Announcing the winners of the T&G Young Gardener Awards 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018 | Linda Taylor
From the rolling hills of Wainui to the fertile soils of north Canterbury and the crisper climate of Invercargill, we've unearthed NZ's best school gardens, and young gardeners!
More than 130 entries were received from 45 primary schools in the eagerly contested 2018 awards, nearly doubling the number of entries received in last
year’s competition.
Our huge thanks to our National Growing Partner,T&G Global, for their continued support of Garden to Table, and the Young Gardener Awards.
Here's a great way to get your children or grandchildren (or co-workers or clients!) involved in growing vegetables, plus you can have some fun and support Garden to Table along the way! We're
delighted to launch our first Great Potato Bag Fundraiser. Each Potato Bag Kit includes a fantastic, orange felt grow bag, a 1.5kg bag of seed potatoes generously donated by Tui Garden Products, a delicious potato recipe by our Ambassador Al Brown, and all you need to know about
growing potatoes in time for summer.
HOW TO BUY:Click here to purchase online, and we will send to you anywhere in the country. If you're in Auckland:You can pop into your local Farro store and purchase straight away.
We're delighted to announce that Holly and Madyson, from Parua Bay School in Northland, are the winners of the RaboDirect Root to Tip Cooking Competition for 2018. To see what our 10 regional winning teams got up to on the day, have a look at this fantastic video created by RaboDirect, to help everyone remember the day.
Head judge, Garden to Table Ambassador Al Brown, says the winning dishes of a veggie patch burger with ribbon fries and sweet and spice apple delight,
were “bold in flavour, presented beautifully, and left next to no food wastage in its preparation,” which were all key factors in deciding the competition
winners.
Garden to Table are once again delighted to be partnering with the NZ Flower & Garden Show to run the very popular school garden section of the show. In 2017 eight Primary schools took part and had a fantastic time designing and
planting, four gardens (pictured) even won a Gold award from the judges! This is a wonderful opportunity to encourage creativity and showcase your
school in a unique way.
Each participating school is provided a 4.8X4.8mtr garden bed with a raised 300mm border in which to create their original edible garden design.This year
we are delighted that NZ Flower & Garden show is also donating some tickets to each participating school.
We are excited to announce our new Garden to Table Ambassador, landscape designer Dan Mackay.
Dan is one of New Zealand’s most renowned landscape designers, most recently known for his appearance as resident landscape and gardening expert on TVNZ’s
home and garden makeover reality series HOMEmade.
From the rolling hills of Wainui to the fertile soils of north Canterbury and the crisper climate of Invercargill, we've unearthed NZ's best school gardens, and young gardeners!\n
\n
More than 130 entries were received from 45 primary schools in the eagerly contested 2018 awards, nearly doubling the number of entries received in last\n year’s competition. \n
Our huge thanks to our National Growing Partner,T&G Global, for their continued support of Garden to Table, and the Young Gardener Awards. \n
We're delighted to announce the following winners:\n
\n
T&G Passion for Growing Award - Milford School, Milford, North Shore: This school developed a\n garden specifically to attract and protect native butterflies and moths. Milford School started its thriving gardening club in 2009 thanks to the help\n of a parent, and since then the school garden has gone from strength to strength. Butterflies have a starring role in the school’s gardening activity.\n The kids grow flowers they know they’ll love and tag them to do their bit for the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust, something which actively involves\n the school in science learning. They have learnt practical gardening and problem solving skills, for example, the kids had to figure out how to get\n water to the butterfly garden which was a long way from the water supply. The students learnt about the importance of water, the concept of rainwater\n collection through the installation of a rain water tank.
\n
\n
T&G Garden to Table Established School of the Year - North Loburn School in north Canterbury: (pictured) What started as a small\n garden project for this rural school has grown into a fully flourished garden with nine large raised vegetable, three herb beds, a tunnel house and\n scarecrows.The school pins much of the programme’s success to the fact that the Garden to Table activities are tweaked to fit in with the school’s\n rural style, as well as being largely student lead. Older students lead younger ones in group projects such as building scarecrows and vegetable signs.\n Last term a class planted broad beans after reading Jack and the Beanstalk in a bid to link the gardening efforts with what’s happening in the class.
\n
T&G Garden to Table Emerging School of the Year - Wainui School, Wainui, north of Auckland: This school encourages\n all of their students to become kaitiaki (guardians) of our environment and has seen students who struggle in the classroom, blossom in the gardenTheir\n learning goes beyond growing and nutrition and includes writing, maths, science and even enterprise.The students have begun creating other sustainable\n products such as lip balm and ginger beer to sell.\n \n
\n
Five very deserving and passionate Young Gardener Awards have also been unearthed\n \n
\n
1.Hannah Kome, age 9, from Cannons Creek School, Porirua
\n
2.Jing Mei, age 10, from Forrest Hill School, North Shore, Auckland
\n
3.Josh Angelo, age 11, from Holy Cross School, Miramar, Wellington
\n
4.Jackson Evans, age 10, from Macandrew Bay School, Dunedin
\n
5.Finn Meijer, age 11, from Waihopai School, Invercargill
\n
The winning schools will receive some great prizes that will no doubt help to keep them on track with their gardening ventures, including fruit trees from\n T&G, irrigation systems from GARDENA, Hungry Bin worm farms and goodies from Tui as well as design help from Garden to Table ambassador Dan Mackay\n for the Emerging and Passion for Growing schools.
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Here's a great way to get your children or grandchildren (or co-workers or clients!) involved in growing vegetables, plus you can have some fun and support Garden to Table along the way! We're\n delighted to launch our first Great Potato Bag Fundraiser. Each Potato Bag Kit includes a fantastic, orange felt grow bag, a 1.5kg bag of seed potatoes generously donated by Tui Garden Products, a delicious potato recipe by our Ambassador Al Brown, and all you need to know about\n growing potatoes in time for summer.
\n
HOW TO BUY:Click here to purchase online, and we will send to you anywhere in the country. \n If you're in Auckland:You can pop into your local Farro store and purchase straight away. \n
\n
\n
Why not make it into a friendly competition in your office, or between your children - who can grow the largest, heaviest crop, or the biggest potato,\n or the yummiest?! And we'd love to see your kits in action. Simply upload your photos onto your social media account using the hashtag #GreatPotatoBag,\n and tag us so we can see.
Each kit costs $20 plus p&p, and all proceeds support the work of Garden to Table. You can order your kit\nhere. Or if you're based in Auckland you can pop into any of Farro's stores and pick up\n a kit straight away.\n
\n
We can't wait to hear your Great Potato Bag Fundraiser stories!\n \n
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We're delighted to announce that Holly and Madyson, from Parua Bay School in Northland, are the winners of the RaboDirect Root to Tip Cooking Competition for 2018. To see what our 10 regional winning teams got up to on the day, have a look at this fantastic video created by RaboDirect, to help everyone remember the day.
\n
Head judge, Garden to Table Ambassador Al Brown, says the winning dishes of a veggie patch burger with ribbon fries and sweet and spice apple delight,\n were “bold in flavour, presented beautifully, and left next to no food wastage in its preparation,” which were all key factors in deciding the competition\n winners.\n \n
\n
Run by Garden to Table, with the support of RaboDirect, the Root to Tip competition challenged years five and six school pupils from around New Zealand\n to grate, slice, cook, create and plate a meal from ‘root to tip’, leaving little or no food waste. The competition with a twist, aims to encourage\n children to get creative in the kitchen, while tackling the serious issue of food wastage.
\n
The students were required to source their produce locally from family, community or school gardens, and turn it into a creative, delicious two-course,\n vegetable-based meal, which was judged by local chefs for taste and the amount of food wasted. Today’s event saw 20 competition finalists flown from\n around New Zealand to cook in front of judges Al Brown, Catherine Bell co-founder of Garden to Table and Paul Cording from RaboDirect at Weltec Wellington,\n following their recent successes in winning the regional heats held around the country.
\n
\n
Al Brownsays the competition helpspeople of all agesunderstand where their food comes from, how tomakethe most ofavailableingredientsand reduce food\n wastage.
\n
“Root to Tip gave children an opportunity to learn important skills they can take into adulthood,from growing, cultivating and cooking food to learning\n about how to stretch ingredients further. Witnessing the creativity, skills and genuine talent of these budding chefs as they’ve taken part in\n this challenge has been inspiring.”
\n
Hamish McKegg, Head of RaboDirect, the competition’s major sponsor, says Root to Tip gives children the skills to tackle food wastage in New Zealand\n in a fun and interactive way.
\n
“We recently conducted research that found that Kiwis waste an estimated $1,071 of food per household every year. We want to help teach Kiwi kids and\n their families that it is possible to reduce the amount of food we throw away with just a few easy tips and tricks that change the way we cook\n at home.”
\n
Congratulations Holly and Madyson, and to all our competitors and finalists from around the country. We're so proud of what you achieved, and\n can't wait until next year!
\n
\n
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Garden to Table are once again delighted to be partnering with the NZ Flower & Garden Show to run the very popular school garden section of the show. In 2017 eight Primary schools took part and had a fantastic time designing and\n planting, four gardens (pictured) even won a Gold award from the judges! This is a wonderful opportunity to encourage creativity and showcase your\n school in a unique way.
\n
Each participating school is provided a 4.8X4.8mtr garden bed with a raised 300mm border in which to create their original edible garden design.This year\n we are delighted that NZ Flower & Garden show is also donating some tickets to each participating school.
\n
The only garden design rules are:
\n
\n
Garden design must include edible plants
\n
Rear Backdrop (provided) must be designed and painted (paint kindly supplied by Resene)
\n
Schools are free to create their own design, however designs should be student-led, not parent/teacher designed.
\n
\n
Let your kids imagination run riot!We will provide feedback on these designs and provide advice as to how to bring your ideas to life.We have the support\n of Tui, Resene, Central Landscape supplies, Zealandia, Waimea nurseries, Gellerts, Hire plants and more to come!\n \n
\n
This year we also have the support of our new gardening ambassador Dan McKay – Dan will be onsite at times during construction to offer advice and more\n – watch this space!
\n
Key dates –
\n
Design submissions due – September
\n
Construction begins – Tuesday 20th November
\n
Media Day – Tuesday 27th November
\n
Show opens – Wednesday 28th November
\n
Show closes – Sunday 2nd December
\n
Pack down – Monday 3rd – Wednesday 5th December
\n
How much time will it take?
\n
Exhibiting at the show is a commitment but this is balanced by how much the kids and school community get out of it.We recommend 2 hours for design, 2-4\n days for painting, construction and planting and additionally there will be media opportunities which you are encouraged to attend.Finally, don’t forget\n to reserve a day and some lovely parent volunteers to assist with your pack down.
If your school would like to know more about exhibiting at the NZ Flower & Garden Show, please contact me now – natalie@gardentotable.org.nz or feel free to phone me on Ph:021 955 411
We are excited to announce our new Garden to Table Ambassador, landscape designer Dan Mackay. \n
\n
Dan is one of New Zealand’s most renowned landscape designers, most recently known for his appearance as resident landscape and gardening expert on TVNZ’s\n home and garden makeover reality series HOMEmade.\n \n
\n
For the past 15 years, Dan has brought his wild ideas to life, all of which are unique and tackled with true enthusiasm. Originally from Timaru,\n Dan travelled the world before settling in Auckland to study horticulture, landscape design and construction. Nowadays, his talent and passion has\n made him a household name to many. Dan turned his passion in to a career with the launch of his business Ministry of Ground – an Auckland landscaping solutions company that aims to take a different perspective on landscaping its works\n renowned for being a beautiful collision between art and practicality.
\n
Dan loves to push the boundaries of landscape design with his innovative ideas. However, his dedication to sustainability is what sets him apart from the\n rest. His landscape designs encourage customers to sustain not only themselves but the environment.\n \n
\n
In his spare time Dan loves to skateboard with his five children, and tend to his own vegetable garden.\n \n
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Dan joins existing Garden to Table Ambassadors, Al Brown, and Niki Bezzant, and we are delighted that Dan has agreed to generously donate his time as a Garden to Table Ambassador, despite a hectic work and filming schedule. He has already been a huge hit with students when visiting Garden to Table schools!
