Grants sprout free gardening workshops
Local experts sharing knowledge to cut food bills
Taupo¯ residents who are keen to grow their own fruit and vegetables will be offered free workshops in the coming months to learn the basics of gardening.
Taupo¯ Community Gardens was thrilled to receive a $6000 grant from Baytrust to support its activities this year and plans to hold several Gardening ABC workshops at its Richmond Ave property as a result. Dates and registration details will be advertised on the group’s Facebook page.
“It’s going to be a crash course in gardening,” administrator Silvia Mutton said. “We will try to cover everything from soil preparation through to planting seedlings, how to choose a good location for your garden beds, right through to troubleshooting in your garden when it comes to pest control and things like that.” Mutton said the rising price of groceries combined with a desire to look after the planet and live more selfsufficient lifestyles has seen interest grow in Taupo¯ Community Gardens over the past two years. About 30 volunteers regularly contribute to the communal growing plots and the produce harvested each week is donated to local retirees, hospice and street-side kai pantries.
Volunteers would love to share their gardening knowledge with more people. Regular composting workshops and a recent fruit tree pruning session had been a big hit.
“We’ve seen there’s a need for hands-on learning — even in times of Youtube where you can learn stuff online — and especially when it comes to hands-on tactile things like gardening. We try to be as organic as possible and we want to share our knowledge with the Taupo¯ community as much as we can.”
Mutton said the key to growing a successful fruit and vegetable patch was to plant appropriately for local conditions.
“People often try to grow things that they like — oranges, mandarins, nectarines and peaches. But they are not fruit that can be grown very well here. They do need a lot of sun and long dry periods as well. With our frosts that we can get in winter, a lot of those trees just don’t survive.”
Instead, Mutton suggests local residents focus on apples, pears, plums, berries, nuts (such as hazelnuts) as
well as zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers and kamo kamo.
“Green things grow really well like spinach. Coriander grows incredibly well here over the spring and autumn months, kale is always a favourite and silverbeet you just cannot kill.”
Locals were welcome to pop into the Taupo¯ Community Gardens any time.
“We would really like for people to come and have a look. You don’t necessarily have to get involved, but just see what we’re doing. Bring down your food scraps and put them into our compost bins rather than putting them into your rubbish bins where they’re going to end up in the landfill. We can make use of that; we can turn it into new soil and then we can use it to grow more veges for the community.”
Green fingers were not an essential requirement, just enthusiasm and a desire to contribute to a greener planet and a caring community, Mutton said.
Baytrust chief executive Alastair Rhodes said Taupo¯ Community Gardens was doing a wonderful job of strengthening ties within the local community, caring for those in need, and supporting the natural environment to flourish. “We are very pleased to offer this financial support. The $6000 grant will help pay the wages of two part-time coordinators and allow Taupo¯ Community Gardens to engage with the community and provide hands-on workshops and support. “Growing your own food is an enjoyable, healthy and satisfying way to keep food costs down and look after our planet. We hope locals will enjoy the upcoming workshops and expert gardening advice on offer.”