ELSEWHERE

When I first started gardening, no one knew about it except my family and a few close friends and we all enjoyed fresh sun warmed tomatoes right there in the garden.

When I first started writing I wasn’t sure any one knew about it as it normally took place in a quiet room under the cover of darkness after a hard day in the garden.  I didn’t even know if I was any good.  I just had this strong desire to share what I’d been up to.  I’d push the publish button and send it off into the great unknown.  I didn’t really mind if no one actually read it.

Things are very different now.  Loads of people from all over the world know what I’m doing.  Having the books helps, but it is a little odd to think people who don’t know you, know things about you.  We were talking to a lady in a book store once and I said “I’m a bit of a procrastinator” and she said “I know!”  Hubby the Un-Gardener and I looked at each other and thought “how rude!”  but then remembered I’d written about it some time before.

People know me now and they are beginning to listen to my message encouraging the love of gardening and inviting me to share it far and wide.

Aside from writing my three books, I have written many articles for many magazines and newspapers – online and in the real word of ink on paper.    Over the years some opportunities have come and gone but I have been grateful for the opportunity to create content for fabulous publications such as

• Go Gardening Magazine, the public face of the Nursery and Garden Industry of New Zealand.
• The NZ Herald in the Bite and Plus supplements and occasionally within the main pages of the newspaper.
• I enjoy encouraging families to get together to grow veggies and teach the next generation where their food comes from. I have written articles for Kiwifamilies website and the Natural Parent Magazine.
• More recently I have become a regular columnist for Kiwi Gardener Magazine, initially writing about the development of my coastal garden and kids gardening but now I share greenhouse love and delve into solving edible garden problems.

I’ve also been on the telly!  I was in a cooking show alongside some of our country’s most famous chefs.  Actual proper chefs!  I am a gardener, but I found myself in the TV show Cook the Books as in my book The Good Life there are recipes.  Mostly weird and wonderful ways of using up a glut.  So, there I was, whipping up a treat in front of a camera crew.  Very exciting.

I’ve also found myself on the kiwi gardening show Get Growing, that gave kiwi gardeners timely and relevant gardening advice each week, a couple of times and even got on the national current affairs show – Seven Sharp sharing the limelight with some of my favourite kids who loved getting dirty!

It’s not quite TV but you can also find me on You Tube as I have had a channel there since 2009.  Although I can be been a bit erratic with posting videos as they require a lot of work to film and edit.

Oh, and I love being on the radio.  I’ve done that a lot with interviews loads of different stations including Radio NZ, Radio Live and Newstalk ZB and I have a weekly slot on Radio Rhema reminding the nationwide listens of all the great things they could be doing in the the garden over the coming weekend.

I’ve even started a podcast – ‘5 Minute Chit Chat with Sarah the Gardener’ which is as close to daily without making a rod for my own back, but is generally just a quick recap of what I got up to in the garden that day.  This can be found on Spotify or wherever you like to find you listening inspiration.

I also get to talk directly to gardeners through public speaking events including the NZ Garden and Flower show where I was also a judge, on cruise ships, at garden clubs, or garden visits to my garden.  I even once was a guest author at the Whanganui Literary Festival.  I’ve enjoyed speaking at all sorts of garden festivals and parties.

I have also partnered up with some of my favourite brands and work with Yates NZ and Gardena NZ and I do a lot of computer gardening for them, creating exciting garden content.

Another cool thing I’ve been up to is as a Botanical Tour Guide for Botanica World Discoveries, hosting guests as we tour some of the most amazing gardens New Zealand has to offer.  So if you want to travel with me and see wonderful things, you are always more than welcome.

And don’t forget social media.  You can find me there – when I remember to post things.  I’m on Facebook and Instagram.  Search for Sarah the Gardener and you will find extra things, in a kind of behind the scenes way.

I like to think of this as an incomplete list, because I love what I do, even if sometimes I am ridiculously busy, there is always room for more opportunities to share the love of gardening.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)