In an article published in the NZ Herald on September 26th, Sarah O’Neill (pictured) urges everyone to “get out in the garden !  Spring is the perfect time.”

Several reasons are suggested:
Fresh food can’t be beaten, you know where the food has come from, you can cut costs and you can feed family and friends.

However, she also suggests that in a garden you are always learning.
‘The mind is always kept active when you’re gardening, because even if you have been growing your own veges for 50 years or more, you still never know everything.
From the moment the gardener learns the basics by putting seed in the ground, the garden begins to teach you, how to grow in a windy season, how to grow in a wet season, how to deal with re-occurring rust on garlic, how to get a better yield from a tomato.  There is so much knowledge to gain and it is fascinating‘.

And furthermore, you can teach kids.
Gardening used to be a life skill handed down at the knee of a parent or grandparent, and returning to the garden can not only invoke wonderful memories for those taught that way, but it is also rewarding to pass the knowledge of where food comes from and how it grows to children.
This can be in your own backyard or by offering to help out in a school garden.  This will ensure this important life skill will be kept alive and handed on to future generations.  Kids who grow food are  much more likely to eat it – or at least try it.  More often than not they are more willing to eat it right there in the garden than they are off a plate.

So do “get out in the garden !  Spring is the perfect time.”