KALAMUNDA Community Garden, located at Headingly Hill house, is making preparations for its tenth birthday in October.

Kalamunda Community Garden president June Williams said the garden wouldn’t have survived this long if not for the hard work of all the members who volunteer their time there.

“It’s unbelievable the amount of knowledge and experience here, from home gardeners to horticulturalists.

“This is a place where people have come to hone their skills as a home gardener, as well as to give something back to the community,” she said.

Originally, Headingly House was home to the Stirk family, who handed over the land to the City of Kalamunda, allowing for the establishment of the garden.

And now, after the hard work of many volunteers, Ms Williams said there were now segments of the garden that all members of the family can enjoy.

However, Ms Williams said the garden has had its fair share of challenges over the years, with aging facilities in Headingly House and wax moths in the beehives just some of the problems the garden has overcome.

Beekeeper Brian Brady was at ground zero for the wax moth infestation and has made arrangements so that the pest does not come back, making sure the garden has honey this coming November.

Mr Brady said the pest enters the hive as the current queen bee’s life cycle ends and the newly hatched queen bee leaves, creating a swarm of bees around the hive, during which the wax moths infiltrate.

Ms Williams said another issue the garden faces is that their lease is about to run out and the City of Kalamunda have not communicated whether it will be renewed.

“We’ve got lots of new ideas coming but we’re just in that holding pattern, because we don’t know what’s happening with our memorandum of understanding, which is a two-year lease.”

Ms Williams said the committee has requested a new five-year lease but are still waiting to hear back on the outcome from the City of Kalamunda.

She said it has left the garden in limbo, but many members are continuing on business-as-usual to maintain the garden.

“We’d like clarity, and we’d like to be able to have that direction. We’re missing that with not knowing where we are on our lease.”

A City of Kalamunda spokesperson said the city will continue to provide long term support to the group and congratulates them on the 10-year milestone.

“The city is currently assessing feedback received during the recent public comment period for the draft service 9 – sporting and community group leases policy (revised 2023), while this takes place there are a number of leases on holding over provisions, with their current arrangements remaining in operation.

“The memorandum of understanding will be discussed further with the group once this policy is finalised,” they said.