Green Fingers Garden Club

After hearing such positive feedback from our series of ‘garden in a bucket’ workshops last spring during community fun days and holiday programmes we saw the enthusiasm from both the children and their parents. We recognised the value of children also gardening at home when the community worker at Ohai / Nightcaps said that after we sent 75 children home with their own self planted bucket garden that a good many of their families started vegetable gardening at home. It proved to be an effective way to educate parents who can also be first time gardeners. The Green Fingers Garden Club is our modern version of the old ‘Boys and Girls Agricultural Club’ where for a nominal price students get a selection of vegetable seeds, planting information and a diary to fill in. They plant their small garden at home and a local gardener comes to visit them in autumn to give them praise, advice and a certificate. They get stickers on their certificate for planning, care, growth and knowledge. We trialled this project in autumn 2010 in three schools with 30 students, it went so well that we are now about to launch it Southland wide during the second week of term four. We aim to encourage 1000 southland students to take part in the next 12 months. COGS (Community Organisation Grants Scheme – NZ Lottery Grants) have granted us $1,500 to subsidise this project

Please click on the link on the left to enter the Club page.