Gardening: Old skills make a comeback

A community gardener working in the Old School Reserve Teaching Gardens which were developed from boggy land. Photo / Meg Liptrot

Gardens are popping up in Auckland communities

Yvonne Thomas believes New Zealanders are the luckiest people in the world. She says it's not about whether we have money or not, it is because we are able to grow food year round, pointing out we can pick food in the middle of winter.

Thomas is an inspiration. She is one of those salt-of-the-earth types with an attitude. She believes everyone should get involved in gardening and that young men need to "toughen up" and learn how to use a spade. She says there should be a gardener in every family and growing healthy food and getting exercise in the process can help to reverse the trend of worsening diabetes rates.

Thomas and colleague Mona Nimmo are part-time co-ordinators of the Old School Reserve Teaching Gardens in Mangere. It took five years to develop nearly 1ha of boggy land into vege gardens.

Thomas is impressed by the work ethic of the elderly Chinese who have adopted plots at the gardens. She says seven large truck-loads of horse manure from Ambury Park were shifted in five days by these plucky retirees using a couple of wheelbarrows and buckets.

On the day we visit, spring has just arrived and it is a cold, blustery day. An elderly man (a former chemistry professor) patiently sits emptying used potting mix from a mountain of pots dropped off by a local nursery.

The gardeners use this free resource, plus seaweed and other goodies, to build raised, free-draining beds.

Yvonne Thomas. Photo / Meg Liptrot

A woman with a wheelbarrow works methodically, building up the beds around her broad bean crop.

The Chinese influence at these gardens makes them a fascinating place to visit. You could imagine yourself in rural China, with perfectly tended rows and intricate bamboo fencing.

Thomas and Nimmo wanted the gardens to be productive year round so encouraged the community to become involved long-term.

The gardeners come from diverse backgrounds. Thomas says many retirees feel useless sitting at home. Learning to grow food was something tangible they could give back to their families.

Some already had great food-growing skills and have passed that knowledge on to others.

Thomas's ultimate vision is for a large food forest on the site, and to make better use of their location near the airport to connect with international visitors, too.

Teaching Gardens - how they started

The Old School Reserve Teaching Gardens are part of a larger initiative of growing food for health. In 2008, eight teaching gardens in "wards of high deprivation" were co-ordinated by Robert Findlay, the former team leader of Manukau Parks, in support of Counties Manukau District Health Board's Let's Beat Diabetes programme.

A multi-agency steering group had its first meeting in June that year, chaired by Colin Dale, former CEO of Manukau City Council.

The first free teaching garden course started in March 2009. By the following year they already had more than 2000 participants. This vision has gained traction around the rest of the city.

Growing kai to help our families and our community

• Growing for Health courses are held at Old School Reserve and five other parks around South Auckland. The next intake with Auckland Council is in March next year - details are still to be confirmed.

• Gardens4Health for groups wanting to set up edible gardens. For advice and support for your project, go to dpt.org.nz/our-programmes/garden-4-health

• Kai Auckland is a new community-based food-growing initiative in partnership with Auckland Council. Discussions were held in the Auckland region on community needs and food security in a series of hui over 18 months. The initiative will help to "facilitate, enable and organise knowing, growing and sharing across Auckland by 2016". Individuals and groups can list events, workshops or projects on the website kaiauckland.org.nz.

Learn how to grow and cook vegetables

Jan McIntosh launched Organic Edible Garden in August this year.

The websiteplays a mentoring role for gardeners, and has weekly "webinodes"on Fridays from organics lecturer Rob Velseboer from Heirloom Organix.

The new website also features an "edible gardening" help blog where you can ask your curly questions, and a Garden to Table menu of seasonal plants, how to grow them and an accompanying recipe or two.

McIntosh believes this is the way gardening is going, and she would know - she created the original Palmers Garden Show for TVNZ. She says gardening is moving away from "garden beautiful" to a resurgence in edible and productive backyards.

She observes there is a gap in people's knowledge - that our grandparents knew how to grow food - but many in the "supermarket" generation don't, so gardening knowledge has not been passed down. She hopes this new website will help to fill that gap: organicediblegarden.co.nz