NZ Thoughts 5.0 — Dangerous…Gardening?
New Zealand is quite the funny country. If that’s good or bad, that remains debatable.
After my last post about odd thieves, I couldn’t imagine finding something even odder. Well, surprisingly, I was wrong! There IS something that tops that.
Did you know Kiwis can’t have their own gardens? Well, more specifically, they’re not allowed to grow their own plants. And by plants I mean ANY kind of plant. Even grass! You can’t grow your own grass in your own garden. Which doesn’t mean that you can’t have any, though. All you need to do is go to a supplier, buy your grass there, and then have them install it. Oh, don’t forget about getting a license. (Not sure if people would need one for grass, but to be on the safe side, can’t hurt to have one.) And with said license one can even grow their own plants now. Yay!
I’ve never been a fan of gardening and there are no plants in my home, (because I want to spare them an awful death from my black thumbs) so this restriction wouldn’t be a problem to me. But I’ve come to realize that some people do feel really strongly about it, feeling themselves robbed of their human right to grow food. Understandably.
Banning self-gardening in 2011 to ensure economic stability for NZ is an agriculture driven country, and prevent the inexperienced use of botanic products by private gardeners to ensure safety is not unreasonable (still unreasonable, to be honest.) But to imprison botany offenders is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? Becoming a criminal by growing a plant without a license…? Priorities, people. There are things and hobbies more dangerous than gardening.
Nevertheless, some people do take that risk. Look at this badass lady with her (very illegal) self-grown avocado tree. You go, girl!
Mai
P.S. #AvocadosforNZ
