Raised beds

The heart of the Uey Kai Garden is a set of raised beds where most of our vegetables grow. We’re building them from aluminium-coated zinc panels made by Steelmates in Auckland — steel beds, not timber.

Why steel, not timber

We started out planning timber beds. Then some of us visited Waikarā Marae, whose papakāinga gardens are a few years ahead of ours, and the message came back clearly: timber beds don’t last in Northland’s warm, damp climate. They rot sooner than you’d think, and the work of pulling them apart and rebuilding falls on the same hands that are trying to grow food. Their whānau encouraged us to build beds that would outlast the people who built them.

So we changed course. Steel costs a little more up front, but:

• it lasts 25 years or more, against seven to ten for timber here
• the coating is food-safe — nothing leaches out of treated timber into the soil our kai grows in
• there’s no rot to repair, no annual re-treatment, no rusting fasteners
• and it’s made in New Zealand.

How many, and how they’re built

There will be six beds. Each has about two square metres of growing space and stands high enough to work without bending — kinder on backs and knees. Four are paid for by our Kai Ora grant; the other two were gifted by Steelmates through their We Give Back programme, which helps community gardens, schools and marae.

They arrive flat-packed from Auckland and go together on a community build day: a galvanised end kit and side panels, four corner bolts a bed, a spanner the only tool needed. Once they’re up, we fill them in layers — logs and brush at the bottom, compost and garden mix on top.