As more and more city-dwellers dig up their lawns to plant veggies and herbs, there’s just one question on our minds: why? Paul Thompson meets the new Kiwi gardeners
Paul Thompson goes looking for the new face of Kiwi gardening and finds urbanites everywhere ripping up lawns, raising veggie beds and savouring their own fresh, organic produce
Get in quick down at the garden centre if you want to come away with your chosen list of vegetable varieties—savoy cabbages, lyon leeks and purple sprouting broccoli are suddenly hot property.
Award-winning garden designer Jules Moore of Plantet Earth noticed the trend a year ago. “I was reading about sales of edible plants in the UK moving from a 50 percent market share to 75 percent dominance. I decided to convert 30 percent of my own stock to edibles and sales have soared. At the last Ellerslie Flower Show, 90 percent of our sales were edible plants.”
The industry associated with home-grown fruit and vegetables is booming. Garth Evans, head plant buyer at Palmers Gardenworld, has worked hard to keep up with demand. “Last spring our edible sales were up 50 percent,” he says. “Thankfully, our suppliers have just managed to keep pace.”
Garth’s new customers come from all walks of life, but they all share the joy of digging up their lawns, building raised beds and preparing pots to become gardeners for the first time.
All of which begs the question: why? Lynda Hallinan, editor of New Zealand Gardener magazine, has her green finger firmly on the pulse of Kiwi gardeners. “We are worried about rising food prices and the economy, so growing our own gives us the ability to feel more in control. I think concerns over the quality of food—where it comes from and what it’s got in it, along with awareness of food miles—has now filtered down to individual consciousness.
“Think of it as a ‘new age’ nesting instinct, a healthy and practical first step. It’s a lot easier than putting up solar panels and going off-grid, and you get your results straight away.”
In practical terms, home-grown veggies are usually chemical-free and travel just metres to where they are consumed, which means fewer trips to the shops.
But New Zealand’s newly flourishing gardens are also an expression of optimism, building communities and reconnecting city dwellers with the cycles of nature. “I see it as a return to our heritage as hunter-gatherers, a reconnection with our grandparents who gardened by necessity,” says Garth. “People may be time-poor, but they increasingly see the value of putting time into home-grown food.”
Frugality, fun, the realisation that it is not as hard as it once seemed, or that it’s a vital step in the face of environmental urgency—whatever the motivation, more and more New Zealanders are getting a thrill from growing their own. Here are some of their stories.
The guerilla
Bart Acres
Student and founder of Otepoti Urban Organics, Dunedin
When I started growing veggies a couple of years ago I found it hard to obtain advice, information and resources for growing food in Dunedin. The information was out there, but it wasn’t accessible.
We decided to establish a website where people could discuss ideas, arrange meetings, trading or community events, and gain new knowledge. We also encourage activities like seedling giveaways, guerilla gardening and workshops on practical gardening.
My one piece of advice on how people can encourage veggie gardening in their urban areas would be to start small. Talk to your friends and neighbours about veggie gardening, plant extra seeds for seedling swaps or to give away, and lead by example. Nothing inspires a non-gardener more than the sight of a flourishing, productive veggie patch.
If everyone helps a few friends get into veggie gardening and shares their knowledge with them, then pretty soon we can all have kick-ass veggie patches in our own backyards.
www.urbanorganics.org.nz
The student
Kim Choe
Broadcaster and law student, Auckland
I started gardening in the depths of winter this year—which, in hindsight, probably didn’t make life very easy! We’d been talking a lot about sustainability on my radio show [The Wire on 95bFM] and it seemed like everyone else was talking about it as well.
I had nothing to lose, so I thought I’d give gardening a go. With a lot of help from my dad, I knocked together a few raised beds and filled them with soil. Then I stuck some seedlings in, and attempted to wage constant guerilla warfare on my creepy crawly attackers—which has gone fairly well so far.
It’s true what they say: it is rewarding being able to eat veggies picked fresh! I feel really good knowing exactly where they’ve come from, and that I’ve saved a bit of money and a few food miles.
The garden is a good place to go. I find it really relaxing—the only hard thing is remembering to water regularly!
The teacher
Elsabe Pretorius
Teacher, Hato Petera College, Auckland
My colleagues and I were looking for something that could occupy the students, who are mostly boarders, after school hours. A garden seemed like a great learning tool for our technology students.
The students developed designs for the garden area, and a professional builder showed some senior students how to build raised beds with macrocarpa sleepers.
The garden has become common ground, drawing all of us at the school together. There has been a lot of positive feedback, but the most wonderful thing is that the students have taken ownership of the garden. They often water, weed or help with the planting and maintenance.
We’ve eaten lettuce, silver beet, spinach, strawberries, celery, snow peas, zucchini and broad beans, all fresh from our beds.
We’re now linking our garden with food technology classes, so students will grow, cook and consume their own produce. We have plans to form a student gardening club, and develop a herb and Maori medicinal plant garden.
The survivalist
Daryl Neal
Industrial designer, Lower Hutt
My partner, Natalie, and I are very concerned about where our world is headed, but we’re also convinced we can live simpler, happier and healthier as we make the transition to a new world situation.
We wanted to become more self-reliant by turning our home into a mini-farm, so we decided to transform our bland lawn into food production. The idea was to be lawn-free by Christmas, and now we’re hoping to be supermarket-free by March.
The sandpit and the clothes line are the only remnants of our former suburban backyard. Now we’ve got a series of raised beds full of vegetables and flowers, as well as a chook house. And this is only the beginning—a water catchment system is next, then a glasshouse and a pond.
In just six months it has become an obsession—but a rewarding one. Because of the garden, we’re meeting interesting people and helping neighbours establish their gardens. I wish we had done this years ago!
The tenant
Verity de Joux
Policy adviser, Wellington
When I moved into my flat I wanted to start my own garden. My landlords weren’t keen for me to dig up the front garden so I used pots instead. It’s actually quite handy, because I can move them around. On average, I probably spend an hour a week in the garden.
I’ve found growing veggies trickier than flowers, but silver beet is really easy and some of my other plants are quite well established now. I am into things I can use in my cooking, so herbs are a favourite. They have healing properties as well as being easy to grow in my pots.
I think it’s good to have a connection between what you grow and what you eat, and it seems to me we’ve forgotten about the value of edible plants. Now there’s a swing back to tradition, given the major health problems associated with poor diet and the way fruits and vegetables are grown commercially using herbicides and pesticides.
Once I have a place where I can churn up the grass, I’ll do more veggie gardening!
The outsourcer
Michael Bird
Communications consultant, Auckland
I had never really thought about vegetable gardening, but I knew that it wasn’t for me—far too back-breaking! I preferred to buy veggies from the organic shop, so at least I knew they didn’t have nasty chemicals in them. I like to eat lots of fresh organic vegetables because they make me feel good—I have a very busy lifestyle and I need to feel well.
But recently I got inspired by some mates on Waiheke who grow veggies. I didn’t have the time or knowledge to get growing, but I came across a company called Patch from Scratch on the internet and found out it could set up my garden for me.
Sarah of Patch from Scratch built me two raised beds, and suddenly gardening is very easy, thanks to weed-free compost and someone else doing the spring planting. I’ve had amazing cabbages, broccoli, beetroot, broad beans and spinach, and all I’ve done is the watering and harvesting.
There’s only me in the house, and it’s great to go into the garden a couple of nights a week to pick fresh veggies for dinner.
www.patchfromscratch.co.nz
