Term 3 in the māra kai at Te Manawa o Papamoa has been full of preparation, planting, and looking after our food forest. Even though the weather has still been cool, we’ve been busy getting everything ready for the warmer months ahead.

This year we were lucky enough to be asked to join the BOP garden and arts festival. Along with Arataki school we are the first schools to be part of this big event, an exciting opportunity to show off what we have created at Te Manawa o Papamoa in less than two years!

We are beyond thrilled to have a warm (hot!) and dry space to work in on those windy and rainy days, a place where we can raise seedlings and even get a head start with summer crops!

The greenhouse was built on a cold and wet weekend by Oceanside Builds and we couldn’t be happier with the space. By the end of the term we have a wide variety of summer vegetables and flowers sprouting which should be ready to go into the garden after the holidays.

As we approach the cooler months of the year plant growth starts to slow down in the garden, despite this there is still plenty to do! May is a good time to get garlic into the ground. Before planting them the bulbs were kept in the fridge for a week to give them that winter chill that they love and then soaked overnight in a weak seaweed fertiliser solution to give them a strong head start. This year we planted elephant garlic and printanor varieties which should be ready to harvest in summer.

Term one has been an exciting one particularly for harvesting produce and cooking with it. In week six of term four last year, we planted out kumara tupu. They happily grew over summer and by the time we came back to school in February there was plenty of lush foliage. In week five the kumara was ready to be harvested, Mataatua had the privilege of digging them up and boy were they rewarded!

…and look where we are now!

We have had a busy and exciting term four. Once again we have been generously supported by businesses and community members who have helped develop our garden space. In week one Phillip and Miguel from Avocado New Zealand came to school with five donated avocado trees. They worked with us showing us how to plant them and put up wind cloth barriers around each tree.

Earlier in the year Whaea Zarna put a list of fruit trees we wanted for our garden space and for the beginning of a food forest out to staff and school whānau asking for tree sponsorship. We were blown away when they all sold in two days! In term two, whānau who purchased a feijoa or citrus tree were invited to come to school and plant their trees. This term the time was right to plant the deciduous trees and the opportunity was extended to the remaining whānau to be involved.

Term Two started with a hiss and a roar. We had a hugely successful working bee at the end of week one where 25 whanau groups and community members helped to line and fill the garden beds in record time. Which meant that the following week we could start planting out our seedlings grown the previous term. By week 10 we harvested mesculin, rocket, beets, bok choy, spinach and kale to make bags of salad greens for the staff to take home!

Kia ora my name is Leela Woodgate, I have joined PiPS this year to work with Te Manawa ō Pāpāmoa School to establish their school gardens. What a busy term one we have had! Some students from Mataatua who were keen to get involved had the opportunity to do some garden planning and drew up some designs from which we have had this amazing design created for us