Community Gardening

A community garden is a single piece of land gardened by a group of people. The garden may consist of individual plots (sometimes called allotments) and/or areas that are gardened communally.

Many WIC members are interested in participating in community gardens, or at least finding out more. Such gardens provide an opportunity to share gardening knowledge and work in a sociable environment. It often leads to sharing seeds, produce and recipes - made all the more exciting when so many different ethnicities with our traditional plants and cuisines are working together!

We are most likely to maintain involvement in a community garden if it is close to where we live. There are a number of community gardens with membership open to the general public already in existence in Hamilton and many would welcome more members. There are also a number of groups considering starting community gardens in the area.

So that you can find out about the gardens already running that you may want to join and also to learn from their experiences, we are organising a Waikato Community Garden Network Meeting on the afternoon of Thursday 22 September in Frankton, Hamilton. More details will follow - watch this discussion page...

Some of the groups that joined WIC have their own land, and we are working one by one to help them develop their gardens. The first is in Tokoroa.

Most WIC members live in the Nawton area of Hamilton, where there is no existing community garden. The Salvation Army in nearby Grandview (where some of our Grow Your Own Vegetables From Seed workshops were held) was thinking about starting a community garden when we approached them about their land: we are now looking to work together on a joint community garden project - watch this space!

Photo: Katherine Hay of the Waikato Environment Centre talking about community gardens at our first WIC meeting. (Jovi, HMS)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 11, 2012 at 9:25am

Gardeners start a new batch of compost in the stacking tyre bin at Grandview Community Garden

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 13, 2012 at 8:40am

Thinning silverbeet seedlings at Grandview Community Garden:

The silverbeet came up in clumps of three or four plants. We thinned them out to one plant every ten centimetres, using the thinnings to fill in gaps.

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 16, 2012 at 11:04pm

A cold frosty morning in Hamilton, and the broccoli, cabbages and brussel sprouts at Grandview Community Garden are loving it! Winter is a good time to grow brassicas, because frosts and cold mornings improve their flavour, and there is no cabbage white butterfly around:)

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 21, 2012 at 1:07pm

Garlic Growing at Grandview Community Garden

The gardeners planted garlic on a cold sunny afternoon at the community garden. We sourced our organically grown seed garlic from Raglan grower Liz Stanway. One of the community gardeners is experimenting with growing his garlic in a tyre filled with compost.

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 21, 2012 at 4:17pm

Mulching at Grandview Community Garden

We are lucky to have the use of well rotted woodchippings to mulch the gardens with. At our working bee, Simon, one of the garden trustees, used an excavator to move this huge pile of mulch to where the gardeners can easily access it.

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 24, 2012 at 9:29pm

At Grandview Community Garden some of the winter greens are almost ready to pick. The gardeners are still sowing cos lettuce, rocket, pak choi and silverbeet for spring harvest.

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on June 29, 2012 at 12:41pm

Grandview Community Garden

When: Friday June 29th 3pm

Join us to mulch your vegetables or weed your plot. New gardeners are welcome – there is plenty of space

Where: Grandview Community Garden. Park on the road opposite 183 Grandview Rd and walk across the grass.

Clare and Tim WIC Community Garden Mentors ph 021 0387623 021 2243109

Permalink Reply by WIC Garden Project on July 3, 2012 at 10:34am

Gardens4Health Meeting

Gardens4Health works with over 50 community gardens in Auckland. They have regular meetings.

The next G4H meeting is on the 11^thJuly, 1pm - 3.00pm at Manurewa Marae, 81 Finlayson Avenue, Clendon, Auckland 09 267 8768. There will be a tour of the marae garden. The guest speaker is Lucy Hawcroft (presumably the Green Party member), her topic is: Community gardens run by Ethnic Minorities in South Auckland: Environmental justice in Action?

If you would like to go please RSVP to Gardens@dpt.org.nz If you would like to carpool please contact our Community Garden Mentors Tim or Clare to see if we have a spare seat - ph 021-038-7623.

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on July 11, 2012 at 9:57am

Grandview Community Garden

Thursday July 12^th 9 am to 12pm

Join us to get ready to plant our community garden fruit trees. Now is a good time to mulch your vegetables or weed your plot. We will be there to help you with the next stage of your garden

Where: Grandview Community Garden. Park on the road opposite 183 Grandview Rd and walk across the grass.

Clare and Tim WIC Community Garden Mentors ph 021 0387623 021 2243109

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on July 12, 2012 at 2:12pm

Fruit Tree Planting at Grandview Community Garden

saturday july 14th 2.30pm to 4pm

join us on saturday afternoon to help plant our community garden fruit trees .

Where: Grandview Community Garden. Park on the road opposite 183 Grandview Rd and walk across the grass.

Clare and Tim WIC Community Garden Mentors ph 021 0387623 021 2243109

Permalink Reply by Clare Jackson on July 15, 2012 at 5:43pm

Grandview Community Garden

A garden member prepares the ground for fruit tree planting by scything the long grass.