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Vege basket


Eco Drain- Easy, peasy way to collect your own rainwater.

Eco Drain allows you to collect rainwater

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Steep Sites


As bare land becomes more scarce steep gardens are becoming more common. Here are some ideas on how to successfully develop these sites.
To make use of as much of the site as possible terrace using small retaining walls or rocks (remember that any wall over 1 metre requires engineering advice). Use local rocks if possible as this will give a more natural effect.
To ensure plants do not dry out, plant them in hollows dug into the slope. These hollows will collect rainfall. A deep mulch around each plant will keep it moist and help prevent soil erosion.
It is often better to lay lawn turf, as lawn seed can be washed away. If necessary secure turf in position with pegs until established.
Chicken wire pegged across site can help to hold soil and mulch in place. Plants can be planted through it.
Green garden » veges

Vegetable gardening is the new black! You heard it here first!


For many different reasons people are now turning their hand to growing their own vegetables, whether on their balcony, in their town house garden or on their quarter acre paradise. We are all realising how good home grown, fresh vegetables taste and how they are so nutrient dense compared with supermarket produce. There is something very satisfying about eating a fresh hand picked salad that has come straight from your garden.Vege garden2

In 2008, vegetable seed and seedling sales increased by 25% and there was a 100% increase in the sale of seed potatoes. But it’s not just happening in New Zealand. In the UK the waiting list for allotments is at an all time high and even at the White House, Michelle Obama is leading the way by turning lawn into organic vegetable gardens.

The secret to a successful vegetable garden is to plan it correctly and design it in a way to fit our busy lifestyles. We might want to grow our own vegetables, but if it can’t fit into our already busy lives it will be the first thing to be put into the ‘too hard basket’.

My philosophy is that the garden needs to be quick, easy and cheap to set up and run. No point paying hundreds of dollars as you will be waiting years for the pay back time. That broccoli you lovingly grew in some expensive raised garden kitset, may be worth $20 after materials are taken into account!

I use recycled material or locally found material whenever I can. This can be recycled wooden pallets as garden edging, old window frames as coldframes or wool dags as mulching around plants.

Read on and learn other ways to create a low cost, low maintenance ebible garden, or enrol for my Backyard Organics course.

Vege basket