Gardening gives students a break from academic rigour, and teaches a ‘useful art’

“Are you able to identify the New Zealand Christmas tree, sir”, a beaming south Auckland year 10 college student asks as he goes about his work helping to plant 637 native plants at Ōtāhuhu College.

The significance of the question only strikes me as being unusual after talking to his horticulture teacher, Malcolm McAllister.

“A lot of these students know nothing about plants, they don’t even know the pōhutukawa tree,” he says. “That’s probably a bit unusual, but we’re in a dense urban area where the kids are all just brought up around here, only walking between home and school.

“Ōtāhuhu has got the lowest tree cover of any suburb in Auckland. The whole suburb is pretty barren – it’s certainly not one of the leafy suburbs.

“So what we’re doing here is a small effort to improve that a bit and teach the children about native plants.”

Malcolm is a tireless energy battery, not only teaching the students but going to the community to get grants for the trees and other resources.

“The purpose is to teach them some aspects of how important plants are to humanity, a little bit about the structure of plants, some basic gardening skills, and lots of practical skills, like how to use a drill and driver to make a bean frame and make a fence,” says Malcolm.

“How to look after chickens and plants, all the sort of things that you and I probably took for granted and learnt when we were kids that they don’t really get to.

“Some do, some have worked in plantations in the islands. But most kids brought up in the city haven’t got a clue about gardening, and horticulture is what they call one of the useful arts which are being taught less and less. There’s still cooking but no sewing, woodwork to some degree, but they just get a little nibble.

“But I think gardening is such fun, and they enjoy it so much. They need a break from the academic rigour of the classroom,” says Malcolm.

Further down the road at Papatoetoe East Primary School, students get to work on two beehives, making their own honey, looking after 20 hens and a herd of guinea pigs, as well as an extensive flower garden for bee pollination, vegetable garden and small orchard.

Enviro teacher Brigid Mulrennan says the students learn more by doing gardening and animal husbandry rather than hearing about it inside a stilted classroom.

“As they’re doing activities like weeding, mulching and planting, they will listen more intently as you talk to them, and they ask insightful questions about plant growth. We call it the living classroom.”

The school has a creek running through the back of the property and the students are looking forward to removing weeds and rubbish and planting natives to help with oxygenation. They have already planted about 1000 natives on the school grounds, which are neatly tagged with botanical names.

“We’re going to create little waterfalls to help with oxygenation,” she tells her students. There is a long-term plan to reintroduce native fish and eels.

After working in the garden, the students share a healthy feed of vegetables and eggs, learning the whole process of how food is created and cooked. Excess food is donated to foodbanks.

Brigid tells the students that there are so many families struggling in the community and that they are doing something really positive to help them out.

Let an area of your lawn go wild

Christmas is the perfect time to try letting your garden go wild, especially if you’re at the beach over the holidays. It’s not about being lazy, but part of an international movement towards greater biodiversity.

Auckland Botanic Gardens manager Jack Hobbs wrote in the December issue of NZ Gardener that gardens are no longer admired just for their ornamentation; they are now valued perhaps even more for the diversity of wildlife they support.

“This approach, sometimes referred to as rewilding, is not about being completely hands-off. Rather, it is about working with nature.” And a small part of this can involve allowing small areas to thrive with what we would normally consider weeds.

If this is a bit too hard for some home gardeners to do, try leaving an area of your lawn unmowed over the holidays and watch how your insect population evolves.

Make a tomato paste

Hopefully, we’ll all be experiencing a glut of tomatoes over the holidays, and with friends, neighbours and family away to share your bounty, it may be a good time to make a simple tomato paste.

Heat oven to 150C. Roughly chop 2kg of tomatoes. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add tomatoes, season with salt and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring, until soft, about 8 minutes. Pass tomatoes through a fine sieve. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil and spread tomato purée over the sheet. Bake, using a spatula to turn the purée over occasionally, until most of the water evaporates, about three hours. Reduce heat to 120C; cook until thick, around another 20–25 minutes. Store in fridge for up to one month or in a freezer for up to six months.

Gardening by the moon

December 15-25: A busy time for all gardeners. The weather’s warm and growth is prolific. Sow and transplant leafy vegetables of all sorts. Don’t prune anything just now. December 26-29: Do odd jobs and plan projects for the new year. December 30-31: Another chance to sow root crops.

Gardening by the maramataka

Here the summer wife Hineraumati commands Rehua (the star Antares) and he becomes apparent through the midsummer haze and mist which itself pre-empts the drying up of soil and vegetation. This is the crucial period for understanding plant needs to survive drought and persistent drying winds such as the Canterbury nor-easters. Moving towards the end of the month, early red berries such as porokaiwhiti (pidgeonwood) or taupata (Cosprosma) are ready, and birds will find them for food. The red and black currants in the garden will also be ready at the same time. Whiro (new moon) is due on the night of the 12th and Te Rākaunui (full moon) on the night of the 26th. Accordingly, the period following Whiro (13th to 15th) and the period following Christmas from midday on the 26th to the 28th are suited to garden activities of all sorts. Perhaps ensure the last of your new plants are planted during this period. You can now put your feet up for the upcoming start to 2024. Dr Nick Roskruge