Growing Together, Nature’s Bounty

A considerable portion of our customers are of the baby boomer generation, some of us have ticked many of the boxes on our bucket list and are now revisiting or continuing with what was part of family life when we were children growing up in post war New Zealand.

Most homes had some space that was turned into a vegetable garden, post war New Zealanders were mindful of the costs of bringing up a young family, thrift and necessity were part of the reason for the household vegetable garden.

The impact on children growing up of course was an introduction to nature’s bounty, the magic of seeds sprouting, the impatience of a child waiting for what seemed like an eternity, checking on progress when no one was watching; lifting the parsnips and carrots and of course the eventual harvest and there with the Sunday roast, the fruits of our labour or should I say vegetables of our labour.

This whole part of family life may be a distant memory for some or an ongoing part of family life as we raised our own families and passed on the skills and knowledge we acquired from our grandparents and parents.

In today’s world many of the kiwi back yards are infill housing and room for gardens is more of a challenge. Gardening for good health is more important now than it was back in the 50’ and 60’s; the therapeutic effect of a life cycle of the garden, the exercise of preparation and planting, the explosion of colour from the flower bed and harvest from the veggie plot; lots of potential for interaction with the grandchildren and great grandchildren and of course there is the crop itself and the knowledge of what fruit and vegetables were exposed to through the growing phase.

The ambience of Mum bottling and preserving as we returned from school or the weekend family project, peeling and preserving filling those Agee jars.

This brings us back to the moment of what potential we have at this time of year; the options of plants in the conservatory, vertical and container gardens all work in limited space on balconies, porches and decks.

Available land can be planted in autumn crops; baby spinach, snow peas, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, kale and onions are a few ideas.