"And [community co-ordinator] Jill Neherny even got the periodic detention boys to come in to clear the site.
"A lot of them were locals. They took real pride in what they did, still do."
Plants, soil and materials were all donated.
"We had no money at all, nothing," says Lisbeth. But stuff kept turning up - broken bags of soil from the local Kings garden centre, hundreds of plants from long-time local gardeners Pieternella and Walter Dijkgraaf, a truckload of compost.
Locals did not have the time to nurture vegetables on the patch, but instead were crying out for flowers, so that was the focus, along with some fruit trees.
The group formed themselves into the Heart of Beach Haven then were renamed the Placemaking Group, and started to take a wider look at what was happening in their community.
On a blowy spring day, when the rain drives in, then it's sunny, then it drizzles, Lisbeth and Robyn are keen to introduce the Herald to the cluster of keen sorts who have kept up the gardens for the past three years.
They are huddled by the hurricane wire fence, handing out gardening tools and joking with the Herald photographer, but for the time being they are not gardening. They are there to inspect progress on the new park being installed by Auckland Council. First goal of the Placemakers achieved, then, when it opens in November.
"The local board has been very supportive, they have been fantastic," says Lisbeth. "When they saw that we were able to maintain this, they stepped in.
"With North Shore Connect, they ran a two-day workshop on place-making to see what the community wanted. After the first plan wasn't what we wanted, the council landscape designers redid the design and were very sympathetic to what we wanted. It was a real group effort, the contractors building the site, everyone.
"This is a model for the rest of Auckland."
Everything on the community wish list has made it into the park. The tiny square had to provide a place to eat and gather, for performances, for markets, for play.
The importance of Beach Haven's wharf was central to the design. Residents did not want a swings-and-slides playground for the growing population of children, but more creative play.
Remarkably, the weathered timbers from the original jetties at Beach Haven and Birkenhead, removed when the wharves were upgraded, were located and remade into a climbable jetty, stepping stones through the native gardens and sitting posts dotted around the boardwalk. Four of them were carved by Ngati Whatua as pou at both entrances to the park, representing the four winds gathered in one spot.
A large platform can be used as a stage, covered with a gazebo for markets, while the paved area nearest the street has picnic tables so that locals can eat their takeaways (the area has one of the widest mixes of ethnic groups on the North Shore, so there are plenty of choices).
Park benches around the "village green" are higher off the ground, with sturdy armrests, to cater to the needs of elderly folk.
Fruit trees have been carefully relocated, along with a patch for vege gardens. The new raised beds, again carved from old timbers, will be left for the gardening group to replant with their beloved flowers, while a patch closer to the street is for roses from another garden circle.
Alongside the gardening effort, local artist Neil Coleman has started painting murals around the blank walls. Neil and students from Birkenhead College depict the wharf and flying boats - the connection between Beach Haven and Hobsonville Pt just across the harbour is a source of considerable local identity. Lisbeth says the empty walls on either side of the new park are now crying out for more works - another project for the Placemakers.
"Kaipatiki is leading the way," says Robyn. "A lot of people join the group when they move in. It's a feedback loop for a changing neighbourhood."
"It will be really nice to see people just sitting at the tables, kids going to play," says Lisbeth. "It's the way to link the community."
