SENIORS CLIMATE  ACTION NETWORK (SCAN)
Community Action
Community Project:
Green Island Community Garden 
Story by Sue Novell  

A glorious Autumn morning set the scene for an enjoyable tour of the thriving Green Island Community Garden, managed by Marion and Joe Thomas. The sun-drenched terrace, originally an old rail corridor, now belonging to the local church, had been a sheep paddock six years ago. Now it boasts an impressive line-up of lush vegetable beds and young fruit trees, berry bushes, a herbary, various sheds and a tunnel house, a composting area with a large potato and pumpkin patch. 


There is a strawberry bed with an ingenious lift up cover for bird protection, a big tepee for runner beans, and a compact chicken tractor made to fit over beds that periodically need clearing out of spent greenery. The Mens Shed next door adds to the perfect set up with access to a handy skill base.


The community garden group has fluctuated in numbers over the years, but now has 15 strong workers who mainly grow for themselves. Surplus produce is dropped off at a community stall and given to community members in need. There are generally no vegetable and fruit sales on site.


The garden is run organically without artificial fertilizers and insecticides using compost from piles built with horse and cow manure, grass clipping, leaves and ‘good’ weeds. ‘Bad’ weeds go in a separate pile. Unsprayed woody material is brought in by a contractor. Judging by the lushness and health of the plants, the compost is very effective in nourishing soil life and holding moisture. Plants are only watered to nurture them at the start, then left to the elements. There are no sprinklers. Hand watering only happens when necessary.


Water is metered, so this year a lot of work is going into setting up extensive rain water harvesting and storage systems (5,000 litres) using sheds on site. The garden has been funded through local grants, donations and fund raising at local markets. Groups of school children and intellectually disabled community members regularly spend time in the garden. In this perfect setting, birds and insects thrive on fruit, nectar, and seeds. One has to be quick to get the plums before the birds.

Flowers of calendula, phacelia, chamomile, and borage lace the bed edges and attract lots of bees from the bee hives nearby. Peas were unfortunately decimated by birds and rabbits this year. Yams are kept in check in an old bathtub. On a sunny north-facing wall, the loganberries have fruited the best ever with large plump fruit without additional watering.


The opposite side of the garden is edged with a long berry hedge: currants, gooseberries, feijoas etc. In between is the row of vegetable beds with a blood peach and plum tree to the side. There is a mixed onion and perpetual Maori potato bed, a newly planted white and red broad bean bed (with wind shelter), the spent brassica bed with the chook tractor over it, rhubarb and asparagus bed, tall runner bean tepee, a bed of still small leeks, kale, Brussel sprouts (did not do well in Summer, they would grow them over Winter next time), a bed of Pak Choy, three lots of carrots sown in September, November and January respectively, zucchini and spaghetti marrows grown in tyres in between young fruit trees (they plan to grow them in piles of compost in the open ground next year), and a bed of parsnips sown in late October as the first sowing did not take. Huge self-sown grey crown pumpkins sprawl in a large bed beside a raised no-bending bed for salad greens. The new tunnel house is still full of various sized tomatoes and, when emptied, will have screened compost added for mesclun and other Winter greens.


Further up the slope lies the large potato patch where potatoes have been grown in successive years. The potatoes were all harvested together and sold as fundraiser for new good quality seed potatoes. To avoid problems with scab, every potato is nestled into a handful of pine needles to acidify the soil. In between the harvests, a cover crop of oats and mustard with nasturtium seedlings gets dug in. The orchard is situated on church and council land along the old rail corridor and is slowly added to with donated money. Nut trees, walnut, and hazelnut are next on the list. It is very inspiring to see the projects done and progress made in this garden, a real asset to community resilience and education.


Many thanks for your hospitality, Marion and Joe.


SENIORS CLIMATE  ACTION NETWORK (SCAN)