They are one of the last places you will see fields of beetroot and bok choy in inner-Sydney, but soon the market gardens at Phillip Bay could be pushing up daisies.

The state government is considering a submission from a public trust managing the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, which incorporates Botany cemetery, to expand into Crown land used for Chinese market gardens.

Endangered species ... Gordon Ha in his threatened market garden at Botany. Credit:Peter Rae

The seven hectares of land next to the cemetery were listed on the state heritage register in 1999 for significance to the Sydney Chinese community.

But the trust says the land could be used to meet a critical shortage of burial space, particularly for the Aboriginal, Greek Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim communities. ''We are landlocked and clearly under pressure from some communities which only choose burial for cultural or religious purposes,'' said the chief executive of the park, George Passas.