Tomatoes are the Star In my opinion, in a summer garden – of all the wide range of plants that can be grown, the tomato is the superstar. The one that just owns the season. Sweetcorn could come in a close second if it wasn’t for the fact that in spite of their sunny yellow disposition, which can be stored in the freezer to bring …...
50 Gardens in one Month It isn’t often you can say you have visited over 50 gardens in one month, but this November that is what I did. Well, if I’m completely honest – a few were in the very tail end of October and one of the gardens was mine, so the exact tally is a little hazy, but it was all part of …...
I’ve been away again. But the best kind of away. I put on one of my favourite hats to do my job as a Botanical Tour Guide for Botanica World Discoveries. I hosted a bus load of garden tourists across New Zealand over two back-to-back tours. Firstly, it was the NZ Taranaki Garden Spectacular and Private Gardens Tour followed by the NZ Private Gardens and …...
Birthday weekend I am super blessed to have my birthday at the best possible time for a gardener. This weekend was Labour Weekend which is also the last frost date and it is safe for planting out the summer garden in my area. It is a moveable holiday and can vary by up to a week, so extra caution and common sense needs to be …...
My ‘Did-dah’ moment I have been working on a project for a very long time. When I say working on it, I mean thinking about it. And when I say thinking about it, it is more of a guilt induced frenzy full of woulda, coulda and shoulda. I thought making the family give it to me as a Mother’s Day present would make it happen …...
Digging, danger and fast things. I don’t know if it is because I’m getting older or because I have so much to do, but time is marching away on me. I’m working as fast as I can, with appropriate breaks so I don’t burst a foofoo valve, but we are nearly two thirds the way through the first month of spring! But then spring is …...
Spring Things in the Greenhouse Do you ever have a season in your life where it is extraordinarily busy and all you have time to do is put one foot in front of the other. Well I have. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it was that made things so busy, but it has been a struggle. But the garden has always …...
ONE WEEK OF WINTER LEFT This year has whizzed by, and the fun is about to start. There is a lot of anticipation and expectation this season, probably more so than ever after the disappointment of last time. There was just too much rain. My hope that things will be different this year is due to the shift from a soggy La Nina to a …...
The great reset …once I finish coughing! This year has been really light on the gardening – it has been maintained but that is about it. The combination of a horribly wet start to the year curtailed most gardening efforts because I wasn’t in a hurry to garden in torrential rain and working with sodden soil is never a good idea. The other thing was …...
Now is a good time to start to organise for the new growing season. With hope in my heart, I began taking dreaming about the next season to the next level and started making plans. Last season was a complete washout – literally! I only used my irrigation system a couple of times. Ironically, the only time it should have been used but wasn’t, was …...
You may or may not have noticed, but I’ve been missing in action here on my blog and for good reason. I handed it over to the loveliest person on Fivver who did a bit of an update for me. I’m a gardener not a technical whiz and I knew I wanted to update the look of the blog but was frozen with fear for …...
I opened my garden up to the public so they could come and see what I had created. But not everyone could come, so I decided to do a virtual tour, replicating the tour from the open day, while the garden was still looking great so no one misses out. So sit back and enjoy a personal tour of my garden. It is a little …...
Out here on the coast the sandy soil is pretty much held in place with the kikuyu grass, especially on the hills and I have no problem with this. The last thing we need is erosion or even worse – a blow out, where the wind whips away the sand causing a deep hole. Once you get a blow out it can be difficult to …...
Tomatoes are the Star In my opinion, in a summer garden – of all the wide range of plants that can be grown, the tomato is the superstar. The one that just owns the season. Sweetcorn could come in a close second if it wasn’t for the fact that in spite of their sunny yellow disposition, which can be stored in the freezer to bring …...
50 Gardens in one Month It isn’t often you can say you have visited over 50 gardens in one month, but this November that is what I did. Well, if I’m completely honest – a few were in the very tail end of October and one of the gardens was mine, so the exact tally is a little hazy, but it was all part of …...
I’ve been away again. But the best kind of away. I put on one of my favourite hats to do my job as a Botanical Tour Guide for Botanica World Discoveries. I hosted a bus load of garden tourists across New Zealand over two back-to-back tours. Firstly, it was the NZ Taranaki Garden Spectacular and Private Gardens Tour followed by the NZ Private Gardens and …...
Birthday weekend I am super blessed to have my birthday at the best possible time for a gardener. This weekend was Labour Weekend which is also the last frost date and it is safe for planting out the summer garden in my area. It is a moveable holiday and can vary by up to a week, so extra caution and common sense needs to be …...
My ‘Did-dah’ moment I have been working on a project for a very long time. When I say working on it, I mean thinking about it. And when I say thinking about it, it is more of a guilt induced frenzy full of woulda, coulda and shoulda. I thought making the family give it to me as a Mother’s Day present would make it happen …...
Digging, danger and fast things. I don’t know if it is because I’m getting older or because I have so much to do, but time is marching away on me. I’m working as fast as I can, with appropriate breaks so I don’t burst a foofoo valve, but we are nearly two thirds the way through the first month of spring! But then spring is …...
Spring Things in the Greenhouse Do you ever have a season in your life where it is extraordinarily busy and all you have time to do is put one foot in front of the other. Well I have. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it was that made things so busy, but it has been a struggle. But the garden has always …...
ONE WEEK OF WINTER LEFT This year has whizzed by, and the fun is about to start. There is a lot of anticipation and expectation this season, probably more so than ever after the disappointment of last time. There was just too much rain. My hope that things will be different this year is due to the shift from a soggy La Nina to a …...
The great reset …once I finish coughing! This year has been really light on the gardening – it has been maintained but that is about it. The combination of a horribly wet start to the year curtailed most gardening efforts because I wasn’t in a hurry to garden in torrential rain and working with sodden soil is never a good idea. The other thing was …...
Now is a good time to start to organise for the new growing season. With hope in my heart, I began taking dreaming about the next season to the next level and started making plans. Last season was a complete washout – literally! I only used my irrigation system a couple of times. Ironically, the only time it should have been used but wasn’t, was …...
You may or may not have noticed, but I’ve been missing in action here on my blog and for good reason. I handed it over to the loveliest person on Fivver who did a bit of an update for me. I’m a gardener not a technical whiz and I knew I wanted to update the look of the blog but was frozen with fear for …...
I opened my garden up to the public so they could come and see what I had created. But not everyone could come, so I decided to do a virtual tour, replicating the tour from the open day, while the garden was still looking great so no one misses out. So sit back and enjoy a personal tour of my garden. It is a little …...