Kaiapoi Community Garden Named Regional Finalist

A group of volunteer gardeners in Kaiapoi who managed to transform an overgrown section into a thriving community garden despite earthquakes, a snow storm and limited funds are the Canterbury finalists in the community garden category in NZ Gardener’s 2011 Gardener of the Year Awards announced today.

“It’s been a very challenging time,” says the garden’s coordinator Lesley Ottey. “But the volunteers didn’t give up. If anybody had an excuse to walk away, they did. But instead they kept on going.”

Kaiapoi Community Garden is more than a year old but it hasn’t even had its official opening yet – it’s planned for November. “We have tried,” says Lesley. “We’ve planned it twice but both times there’s been an earthquake.

“But with so many local people’s lives affected by the quakes, the garden has been a source of comfort and companionship for many,” says Lesley. “And now the important role it has played in the township has been acknowledged: with the garden being named one of just two national finalists in the community garden category.”

And as a result of their commitment, what was, barely a year ago, an overgrown plot covered in flax and weeds, right beside the train tracks, is now a thriving and productive space boasting beds, fences, tunnel houses and an irrigation system. But this is a garden that is more than just gardening.

“For some people who are facing very hard times, it’s given them something else to focus on,” Lesley says. “One woman had just moved here; it’s given her a chance to meet people. For others, it’s given them a much-needed opportunity to feel they can help.”

Equipment has come through donations; residents of red zone properties have given seeds, tools and sometimes entire sheds. After the June quake, the volunteers started collecting up broken china which will be tumbled in a concrete mixer to remove the sharp edges and used as shingle on the paths.

The first fruit tree in the garden, a quince, was planted by a local to commemorate a friend who died in the CTV building. Her favourite colour was yellow so that fruit was chosen because it would provide a golden ray of sunshine on the anniversary of her death.

“This is the first year we’ve had a category for community gardens in our annual Gardener of the Year Awards,” says NZ Gardener’s Editor Jo McCarroll. “And the response has been incredible. But we were looking for community gardens which weren’t just productive but which brought people together – and really you couldn’t get a better example than the volunteers at Kaiapoi Community Garden. These guys are working together and looking to the future. It’s great to see such positive and proactive stuff happening in Kaiapoi.”

The story of Kaiapoi Community Garden – along with the stories of the other community garden finalists and the finalists in the regional and school garden categories – is in the magazine’s November issue, on sale on October 31. Winners in the 2011 Gardener of the Year competition, in association with Kiwicare Garden Products, will be decided by public vote: full instructions on how to vote are in the November issue or on the magazine’s website (www.nzgardener.co.nz).

The overall winner of the community garden category will win $1000 of Mitre 10 vouchers and $1000 worth of Kiwicare Garden products. The overall winner of Gardener of the Year, chosen from the regional finalists, will be named the 2011 Gardener of the Year and receive $3000 of Mitre 10 vouchers, a year’s supply of Kiwicare Garden Products and a luxury trip for two to the 2012 Ellerslie Flower Show in Christchurch.

Voting for the supreme winners of NZ Gardener’s 2011 Gardener of the Year Awards closes 30 November and the winners will be announced 19 December.