The community is being encouraged to
enjoy the benefits of fresh fruit and vegetables grown in public spaces as the
city celebrates Parks Week 2026.
Invercargill City Council Manager Parks and Recreation Caroline Rain said the main growing season was coming to an end, and produce from several vegetable gardens in Invercargill’s parks was ready to be harvested just in time for Parks Week.
“The vegetables in our gardens at Bluff, Otakaro Park, the Pipe Band Hall and Queens Park are in prime picking condition,” she said.
“These vegetables are freely available to the community, and we’re inviting everyone to get out and make the most of the produce during Parks Week.”
Available vegetables would include silver and rainbow beet, kale, parsley, spring onions and sprouting broccoli. Signs would be in place to indicate which vegetable beds were ready to be harvested.
Alongside vegetables, apples and pears on trees at Donovan Park and the Derwent Crescent Playground would be ready to harvest during the week.
“Many people may not realise that we have more than 200 fruit trees in our parks, with fruit that matures at different times throughout the year,” Rain said.
“Anyone is free to pick the fruit from these trees as it ripens. We just ask that you only take what you need and leave some for other people to enjoy.”
Any plants not harvested from the vegetable beds would be composted or fed to the birds and animals at Queens Park, before the gardens were replanted with cold season plants.
Further information about the vegetable beds and fruit trees, including a map of the locations, could be found at icc.govt.nz/parksweek.
Parks Week is an annual event celebrated across Australasia in the first week of March to recognise the important role that open spaces play in creating thriving communities.
