THE GREAT INNER-CITY WELLINGTON PLANTER BOXES PROJECT
ICW was approached by the Wellington City Council because it had some empty planter boxes which they needed to move to a new location.
The planter boxes looked like this with some of the plants needing some urgent TLC.
The Plan
We decided to tackle the project in two steps.
Step 1: “Prep day” - Thursday 15 August 2024
Ahead of time, we visited the wonderful Holly at
the Council’s nursery to see the plants that would be coming.
We also worked with the amazing team at Bunnings in
Tory Street who have provided incredible support forthis project. Thank you!
We became experts on gravel and visited the folks at
Ablaze to order the drainage metal (gravel) that would
go into the planter boxes.
With Bunnings help, we then got together our set of
gardening tools including trowels, gloves, masks, hand
sanitiser, rubbish bags, the gravel we would need
later to sprinkle on the top of the soil, and more.Prep Day arrived and the ICW volunteers put their
bright orange “Keep Inner-City Wellington Beautiful” hi-viz
vests on and we were ready to work.
The WCC van arrived on time with the 21 planter boxes
and they were positioned in two spots - carefully selected
because neither was a designated car park – one
in Allen Street and one in Blair Street.
The truck from Ablaze arrived on time, and it was all on.
We cut up and placed the geotextile in the boxes (for drainage)
and got busy shoveling the gravel into every box.The last task was then achieved - moving the colourful
trestle tables from the Fringe Festival folks into place.Job done! And everything is now ready for the
next step - “Planting Day”
Planting day - Monday 19 August
The WCC folks and our trusty band of ICW volunteers
returned to the two sites and we added the soil to the
planter boxes. Then we planted over 100 wonderful plants -
a mix of green & leafy native plants from the Council’s nursery
and these beautiful flowering ones from our Bunnings-provided
selection.
And here is a link to our “The Great Inner-City Wellington Planter Boxes Project” photo album.
Maintenance
Our job now is to keep the plants alive and well for at least 8 months. And a big thank you to The Exchange building owners for giving us a place to keep our garden kits, and a way to fill our watering cans!
Inner-city gardeners!
Do your green fingers itch to be part of inner-city gardening?
Say yes and we’ll be in touch!
email: innercitywellington@gmail.com
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