Founded in 2015, the overgrown reserve space was taken over by a group calling itself the "Dalmore Reserve Bandit Gardeners" — led by local woman Kelley Allen, which had big plans to turn the site into a community space.
A year later, after much work and development supported by The Valley Project and community volunteers, the then Pine Hill Community Garden was officially opened.
The Star met Mr Moffat up at the garden on a chilly morning recently for a look around, and discovered a lush space divided into garden beds, each filled with growth — vegetables, fruit trees and vines.
Mr Moffat said the "very useful" garden beds were made with the support of the North East Valley Shed, using recycled corrugated iron.
"We have also had good support from both Bunnings and Mitre 10 with materials.
"And on a windy site, the beds help to protect the young plants as well."
Keeping on top of the very varied site, which could become boggy at the bottom in wet weather, could sometimes be a challenge, but it also produced a good amount of produce.
"We have planted gooseberries, blackcurrants and feijoas, in some of the lower beds — so they just need occasional pruning and weeding and they grow well," Mr Moffat said.
As with all community gardens, the core concept of the Dalmore Reserve Community Garden is that people put some effort it with planting, weeding and harvesting, and reap the reward of taking produce home.
However, the gardeners have a kai share arrangement with Pine Hill School, and are open to local residents taking what they need from time to time.
"We don’t want to grow produce only to have it go to seed, so we are quite comfortable with people taking what they need — so long as it’s ready," he said.
It was interesting to note that, since the establishment of the community garden, the Dalmore Reserve — which covers 6ha of often steep hillside, had received a lot more attention from local residents.
Predator Free Dunedin was undertaking possum trapping in the reserve, which had made a significant difference to the amount of bird life and native plants, Mr Moffat said.
Members of the local community are welcome to help keep the garden growing strong through working bees, held twice a month on a Saturday, and highlighted on the Dalmore Reserve Community Garden Facebook page.
"There are definitely times when we could do with some more people getting involved, so if you are interested, please get in touch."
