Smokva Community Garden Field Day: Urban community spirit under the fig trees!

“Urban community spirit under the fig trees!” The name Smokva, translates to ‘fig tree’ in Croatian, it’s a reference to this old garden from which its character, infrastructure and legend was inherited…. (est. 2005) Drenched in filtered sunlight and protected from the street noise by those majestic giant fig trees, the morning found us in an inviting, urban landscape known as “Smokva Community Garden”. Adrian our host greeted us with a warm, welcoming friendly smile – leading us to shipping containers that double as tool shed / prepping, workshop and education centre.

There we were treated to both a Bokashi compost and general garden composting/mulching demonstration explained by Adrian as a weekly get together by a core group of urban gardeners who socialise, learn, share and all get a massive boost of energy from knowing that there are other people working together to make their garden nice.

Part of the compost is utilised from the growing of leafy cardamom, banna grass and arrow root as renewable, in-situ mulch sources – part donated and collected from local businesses like nearby “Mo Mo” wholesale café. The group coordinate regular food scrap pick-up from Mo Mo’s, recently introducing their Bokashi fermented paper compost technique to hasten the bacterial breakdown in their buckets reducing smell and the need to refrigerate the scraps! Lunch found us surrounding the Croatian clubs woodfire Piza oven, sharing a meal, chatting about the garden and gardening ideas as well as sharing our “food swap table” with exotics from white chokos to zesty lemon budda hands.

The news of Pizza quickly spread to a “gardening working-bee” at the Croatian club and the afternoon passed lazily in speakeasy conversation under the gentle breeze passing through the branches of the majestic Fig trees lining the garden. The garden is a beautiful, rustic mix of plants, trees and the spirit of friendship, that an urban community in the middle of a busy city can beautifully unite. Please feel free to join the community garden either as a hands-on helper or a financial member to help-out, all would be gladly received. Stephen Griffin Nellinda Street Farm