Sustainable Macleod Community Garden
How the Sustainable Macleod Community Garden works
Sustainable Macleod Community Garden is gardened communally, growing a wide range of vegetables, berries, orchard fruit and herbs. There are no individual plots. The garden is overseen by a management group but essentially everyone who comes to the garden is involved in planning, gardening, growing seedlings, other projects and setting the direction of the garden.
At the end of each session, produce from the garden is divided between those people who have worked in the garden that day.
What goes on at the garden
The community garden hosts regular workshops and events which are free to members ($15 to non members). It also holds numerous social events including pizza nights, afternoon teas and the Sustainable Macleod Christmas and New Year parties.
Members of Sustainable Macleod Community Garden have in the last 8 years built a shelter, a commercial pizza oven, 2 polytunnels, 11 wicking beds, and a 6 bay compost system, as well as many raised garden beds. Members installed 20 x 1000 litre water tanks in 2016 but these have now been replaced (March 2024) with 2 x 15,000 litre and 1 x 2,500 litre commercial tanks, an off grid solar system and 3 shipping container secure storage units, one of which houses the reference library and the other the tool lending library
During the Coronavirus pandemic, Sustainable Macleod supplied BANSIC with hundreds of kilos of fruit and vegetables from the community garden plus seedlings, and masks made by members, for distribution to those doing it tough in the Banyule community
Membership of Sustainable Macleod which includes membership of the garden is $30 for a calendar year. Non members are always welcome to visit the garden as are children.
Garden Policy Documents
Visit us
Everyone is welcome to visit us! The Sustainable Macleod Community Garden is located on Somers Ave, directly across the oval from the end of Strathallan Road, Macleod.
Opening Hours
The Sustainable Macleod Community Garden is open Wednesdays and Saturdays 1 - 5pm in summer: 1 - 4pm in winter.
Please note that Macleod College has asked us not to bring cars (and therefore trailers) into the carpark area on Wednesdays while school is in session.
How the Sustainable Macleod Community Garden began
In 2015, Sustainable Macleod acquired 2 disused tennis courts at the back of Macleod College and set about transforming the En Tous Cas surface, which contained not an ounce of nutrient, into the flourishing, fertile garden it is today. The project was initially named the Macleod Organic Community Garden and subsequently changed to Sustainable Macleod Community Garden in 2023.
Latest gardening tips from our blog
10 tips for winter vegetable planting in Melbourne
Brassicas - cauliflower, cabbage, cabbage, kale 1. Before planting out, dip seedlings in Dipel, an organic bacterium that takes care of green caterpillars, the eggs of which may already be on the underside of the leaf. It is available from Yates as 'Nature's Way...
The shelf-life of garlic: choose cultivars to last year round
Garlic isn't just garlic! Garlic encompasses a wide range of flavours from spicy to buttery, nutty to sweet, mild to hot and more. There are 11 groups, several of which are not grown in Australia, and each has its own distinct growing and harvest season, soil and...
Turn autumn leaves into gold!
Recently I saw an unusual site - a Banyule City Council worker was blowing leaves from the gutter onto the nature strip. Usually, it is the other way round, I see people blowing leaves from the nature strip or their driveway into the gutter! This is a poor choice -...
Join Sustainable Macleod
Become a member and get access to the community garden, the tool library and our seed library. We welcome all members of the community and have regular events and workshops to enjoy.