ACCIONA Community Finalist - Sunbury Neighbourhood House
Well done to another 2026 ACCIONA Community Finalist - Sunbury Neighbourhood House Inc
Nine gardens. One Labour Day. A postcard through the letterbox that read, in effect, "we'd love to see your garden."
That's how Sunbury Neighbourhood House's inaugural Edible Garden Trail found its hosts. Organiser Christie had been turning the idea over for years before bringing it to the Neighbourhood House's "Sustainable Sunbury" program in 2024, and by March 2026 the trail was ready: six private gardens plus community and school gardens open to the public, showing off everything from compost systems to chook runs to habitat planting alongside the veggies. The day closed with a talk on regenerative agriculture from former local Craig Castree.
More than 100 people turned up, travelling from as far as Reservoir and Seddon, with kids chasing down the Garden Grubs Gnome Hunt while adults swapped tips with garden hosts. One visitor's feedback captured the spirit of it: "I really appreciated seeing gardens thriving with edibles, gardens that were not looking perfectly manicured. Really inspiring."
The goal was never a picture-perfect garden tour. It was showing Sunbury locals what actually grows here, in real conditions, on real budgets, so more of them would give it a go themselves.
The X-factor: living classrooms. No slideshow beats standing in someone's actual backyard asking why your tomatoes keep dying.
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