Moving to Trangie, NSW, spurred Claire Austin to start the Gin Gin Garden Club

I was lucky to grow up in a strong community at Gulargambone, where the entire population of this town in NSW’s Central West would come together to rally against the bank closing or volunteer at the local community-run café. Shopping locally wasn’t just nice, it was essential. When I lived and worked in Sydney, it was this sense of community that I missed.

When I finally returned west and made the move to Trangie in 2014, to be with my soon-to-be-husband on his family property, I wondered how I would fit in. While I was lucky to keep my full-time job in Sydney and work remotely, it wasn’t until I started my garden that I really started to feel I belonged here.

I now realise the potential of a garden to connect people. A gardener’s pride and generosity is extended through the garden: since starting a garden from scratch six years ago, I have been given countless favourite cuttings to grow and care for. The plumbago that my friend Rhonda left at the mailbox has started to form a hedge and I often think about the adventure I made to pick it up — timed with a morning sleep for a baby in the pram, the toddler using up some energy riding her bike alongside me, the dogs running ahead for a swim in the dam. A small package to pick up and to plant later that afternoon.

During the drought, I struggled with ways to keep the plants alive in the garden, so I started seeking advice and wisdom from local women whose gardens had survived many dry spells.

I learned to let the lawn go first and concentrate on keeping the garden beds alive; to water at dawn and dusk and to focus on the root zone. I loved the opportunity to walk around their gardens and see how they were keeping their own little (or big) oasis alive.

It’s such a privilege to wander through someone’s garden and be shown the space they have created — often with a spade in hand, digging up plants for you to take home and try in your own beds.

Then there is the excitement when the cuttings actually start to grow! Knowing they are from a local garden also increases their chance of survival.

Local nurseries also play a big part in establishing a garden. The people who work there are an amazing source of knowledge and advice. These garden gurus know what works for the area (and, more importantly, what doesn’t), and they remove some of the ‘trial and error’ that people seem to talk about when gardening.

Claire Austin chats to Graziher’s Life on the Land podcast about spring time in the garden. Article continues below.

Claire Austin started the Gin Gin Garden Club in 2019 — a garden community based near Trangie, NSW.

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