Autumn gardening is about preparation and nourishing soil for winter crops. As you harvest the final summer produce it’s time to prepare your garden for winter staples including kale, spring onion, spinach, blueberry, citrus, cauliflower, parsley, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, celery and silverbeet. Turn the soil It’s time to turn the soil and prepare for the cooler months. Dig in compost and sheep pellets before planting to replenish nutrients used by previous crops. Compost is also excellent at drawing and retaining moisture. Plant Support If your beans are floppy, tie them and keep them w ..read more

Over the last year, you’ve put recycling habits in place, made more ethical shopping choices and tried some upcycling. Now what? It’s a new year, and smack in the middle of summer, so there’s no better time to move your sustainability actions to the outdoors. With a few small tweaks to the way you tend your garden, you can refresh your outdoor spaces and set the stage for a thriving ecosystem for plants, bees, butterflies and birds. Best of all, you can do it without increasing water or energy use. Support native birds, bees, and flora Bees, butterflies, birds and insects play a vital part ..read more

How to protect your precious garden over summer. Summer is the season most of us who love gardening wait all year for. For me it’s collecting baskets full of basil and sweet cherry tomatoes, my kids racing each other to the strawberry patch every day after school, and slicing cucumbers, still warm from the sun, into our salads. I love looking out our kitchen window at the vibrant tangle of colour from the wildflowers dotted between our veggies and seeing the bees and butterflies reveling in the pollen and nectar. It’s the time of year when we see the fruits of our hard work and are rewarded w ..read more

Sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, we find our green friends holding on by their last leaf. It’s not always because we have neglected to water them though, sometimes there are other tiny forces at large like a whitefly invasion! These tiny sap-sucking insects are small and pale, and they love to attack soft plant tissues. They are among the most common, and damaging, plant pest, especially during the summer months. Authors of The Abundant Garden, Niva and Yotam Kay, say “Whitefly prefer warm conditions and can attack a wide range of plants such as beans, cabbages, cucumbers, eggp ..read more

As the weather warms and days lengthen, it’s time to ensure your bird bath in an inviting spot for your local birdlife. Life and Environmental Sciences Researcher Grainne Cleary takes a dip into bird bath ethics.   Bird baths are a familiar sight in Kiwi gardens, but surprisingly little is known about the precise role they play in the lives of birds. In a recent Bird Baths Study, it was revealed that bird baths are much more than just ornamental splash pools for feathered visitors. They’re also a site where animals socialise and intense rivalries play out. Human choices – such as the d ..read more

The summer garden has to be my favourite garden. It feels so alive with the colours and scents of blooming flowers, the bees and butterflies and fast-ripening fruit and vegetables. It’s the season of abundance and harvest, which is welcome after the slower, quieter seasons. We often go away on holiday for a few weeks over Christmas and return to a jungle of cherry tomatoes, basil, rocket and enough cucumbers and zucchini to feed a small village. We hate to waste, so for a few weeks there, it’s zucchini everything! The extra produce from our garden is shared around with neighbours and friends ..read more

Have you ever noticed how, when you’re outdoors immersed in the natural world, you feel energised and invigorated? This relationship with nature is vital to our wellbeing as our modern lifestyles draw us further and further away from it. Spending time in the garden is one of the easiest ways to connect with nature, especially as getting your hands in the soil establishes a physical link with it. There are a number of reasons this relationship energises us. One of these is that we’re moving our bodies – gardening is a physical activity that strengthens and stretches our muscles and can even ge ..read more

Life has never been more expensive, and the cost of groceries seems to go up every week – meaning there has never been a better time to start growing your own produce. Whether you’re getting started or have produce in your garden already, there are things you can do this spring to ensure a fridge full of fresh produce. Time to prepare If you haven’t already prepared your soil, spring is the perfect time to get started. If it doesn’t need turning over then spread a couple of bags of compost over the bare soil and dig through the top layer before you plant. Empty your compost bin onto the gard ..read more

Create your own self-sufficient edible food forest to feed your family year-round. Food forests are thought to be the world’s oldest form of land use and most resilient agroecosystem. The concept conjures up in my mind beautiful Garden of Eden-like scenes of trees heavy-laden with fruit, birdsong and wildlife all around, and dappled light filtering through the trees. A utopian dream. Food forests or forest gardening is a style of gardening that is based on the natural concept of the layers that we see in natural forests. On the ground we’d usually see composting leaves, moss and ground cov ..read more

Start your own cost-effective kitchen garden to save on your next grocery shop. With the cost of living soaring, there’s never been a better time to become more self-sufficient. For many families, food is one of their biggest weekly expenses – and one we don’t want to compromise on too much. So, the question is: how can we spend less but still provide nourishing meals for our family? We’ve recently returned home from nearly a year overseas, where many of the living costs were significantly lower than in New Zealand. Our first trip back to our local supermarket was certainly an eye-watering ..read more