New gardens bring joy and productivity to rest home community

Alf Phillips is a resident of the Kimihia Rest Home, and he loves gardening. At 94 years, Alf doesn’t have the agility he used to, but with Kimihia’s new garden space, he’s gardening more than he has in a long time.

Alf is enjoying planting different vegetables in the new garden beds, which were provided by Bunnings Hamilton South. ‘I used to have a place over there’, he said, pointing to another section of the grounds but said he’s very happy to have the new, bigger space.

Bunnings provided three garden beds, and two moveable benches that the residents use to grow seedlings on. Diversional Therapist Tania Ngataki says the new supplies have lit the flame for a whole new gardening project at Kimihia, “we’re very grateful to Bunnings”.

Kimihia’s goal is to be fully sustainable and use the home-grown vegetables and herbs to cook meals for the residents.  All sorts of kai is grown in the new garden and the gardeners use kitchen scraps such as rosemary cuttings and pumpkin seeds to create new seedlings to plant.

One vegetable that Alf has been growing is carrots. ‘He grew enough to be able to feed the whole facility’, said Tania.

The garden grows in a section of Kimihia that was previously a smoking area. Alf said residents hardly went there prior to the garden going in, but it’s now used frequently.

It’s not just Alf putting hard work into the garden. Many residents have a green thumb, and love to nurture and grow the plants. Rose “Nanny” Tumai has loved seeing the garden grow. ‘It’s really, really lovely’, she said ‘so beautiful’.

Some residents have helped create the garden in different ways. Eileen Bourke and a few other residents helped to stain the wooden flower beds to give them an earthy, finished look. “I’m not much of a gardener” Eileen said, but she enjoyed preparing the space.

Bunnings Hamilton South manager, Kyle Augustus, said that the effect a garden has on a community is huge.

‘We do help quite frequently with various groups and organisations, and gardens have always been a big one for us’, said Kyle. ‘It’s something that really benefits the community. We know it’s something that’s renewable and continuously evolving… it’s a continuous gain for the community’.

Kimihia’s focus is on sustainability and natural gardening and the residents greatly value sustainability and growing-your-own. Rather than using sprays or other unnatural weed control methods, they use companion plants to help their veggies grow. ‘It’s all organic’, said Tania,

More than anything, the residents appreciate the beauty and joy that the garden brings and have loved working together as a team to create the space. “Every little hand helps”, Alf said.

He confessed that at first, he wondered about whether it was worth it to have a new garden, but now agrees that it brings a lot of value to the home. “Bloody good idea, that was”.