A few years ago my partner and I bought our dream property in Raglan. We saw so much potential for garden space and absolutely fell in love.
By Patricia: Czech/Austrian Roots, loving life in NZ
Garden size: 3.5m x 1.8m (6.3m2)
Location: Raglan
Follow me: @patricia_hoschekova
When we bought it we started off with a few in-ground vege beds and planted more fruit trees. I soon relised that with all the animals around (rabbits and possums) along with our chickens, it might be a better decision to build a few raised garden beds which works well. Currently I have five raised garden beds that I grow most of our veges in, and our in-ground beds are now full of flowers (I’m totally addicted to dahlias and even named my chickens after my favourites!), shrubs and trees. The goal is to be more sustainable and self-sufficient. I love knowing where my food comes from, and being able to enjoy crops that are in season. I try to follow no dig principles and add natural fertilisers, like Tui Organic Seaweed, chicken poop, worm wee and compost.
Our property is full of trees (natives and exotics), raised vege beds close to the house and in full sun. We also started a little orchard on the other side of our property with enough space to keep expanding it. We really grow a bit of everything; flowers: mainly dahlias, roses, peonies and lilies; veges like lettuce greens, beans, peas, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, onions, potatoes and herbs. Our fruit trees include different plum and apple varieties, pears, nashis, olives, cherries and avocados. We would like to add a few macadamia trees soon. There’s always lots of ideas!
Every summer I get super excited about growing different tomato varieties, and naturally with tomatoes there comes basil. Cos lettuce is my absolute favourite basic you will find in our garden all-year round as we eat it a lot. Broad beans and peas are also favourites of mine, they’re so yum and easy to grow! If I could
recommend one product for the garden it would be Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic (my plants just love it) and I can’t live without my wheel barrow and secateurs, I pretty much use these every day.
Post a comment
My Pride of Place: Patti's Park Comments
I too have a wide variety of fruiting trees, citrus and berries. I have compost and chickens. I only grow veges if I they will do well with minimal intervention and only grow enough so none is wasted. I think good soil and frequent watering is important. I love flowers too!
Sandra
Hi you two…… what an amazing looking garden. Well done. Beautiful fresh living energy at your doorstep. I personally have been gifted a job as a groundskeeper and as much land to grow what ever my heart desires. It is out in the forest area on a small live stock farm, seven beautiful cows. My question is how do you successfully keep out the innocent wild creatures from a garden…. rabbits, possums, etc
shane
Beautiful! We are in Raglan too and are also slowly turning our place into our dream garden (we moved here just under a year ago). Always interesting and inspirational to see what else is growing well in the region 😊
Amanda
Hi Amanda, feel free to share your garden progress with us, we would love to see what you are creating!
Lianne