What worked, and what didn't.

All Fruit Vegetables Flowers Landscaping Memories

11 August 2026

Memories

Somebody always ends up wet

If you want kids in the garden, do not start them on weeding. Give them the hose. Which is why half my garden photos have somebody wet in them.

10 August 2026

Landscaping

Water every hour

The back lawn was builder's clay with a skim of topsoil over it, and by 2023 it had cracks running right through. So I dug the lot out by hand and started again.

9 August 2026

Landscaping

Stain everything

The Auckland sun bakes bare timber until it cups and twists. So now the shed, the fence, the boxes and the edging all get stained, and the girls get roped in.

8 August 2026

Landscaping Flowers

The first border

In 2022 there were no gardens here at all. I dug a strip of lawn out along the fence, put a timber edge on it, and accidentally set the pattern for everything since.

7 August 2026

Memories Vegetables

The biggest beetroot

I had to go back through the photos to work out what 2016 even was. The biggest beetroot I have ever grown, a bucket of tomatoes, and the whole family out in the beds come spring.

6 August 2026

Memories Fruit

The Black Doris

Peas, radishes, lettuce and strawberries at the rental in 2015, and an old Black Doris plum that gave us more fruit than we knew what to do with.

5 August 2026

Memories Flowers

Start them young

The girls were small, so I gave them seedlings to plant and a hose to point at them. Marigolds, corn, and a month later you could not see the soil.

4 August 2026

Memories Vegetables

Five hundred kilos of beans

My dad grew vegetables on a quarter acre and we hardly ever bought any. In 1990 he put the whole section in beans. I still have some of his seed.

1 August 2026

Fruit Landscaping

Six trees on the doorstep

A lemon, a plum, a nectarine, two feijoas and a magnolia, all arriving at once. The FAQ on this site says I want to plant a mini orchard. Turns out saying it out loud makes it happen.