Today, I’m hanging out with Ashvin in Christchurch. I’m here for the annual Permaculture hui which starts tomorrow, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to discover the latest developments in urban food growing at the same time.

Ashvin is the manager of Garden City 2.0, founded by Bailey Perryman. They’re  connecting urbanites with local food producers via a vege box scheme. He’s also a grower himself, with an abundant back yard. I’m looking forward to spend today learning from his experience starting a decentralised urban farm, growing produce in several back yards and empty lots across the city. In his own words, he’s not a specialist but he’s got the advantage of having done a lot of mistakes – so I don’t have to do the same ones!

You may wonder why I’m specifically interested in this… Well, Erin from WorkerBe and I just handed in an application to Wellington City Council to start an urban farm on a piece of council owned land on Hospital road, Newtown. If you’re interested in helping out, please get in touch! We need skills such as branding, fundraising, website, accounting, promotion, volunteer management plus just all round support. At the moment, all work is volunteer based, aiming to set up a sustainable incorporated society and potentially other sites with good work opportunities.

As I’m away this week, I won’t be doing anything in my own edible oasis. But what I would have done is:

Sowing seeds of mesclun outside

sowing lettuce and microgreens in the hothouse

sow green manure / cover crops in empty beds

harvest stevia and dry it

Move garden furniture to spots that are sunny in winter

Mow the lawn and sow new lawn in the empty spots

I’m also trying to figure out which workshops to run in May. Please have a look through the subjects and let me know which ones you’d be most interested in, either in a comment below or by email to contact (at) edibleoasis .net