The Land

We live in the Waikato region of New Zealand. We are in Plant Hardiness Zone 9b and according to the Köppen classification system our climate is Marine West Coast. That doesn’t mean we’re near the sea though! It gets hot and humid in summer and frosty in winter, down to the odd -4degC. Snow is not even a thought here. Our country property is just over 1/4 acre in size, which is big compared to city sections but small on a country scale. We have been here for seven years and have done a lot of work whipping the neglected garden into shape, which is definitely an ongoing process and sometimes a backwards process with young kids. We grow a lot of vegetables and have a number of fruit trees. Some projects undertaken thus far include:

Clearing, re-designing and building raised beds in the Vege Garden.
Fencing off areas for the chickens, making gates and building chicken coops.
Demolishing the old woodshed and re-siting the firewood on wood racks.
Creating a Herb Garden.
Felling sick or unproductive old fruit trees and planting more.
Creating some ornamental and/or edible garden beds.
Lots of hacking, slashing, pruning, stump digging and rubbish removal.

There are heaps of future projects in the pipeline too, so there’s never a dull moment around here. Here are some photos of just some of our garden’s development.