It used to be that most people in Bermuda had a vegetable garden out back that they used to sustain the household.Nowadays, many barely have space for a potted plant, let alone an entire garden.The Bermuda National Trust is looking to fix this, at least in part, by offering community garden allotments at Tivoli on Middle Road, Warwick. The property was donated by Gloria Higgs back in 1984. It is also known as the Tivoli North Nature Reserve.Space alongside the road has been cleared and is waiting to be turned into approximately 20 allotments of 20ft X 10ft. The plots will cost $110 a year, $30 of which goes to a BNT membership.The only caveat is that anything planted has to be organic. There will also be an orchard on the site producing a variety of fruit bearing plants including figs, guava and avocados. The garden will officially open the first week of November.BNT conservation officer David Outerbridge expected that one of the challenges people would face would be finding the time to commit to the garden, but if they do find the time, it will be worth it.“The rewards are numerous, though,” he said. “If you have ever grown your own food, you know it is an incredibly rewarding experience. Farming was always important to us until things changed in Bermuda. These are our roots in Bermuda and it is nice to reconnect with our roots. We were a farming culture. That is what we came from. The BNT is all about preserving culture and the natural heritage.”The Ross Blackie Talbot Foundation raised $30,000 for the project in its final fundraising year. The money will go towards the ongoing maintenance of the property.“They have been enormously generous,” said Mr Outerbridge.A number of volunteer groups have also helped by creating and clearing the space over the last couple of months. Staff from XL Group cut down the hedge alongside the road and also erected bluebird boxes; Aon Group helped remove invasive seedlings and built a fence.“[This garden] is a grand scale idea for a project and it will take time,” said Mr Outerbridge. “Its limitations are up to the people themselves. As much as people put in, they will get out. We are hoping to have a volunteer day at the end of October to lay out all the allotments to deposit mulch in the pathways. In the next couple of weeks I will be building compost bins and getting everything ready for the permaculture class.”The property has sat fallow for about a year. It was previously used to grow sweet potatoes and has also had livestock on it. There is a shed on the site, and the BNT plan to soon install a well and traditional hand pump. There will be workshops to help people get started. One of the first, on permaculture, will be given by Frankie McIntosh.“Permaculture is a permanent form of agriculture,” said Mr Outerbridge. “It was developed by a Tasmanian, Bill Mollison. It is about utilising ecosystems through permanent forests of fruit trees and native and endemic trees. Everything fulfills a role in the ecosystem. The basis of it is to retain soil and water on the land. There are plants that create biomass and create food and others that provide structure for the forest.”Mr Outerbridge, who has a home garden and helped family members start theirs, said this was something near and dear to his heart. At the State University of New York Purchase College he studied anthropology, focusing on traditional uses of plants. He carried out fieldwork in Hawaii.“Hawaii culture is very interesting in terms of traditional use of plants,” he said. “They are a very sustainable culture. They use plants for everything.”There are two other community allotment gardens in Bermuda with one of the most well known in Paget near the Foot of the Lane.“So far I have a lot of people interested, although we are only just going public,” said Mr Outerbridge. “We want to see how it is received and see if people are really interested. We think they will be but we have never done anything like it. I know the Paget garden has been well used over the years. There will be small growing pains, as there is with any project. We want it to be organic and sometimes that can be labour-intensive. There will be a lot of learning in the first couple of years and then we can expand.”For more information telephone 236-6483 or e-mail Mr Outerbridge, david0@bnt.bm.