Our street in Townsville is so wide that the people on the other side look like they inhabit a whole other universe. The road often looks more like a vast asphalt car park than a thoroughfare. When we first moved there Prue and I formally applied to council to plant out part of the nature strip and to re-establish a garden out on the road area. It might sound a bit radical but all along our street there were once garden beds interspersed with car parking spaces. On our street alone there are literally acres and acres of unused territory covered in the enemy of anyone trying to hide from tropical heat – black tar. We didn’t want to plant Californian redwoods or anything – just a few small shrubs and little trees to attract birds and butterflies. Maybe, we thought, we could also get some fruit trees in as there were a few crooked old papayas in a decrepit unloved streetside bed 100 metres down the road.  Our application was rejected. Council said it had a policy of removing such gardens and, as if to prove a point, recently tore one up that was just up the road.

Yesterday, an old friend and colleague told me about his street in Sydney, where he and his neighbours assumed permission, dug up their concrete footpaths and planted wonderful and productive garden beds. They have entered their street into a sustainability competition and are hell bent on winning the people’s prize. Go to this website, watch the film and, if you like what you see, give them a vote.