about us
Jane Street Community Garden is a volunteer-based garden tucked into the heart of West End. We sit adjacent Davies Park at 103 Jane Street, West End 4101. Although the garden is small, we aim to make it as functional and diverse as possible. Within the space we have 12 raised garden beds which are rented by individuals or organisations, a large greenhouse where we grow seeds and propagate plants, we have an undercover area aimed at creating a meeting point for the community, we are also home to the West End Composting Hub, where everyone is welcome to drop off their food scraps. The open gardens are filled with a unique collection of plants all aiming to exhibit some form of ‘function’. Ranging from medicinal, to companion plants, animal-attracting, unique natives or even dyeing abilities.
Micah Projects auspices and helps coordinate the garden.
Micah Projects is a community organisation with an unswerving commitment to social justice and believes that every child and adult has the right to a home, an income, health care, education, safety, dignity and connection with their community of choice.
We sell seedlings, plants and compost!
We have a plant stand at The Green Grocer at 144 Boundary Street, West End, which is refilled regularly. Otherwise, you are welcome to send a message via our socials to enquire about what we have growing or how to get your hands on our amazing compost.
the garden’s history
Jane Street Community Garden was established approximately 20 years ago, originally as a guerrilla garden, where locals connected and grew produce on this vacant plot of land. But since then, a lot has changed…
2008 - oldest available Google street view of the garden
2021 - The garden was on the cusp of being shut down! Contaminated soil was found in the adjacent Davies Park, so Council pushed for the closure of the garden. Thanks to tireless work from Melissa Smrecnik (the previous garden coordinator), garden members, the local community, local MP’s and businesses, Brisbane City Council approved the continuation of the garden.
2022 - As a result of the potential for contaminated soils, Jane Street Community Garden underwent some large changes. Edible produce was/is now only to be grown in raised garden beds - isolated from the ground below. We now have 12 raised garden beds, some rented by individuals, some used by our volunteers and participants. The rest of the open gardens have slowly changed to focus on natives, medicinal varieties, animal-attracting, permaculture plants, companion plants etc. We also had an amazing new greenhouse installed from Sundowner Shade Houses.
2023 - The highlight of the year was securing a 3 year land permit for the garden. A stark contrast to being on the brink of being bulldozed only 2 years earlier. This was an amazing achievement and ensured the garden’s continuation until mid 2026.
2024 - NEW COMPOSTING HUB! We were excited to announce the opening of the new and improved composting hub at the garden. We increased our capacity by 300% and can now manage up to 7 tonnes of compostable material every year!
Read more here - West End Composting Hub
Our aims for the future
Jane Street Community Garden is an ever-evolving space, adapting and growing to best serve the community. The ultimate aim is to create a self-sustaining entity which can fund itself and continue well into the future. Despite the numerous challenges we face - soil issues, high-rises blocking our sun, vandalism and lack of funding, we feel that we are steadily progressing in the right direction.
With construction works now complete, we want to focus on plant sales, marketing and even expanding!