A large section is not necessary. Some vegetables like leeks, silver beet and lettuces can be popped in among the flowers. A dog or cat is less likely to scratch them.

If you lack gardening knowledge, do so some research. Go and ask the elderly – grandparents, neighbours, oldies groups and how to go about it.

A cheap “glasshouse”. I made mine by purchasing clear plastic shower curtains (Kmart seems the cheapest and Bunnings the more expensive) and attaching them to the inside of my balcony with curtain hooks. Apart from the easterly breeze which blows them around, have managed to keep my plants warm and sprouting nicely.

Garlic is impossibly easy to grow. Don’t plant supermarket bulbs as they are sprayed so they don’t sprout. Go to your farmers market, garden centre or friendly neighbour. One bulb will produce 10 or more the next year and so on and so on. We had over 150 this year. It also keeps the bugs […]

Here’s a tip to make a cheap glass house. “Kept an eye on the Trademe windows for sale. Many houses are converting to double glazing so single glazed windows are going cheap, often for only a dollar. I now have 14 square meters of glass house and total cost was under $80. Old glass doors […]

Why complain about the high price of parsnips, carrots, leeks and silver beet in the supermarket when growing even a few winter vegetables is so easy and much cheaper. One packet of seed or one punnet of seedlings plus the fertiliser is less than one kilo of vegetables on sale. Winter vegetables require fewer sprays […]

We have just moved into a rental in Auckland and heard from our neighbours that last summer the landlady charged the last tenants a lot for ‘summer water rates.’ We want to avoid any drama with unexpected unaffordable fees and have arranged with the landlady to attach a big plastic drum under the vertical spouting […]

We have a decent sized vegetable patch, with raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants under netting. We have a row of coppicing gum trees (which means they regrow after being cut at the base) for firewood, lemons, apples, plums, walnuts (which we trade for hazel nuts and almonds), sweet chestnuts, feijoas and peaches all help, and our […]