The area around Lewisham train station is a desolate wasteland. Other than a row of large palm trees, there’s a disintegrating raised garden bed, and a long strip of browning weeds. Hardly a joy to behold.

Following a casual suggestion from a neighbour, I guerrilla gardened in a number of gymea lilies, underneath the palm trees. These are extremely tough, and will grow to a size large enough to visually fill in the gaps along the fence.

That got me started, so I continued on to plant a small patch of native plants at the start of the pedestrian walkway that runs alongside the train line.

I’ve since expanded this a little, and it now consists of a mix of acacias (to start enriching the soil), hardy native shrubs (westringias, etc) and strap-leafed plants (lomandras, dianellas).

This has not been without some challenges:

• The railway put in a huge new vandal-proof black fence, and the workers trampled some of the plants in the process (although most survived!).
• The regular railway workers tend to roll their trucks over the garden every once in a while.
• Kids keep stealing the stakes, so the plant guards blow away.
• It’s only rained once in the last 3 months, so hand watering is critical in this early stage.

Despite this, many of the plants, particularly the bushes, are already growing rapidly. I’ve also got a heap of cuttings that should be ready for planting out soon.

Why do this?

A few people have asked me “why bother doing all this, it isn’t your problem?”.

There are a few reasons:

• It’s nice to live in a lovely local environment, and the current station environment is far from lovely.
• It’s also good to increase the local biodiversity, encouraging more birds, insects, etc.
• This land belongs collectively to us, as the local residents. The Council is just the steward of the land, looking after it on our behalf.
• This gives us a responsibility to participate in sustaining and improving the environment.
• Someone should be doing it! The Council, even with the best of wills, can’t do everything for us.
• It’s enjoyable and satisfying to see something grow and prosper.

It’s now official

I also struck up a conversation with the lovely folks at Marrickville Council, who have endorsed the use of the land as a low-maintenance community native garden.

So it’s no longer guerrilla gardening … it’s official gardening. Where’s the fun in that! 😉

Watch this space for updates as the space (hopefully) starts to bush up and spread out…