In the beginning.......
We moved south, arriving in Southland in 2005 and rented the only house available at the time in Western Southland. We were able to buy that same house on half an acre (0.2 ha) one year later.
For me, it was my first owned home and what a dream come true - even if it belonged to the bank for a few years!! It was a place to call home, security, a new beginning for a new family combination, a chance at last, to acquire pets and a garden for the three of us. Neither Mike nor I were new gardeners, but we weren't gardeners with vast knowledge either.
I'd never had a partner who was a gardener before, so it was new to me to be both working in the garden. I discovered our styles of gardening are different and so we learnt to stick at the things we do best. Mike is a very tidy, methodical gardener with straight rows and only one thing in a row. He's a very productive vegetable grower, growing almost all the crops from seed. I am untidy, creative and much more random. I look after the fruit, the flowers and usually the mowing, as well as deciding what to do where, so long as it's not in Mike's patch!
The garden and house, like any other house and garden, had limitations, but equally offered lots of potential. The main limitation for both house and garden was an almost zero budget in the early years. We were lucky to inherit the remnant of a previous garden planted and tended from the 1970's to 2000. Height in any garden takes time, and having a few trees established and near their mature height quickly gives a new garden maturity.
The initial phase was maintenance and tidying what was there. The previous tenant had used the garden to graze her horse(s) and so there was browsing damage to trees and shrubs with some ringbarking. This actually proved to be a blessing, as it allowed removal of the worst damage, creating in one case, what is now a beautiful standard holly tree. In time too, we received surprises as plants emerged from the grass, obviously they had been grazed to the ground. A couple of roses and a beautiful peony are plants that come to mind.
For me, it was my first owned home and what a dream come true - even if it belonged to the bank for a few years!! It was a place to call home, security, a new beginning for a new family combination, a chance at last, to acquire pets and a garden for the three of us. Neither Mike nor I were new gardeners, but we weren't gardeners with vast knowledge either.
I'd never had a partner who was a gardener before, so it was new to me to be both working in the garden. I discovered our styles of gardening are different and so we learnt to stick at the things we do best. Mike is a very tidy, methodical gardener with straight rows and only one thing in a row. He's a very productive vegetable grower, growing almost all the crops from seed. I am untidy, creative and much more random. I look after the fruit, the flowers and usually the mowing, as well as deciding what to do where, so long as it's not in Mike's patch!
The garden and house, like any other house and garden, had limitations, but equally offered lots of potential. The main limitation for both house and garden was an almost zero budget in the early years. We were lucky to inherit the remnant of a previous garden planted and tended from the 1970's to 2000. Height in any garden takes time, and having a few trees established and near their mature height quickly gives a new garden maturity.
The initial phase was maintenance and tidying what was there. The previous tenant had used the garden to graze her horse(s) and so there was browsing damage to trees and shrubs with some ringbarking. This actually proved to be a blessing, as it allowed removal of the worst damage, creating in one case, what is now a beautiful standard holly tree. In time too, we received surprises as plants emerged from the grass, obviously they had been grazed to the ground. A couple of roses and a beautiful peony are plants that come to mind.
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| One man and Brodie went to mow the meadow |
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