Hedge your bets
Every garden needs good boundaries. And while any basic fence can provide shelter and privacy, a well-planted boundary hedge has added benefits of beauty, fragrance, fruit or flowers, and habitat […]
Self-sowers
As the seasons turn, gardens can start looking a bit tired. Not that I’m ageist — there’s as much beauty in seedpods as in spring flowers — but as nights […]
Bring on the night
On summer nights, some plants come into their own. Daytime flowers are bold and brash, relying on bright colours to attract pollinating insects; night-blooming flowers are more subtle, white or […]
Drink your garden for summer
December for gardeners is a month of lushness: plentiful rain, warm soil and still-lengthening days. Long twilights and early dawns pottering outdoors are my favourite antidote to the stresses of […]
Bring the birds and bees back to your garden
Birds and insects will visit our gardens to eat, drink and be merry. The better the refreshment and hospitality we provide, the more likely they are to come and the […]
Bees Please
Beekeeping is growing in popularity in Wellington. You might want bees to pollinate your plants. You might yearn to produce your own honey. Or you might just be curious to […]
Bag yourself some potatoes
You love baby new potatoes with butter and mint, or hanker after some wedges with garlic mayonnaise, or yearn for a big pile of mash to serve with your bangers. […]
Concentrated cultivation
Some of us are short of space for growing things to eat. We might just have a balcony or a small courtyard garden. Perhaps there’s only a small part of […]
Ten tried and tested truths for edible gardeners
Wherever I am in the world, I love visiting edible gardens. Gardeners are constantly doing inspiring, innovative and interesting things. If I discover only one method to adopt or a […]
The seaweed solution
Seaweed is the sea’s gift to our edible garden. After a big storm the beaches are laden with detritus — a wonderful mix of seaweed, sand, sticks and the odd […]
