There’s been a slow but steady revolution at the bottom of School Road in Wellsford over the past couple of years, thanks largely to the mahi of one determined gardener. Andrew McLennan has spent most his life in the music industry and still spends much of his time writing songs and recording – he’s currently in the throes of finishing a second album with former Split Enz keyboard player Eddie Rayner. However, after a quiet spell in 2022, McLennan also took on the role of caring for the neglected Wellsford Community Garden as a day job and has been bringing the space back to life ever since.
“I’d been on tour, a long trip through the US and the North Island, and when that was over I had nothing to do,” he says. “Based on previous experience, I didn’t just want to sit on my hands.” The former Coconut Rough and Pop Mechanix singer-songwriter heard that the Coast to Coast Hauora Trust was looking for someone to revive its community garden, so thought he’d give it a go.
It was a massive job – from a thriving allotment space a decade ago, the number of gardeners tending their plots had gradually dropped off. Then came the arrival of covid lockdowns and the garden was largely abandoned. Weeds and kikuyu grew unchecked, covering the entire garden area and turning it into a wilderness.
The sheer scale of the task might have put many people off, but not McLennan, who exudes a sense of calm that suggests not much perturbs him. “I’ve got no more gardening exper.
