Green Drinks - From Planter to Plate: Growing food in the Whakatipu

Grow Your Own Food in the Whakatipu!

Want to grow your own food but not sure where to start in Queenstown’s unique climate?

Sustainable Queenstown has teamed up with KiwiHarvest to bring you a practical, hands-on Green Drinks session all about growing food successfully in the Whakatipu.

And the best part? Everyone gets to build their own upcycled 20 litre planter to take home!

You'll get hands-on assembling your very own upcycled 20-litre weld water drum planter, complete with compost and seedlings, so you'll have everything you need to start growing straight away.

Theo Richard, Sherwood's Market Gardener, will guide you through the assembly process and show you how to set up and care for your new planter.

Then Mikey Dahlstrom, Millbrook Resort's resident market gardener and food resilience advocate, will share his practical advice on what grows well in the Whakatipu, what can be challenging and how to give your plants the best chance of success.

And we won't let you go hungry! Queenstown Catering will be serving delicious soup made from rescued food supplied by KiwiHarvest, accompanied by fresh bread rolls from European Bakery.

Whether you're already a keen gardener or have never grown so much as a lettuce, this will be a relaxed, hands-on session packed with useful advice you can put into practice at home.

Numbers are strictly limited to 40, so get in quick to secure your spot!

Want to take your food-growing journey even further?

We've also got five places available in the full KiwiHomeHarvest growing programme, which provides selected households with a complete modular vegetable garden, compost, seedlings and ongoing gardening support.

If you'd like to be considered for one of these places, simply tick the relevant box when purchasing your Green Drinks ticket to enter the draw.

You can explore the three different planter models and register your interest in any of the programmes here:

KiwiHomeHarvest – Explore the Planters and Register

Please note: KiwiHomeHarvest is much more than a free planter box. It's a supported growing programme designed to give participants the equipment, knowledge and confidence to grow their own food long after the event. Participants must attend a separate KiwiHomeHarvest Assembly Event, complete the programme registration and commit to ongoing participation. Places are subject to programme eligibility and confirmation.

A big thank you to our supporters!

A huge thank you to Mitre 10 for generously supplying materials and volunteers, and to James Clarke Property for providing the tools needed to bring our hands-on planter workshop to life.

Thanks also to Queenstown Catering and European Bakery for helping us turn rescued food into something delicious.

And of course, a big thank you to Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) for supporting Green Drinks and helping us bring practical, community-focused events like this to life.