21st Century Community Gardening, a whole new take on it

Community gardening is a multidimensional activity that is increasingly being used as a social strategy to address all kinds of community ills and social circumstances.

During the austerity of the Second World War in Britain, and Australia too, all kinds of spare land was commandeered for food production. Indeed the the "DIG FOR VICTORY" slogan is being invoked again in a 21st C context.

Austerity is a relative thing and right now in Tasmania the food shortages that were experienced in WW2 Britain bear little or no comparison to what know today. Nonetheless, there is a VICTORY to be won over relative poverty, social isolation and exclusion, the creeping unaffordability of energy and housingand more still.

Even though Australia/Tasmania has escaped the worst of the ravages of the international GFC the imperatives that seem to be driving community interest in food gardening are still with us – and are likely to be so for some time yet. Community gardening is seeming to win some attention as a kind of economic stimulus interestingly.

The Internet is turning out to be a useful 'garden tool' as all kinds of once obscure information is now readily available at the click of a mouse. Indeed intending community gardeners need only click here to get the 'good oil' on the basic infrastructure required for a community garden and here for a fascinating story in the Hobart Mercury that puts a whole new spin on the subject.