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Garden Bed Restoration Project

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Garden Bed Restoration Project

A community group is restoring a tired garden bed beside a fishing harbour in Aotearoa New Zealand. Your job is to use ecology, measurements and evidence to design a plan that supports healthy soil and local biodiversity. Show working for calculations. For open-ended questions, answers may vary; use the sample answer as a guide.

Investigate the site

Use the site notes below for Questions 1–3. The bed is 2.4 m long, 1.2 m wide and 0.25 m deep. It receives about six hours of sun each day. The soil is compacted, drains slowly after heavy rain and has few earthworms. Bees and hoverflies visit nearby flowers. The group wants to grow some food while improving habitat.

1.Which observation is the clearest evidence that the soil may have poor structure?

It drains slowly and is compacted
Bees visit nearby flowers
The bed receives six hours of sun
The group wants to grow food

2.Explain one way that adding compost could improve this bed's soil ecosystem. Include an effect on organisms or soil processes.

3.The group spreads a 5 cm layer of compost over the whole bed. Calculate the compost volume in cubic metres and the cost at $50 per m³. Show your working.

Plan for biodiversity

The group is considering three plants: kūmara for food, mānuka for flowers used by native insects, and clover as a low-growing plant that can support soil cover. Plant choice must suit the space and conditions.

4.Match each plant to the role most directly described.

Kūmara
Mānuka
Clover

Low-growing soil cover
Food crop
Flower resource for insects

5.The team plans to plant mānuka to attract pollinating insects. State whether this is a reasonable ecological aim, then explain one limitation or extra consideration when choosing plants for this bed.

6.A group member suggests using a pesticide whenever insects are seen. Give one ecological reason to avoid unnecessary pesticide use in this bed.

Monitor and test

Ngaio suggests comparing two mulch types to find out which conserves soil moisture better. The team has equal-sized sections of the bed and a moisture meter.

7.Write a testable hypothesis for Ngaio's mulch investigation.

8.Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable in the mulch investigation.

9.Name two variables the team should keep the same to make the mulch comparison fair.

10.Design a simple planting-bed layout. Draw and label where you would place food plants, flowering plants, soil cover, a path or access edge, and mulch. Add a short note explaining how your layout could support both people and other organisms.