After huge downpours on Saturday, the weather fined up for our workshop, which had some new faces in attendance – Wendy, Amy and Margaret. After introductions, Hannah showed and explained the uses of a variety of herbs including savoury, lemon balm, tansy, calendula, rosemary, sage and many more. Kawa kawa (good for tea – and breath freshener!) and mint are apparently shade tolerant, so we might plant some of those by our rainbarrels.
Hannah and the group planted out herbs in our bathtubs – these tubs were too hot and dry for our corn over the summer, but they should be well suited to herbs. We transplanted some thyme and sage into the tubs from another part of the garden too.
The other novelty we had were some ‘yacón‘ tubers, donated to us by Moko Moris from the community garden at the Te Kura-ā-Iwi O Whakatupuranga Rua Mano in Otaki. We tried a bit – it was sweet and had a texture like watermelon, even though it looked like a kumara. San and I planted about eight pieces in the south end of out potato patch – I hope we’ll see their tall stalks come up in summer.
Other jobs done – David transplanted the kale and mizuna growing on the paths into the raised beds, we planted more broad beans and built a frame to support them, and John expertly pruned our runner beans back for the winter. We finished off with tea and cake kindly provided by Heather – a fine effort by everyone!
Matai Community Garden Group 