Gardening

Formal or natural? Classic or contemporary? Discover your outdoor identity with these 5 popular styles and use it to design your dream garden What’s your garden style? 5 outdoor designs to inspire you If it’s true that a person’s house says a lot about their personality, what do our gardens reveal about who we are? […]

Years of planning and hard work has transformed this farmland just out of Gisborne into a slice of paradise where native trees and exotics live in harmony A bare paddock and a vision for the future are at the heart of many a good Kiwi tale and that was definitely the case for Jo and […]

Greening the walls and adding a soft screen of slender trees will transform a nondescript corner into a delightful paved courtyard A problem courtyard gets a stylish and fragrant garden plan Dear Carol, We have a problem area which we are keen to see turned into a stylish courtyard. The site faces east and only […]

IKEA takes indoor gardening to new heights with the launch of The Growroom, a flatpack garden orb designed to encourage growing food at home IKEA launch an indoor garden orb big enough to sit in IKEA have taken flat-pack furniture to whole new level with the announcement of a plywood flat-pack garden orb, so big […]

As we approach the last of the summer there’s still plenty of prep to do before the colder weather sets in. Here’s your gardening guide for March Your March gardening to-do list + As we head towards the end of summer, many plants are looking a little jaded. It’s time to refresh with seedlings of […]

March is the perfect time to harvest your bounty and plan for the cooler months. Here’s your guide for what to harvest, plant and sow What to harvest in the garden Pick beans every 3-5 days so plants will keep producing more flowers. Cook the same day for the best taste (although they’ll still be […]

With many gardens becoming smaller, outdoor areas are being repurposed as multi-use zones. Wildflower meadows, outdoor baths and beehives are all on the list for trendsetting gardeners this year There’s no denying gardens have changed a lot in the last few decades, morphing into multifunctional spaces where we eat, cook, work out, bathe, as well […]

Keep your soil happy with your very own compost garden How to start your own compost garden at home There benefits of composting are endless! You can improve the structure, water retention and drainage of the soil in your garden, as well as increasing the retention of nutrients, resulting in happy and healthy plants. Here’s […]

This sprawling Waiheke Island garden is an entertainers dream with its outdoor kitchen complete with Italian-style pizza oven Life is sweet in this Waiheke garden that features a touch of Italian flair When Vicki and Marco Canestri decided to build an outdoor kitchen in their Waiheke Island garden, the biggest priority was a pizza oven. […]

Auckland teenager Ariana Brunet has created a garden for her city-dwelling neighbours that’s breaking social barriers and bringing the community together  This Auckland teenager has created community garden for her inner-city neighbours I spent my late teenage years fighting with my parents and trying to get older boys to buy me Bacardi Breezers. Ariana Brunet […]

From sweetcorn, beetroot and courgettes, this handy gardening guide will show you what to harvest, plant and sow in the month of January What to harvest in the garden in January  Who doesn’t love munching on freshly picked sweetcorn? The fresher the better with this crop as immediately after harvest the sucrose sugars start to convert to […]

Holidays and the hot sun are a deadly mix for your garden in January. Use this handy checklist to help keep your plants happy and healthy this summer  Your January checklist to help your garden through the hot summer months It’s holiday time for many people but plants have to work harder in midsummer as it’s their peak […]

Why go on holiday when your garden – in busy old Auckland – is a Balinese retreat built to capture all-day sun? A lush Balinese-style garden hidden in an Auckland backyard Fiona Milde vividly recollects her first impressions of the property she bought four years ago in Kohimarama in Auckland’s Eastern Bays. “Ghastly. My father, […]

From peas, kale and new potatoes, here’s what to harvest, plant and sow in the garden during the month of November What to harvest in the garden in November – Keep picking peas and beans to encourage plants to produce more pods. – Harvest kale, rocket and other leafy greens in the morning when leaves are full of […]

Consider this your early spring gardening guide! Here’s what to harvest, plant and sow in the garden during the month of September What to harvest in the garden in September – Early spring is asparagus season. If you’ve just planted your asparagus crowns, cut only a few spears this year (when they’re about 15-20cm long) […]

Catch up with all the action from outdoor week on The Block NZ where the teams ran the gamut from Mediterranean-style luxe to nice and natural The Block NZ: Girls v Boys screens Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday, 7.30pm on TV3.

Mid winter is the ideal time to re-pot indoor and outdoor container plants, prune roses and other flowering climbers and shift deciduous trees. Here’s a round-up of things to tick off your mid-winter to-do list Watch out for borer Keep an eye out for tiny piles of sawdust and small holes in the branches of citrus, kowhai and other trees, which […]

Consider this your wintery planting guide! Here’s what to harvest, plant and sow in the garden during the month of July What to harvest in the garden in July – Winter is citrus harvest time. Don’t leave mandarins and tangelos too long on the tree after they ripen as they can dry out. – Limes can be […]

Consider this your wintery planting guide! Here’s what to harvest, plant and sow in the garden during the month of May What to harvest in the garden in May – Some macadamia nut varieties will be ready to harvest now. Pick them up every second day if possible to avoid fungal disease, then dehusk and dry immediately. […]

Consider this your Autumn planting guide! Here’s what to harvest, plant and sow in the garden during the month of April What to harvest in the garden in Autumn – Pick up passionfruit as it drops to avoid sun damage and rotting. – Harvest eggplant, capsicum, corn, cucumber, courgette, tomato and other late-summer vegetables. Make […]

This garden is so abundant and established it looks as though it’s been the life-long companion to the Victorian-era weatherboard home it surrounds Despite looking like it’s always been there, this garden is a recent development, installed in tandem with the home’s renovation two years ago. The Cheongs retained the Victorian facade and added a contemporary extension at the […]

Whether you’re after a dramatic effect or a soft and subtle glow, clever use of lighting can take your garden to the next level. Not sure where to begin? Let our 10-point checklist be your guiding light 1 Where to start Most outdoor lighting is 12 volt, which means you’ll need a transformer to connect it […]

Beat the late summer blues by rejuvenating flower beds and lawns with a little loving care Your March planting guide Gardens can look a little jaded by the end of summer but an easy way to add colour and interest is to fill containers and gaps in flower beds with brightly-hued annuals and perennials that bloom […]

Stay cool, calm and collected with our top 10 tips for creating shade in the garden this summer How to create shade in the garden Lazing beneath a cool, shady pergola when the sun is high in the sky must be one of life’s most agreeable experiences. Some form of shade structure is essential not just to beat […]

This serene, green sanctuary was cleverly created to combat a common complaint – loss of privacy When a two-storey rest home was built on the back boundary of her Blenheim home, Anne Bassett turned the situation into an opportunity. Instead of staring at a tall building from her kitchen and living room, Anne now looks […]

If you’re wanting your plants to stay looking good through the warmer months, especially if you’re planning on going away on holiday, here’s what you need to know 1. Mulch it Mulching is beneficial in so many ways. It helps keep moisture in the soil; therefore reducing the amount of watering you’ll need to do. […]

A magnificent New Plymouth cottage garden is filled with pastel pink and creamy roses Twelve years ago when Coleen Peri first saw the quarter-hectare New Plymouth site that was to become her garden, thoughts of romance filled her head. Not the Mills and Boon variety, though. Coleen’s vision was more botanical in nature, with the […]

What was once a disaster zone is now a subtropical garden with a succession of show-stopping sculptures   For a landscape project to work, both client and designer must be on the same page. When Nigel Cameron was selected by Shelley Attwood to redesign her Auckland garden, it was a shared love of sculpture that […]

Landscape designer Debbie Hardy talks garden trends, from green living walls to garden art Debbie, what’s the latest buzz with gardens?Beautiful lawns and structure, a garden with formal bones (clipped hedges, single plants planted en masse) is still very popular. Green walls and green roofs are a hot garden trend, as is a productive garden […]

As the days heat up, don’t forget to water your plants regularly and you will be well rewarded. Read on for more of gardens editor Carol Bucknell’s top tips Stop the snail trail Another good reason to water in the morning is that snails and slugs love damp soil when they move about in the […]

Make the most of your summer garden with these hints and tricks from gardens editor Carol Bucknell HARVEST – Pick the baby leaves of spinach or the entire plant to thin out crowded crops. – Harvest regularly to avoid plants turning to seed as the weather warms up. – Thin out fruit clusters on apple […]