Growing kuumara – a sacred crop at Hamilton Gardens
Our Te Parapara Garden is one of a few places practicing the old ways of growing kuumara, a sacred crop to Maaori and a plant deeply entwined with the history of Aotearoa.
Kuumara is often spelled “kumara” in modern usage; however, Hamilton Gardens uses Tainui Maaori spelling conventions, which favour double vowels, and “kuumara” is used throughout this article.
The shoot of a new kuumara is planted in the soil facing east to the rising sun. Every spring at Hamilton Gardens we plant kuumara in our Te Parapara Garden using techniques honed over centuries. No other crop has been grown for so long on these islands or in Waikato’s fertile soils.
The land that Hamilton Gardens sits on was once home to the gardens of the Ngati Wairere people, and we follow Ngati Wairere gardening tikanga (protocols) for growing kuumara.
Growing kuumara at Te Parapara Garden
Propagation and preparation
Alice Gwilliams, responsible for the maintenance of Te Parapara at Hamilton Gardens, says propagation begins with the autumn harvest and selecting good-looking tubers as the seed crop for the next planting season.
She says these are kept cool and dry until early spring when they are placed in lightly watered sand. The kuumara tubers begin to sprout, sending out two or three tendrils or tipu – like how a potato sprouts.
When they are 20–30cm long the tipu are removed from the kuumara along with their roots, ready to be planted in the specially prepared beds.
Planting by the maramataka
The precise timing of the sowing changes slightly each year and follows the maramataka, the traditional Maaori lunar calendar that defines the best times for sowing and harvesting as well as other activities such as hunting and fishing.
Puke: traditional garden design
Traditionally, Maaori gardeners moved their garden beds each season to ensure fresh soil, which was then enhanced with some added ash and formed into mounds called puke.
The puke are 30 to 40cm high and are arranged in a quincunx pattern (like the number 5 on a dice). Because we use the same patch of ground each year, compost, sand, ash, and organic fertiliser is added after each harvest to replenish the soil. Small stones are mixed in to help retain the sun’s warmth.
A South American homeland
Like the potato, kuumara’s homeland is South America, where it was first grown by people living in the tropical northwest of the continent. It is still called kumar or kumal in some dialects of the Quechuan language.
Polynesian explorers collected kuumara from the people living there about 1000 years ago when their waka reached the eastern edge of the vast Pacific Ocean. They brought the crop home and within a few hundred years kuumara was being grown across the Polynesian ocean realm, from Easter Island to Aotearoa.
But the Waikato is a long way from tropical South America and getting a regular and decent harvest of kuumara is harder here than in warmer climates. The furthest south kuumara was historically cultivated was Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula.
Innovations for growing kuumara in a cooler climate
The use of geometrically arranged puke was an important innovation. They ensured the crop received maximum warmth and light from the sun and didn’t get waterlogged.
Gus Flower, Horticultural and Operations Manager at Hamilton Gardens, says the soft soil of the puke sits on a harder pan of soil and this helps prevent the tuber from burrowing too deeply.
“Because the natural thing is for it to keep burrowing down, but if it does this it won’t produce good size tubers. Contained and growing in the mound allows for better growth and quality kumara.”
Alice says as well as being planted facing east, the tipu is also curved upwards when planted, like a fishhook or the letter J. This encourages the growing roots to stay in the puke and produce a higher yield.
As the plants grow, the gardeners lift and coil the runners around the mound. If the plants are not lifted and coiled in this way they will send down more roots from the runners and this will reduce the yield.
Similarly, Gus says the vines are sometimes trimmed so the plants put their energy into the tubers rather than into growing vigorously across the garden.
Harvesting kuumara
Harvest happens in the autumn, before the first frost, and after a few weeks of dry weather. The kuumara are dug out by hand to avoid damaging them with spades or other tools.
And what sort of crop can be expected?
“Well, we have had kumaras here that have been almost a kilo in weight, huge monster ones really,” says Gus. “But the typical ones are about the size you get in the shops — that's the ideal sort of size. There's a real sweetness to them then. From a decent plant, you could get about a kilo of kumara, easy.”
After each harvest a gift of the finest kuumara is made to Te Arikinui Kuini, some are kept as a seed crop, and the rest is given to the Salvation Army.
Sacred kuumara varieties
Gus says there are eight varieties of kuumara grown in the garden, with three heritage varieties that were grown in pre‑European times.
“These varieties are quite a sacred thing, they’re very special. I mean there are so many proverbs around kuumara that show how important it was and still is. One I like is: kāore te kumara e kōrero ana mo tōna ake reka — the kumara does not brag about its own sweetness.”
Visiting Te Parapara Garden
Visit our Te Parapara Garden pages for more information on this garden, which not only showcases the traditional gardening skills of Waikato Maaori but also tells the story of the settlement of the land by Ngaati Wairere and introduces the gods of wild and cultivated food.
Make sure you include this unique garden on your next visit to Hamilton Gardens. The garden and its kuumara bed are a living treasure that connects the gardens to the whenua of Waikato and links Aotearoa to the wider Pacific story.
Further Reading
