To the Legislative Assembly of Victoria

The Petition of residents of Victoria, draws to the attention of the House,

That under Stage 3 water restrictions, we are only able to water our gardens twice a week. Produce gardens are different to purely ornamental gardens in that they provide us with the very fruit, vegetables and herbs we eat. This is the very freshest & therefore healthiest type of food you can get and through recent study it has been shown that home gardeners can potentially grow their own produce with 1/5 of the water than commercial growers per $ value of goods, so we believe it should be our right to be able to grow and eat it.

We, the undersigned, know that only being able to water these type of gardens twice a week may be merely enough to keep them alive, but more regular watering is often required, that is before the soil dries out, to keep these gardens productive. Production is the very purpose of produce gardens so they should be given efficient, mindful watering , as required.

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Assembly of Victoria,

Acknowledge and establish that home produce gardens are a different category from ornamental gardens and either allow them an exemption from current water restrictions or; under advice from an experienced, environmentally aware, horticultural organisation, for example, Sustainable Gardening Australia, introduce more appropriate water rules for produce gardens.