Learning To Share - Gardeners Cultivating More than Just Crops

The article below appeared in the Dominion Post 20 June 09

Learning to share
Hannah Zwartz

These gardeners are cultivating more than just crops.

Four keen Brooklyn gardeners are growing more than just food in their shared plot. The group comes together to grow vegetables in the garden of a community-minded 85-year-old who, for privacy reasons, we'll call Mrs G.

Mel Beirne got involved because her home vege patch was too full to grow crops such as potatoes, but also because she wanted her children to experience gardening co-operatively. The project is as much about sharing knowledge and building community, says Mel, as growing healthy food. Although this particular garden is a new initiative, it harks back to earlier times.

"The relationship we have with Mrs G is one that used to be there when families were living together across the generations."

Loss of day-to-day contact with grandparents has opened up gaps in society, says fellow gardener Barbara Gibb. "A whole generation of families has lost that gardening wisdom. But by working together, we can share our knowledge."

What about the benefits for the garden owner?

While some elderly people might despair when the garden becomes too much, that wasn't the case for Mrs G, says her daughter, Jenny. "It wasn't a question of moving out, but Mum was feeling guilty about a productive piece of land not being used.”

"For Mum, it's bringing back something of what had always been done. When we first moved in, there was no fence. Dad was green-fingered, and he went over to the neighbours and said, 'You mow all the lawns and I'll do the gardens'."

And for 45 years, the garden provided most of the family's produce - they only bought potatoes and fruit. "Every bit of kitchen waste went into that garden," says Mrs G.

Now, after 45 years of composting, the soil is rich and friable. The patch is north facing and sheltered from prevailing winds by a low hedge.

Starting last spring, the group met every weekend over summer, growing potatoes (four kinds), beans, scaloppini, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, kale, pumpkins, parsnips, carrots and beetroot - Mrs G's loose soil is great for root crops, says Mel. A well-established apple tree, and venerable rhubarb (with a crown the width of my arm) add culinary variety.

Amaranth grain was planted in memory of greenfingered Mr G, who loved growing unusual crops such as amaranth, peanuts (in Foxton) and garlic by the trailer load.

The group have learnt as they went along, trying ideas like planting and harvesting by the moon. "When there was something we needed to know, we'd organise a workshop," says Barbara.

These workshops, on things such as seed saving and fruit tree planting, also built connections with other gardeners in the community.

The experience is different from allotment gardening in that all the work is done together, and all decisions are made by compromise and consensus.

"It's been an interesting process doing things collaboratively," says Barbara. "At home, I just plant whatever I want - but it's quite good not having to make decisions alone."
Working with a group means more hands on deck for jobs such as collecting seaweed, or the pine needles that cover the paths.

All produce is divvied up between the gardeners and the owner, with surplus being sold at Brooklyn market stalls, fundraising toward a Brooklyn community orchard. A piece of council land next to the Community Centre is going through the legal process and will hopefully be planted out with fruit trees over winter.

The gardeners are part of a wider food and gardening group, in turn a part of Transition Towns Brooklyn - a self-described "network for local people who want to take practical action to turn the challenges of climate change and the decline of cheap oil into an opportunity for a sustainable and higher quality way of life".

They want to expand the scheme to another garden in Dorking Rd. "The owner is very keen for his land to be used but it hasn't been gardened for ages and needs clearing," says Mel. "We need lots of gardeners from the wider Brooklyn area,"

Whether you live in a townhouse and want your hands on some earth, want to feed your families healthy food, connect with your neighbours, or just want an opportunity to learn more about growing food, this is your chance, she says.

"We see this as a pilot scheme where other people can learn by what we've done," says Barbara, who is documenting the experience on video. "But it couldn't have happened without the generosity of land and knowledge from [Mrs G],"