Community gardeners in Waitakere have a one stop website that provides a lot of useful information, including:

• guidelines to start a community garden
• a list of community gardens in the Auckland Region
• different garden models that can be used
• a large collection of resources, from books to local workshops

Heard on Radio NZ Sunday Morning (Sunday 2 May 2010), Chris Laidlaw and Jeremy Rose talked about about Britain's greenest town and Wellington's (NZ) newest community gardening project, the Owhiro Bay Community Garden.

Have you noticed that community gardens are popping up everywhere? And so they should be!

Community gardens provide a fantastic way to grow healthy, affordable, locally produced food and to build stronger neighbourhood connections in the process. But if you wanted to start a community garden where would you go to find out how they work, what the different options are and who might be able to help you get started?

There are many regional community gardening networks now established and District Health Boards are also helping fund many school and early childhood based garden initiatives. Many local authorities have information on their websites. However in our discussions around the country, there seems to be interest in a New Zealand community gardens guide or resource that captures the essence and stories of the many different models in use and gives people some ideas, connections and tips for getting started.

There is no stopping the students from Royal Road Primary School in the West Auckland suburb of Massey.  With the support of principal Wayne Leighton, these children have been planting, tending and cooking their own vegetables.  This collaborative effort with the Waitemata District Health Board aims to encourage children and their families to eat more healthily.  As a result, families have asked for gardening kits to start gardens at home!

The next plan is to plant an orchard of feijoas, guavas and citrus trees to provide fruit for the pupils to eat in school breaks.  This project provides an inspirational example of how a practical place-based initiative can bring groups in the community together to work towards increasingly ambitious but achievable goals.

Royal Road Primary School provides leadership in the community by providing a centre for community meetings and making meaningful connections between school, families and the neighbourhood.

Information taken from "A growing awareness of healthy living" in NZ Herald, Thursday April 2nd 2009, or visit the NZ Herald website.