Reaching for an Earth Star

As the Trust announced in April at the annual conference in Auckland, we are now ready to launch the Earth Star initiative. You might recall that this came about as a way for members to engage in environmentally sustainable practices in your gardens. The award of an ‘Earth Star’ will be made if you meet the target points as set by the Trust. All the details will be in this document for you to download. 

To participate, here’s all you need to do. Download the Earth Star document which you’ll find on the website here and start your own assessment process. If you do not have access to a computer for this purpose, you can contact us at info@gardens.org.nz and request a printed copy. 

The checklist you’ll follow is divided into various categories of garden practices such as: hard landscaping; eco-sourced planting; composting; pest and disease control; water conservation and collection; soil protection; carbon sequestration and so much more. We suggest spending some time to go through this list and doing an honest appraisal of your practices.

Once you’ve completed the assessment, advise the manager of your score and if you meet the target goal for the Earth Star, the Trust Manager will confirm the award. We anticipate adding notice of this award to your garden profile on the website and having a simple physical sticker which you can add to your own publicity at your garden.

Clearly this exercise will be reliant on your honest appraisal. It will not be part of the formal assessment process for the general star awards. However, if you are awarded an Earth Star which is on display at your garden (or on your own or the NZGT’s website), then it will be apparent that you are open to discuss this award with visitors and assessors alike.

We strongly encourage you to participate in this initiative, which has been driven by Board Member, Shannon Boden, Head Gardener at Hollard garden in Taranaki.

To make it ‘real’ Shannon has shared her experience of completing the assessment checklist. She reports as follows:   

What a privilege it is to be on the NZGT Board of Trustees and to be part of an amazing platform that showcases such a wide range of unique and inspiring gardens throughout New Zealand.

The people behind these amazing gardens are some of the most passionate, creative and dedicated people that I have met, and I am confident in saying, we all share a close bond. We all love and care for this planet. As passionate gardeners we are deeply connected by our love of plants and all things growing. Every time we plant a seed, a tree, or touch the soil, we are a part of the future and of something greater than ourselves.

This planet we live on is strong, it is adaptable, and it knows what it is doing when left to itself. The Earth has had unimaginable time to perfect its existence, but it is also fragile. It has both complex and simple systems that work in synchronicity to create diverse ecosystems, which sustain life. It is quite humbling to think of the vast array of flora and fauna that makes this planet so unique. As gardeners we know that soil is the foundation for growing plants and that healthy soil promotes healthy plants. We also know that diversity is the cornerstone for a healthy ecosystem. If we have both attributes in our garden, we are helping to protect the planet and the environment and we work towards a more sustainable approach to how we garden. If we choose unsustainable practices, we set the clock back and we must start all over again. For example, if we kill off the bad critters with chemical sprays, then we also kill off the good critters and the natural ecosystem is thrown off balance, which will require more inputs, thereby creating a weaker ecosystem. 

We all have a responsibility to care for this beautiful and unique planet and the NZGT Board members have discussed ways to promote and support sustainable gardening practices with its friends, members and ultimately the wider community. 

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a simple checklist to help guide and encourage us into a more sustainable approach to how we garden? Well, it is an absolute pleasure and a gift to be able to share a variety of environmental actions to get us thinking about what we are doing, how we are doing it and to share this with others.

I have learnt a lot from putting together the Earth Star checklist. I scored 47 out of 80, so I could easily have come under the threshold for an Earth Star. At home I garden organically, I do not use chemicals, and I try to practice compost methods as much as possible. It was such a positive exercise for me. It really made me think about what I am already doing sustainably and what I could do better. But more importantly I found that it opened a door to information and curiosity. The whole process of the checklist gave me insight into a variety of examples and techniques that I could research and trial.       

I hope that you will join us on this journey, of protecting our planet and preserving our future. Earth Star is basically a conversation starter and an exciting journey into education that it is meant to be inclusive and educational. Your input and involvement will help us all work towards creating a more sustainable approach to gardening where together, we can all reach for the stars.

Nga mihi

Shannon Boden