Harvest is a joyful time of gathering the produce of the land.

Currently we are in the season of great abundance. The garden is richly planted with summer crops…lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chillies, aubergine, beans, onions and a variety of herbs and berries. We have 2 varieties of artichokes and finally a kumara patch which looks to be settling well.

Thanks to the wonderful women from the Down to Earth Garden Group, we have also some rare and interesting pumpkins to plant in our patch, and some excellent Kumara stock and great advice from the coastal experimental kumara patch. 

We have delivered large harvests the Larder at the Medical Centre over the past few weeks. This produce is FREE to ANYONE who wishes to take it from the Larder. There is NO need to swap or exchange goods for what you take. There is always fresh harvest on a Wednesday, and if we can attract a few more helpers, it will be available fresh on Mondays as well. 

It has surprised us recently that many people do not know where the Community Garden is located. We are at 51 Oxford Street and there are four regular gardeners who are there every Wednesday morning. Sometimes, due to the voluntary nature of this work, we are even fewer, so adding another gardening day, while desirable, has its problems. 

We are currently also watering Fridays and Sundays and have a couple of volunteers who we are about to roster for extra watering. If you are keen to be added to that roster please let us know either on our Facebook page, or at martinboroughgarden@gmail.com.

We welcome visitors and gardeners…no experience required: all experience welcomed! With the current wealth of planting we need all the assistance that we can get, to keep the crops rotating through the summer. It is a great place to meet people if you are new to the area, or if you just like to be in the garden. 

Currently we do not have many flowers, other than a few companion plants, so if flowers are your thing you might like to come a start a flower plot…although our focus is in growing produce for the Larder, there is no need to limit ourselves to just produce… a bunch of flowers may feed someone’s soul, just as a tomato feeds the body.

Merry Christmas to all from the Community Gardeners.