Green fingers at Lodge rewarded
Green fingers are everywhere at Te Puke Country Lodge.
If proof were needed, it has come in the form of two awards in the Bupa Retirement Villages’ annual gardening competition run through the group’s 34 villages around New Zealand.
The residents were awarded second place in the communal vege garden section.
There are three vegetable community gardens around the village and these are looked after by residents. They have been a huge success with residents enjoying being able to pick fresh vegetables throughout the year.
The other award this year was third place for ‘best in show’.
Village manager Brenda Littlejohn attributes this award not only to her residents, but to their gardener Peter Kenny.
“Peter has been with us now for just over 12 months and in this time he has created many beautiful areas which include water features around the grounds, and espalier fruit tree wall to name a few,” says Brenda.
“Peter keeps the grounds immaculate, taking pride and ownership of the 3ha property that the care home and village are in.
“We are very fortunate to have Peter with his enthusiasm, passion and expert knowledge.”
Another initiative from resident John Madden and Peter was to use an area that had grass clippings composting and turned it into a pumpkin patch, where over 80 pumpkins were grown.
These were distributed around the village to residents and donated to a local charity.
The competition has been gathering momentum for six years and Te Puke Country Lodge has been the recipients of awards for the past two years.