May Valley Voice

Kia ora koutou Aro Valley,
Autumn's back after an interesting summer harvest (anyone else have problems with their tomatoes this year?). We've had some great gardening Sundays recently, and all three of the gardens are looking fairly tidy and with bountiful crops either just been or soon on their way. I'm personally looking foward to the parsnips and jerusalem artichokes for some yummy roasts. 

We owe some great thanks to Aro Valleyites that have been using the compost bins at The Orchard at the top of Aro Street. The bins are filling up and we're looking forward to using the compost for the fruit trees and veggies growing up that way. If you're keen to compost but don't have space or a use for it at home, you're welcome to contact us about getting rid of your fruit and veg scraps in one of our compost bins or worm farms in Aro Valley - send us an email and we'll let you know the details.

We are also extremely grateful for a keen kai o te aro gardener that has expertise in fruit trees and has been pruning them appropriately (as now is the time!). We're lucky to have you on board, and we're looking forward to seeing our fruit trees growing strong and healthy with an abundance of plums, apples, fejoa (to name a few) over the coming years.

If you've got a special skill you'd like to share with us, pop us a line. All sorts of skills welcome, or, like lots of us, you can come along to learn as we go.

Show up to one of our gardening Sundays to join in or give it a go. We meet on the first and third Sunday of the month at 10am outside the Aro Valley Community Centre at 48 Aro St. We're also keen for people to get gardening at other times and you can email us to make a time for us to show you around. For questions or to jump on our email list, email us at arogardener@gmail.com

Happy gardening everyone! Here's to log burners, dark ales, roast vegetables, and crisp autumn days in the garden,
Lillian.

February Valley Voice - welcome to new Aro Valleyites

Kia ora Aro Valley!

I was stoked to come back from holiday and see that the community gardens are going for gold. Kai o te aro has had some pixies over the summer break who’ve continued watering the three garden sites, planting new seedlings, and mowing the paths (good on ya!), and there's even some strawberries and artichokes ready to eat.

As it’s a new year, I’d particularly like to welcome new renters in Aro Valley. At my flat, we’ve been noticing old neighbours moving out and new neighbours arriving (I promise I will come over with some muffins shortly!).

What is kai o te aro? We (potentially including you) are a community garden group with three gardenrs along Aro Street. One is called "The Secret Garden", another "The Steps" and the third, "The Orchard". Any keen gardeners (or budding gardeners) are most welcome to join us on the first and third Sunday of the month at 10 o'clock outside the Aro Valley Community Centre. Simply show up to join in. We're also happy to show people around at other times if Sunday morning doesn't work for you - just get in touch.

Having lived in about 5 different flats around Aro Valley over the last four years, I know how frustrating it is to want to have a garden but not want to have to leave it behind if I were to move (yet again). Community gardens provide a space where we can grow some food, learn from each other, and get to know some like-minded people. I’ve also got the peace of mind that I can keep gardening there if I move, and that it will continue to be a well-looked after garden if I leave. People often ask me how we divide up the produce because they are shared gardens, but the truth is we always have an over-abundance of veggies and herbs to go around. So much more work can be achieved as a group than I’ve ever been able to manage on my own, meaning that I’ve always ended up with more of my veg coming from the shared gardens than any other garden I’ve had.

At our latest working bee, driven by a surge of enthusiasm from Richard, we re-laid our brick path in the Secret Garden. We pulled up the old brick path, put down some heavy plastic to stop the weeds coming through, and placed the oddly shaped bits of bricks back into the path like a jigsaw puzzle. See the photos for the results. Amazing what can be done in a couple of hours by a small group of people having a good old yarn.

Hope to see you soon - just show up at our working bees to join in! To get on our contact list or find out more about this project please email us at arogardener@gmail.com. You can also find us on our ooooby page www.ooooby.ning.com/group/kai_o_te_aro

Have a good one,

Lillian.