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Our Community Garden, tucked in the back of a series of classrooms behind Victory Community Centre, and easily visible and accessible to Railway Walkway users, is worth a visit at this time of the year.
This garden is for everyone. There is a shady gazebo to sit and eat your lunch under, hang out with friends, or just be alone listening to the songs of the birds and stream.
Two years ago, this garden was once a bare field in Victory Primary School grounds. Together with many helping hands, Jocelyn Winters, our community garden co-ordinator, has transformed this area into a magical edible garden.
You enter the garden through our ‘waharoa’ – an entranceway arch prolific with Maori symbolism relevant to agriculture as well as the natural historic features of this particular area of land, carved by local master carver Mark Davis and local apprentices. Take yourself on a walk along the paths of the central ‘mandala’ garden, walk around the perimeter and look at the different ways you can do ‘raised beds’ and terrace gardens, open the covers of the ‘worm farm’ and give thanks to the worms for their tireless work in turning the school children’s foodscraps into fertile vermicast for the garden, check out the 3 stages of compost in our bins made from recycled wooden pallets, then walk through the greenhouse and shadehouse to see the seedlings under production.
As well as managing areas of the garden for general vegetable and herb production to provide for families in need, the garden co-ordinator works with the following groups, which all have their own garden plots: OSCAR (YMCA after school programme), English-as-a-Second Language (ESOL) Chin (Myama/Burma) class, Victory playgroup, Gateway Trust, YMCA adult skills training group (under Tremaine), Julie & Toia’s family, some Victory Primary School classes. As well, Amy has put in a ‘Matariki garden’ of crops (kumikumi, kumara, rewi/potatoes) that will be ready to put down in a hangi at the Matariki celebration in June 2010.
As part of Nelson’s ‘Open Orchard’ initiative, we are also playing a role in getting more fruit trees into Victory’s public spaces. A group of willing adult volunteers, teamed up with some enthusiastic Victory school children, planted apples, apricots, figs, plums and nut trees at the edge of the school grounds and along the Railway Walkway. We have enjoyed seeing these trees burst into spring blossom, and will definitely enjoy eating their fruits in years to come.
We ahave completed our third Home Garden Coaching course. Our trainee coaches are people with gardening experience keen to upskill themselves as hands-on educators, then support local people who haven’t gardened before, to grow their own food. We hope for a ‘multiplier effect’, just like plants distribute their seed around. What a dream to have every household in the Victory area able to step outside their back door and harvest fresh veges for their dinner! If you are interested in either becoming a coach or a ‘practice garden’ next year, please let us know.
Tuesdays (1 – 3pm) weekly, is our particular garden volunteers time. This is an opportunity to connect with others, doing seed planting, watering, weeding etc in a relaxed, enriching environment. Anyone with a respecting attitude is also welcome to come down any time to simply enjoy the garden. Happy growing!
Jocelyn Winters
Victory Community Garden Co-ordinator