FAQs

Any resident or business owner (both tenants and owners) can participate in the Verge Garden Program if they can comply with the Verge Garden Program Guidelines (the Guidelines).

Your property will need to be adjacent to a suitable verge area. Many verge areas are not large enough to accommodate both planting and the required open space for pedestrians and road access that is required under the Guidelines.

Read the Guidelines (particularly sections 1.4 to 1.7) to understand whether your verge area is large enough to host a garden that complies with the Guidelines.

You can create a verge garden on a verge area that is:

• Directly adjacent to your property, such as in-front, behind or next to your residence

• Directly adjacent to your neighbours’ residence, but only with their permission.  

See section 1.1 of the Verge Garden Program Guidelines for more information.

1. Read the Guidelines and understand whether you can create a verge garden that will comply with the Guidelines.

2. Do your own research about verge gardening, for example, consulting resources like Council’s “Tips for Creating a Successful Verge Garden” amongst other resources such as Gardening Australia and Greening Australia.

3. Carefully plan your verge garden before planting to ensure you maximise the potential of your verge area.

4. Register your proposed verge garden with Council before you start planting. 

You can start creating a verge garden as soon as you have submitted your registration.

Council does not issue permits, so once you have registered successfully, you can simply start creating your verge garden.

You can plant any species except:

• Plants with sharp edges (such as spikes or thorns)

• Toxic or poisonous plants

• Priority and environmental weeds as reported by the New South Wales (NSW) Government

• Plants which drop excessive fruit

• Tree species.

You can plant edible plants, such as vegetables and herbs, but only in locations which do not have a high probability of acid sulfate soil risk as reported by the NSW Government.

You can also undertake soil testing using an “at-home soil test kit” to check soil quality before planting edible plants.

You can create a verge garden on a paved or grassed verge. Unlike grass verges, if your verge is paved, you will:

• Be limited to using planter boxes, pot plants and/or other above-ground garden beds

• Need to ensure that you can provide at least 3 metres of open space across the verge area (compared with 1.5 metres in the case of grassed verges) for pedestrian access (see section 1.4 of the Verge Garden Program Guidelines for more information).

You can have planter boxes or pot plants as part of your verge garden (on either a paved or grass verge).

These must be a minimum of 0.3 metres high to ensure they are seen by pedestrians.

Once you register and establish a verge garden, you are responsible for ensuring that your verge garden is maintained in accordance with the Guidelines.

Groups of people, such as neighbours, can create and maintain a verge garden together. Under this arrangement:

• The verge garden must be adjacent to the residence of at least one participating resident

• The participating resident who registers the verge garden is ultimately responsible for ensuring the maintenance of the verge garden.

If your verge garden does not comply with the Verge Garden Program Guidelines, Council may direct you to make your verge garden compliant.

If your verge garden poses an immediate and unacceptable risk to the safety of others, or your verge garden continues to remain non-compliant after receiving a Council direction, Council may remove your verge garden.

If you would like to create a verge garden, you will be responsible for funding its creation and maintenance.

If you want to stop verge gardening after having already created a verge garden, you will need to restore the verge to its original condition. If unknown, this can usually be assumed to be a level lawn (i.e. turf) verge unless the verge is paved.

If you have moved into a residence with an adjacent verge garden, you should contact Council to find out whether the verge garden is registered to your address or another nearby address.

If the verge garden is registered to your address or otherwise unregistered and you wish to keep the verge garden at its location, you will:

• Need to register the verge garden to ensure the contact details attached to the verge garden are up to date

• Assume responsibility for ensuring the verge garden complies with the Guidelines.

If you do not wish to keep the verge garden, you will need to restore the verge to its original condition. If unknown, this can usually be assumed to be a level lawn (i.e. turf) verge unless the verge is paved.