Pupils turn wasteland into garden
An overrun wasteland at a Manawatu¯ school has been transformed into a community garden.
Pupils at Oroua Downs School decided to take action after growing sick and tired of looking out the classroom window.
What they saw wasn’t pretty; shrubs, trees and weeds towered over the area, depriving it of sunlight.
Fuelled by a desire to turn the space into a community garden, pupils and teachers got down on their hands and knees to replace the mess with beds of vegetables and herbs.
Armed with tools supplied by Bunnings, their cause was boosted by a new worm farm and information on how to maintain the patch.
Avid gardener Cameron Pedersen, 10, leads the schools ‘green team’, which is responsible for keeping the garden in top shape.
Cameron drew on his several years’ experience growing similar gardens at home.
‘‘I grow lettuce, tomatoes, sweet corn and flowers. We’ll come out once a day and water the plants. They need sun and water, and you need to put some slug bait on so they don’t eat your plants.’’
Principal Tania Zander said some pupils had tried to clear the mess during the summer holidays, but it was too much for them. ‘‘We first looked at tidying the [flower] gardens out the front, but then we said we’ve got a messy garden out the back.’’
Pupils harvested silverbeet and cabbage last year, but the area had since been untended.
The project fitted with the school’s environmentally friendly ethos, which also prompts pupils to recycle paper, plant native trees and use food scraps for compost. A group of pupils would plant, weed and water the garden during ‘‘passion project’’ classes.
‘‘The kids just want to get in, lend a hand and get dirty.
‘‘We often use this as a project for students [for] who school isn’t their thing. It gives them a purpose.’’