The Paekākāriki School gardens will be selling plants for Mother’s Day

Looking forward to the Paekākāriki School garden sale, from left, Leo Albertson, Raf Bruce-Miller, Eddie Jacques, Misha Godden-McMullen, Arlo and Lucy Delahunty-Versteegh. Behind them, from left, are Robyn White, Shona Fokerd, Sally Heppenstall, Judy Dickie and Anne Melville. Photo / David Haxton

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, the biannual Paekākāriki School garden sale is in full preparation.

The garden is run by a group of six regular volunteers (and some casuals) who have named themselves the Potty Potters.

They come from all over the district, with members from Waikanae, Raumati South and, of course, Paekākāriki.

“We’re a close little group,” volunteer Sally Heppenstall said.

“We just love plants,” fellow volunteer Judy Dickie added.

The group grows the plants, from either seeds or seedlings, which are then sold in their sales or used for the school’s gardening curriculum.

Some of the many plants that are for sale. Photo / David Haxton

Every Wednesday the school has a teacher aide and a gardener who work with the children, and this is mainly funded by garden sales.

Teacher aide Raina Kingi is an “expert gardener, particularly in Māori gardening”, as described by principal Julie Bevin.

The curriculum allows the children to get their hands dirty and play with plants, experiment with different soil types, and the older children even cook with their school-grown plants.

Bevin said the children usually planted foods and were recently experimenting with what soil type watermelons and potatoes grew best in.

“They feel quite passionate about the gardens and looking after the plants.”

Various succulents for sale. Photo / David Haxton

All the money raised at the garden sales goes straight into the gardening curriculum, particularly to pay for the staff needed to teach it.

For this market, they’ll be selling various berries, herbs, native plants, succulents, cacti and many more in-season plants.

All have coloured sticks to show their prices, which range from about $1 to $5.

The school garden was started in 2014 and was created by Tina Pope, who had children attending the school and was on the board of trustees.

Pope started the biannual sales that same year, and thus the gardening curriculum grew.

The garden sale is a part of a car boot sale on the school field, run by the PTA.

It will be held on Saturday, May 13, from 10am to 1pm. Dickie said it was a popular event, with lines out the gate, so advised buyers to get in early.