Community Garden News 

Well, winter is truly upon us, and the garden is looking pretty good!

Produce is a little patchy, but we have taken the time to ensure that high producing beds are being well restored for spring crops. Plenty of manure, compost, and pea straw to build up healthy soil for spring planting. We still have healthy crops of spinach, silver beet and cauliflowers, and are about to harvest savoy cabbages and bok choy.

We have used this time to have a good tidy up of the garden, and are very grateful to the folks at Martinborough Wine Services for their generous donation of two ‘bottle boxes’, which we have set up for heavy duty composting ie the stuff that takes longer to break down. 

We were also given nine large bags of leaves that had been gathered by the children at Martinborough School: these have formed a significant layer in these boxes to aid the breakdown of the heavier material. We had a lovely morning with the children from the school- a lot of joyous leaf throwing (into the boxes); exploration of various stages of composting; much discussion on the value of worms, and snacks of cauliflower and greens straight from the garden. 

Many thanks to all the children and teachers who participated. We even made plans for them to return later in the year and help with the pumpkin patch. So great to the see enthusiasm of these youngsters, and great for the Community Garden to provide them with learning opportunities. Nga mahi katoa!

As we have an area in the garden that gets very damp and has subsequently become a bit overgrown and messy. We have taken the opportunity, through this low growing period to have a good clean -up of the weeds: find a few plants that have survived the negligence, and have planted large pots that will not be affected by the dampness- mesclun, cos lettuce, spring onions, red onions and we are on the lookout for anything else that we consider to be options for our “winter potted’ section. 

Love to hear from anyone who has had experience with such a garden and has any recommendations for this type of venture…clearly a cauli a pot is not an option, but there are surely other crops we could accommodate.

Take heart through these winter months, it is a great time to plot and plan for the lushness of spring!