Who’s up for a spot of veggie gardening in Suffolk Park?

Aslan Shand

Creating a community garden and increasing the native trees at 32 Red Bean Close in Suffolk Park is finally coming to fruition for Nicholas Hall, who has been unofficially managing the site for the last four years.

Council is currently accepting submissions on the proposal until July 19 to license the lot for one year for general community use as ‘a natural area to the community regeneration of open space.’

The land was originally donated to the community by residents in the early stages of the Suffolk Park development, said Nicholas.

‘Fruit trees were planted by residents who donated the parcel of land to Council, and we since planted more fruit trees with Council’s go-ahead.’

Prior to the removal of 60 koala trees for the development of Sea Cliffs, Nicholas said there had been koala sightings in the area and at times 100 to 200 yellow-tailed black cockatoos at the site. Now the cockatoos only appear in numbers of about 10 to 20.

Following the Sea Cliffs development, the developers ‘rehabilitated in the koalas’ best interest,’ said Nicholas.

Currently there are six small vege patches approximately 1.5m by 2m, and Nicholas is keen to get other members of the community involved in the project.

If you are interested in getting involved, contact Nicholas on 0448 993 423.

---