Food Forest Beginners Workshop

As part of our Community Garden Support programme we’ve been hard at work helping turn Awatapu Community Garden into an abundant source of kai for the local community. Part of that process is adding perennial crops to the garden and the perfect way to do that is through a food forest! Especially with some beautiful fruit trees already in place.

We never let the chance to learn go by so in addition to actually designing and planting the food forest, we decided to hold a workshop and get anyone interested along to learn more about the process, visit the garden and meet new people. As a bonus, thanks to support from the Whakatane District Council Community Climate Action Fund, we could do it all for free.

The weather was on our side (after a nervous few days watching the forecast) and we managed to get all our winter planting done while sharing knowledge about the various plants and how to arrange them in a food forest setting.

Before – time for some weeding

Plants ready to go

After – fresh mulch and new plants

The area around the fruit trees is looking much tidier now with a fresh layer of mulch. While the apple trees still need pruning, I’m looking forward to seeing them thrive with all the new beneficial companions they’ve just gained.

The work isn’t done yet though. We’ll be back in spring to plant some of the more frost tender varieties like lemongrass and passionfruit along with a bunch of other perennial and annual additions – mostly herbs and of course flowers to add some colour and bring in the bees. We’ll also need to keep on top of the pesky kikuyu that is surrounding the area and make sure it doesn’t invade our new plants.