In July I spent $55 on bellbird food. For that I got three single-flowered camellias – red Crimson King, pink Sugar and Spice, and white Setsugekka. Crimon King and Sugar and Spice have been planted near a white single camellia…
We live in a world of ‘just-in-time’ food, with supermarkets and other food stores being replenished every day with food that comes from hundreds and even thousands of kilometres away. But that is not how nature produces food, of course.…
After the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake a friend of mine drove down from Picton to evacuate some elderly friends from Redcliffs. He stopped at a Blenheim supermarket to stock up on food supplies to take to the stricken city. Unfortunately…
December was a great month for berries in the Eco-Garden – we had raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries. Alas, we did not have as many of the first four as usual, and nor did they ripen as early as…
I’m a bit worried that as the global industrial food system falls over (the unsustainable and ecologically-devastating system that stocks supermarkets in New Zealand with things like nectarines and almond milk from drought and wildfire ravaged California, cocoa and chocolate…
I always think it is a pity that one of New Zealand’s most distinctive and delightful trees has a common name which is so dowdy and non-descriptive – cabbage tree. Yes, the inner leaves of young cabbage trees were indeed…
Warning! Bad bilingual pun above! Kindergarten means ‘children’s garden’ in German. It was chosen as a world for pre-school education and care centres by an early nineteenth century German educator, Friedrich Fröbel, because he wanted to convey the idea that…
In the drier, sunnier spots where English gardeners like to put lawns, over in Aotearoa Papatuanuku or Mother Earth likes to create a mixed garden of tall grasses and low, sun-loving shrubs and perennials. With a judicious selection and placement…
If you have decided that conventional lawns are a waste of time, petrol and water, as well as lacking in aesthetic appeal and habitat value for birds and insects, what are the options for creating a more diverse and attractive…
