that the community garden area is laid out and maintained in such a manner to provide easy, safe access free from obstructions and trip hazards.
Care must be taken to ensure that whilst using tools with long handles or sharp blades or prongs that other persons on site are not placed at risk of injury. Tools are not to be laid on the ground but stowed upright and any sharp protrudence (rake/garden fork) turned inward when not in use.
Any accident on site is to be reported to a Committee member for documentation and investigation.
A first aid kit will be available on site for basic first aid assistance.
Allotment Holders of the Freshie Community Garden are limited to residents of the Warringah Local Government Area with preference given to those who live within a 1 kilometre radius of the garden and who do not have their own private garden.
Those with private gardens are encouraged to apply as a Friend of the Garden, as preference to Allotment Holders is given to those with little opportunity to garden at home.
Allotments, with a modified design, will be provided for people with a physical disability.
The garden will comprise areas allocated to shared and private allotments/gardens. There will be fruit trees and vines in the designated orchard sector and on trellis arrangements at the borders which are a shared responsibility to plant, feed, water and prune. Produce arising from the shared areas of the garden will be used in the first instance to generate income for the garden and secondly to share amongst the members.
The garden will be set up and maintained using organic/permaculture principles.
A person/organisation must be a financial member of the Freshie Community Garden to hold an allotment and participate in the shared area of the garden.
Friends of the Garden – This means that people who do not wish to garden but would like to be involved, can participate in social activities, attend working bees, attend workshops. Also, if Friends of the Garden have skills that they would like to contribute to the garden, i.e. assist in composting, propagating etc
This fee will be;
$70.00 for a large Allotment (approx size 3 m x .9 m)
Members can apply to the Garden Committee to have the fee waived if payment would cause financial hardship.
Category Fee Due Date
Allotment Holders – Large Allotment $70.00 per each year (*including Membership of Friends of Freshwater $20 )
Freshie Community Garden is an activity of the Friends of Freshwater Inc.
The Friends of Freshwater Inc are legally responsible for the activities of the Freshie Community Garden and hold the Public Liability Insurance cover. The operation of the Garden will be vested in a Community Garden Committee. The Community Garden Committee will be elected in October each year and will comprise five (5) members and will meet bi- monthly.
The elected Freshie Garden Committee will elect their office bearers.
Positions on the Freshie Community Garden Committee are:
- Chairperson,
- Deputy Chair
- Secretary,
- Membership Officer/Treasurer
- Ordinary members.
Complaints concerning the operation of the garden should be directed in writing, in the first instance, to the Freshie Garden Committee.
If a satisfactory solution cannot be reached then the matter should be raised with the Chairperson of the Friends of Freshwater Inc. The Executive will review the complaint at the next Executive meeting and respond in writing within 14 days of a decision being reached.
The complainant may contact the NSW Ombudsman on 9286 1000 should the matter not be resolved satisfactorily.
1. Only one allotment is available per household. Provision will be made for children to have a shared allotment.
2. Allotment holders must maintain eligibility status.
3. Allotment Holders must be financial members of the Freshie Community Garden.
4. Produce grown in the private garden allotment is for private consumption only and cannot be sold.
5. Allotments can not be sub let.
6. Any change of address, phone number or email address must be notified immediately to the Freshie Garden Committee membership officer.
7. Fees and other payments must be paid promptly. Fees are non – refundable.
If a member becomes unfinancial then his/her allotment will be forfeited.
8. Members are required to keep their allotment and surrounds weed free and to regularly grow vegetables, herbs,flowers or other plants.
9. Members are required to attend 50% of working bees scheduled for general
maintenance of the communal areas. If participation is less than 50% then an
invitation to renew his/her allotment and membership may not be issued.
10. No animals are allowed in the designated garden area except for seeing eye dogs. Crown Reserve is not designated an ‘off leash’ reserve. Any garden member who brings a dog to the reserve must have the animal on a leash at all times. The garden member is to secure the dog to an immovable object outside the designated boundaries of the Freshie Community Garden. Should the dog bark or whine excessively the garden member is required to remove the dog to another part of the reserve and attend to its’ need for companionship.
11. Gardeners can work in the garden from 9am to 6pm.
12. The garden allotment must be utilised for the purposes of growing vegetables, herbs and flowers only.
There is a 2m height restriction and Allotment holders are encouraged to plant on a north-south axis so as to avoid overshadowing of adjoining allotments. All frames must be sited where they do not shade adjacent allotments
13. Allotment holders should not construct fences of any permanent materials around
their allotments.
14. Prohibited plants as decreed by law should not be grown.
15. Garden members should seek approval from a Committee member before planting any shrub, tree or perennial plant in the common area of the garden. The committee member in considering the request is to take into account the overall plan of the garden, the height and shading effect if any on member allotments and the ongoing maintenance issues such as water requirements, fertiliser, pruning, root invasion, soil depth required to support the bulk of the plant.
16. Allotment holders will ensure that sharp tools are put away, the common shed is locked when leaving the garden. Knives should not be left unattended at anytime.
17. Allotment holders must notify the Committee if locks, taps, tools etc require maintenance at any time.
18. Paths must be kept clear.
19. Burning of waste is not permitted.
20. If Allotment holders are unable to maintain their Allotment due to illness or absence on holidays they must inform the Committee. Any arrangement for a friend or relative to care for the Allotment must have the consent of the Committee and must be for periods of no more than nine weeks.
21. Weedicides/Herbicides/Pesticides are banned. Companion planting is encouraged as an alternative and natural pest management approaches as described in the workshop.
22. Hoses without a suitable spray nozzle and on/off handle must not be used for watering gardens.
23. All gardeners are responsible in ensuring water, when taken from the piped tap is used wisely and ensure there is no wastage from overfilling of containers, leaving the tap running while not in attendance at the tap or leaving the tap dripping.
24. Noxious weeds, such as oxalis and onion weed, must be removed from the garden for safe disposal. Do not add to the compost heap. Members must remove weeds from their allotments and never allow them to “come to seed” and contaminate any garden bed on site.
25. Members who do not intend to cultivate their allotments in the winter months are requested to either cover them with ‘weed cloth’ or grow a suitable ‘green manure’ crop to assist in the elimination or reduction in weed growth.
26. Any Allotment Holder not complying with the rules stated above will be requested to take action to amend the problem. Failure to fix the problem within 14 days may lead to the the Committee issuing a letter advising that the allotment has been forfeited Allotment holders who receive three warnings per annum will have their allotment automatically forfeited.
A waiting list will be established by the Freshie Garden Committee if there are more applicants for a personal allotment than is available. The waiting list applicants must remain a financial member of the
Freshie Community Gardento maintain their position on the waiting list. The applicants on the waiting list will be recorded in chronological order and will be invited to take up a personal allotment by the Garden Committee as and when a vacant allotment is available or if and when further allotments are added to the garden.In the interim applicants can still participate in the activities of the garden through contribution to the establishment and maintenance of the shared garden area and attendance at organised activities.
