These are a few of my favorite things about community gardens
One of the things that I’m most excited about living in Singapore is discovering the different initiatives that connect people with the land on which we live. I feel very fortunate to live in an area with, not just one, but two community gardens that welcome my yet-to-be-proven green thumbs. This is what I love about each of them:
Learning the history
One of these community gardens is on the rooftop of an HDB carpark. It has been run for close to 8 years by a group of local residents who came together to pool their resources and skills and to extend the limited space they otherwise have to farm. To change a green roof to a space for farming is no easy feat — especially eight years ago when the idea of rooftop community gardens was still fairly novel. The interesting thing is that the usual boxes/plot system isn’t used. The founding members all farm together and share the produce.
The second community garden is located on the corner of a neighborhood park and makes their own compost from food waste contributed by residents nearby. To my great excitement, it also has a little food forest patch. This community garden, in my opinion, is very unique. It combines local residents farming their own boxes with a group of young people providing the testing ground for living proof of holistically designed food systems, whether financially or ecologically.
Understanding what to grow and what to do
In the first community garden, there are plenty of local favourites being grown from kailan to chyesim to baby bokchoy to others. My first week’s task was fertilizing kailan with chicken manure. The second week was mixing waterlogged (mostly clay) soil with cocopeat to improve water retention and aeration. Also I transplanted daikon! The task that I’m usually given at other farms I’ve volunteered at was weeding, so I’m in for a treat! What I’ve learned in this short span of time is that farming is about cycles and paying close attention to nature. Last week, Singapore was hit by tons of rain, but this week is super hot. I am beginning to learn the type of plants that can tolerate multiple days of heavy rain and those that don’t(i.e. rosemary and tomato, what signs to watch out for, and what to do). I asked D, the community garden guru, “What do you do when it rains heavily for multiple days?” He just gave me a shrug and said, “Just do your best, but imagine what it’s like for farmers who depend on their farm for a living.”
In the second community garden, I was struck by how lush it is and the diversity of plants growing there when I first went to drop off my food waste. It wasn’t until my second visit that M explained that this community garden started out with the usual boxes alloted to different members. A couple of years ago, he started experimenting with growing in the waterlogged part of the garden, which no one wanted to do because any nutrients just flow off of the super compact soil. M started a banana circle, digging a hole and dumping organic waste in it to absorb the water and to start building up soil organic matter. Today that area is thriving with banana trees, pandan, chinese violet, pigeon pea, and more. Even when I was planting roselle there, the soil was still a little clay-like, but I could definitely see hints of humus and earthworms. I asked M where he learned about food forests and what makes it as such — does it need 7 layers? M said, “You have to grow foods which are perennial and start from there, just experiment with different methods to see what works.” I was curious to see if he would offer a workshop on food forest. M was slightly surprised as he wasn’t sure people in Singapore would want to learn about food forest planting as it can’t really be done in a box. He did say that if I can find more people who are interested, he’ll teach it. Ok peeps in Singapore, let me know if you’re interested!
My first task here was spreading the seeds from the Ulam Raja and harvesting the flowers and leafs. I think it’s my first time tasting Ulam Raja, and I was immediately struck by its sharp taste and slight resemblance to mango. I was ashamed to say that I have yet to try the famous Nasi Ulam, a traditional Peranakan dish of mixed herb rice including the beautiful ginger flower. The leaf of the Ulam Raja reminded me of arugula and I like that in this community garden they are actively promoting different usage of traditional plants. My next task was trimming down the asystasia, or chinese violet,(a larval host plant for butterflies and with leafs that taste like crispy spinach) to make some space for roselle. M shared that farming is all about understanding the hydrological conditions and needs of the land and plants. Roselle likes plenty of water so it goes in as part of the food forest :) M also showed me the composting process which he made seem (dare I say) fairly simple and straightforward.
Meeting the people
Perhaps my favourite part about this exploration is the “community” aspect of community gardens. There is the youthful, energetic uncle in his 70s who roams around the community garden plucking off every plant and having a good chew. He swears by this diet to keep him healthy and fit, and it also earned him the nickname as the goat of the garden. There is the aunty who comes by with the latest recipe for garden chili and laments that it was not spicy enough. It reaffirms my vision of what a community garden is — a space for people to come together and connect with each other and the land. It reminds us of our nature to nurture and be nurtured by our relationship with the land — one that can be so rewarding (and frustrating at times too I’m sure) and, from what I’ve learned from both D and M, the only way to know is to get started :)
I’m excited about so much more that I’ll be learning at both community gardens and the people that I’ll be meeting there. I have also started a training program with Forest School Singapore and will share more about it in my next post!
