Community Garden News

Good to see that Spring is in the air.

After a fairly bleak winter, we have just about filled all our planters with spring crops…. lettuce, kale, cavelo nero, onions and spring cabbage. The peas and broad beans planted directly as seeds are now well established and ready to be staked to keep them safe through the winds that will, no doubt come next month.

Vegies planted during the Lockdown are now ready for harvest. We have managed pretty well to keep a flow of supplies to the Larder. We have been busy building up kumara and pumpkin mounds; have divided our rhubarb; lined our net “rooms” in preparation for tomatoes and cucumbers, and given everything a good dose of “horse pooh” tea, thanks to deliveries from our regular supplier. We now also have collection of plant labels, thanks to a school holiday project of the grandchildren of one of our regular gardeners.

We now have enough planter boxes, and fenced mounds to do away with planting in tyres ( plus, recent advice indicated that these were not the best place to cultivate edibles, particularly as they age and begin to disintegrate).Instead we have begun to plant them with bright and scented flowers that will attract bees and detract some of the less desirable insect life.

As always, we encourage any interested people to join us on a Wednesday morning 10-12noon, at 51 Oxford Street.