Community Garden News

“To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves”.Mahatma Gandhi

The garden is looking lush and full of promise for our winter crops…some of the summer crops are still producing: the ‘never ending’ zucchinis and still a few cucumbers and lettuces.

Many thanks to the Community board for their generous grant. This has enabled us to purchase two new planting beds, and another composting bin, which should help us to a high degree of self-sufficiency in providing good organic matter for the garden. It will also allow us to plan a better rotation cycle for the vegies, as we can budget for seasonal planting, rather than using the “what can we afford to plant” method. It also means that we can afford to leave some planters to ‘recover’ from a heavy cycle of production before we replant. Mauruuru nui koe, Community Board.

Some of you may have received our Survey (and those who haven’t can pick one up from the Larder at the Medical Centre). We are keen to attempt to grow more vegetables that people like to eat, know how to cook and are not readily available at the Larder. We know that people would like kumara, but unfortunately our attempts to grow them have not been a raging success… we do hear that there are some “Kumara Kings/Queens” out there, and we would love you to visit the garden and share your experience.

We are a little unsure as to the value of a large potato crop; we have the space but didn’t have a prolific crop…once again, if there are any experts out there who are keen to take charge of a crop of potatoes, please come along and share your knowledge.

Many thanks to our summer waterers. We have had a roster of people who have been invaluable to the garden though the summer, ensuring daily watering. The benefits of these contributions have been significant for the health of the garden.

What to expect in the Larder over the next month…beetroot, lettuce, silver beet, kale, spinach, red cabbage, and just maybe the first of the brassicas.