Garden Grants Give Little Green Fingers a Boost

Children at six North Island rural schools will be encouraged to get their hands dirty as they develop vegetable gardens and orchards after being selected as the lucky winners of $2000 gardening grants.

Rural Women New Zealand and Farmlands will present the cheques to the schools over the coming week.

National president, Liz Evans, says “This is the third time that Rural Women New Zealand and Farmlands have collaborated to distribute the proceeds of the popular Farmlands Ladies Nights, which are held around the North Island during October.

“The resurgence of interest in eating fresh food and getting back to basics was reflected in the number of applications we received, with 113 rural primary schools applying for grants.”

The money will be used to buy equipment, seedlings or plants to start a vegetable garden or orchard, or further develop one already in place.

The schools will also receive gardening equipment from McGregor’s Gardening, a gardening starter kit from Yates, fertiliser from Agrisea NZ Ltd and a copy of ‘A Good Harvest – recipes from the gardens of Rural Women New Zealand’ so the children can put all their produce to good use.

The successful schools are:

Ohuka School, Wairoa

Tinui School, Wairarapa

Toko School, Stratford

Tomorata School, Wellsford

Pukekawa School, Tuakau

Tauriko School, Tauranga