The gentle evolution of a pollinator garden soil remediation project in Tuakau
A photo diary of the last two years
October 2022: the start of the Tuakau & Districts Museum Pollinator Garden. The initial impulse was to make soil and grow flowers that would eventually be used in a more public project on the front lawn of the Museum.
Once I got started though, I became quite content to simply maximise the flower production, and let this pollinator garden become a sanctuary for me. I often pop over for just an half hour or so, pick a bucket of flowers, do a little weeding, stir some biodynamic CPP (cow pat pit preparation), and just observe the bees and butterflies with minimal expectations.
Here's what it looked like at the start of the project, along with a picture taken just a couple of months later.
March 2023: being a compost consultant, it made sense to host compost workshops here regularly. It's been a joy to welcome people from Auckland, Hamilton, Thames, and even visitors from Switzerland.
April 2023: At the end of the first season Dahlia flowers, I came to realise there were lots and lots of home gardeners in the area who not only loved their Dahlias, but who were growing from seed, to breed new varieties each year. I organised a gathering: the Dazzling Dahlias Celebration.
We had a Dahlia breeder, a flower grower, about half a dozen home gardeners, and everyone had brought their favourite dahlias to add to the collection.
July 2023: Winter is a time that can test our willpower in the garden. I was tired of carrying all my garden equipment each week, and asked the other volunteers if we could install a biodynamic cow pat pit, to make the CPP preparation.
Thanks to Sandra for the bricks, and to Dudley for the fine bricklaying assistance, following the instructions in the Weleda book on biodynamic gardening.
November 2023: Our second season featured flowers from Centennial Park, generously donated by Stuart Graham, a long-standing Dahlia custodian in Centennial Park.
We didn't get all of them into the ground, but increased the collection from about 10 plants up to more like 30.
January 2024: With so many flowers to pick, we reached out to the Tuakau Youth Group to help distribute these cheerful blooms around the community.
April 2024: How wonderful, to see the pollinator garden showcased in 'Heart & Soil' magazine in Canada!
March 2024: More PR for the museum - our main vegetable gardener Vic Henry gets showcased in Harvests magazine with the Biodynamic Association of New Zealand, in a combined magazine issue that went out together with the OrganicNZ magazine.
September 2024: After I started a Raranga (Māori weaving) course at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, I found that the Harakeke plant naturally became more prominent, with the Chinese Privet now slowly turning into compost at his feet.
October 2024: the Dahlia collection expands a little more, with visitors planting another six Dahlia tubers. Thanks to Jason Marconi from the Waikato District Council, Liz Tupuhi from Foundation North and Andrew Bayly, our local MP for the Port Waikato electorate.
Here's hoping we can get up to 50 different Dahlias in the garden this summer.
What's next?
The seeds we've saved are now ready to start new pollinator gardens.
Thanks to Beth Coulson of Little Batch Wax Co Ltd for promoting Blue Borage and the Tuakau Museum Pollinator garden in her October gift to candle subscribers all over Aotearoa New Zealand.
To everyone who has been a part of the development of this little sanctuary: your support is very much appreciated!
Random fact: there are 4,128km of railway lines in Aotearoa New Zealand. If we double that (to allow for gardens on each side of the tracks), then there are 8,256,000 metres.
Dividing that number by 5,124,000 people (2022 population of Aotearoa New Zealand), then we get 1.6 metres per person.
Could YOU plant and look after 2 metres of a railway pollinator garden?