Silverbeet reprieve in Wellington

Council workers harvest the silverbeet that was planted in the median strip on Lambton Quay.

Unprecedented interest has seen a last minute change to the harvesting of silverbeet in Wellington's city centre.

The Wellington City Council has been growing silverbeet in the median strip down Lambton Quay.

The council said the vegetable was chosen because of its interesting colours, textures and ability to stand up to Wellington's weather conditions.

Today the plants are being harvested, and initially the council had invited people to come down and collect some for free.

But council spokesman Richard MacLean said overwhelming interest on social media had forced a last-minute re-think

"It's always a subject of great curiosity to the public, quite a few people just can't figure out why there's silverbeet in the middle of the road.

"The reason we do it is because it's really attractive and it's a bit unusual, it's a bit of a change from the usual flowers and people like it.

"But what we have discovered over the weekend is we've probably had one of the biggest social media responses to anything we've advertised and so there's been a change of plan this morning."

Richard MacLean said the change was mainly down to safety.

"We'll be telling people no they can't wander into the street into the work site."

Instead, council staff will harvest the silverbeet and load it onto the back of a truck, and from 2pm today that truck will be parked outside the railway station.

"So if anyone is still interested they should come on down to the station at 2 o'clock with their bags and load on up", MacLean said.

As to whether the silverbeet is safe to eat, MacLean said it is.

"Probably the vast majority of people would be a little bit wary of eating vegetables that have been planted in the middle of Lambton Quay. And that's why understandably we're getting people saying why are you being so irresponsible.

"But if you wash the stuff, it's no different from washing vegetables that you've grown in the backyard, that you've treated with chemicals, insecticides and stuff like that.

"Just use your common sense and wash it. If you want to eat it, give it a really good wash."

The council plans to compost the leftover silverbeet to use on future gardens.