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FOOD FOR THOUGHT - The pros and cons of growing edibles in parks and public spaces.

It’s a utopian dream. Fruits and vegetables growing on streets and in public parks for everyone to harvest. But, as Kerri Jackson learns, there’s pros and cons to growing edible crops in public spaces.

For Margi Mitcalfe, the joy of the berm gardens in her Palmerston North street comes from the way it has brought her diverse street together into a tight-knit community. She started a garden on her own berm in Moheke Ave nine years ago. It now stretches across several street berms, known as the Moheke Community Garden, growing herbs, flowers, fruit and vegetables such as kale, broad beans, peas and tomatoes. The group also runs community compost bins, so even residents who don’t have a berm garden can contribute to feeding it.

“I started because I wanted to grow sunflowers in my berm. Kids would come past and want to know what I was doing. Then their parents started asking and it grew from there.

“This is a really diverse street. People speak different languages and people come and go, but the berm garden really connects everyone,” Margi says.

We all need a bit of a utopian vision in our lives these days. For some that takes the form of an abundant, food resilient future; an Eden-esque landscape where we can pluck and harvest fruit and veges from trees and gardens grown in the public spaces all around us.

It’s a lovely idea. One that’s growing in popularity around the world. In New Zealand, periodically a resident will fire up a petition asking their local council to line street-side berms with fruit or nut trees to feed the community, with mixed success. Then there are the residents, like Margi, who simply set to and plant out the verge themselves, also with mixed success and occasional run-ins with local authorities. (Although Margi herself is full of praise for Palmerston North City Council, describing them as “enlightened” for allowing the project to flourish. The community garden’s success has also been helped by the residents’ awareness they need to be mindful of clear sightlines for traffic, spaces for wheelie bins and keeping footpaths free of debris.)

Everyone spoken to for this article – including local authorities – was generally in favour of the idea of more public land being used for the growing of food. But almost everyone spoken to for this article – including the most ardent supporters – had words of caution about the how,

when, where and what of planting in public places, particularly roadside verges. After all, if it was easy everybody would be doing it.

Like other berm gardeners, access to water and mulch has meant Margi has started to move away from veges into less intensive plantings. To avoid the risk of digging in the wrong place and hitting buried pipes and cables, the gardens are planted in raised beds on top of the berm.

Though the street side gardens have been the subject of the odd act of vandalism, it’s been fairly minimal and hasn’t happened in a while, says Margi. “I think longevity helps. Everyone is just used to the garden now.”

There hasn’t been much else in the way of complaints or issues with pests, although the odd pet has been known to cause some damage, but she says the problems “are not insurmountable at all. They're just challenges”.

“You have to be prepared to lose it,” says long-time Auckland berm gardener Denise Bijoux, simply because the garden is on public council land and there may come a time when that needs to be dug up for some reason. Denise has had a garden on her front verge for the past 15 years. In that time she has planted everything from nasturtiums and herbs to citrus and veges, but these days she has veered away from the veges to focus more on pollinators.

Though Denise has some frustrations at the lack of a clear policy from Auckland Council on what is and isn’t permitted in terms of resident planting on roadsides, that isn’t what has changed her focus. It’s more about maintenance and making the most of what’s around.

“We grow a lot of flowers now to attract pollinators. We’re near Eden Park which has bees and we want those bees to come here,” she says, adding that without a watering system set up in the verge garden, it’s difficult to look after the veges properly. “We capture water from our shower and use it out there but it’s not really enough.”

For Denise, though, any challenges presented by her berm garden are offset by the benefits. Top of that list is interaction with passersby, whether it’s families eating beans on their way to a game at Eden Park, keen gardeners collecting seeds, or the romantics picking flowers for Valentines Day.

The pros and cons of edible landscapes

There are still complications that come with growing food in a public space.

Different local authorities around the country have different policies on what can and can’t be planted in public spaces, and whether or not berm planting is permitted. In most cases councils, at minimum, want residents to ask before planting. Some of the reasons for this include: ensuring footpaths remain clear, safe and accessible for all users; ensuring the road remains clear of debris (and people harvesting) and that driver visibility isn’t impaired; ensuring infrastructure services (both under the verge and overhead) are safe, accessible and undamaged; and ensuring unharvested food or fruit fall doesn’t attract pests.

A berm’s suitability for planting might also vary depending on its size, what tree or trees the local council has already planted, how far back from the street a berm garden sits, and how much traffic – and what type of traffic – goes past.

In higher, or heavy, traffic areas there is an additional concern around pollution levels and whether it makes food grown on berms unsafe to eat.

The pollution risk is one reason “we would strongly encourage people not to do that,” says Bridie Gibbings, Christchurch City Council’s Team Leader Parks Sector North, of people planting veges and fruit on the roadside. Road safety and clear footpaths are the city council’s other concern. “You don’t want to be harvesting fruit from trees that are right on the roadway and on pedestrian footpaths, and you don’t want slippery fruit that’s rotten.”

She adds that in Christchurch, planting fruit trees in berms in post-earthquake new subdivisions often isn’t possible as they’re smaller and often tightly packed with below ground infrastructure.

Though it has no specific bylaw banning berm gardens or fruit trees, what Christchurch City Council tries to do instead, Bridie says, is to work with residents to find other public spaces to plant food.

“Most homes [in Christchurch] are within 400 or 500 metres of a local park, so will almost always have a location

Different local authorities around the country have different policies on what can and can’t be planted in public spaces, and whether or not berm planting is permitted.

The lemons in Cambridge

Lemon and persimmon trees along the grass verges in some streets have been part of the Cambridge landscape for decades.

When arborist planner Chris Brockelbank started with Waipa District Council in 2000, the trees were already well established but were starting to attract complaints from residents, mostly about their untidy state and mess from fallen fruit. The council surveyed residents living on the lemon-lined streets and found an even 50/50 split between those who wanted the trees retained and those who wanted them gone. So council kept the trees but committed to more frequent maintenance. “That way we were able to make sure people who wanted to keep the trees were happy, and for the people who weren’t so happy with the trees, at least we were trying to reduce the impact of them,” Chris says.

Since then, complaints about the lemons have all but disappeared.

“There are some people who get frustrated that others come from outside the street to collect lemons when they’re the ones mowing around it, but there’s other people who are really happy to have people come and take the lemons to know that they’re being used.”

Persimmon trees on another street have attracted fewer complaints over the years, aside from a few about local students throwing the fruit, though those too have died away.

Chris believes attitudes toward the growing of food in public areas are changing. “I think there has been a real shift in focus across communities throughout New Zealand, seeing the benefit of free food and the use of community spaces to grow fruit trees.”

When arborist planner Chris Brockelbank started with Waipa District Council in 2000, the trees were already well established…

where people can put the fruit trees and veges within walking distance of their homes,” she says.

If approached by residents for an edible garden request, park rangers will work with the group to help ensure their desired plants will work in the local public space.

“If there is a choice that’s slightly amiss, we’ll help guide them in a slightly different direction. We do need to consider that parks are there for everyone.”

Bridie says people often worry edible plants will attract rats and other pests but actually the number of issues with pests and vermin have been surprisingly low with these types of public plantings.

“I think there’s a perception that it creates a huge problem [with vermin] but what we’ve found is that actually it’s very minimal.”

The biggest issue for the council is ensuring there is community engagement for edible plantings. “You do want people who will come along and collect the fallen fruit that could otherwise become a hazard.”

When it comes to edible garden beds in public parks, the council often enters a memorandum of understanding with the community group that clearly spells out the use, what the community group is responsible for and what the council is responsible for, to help ensure gardens are well maintained.

In Auckland, Head of Park Services Mark Bowater recommends contacting Auckland Council before undertaking any planting on berms or other public spaces.

“There are all sorts of considerations, particularly underground, in a street environment,” he says. “There can also be an issue with fruit drop,” which requires someone to collect fruit and clean footpaths.

That said, there are a number of streets around Auckland which do have fruit trees growing in the berms, planted decades ago. Mt Albert and Sandringham feature feijoa trees on the street, where fruit fall is managed by a mix of locals collecting and using most of the fruit, and regular council maintenance. “Those trees are well known so there is quite a bit of community interest in coming through and picking up the windfall,” Mark says.

The street environment is often quite harsh for trees, he says, meaning species selection is important, and street-side pollution is one reason hardier trees growing fruit with thicker skins that aren’t eaten, such as feijoa and citrus, have been selected as street trees in the past.

Pollution considerations play a part in other edible plantings too - Matt Johnston, Parks Operation Team Leader at Waipa District Council, says traffic islands in the region are often planted in hardy brassicas like silverbeet in winter. “Every time we use it we get multiple enquiries about what we are doing with them when we pull them out. But because they have been used in really built-up, high traffic areas those plants are composted rather than eaten.”

Community is key

Waipa District has no plans for more roadside fruit trees, but it is open to other ways to introduce edible into public areas, working with Cambridge Community Board member Elise Badger to introduce edible gardens in public spaces.

Three have been planted over the past 15 months, but there was plenty of scepticism as the first garden in Leamington’s Thompson St playground was planted. The first plantings were immediately uprooted and strewn around. The culprit remains unknown, but the encouraging thing for Elise was the way the community rallied round. “They stopped by and plugged all these plants back in.”

Since then, it has been relatively plain sailing, with the Thompson St garden growing a mix of herbs and veges as seasons dictate. The playground also features several publicly accessible fruit trees including feijoa and mandarins.

Two aspects have been crucial to getting the gardens up and running. The first is making them relatively low-risk. The gardens are dug straight into the ground, with the addition of some council-supplied growing mix, so if the project goes south, the plot can be reverted to park lawn.

Costs have also been low, with seedlings donated by the local Amber Garden Centre.

The second is guardianship. Each garden has a designated member of the public responsible for its maintenance. The Thompson St garden has a local who wants to see it succeed, another edible garden is cared for by a nearby early childhood centre, and the most recent berm garden is maintained by the adjacent property owner.

The gardens are dug into the ground, with the addition of some council-supplied growing mix, so if the project goes south, the plot can be reverted to park lawn.

Sustainability & resilience

In Papakura, the Urban Edibles project run by Sustainable Papakura started in 2019: 24 planters were put around the centre of the town, filled with veges. Sustainable Papakura chairperson Rosemary Nash says the project has been a success in terms of community engagement, but some big lessons have been learned, compounded, in part, by lockdowns. “It was a lot more work than we had thought,” says Rosemary, citing challenges such as access to water, needing volunteers to maintain watering during lockdowns when businesses were shut, and keeping the planters looking good as plants went to seed.

There’s been little theft, and planters are occasionally used as seats by weary shoppers. But there’s also a long list of positives. “People protect the planters and there’s been no real vandalism. Some were worried they – or others – were stealing. We give them the opportunity to give back by coming and helping out,” she says.

There’s also been an enhanced sense of pride and ownership in the town centre, and strangers end up in conversations around the planters as they work.

She advises groups considering similar projects to plan well. “Once you’ve started you can’t really stop or you’ll create an eyesore and a very public failure,” she says. Think about water, sun and maintenance. Make sure those involved understand the commitment.

And the rewards? “It’s worth it as a community building exercise alone. You won’t provide food for hundreds but it will show what is possible. This is one of the most exciting and rewarding projects I have ever been involved in.”

There’s also been an enhanced sense of pride and ownership in the town centre, and strangers end up in conversations around the planters as they work.

Other food resilience projects

Christchurch red zone: Fruit trees and gardens from now demolished earthquake-damaged homes remain in what is now a public space and are open for locals to forage. It is also home to Richmond Community Garden, run by volunteers and open for the general public to harvest. Jo Wildish, who runs Otautahi Urban Foraging taking people on food gathering walks through the Red Zone and surrounding areas, believes the lack of fencing around the gardens actually makes them less susceptible to vandalism or theft.

Waiheke Island: Between 2014 and 2016, a local boardfunded project saw about 1000 fruit trees planted, mostly on roadside berms, on parts of Waiheke Island. Each tree was partnered with a resident who was responsible for its care and maintenance. But a high population turnover on the island meant many of those caretakers moved on, and with no funds for follow-up care, the project hit a few hiccups, resulting in council removing a small number of the trees and one or two others dying. Waiheke Resources Trust (WRT) has picked up the mantle again, just as the remaining trees are starting to fruit. It is currently working on a digital map to help locals find the trees and let them know when they’re in season.

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