Author: Christine
WHAT’S HAPPENING ? ~ AUTUMN 2019 ~ Our 20th Anniversary in the Community – see our events page for more info
While we attempt to recover from the shock of recent events, the Autumn garden calls. It is a welcome call – working quietly in the garden is comforting. It is important we continue planting the last of the leafy greens before the soil temperatures drop. Plants going into winter need to be as big as possible ( but not going to seed) as growth will slow down from now until August. The objective is to have big luscious leaves for winter so don’t be tempted to pick the leaves too soon. We are planting pak choi, silverbeet, cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower.
It is a good time to repot plants, check for disease and make compost to stock pile for spring. We are also preparing to make our annual batch of organic spray and have cleaned up our glasshouse first with vinegar – then with baking soda to protect against disease during the colder months. We are especially proud of our peaches, date palms and olive trees – all grown from stones and pits. Date palms can make elegant pot plants under cover in a sunny space or in a frost free area of your garden. Dry the pits from fresh dates on newspaper then plant on a sandy soil mix in a deep tub, cover with more soil and place in a protected area / glasshouse. Dates are very slow growing and may take up to one year to emerge – so don’t give up too soon and take care not to over water – they prefer to be a bit dry.
We hope you can join us in a few weeks at our Community Garden Autumn Market day – April 13th – 188 Strickland St, Sydenham
For more information Contact: Christine Blance: info@cscommunitygardens.net.nz
2019 MATARIKI MARKET DAY SATURDAY JUNE 22ND 10-2PM
MATARIKI MARKET DAY 2019
CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH COMMUNITY GARDENS
SATURDAY 22ND JUNE 10AM – 2PM
188 STRICKLAND ST , SYDENHAM, CHRISTCHURCH
PLANTS ~ PRODUCE ~ PRESERVES
BAKING – HOT SOUP ~ SAUSAGE SIZZLE
CONTACT: CHRISTINE 03 (9426630) EMAIL: INFO@CSCOMMUNITYGARDENS.NET.NZ
Big Spring Market Day – Saturday 6th October 10am – 2pm – Christchurch South Community Gardens 188 Strickland St, Sydenham ChCh
Big Spring Market Day
Saturday 12th October 10am – 2pm
Christchurch South Community Gardens
188 Strickland Street – Sydenham – ChCh
PLANTS ~ PRODUCE ~ PRESERVES
BAKING & HOT FOOD
A fine day is booked for all
Free lucky visitor pickle basket draw
Contact: Christine Ph. 9426630
2018 Autumn Market Day – Saturday March 31st 10-1pm
Christchurch South Community Gardens
2018 Autumn Market Day
Saturday March 31st ( Easter Saturday)
10-1pm ~~ 188 Strickland St, Sydenham
PLANTS – PRODUCE – PRESERVES – BAKING – HOT SOUP – BOOKS – POSTERS
LEARN ABOUT WHAT WE DO & WHY COMMUNITY GARDENS ARE IMPORTANT
SIGN UP AS A VOLUNTEER ~ WIN A BASKET OF PICKLES
– CONTRIBUTE TO NEIGHBOURHOOD SUSTAINABILITY
Summer Market Day 2017
SUMMER MARKET DAY 2017
Saturday 9th December 10am – 1pm
CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH COMMUNITY GARDENS
188 Strickland Street, Sydenham
Plants, Produce, Preserves, Baking
Looking forward to seeing you here on the day – volunteers needed for summer watering roster
Enquiries: Ph. 9426630 ( Christchurch South Community Gardens Resource Centre)
Good Quality Second – Hand Bikes For Sale On The Day
BIG SPRING MARKET DAY Saturday Oct 14th
2017 BIG SPRING MARKET DAY
SATURDAY OCTOBER 14TH – 10AM – 1PM
AT THE GARDENS ~ 188 Strickland Street, Sydenham, ChCh
Come along for plants, produce, preserves , delicious baked goods
heirloom tomato plants for sale
good variety of pumpkin, squash , zucchini
cold drinks – Try our plum & lemon verbena cordial
Lucky visitor pickle basket prize
☼☻☼
Enquiries: Ph. 9426630 ( Christine / office)
Community Gardens Life: Participation
People often ask when they stop by – so who works here? On-site volunteer workers include an average of 80 people p.a ( approx 15 p er week) and 3-4 paid staff . Paid staff are in my view critical to the capacity development, maintenance and stability of a community garden and provide the support and resources required by volunteers and the community. We have three main volunteer days – Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tuesday is often spent off site on our two other sites and Friday is set aside for meetings and administration. Our weekend is Sunday and Monday so in the summer, help with watering on those days is much appreciated. . The work, like that of any small farm is incredibly varied and suits those of a practical bent.
The rewards for volunteers working here on a regular basis are free resources ( plants, produce, preserves, compost etc..) and a free lunch twice a week. There are naturally other intangible and intrinsic rewards such as companionship, social support and learning. Enjoying lunch from the crops grown is important in order to enjoy the fruits of our labour and gives us time to sit down and talk about the work and relax together. At this time of the year we are having soup and toast made from autumn produce stored in the freezer and root crops growing in the garden now. In summer we have salad and rolls. We function as a workplace with a lunch break – so its back to work until afternoon tea-break, after which most volunteers head off. The average time spent here is 4 hours – usually 10.30 – 2.30. In the summer months we can still be working at sundown if the mood and weather takes us.
So what do we do on rainy days? We make pickles and preserves for fundraising, process seeds, clean and tidy the resource centre and sheds and have a covered potting shed so a bit of weather means we can get other work done and carry on with propagating plants.
If you take a look at our statistics page you will notice that a relatively small number of 80 volunteers facilitate the opportunity for the majority ( 4500+ ) of other participants visiting for plants and produce, advice and recreation, dropping off recycling, and for education ( school visits, student placements etc..) or professional purposes. These people are as much participants as the volunteers and staff, are important to us and help us contribute to our goal of supporting a sustainable community. We provide resources and grow crops for the wider community who participate by accessing them . While the number of these participants we can reasonably count is up to 5000 people, I would estimate that we provide services for an additional 5000 people in terms of indirect and passive benefit. That’s 10,000 – the standard size for a ‘community’ or’ neighbourhood’ for research purposes.
We very much enjoy interacting with people utilising the site as a resource. I personally enjoy engaging with strangers. Even discussing our harvesting policy with plunderers is satisfying in the sense that these exchanges need to be done face to face to back up the various notices about harvesting and to model ( or at least experiment with) what a trust-based economy might look like in the flesh.
In the previous post I spoke of the less than desirable attitude of those few who act disdainfully towards the workers here while helping themselves to produce. Detachment from or avoidance of face to face interaction with real people is a growing problem in our society. Community gardens create opportunities for participation in neighbourhood productivity and purposeful interaction while educating about fair sharing and trust in an increasingly competitive society.