Our garden blog

This lovely country garden just got a top-up of our Forest Floor mulch. After the wet winter mulch is the best way to take advantage of all the moisture in the soil.

Tomatoes and other summer vegetables can be planted. Add companion flowers around them for the bees and the salads. Fruit trees require fertilising and install traps to control Guava and codling moths.  Weed the garden so the plants can flourish, do a pest check on the roses and spread sheep pellets and...

Prepare for a great summer harvest, condition and feed the soil, get the strawberry bed ready and install climbing frames ready for tomatoes and beans. Add some lemon flavours in the herb garden.

Plant seed potatoes, sow summer vegetable seeds, stake broad beans and liquid feed the herb patch. A hedge of rosemary in the edible garden looks great now.  Prune hydrangeas and lime or ‘blue’ the plants to assist flower colour. Move potted bulbs into the sun, plant drought tolerant proteas and...

Plant colourful edibles, garlic and cold hardy lettuces. Get the tools sharpened and prune fruit trees. New season’s apple, pear and plum trees are arriving at garden centres, so get planting.

Download our gardening and landscaping tips for June 22. Plant some fiery winter reds, get spring flowering bulbs in now and check out flowering camellia varieties. Rake the leaves up and check out NZ’s smallest kowhai.

The modern urban garden is undergoing a re-think as the priorities of owners change according to the way they live. In these gardens, landscaped by Rochford Landscapes to plans by Shafer Design Studio, we see a mix of soft and hard surfaces with planting in and around paths and seating...

Give the garden a good clean-up and apply fertiliser around shrubs. Nature’s best planting time, so get into the garden with shrubs, trees and perennials. Sow lawn seed and plant spring flowering bulbs.

The vegetable garden is in full swing, harvest frequently to keep plants producing, water morning and evening evening and keep an eye out for insect damage. Harvest the summer berries and thin out developing autumn fruit to ensure a better quality crop.

The summer garden is in full swing, make sure you harvest fast growing vegetables regularly to keep plants producing. Watering in the cooler morning and evening hours is important now, and don’t forget to leave some water out for the birds.