Joyful Closed Loop System Street Garden in Coburg, Victoria
Street Gardener: Alice Crowe
Former gardener at Heide Museum of Modern Art and author of A Heide Harvest: Menus, feasts and stories inspired by Sunday Reed’s Kitchen Gardens
Instagram: @heart_garden__
Date of interview: 30th January 2026
Images: Alice Crowe over the years and Emma Cutting
Why did you start a street garden?
It’s….compulsion! I started the garden in 2020 and planted it with my daughter. The nature strip was a blank canvas that I just had to turn into a garden! Why wouldn’t I?
What challenges have you faced?
My biggest challenge was getting rid of the original kikuyu grass. I found some solid woollen carpet and cardboard off hard rubbish and invested time in smothering the grass. I did about 5m2 at a time so it felt very manageable. I would then move the carpet along and overlap “the killing zone” so I only had one edge of grass to contend with. I kept the site neat-looking during this time and each time before I smothered I would feed the soil so the grass would break down quicker. There was a bit I didn’t catch in the initial smothering that I keep having to remove.
Other challenges include having some fairy lights taken but I am surprised that no plants have been stolen. Once of the most disgusting things to ever happen to me was when I was doing a little weeding after getting out of the car and I put my hand straight into a fresh, massive dog poo. The feeling was……..I can’t even say the words! Now I am more careful and wear gloves. But you are going to get a bit of dog poo and you have to “suck it up and move on” otherwise you get so frustrated.
“You must practice the principle of non-attachment - pouring your love into something and then being able to let it go.”
What is in your garden?
I’m on fairly heavy clay and it is dry in summer so locally indigenous plants are great because they have adapted to our soil. There are lemon beauty heads, wallaby grasses and everlastings daisies. The hollyhocks are also out and I see bees and wasps around them right now. I have some foraged logs and my daughter has added a toy skull and ceramic mushrooms. The garden is largely self-seeded now - most of it is wind scatter but some seeds I’ll specifically scatter in certain spots.
How do you manage the garden?
I have compost out the back and a mulcher which is one of my favourite things. Everything from the garden goes back into itself. When you can tune into the cycles it can be endlessly abundant and when there is an abundance generosity happens! I think street gardening can be very inclusive - if you want to do this on a budget you can.
Below: January 2023 after a refresh and some new indigenous plants.
“I come home to beauty and think “Oh my god I’m home….and look at how beautiful it is!”.…and everyone else can share in this beauty if they want to.”
What has your street garden given you?
It gives me extra real estate for gardening! While I am talking to you I am looking at the garden and it gives me joy. I can watch it moving in the breeze. I come home to beauty and think “Oh my god I’m home….and look at how beautiful it is!”.…and everyone else can share in this beauty if they want to.There is a sense of the garden being a collective effort which connects people. The garden becomes more than just for the critters and the plants, it enriches and connects community. People walking past have a reason to have a chat that isn’t contrived. There is no sense of obligation and they can leave at any point they want. It’s uncommon to have spontaneous conservations like this in any space now. When the neighbours comment on the garden I get to give them seeds from the garden.
Any extra advice?
• You must practice the principle of non-attachment - pouring your love into something and then being able to let it go.
• The garden has to be robust and you need to be more robust in your thinking than in your front yard.
• You don’t have ownership - you can do some creative thinking, planting and execution but you can’t control this space and how people act.
• You will have little heartbreaks.
• You have to accept people will help themselves and take things.
• I’m a member of Coburg garden lovers group which helps with sharing tools and information.
