HDB gardens cultivate public spirit

Residents' efforts in tending, harvesting produce bear fruit
Hoe Pei Shan Straits Times 19 Jul 10;

MORNINGS for most people are usually a whirlwind of alarms, hurried showers and skipped breakfasts before work, but not so for avid gardener Alice Tan.

The 49-year-old banking officer can be found in her Pasir Ris neighbourhood's community garden every morning, tending to its variety of fruit, vegetables and herbs before going to work.

'There's something fulfilling about starting my day here and being close to nature,' she told The Straits Times.

About half the size of a basketball court, the garden at Block 565, Pasir Ris Street 51, was started by some residents eight years ago.

Madam Tan is among some 50 residents who devote their mornings to the chilli padi, bittergourds and papayas, among many other fruit and vegetables, being grown for communal use.

Each family is in charge of a small plot, measuring about 1m by 2m - from buying the seeds to deciding what should be planted. Duties such as watering and making compost are rostered, and those who want produce need only ask the plot owners. No money is charged, based on the understanding that the garden is shared.

Once a month, some of the greens are harvested to be sold at 'very cheap rates' at a flea market just two blocks away.

All the profits are channelled back into the maintenance of the garden.

Said Madam Tan: 'Rather than buy food that has been coated with chemical pesticides, residents can enjoy our pesticide-free greens. Selling our produce is another way to get more people aware that we have a garden right outside our homes, and hopefully encourage them to join us in this community effort.'

Madam Tan is not alone in her effort to spread the idea of urban gardens. From zero established community gardens five years ago, there are now 390 - in public and private residential areas, corporate estates and schools.

In Ang Mo Kio, gardening enthusiasts have turned a once-bare slope of grass near Block 633 into a lush plot of spices and herbs.

Both gardens won Platinum Awards in the recent Community in Bloom Awards - a biennial competition organised by the National Parks Board to recognise and reward excellence in community gardening - and are participating in the ongoing Singapore Garden Festival at the Suntec International Convention Centre.

The Yio Chu Kang Zone 8 Residents' Committee, which oversees the Ang Mo Kio garden, can recommend herbs from the garden to cure a host of ailments.

'There is even one plant we feed to sick cats to stop them from vomiting,' said RC chairman Lim Hai Hoy, pointing to one of the 100 or so species.

Mostly senior citizens, the gardeners jot down daily reports on the plants' growth, and consult books on botany and herbal medicine to find remedies.

But growing a communal garden can bring out the worst in people, too, as the gardeners have discovered.

Retiree Soh Hong Huat said: 'People come to us for help, and we are more than willing to let them take what they need from the garden, but some just abuse this goodwill and pluck what they want at random, killing some plants.'

Vandalism has also struck the Pasir Ris garden - plots were trampled on, vegetables ripped up, and flowers plucked.

The abuse forced the Pasir Ris Zone 5 RC to erect a fence around the garden six years ago. But even now, there are passers-by who grab fruit and break off parts of plants growing close to the perimeter.

However, the community gardeners believe the situation is improving, as people gradually come to appreciate having such bounty in their midst.

Said Mr Soh: 'These are gardens for everybody, and we have seen an improvement in attitudes as more realise they can benefit from what is grown here.'