We started growing vegetables between the established buxus hedges and around the clipped bay topiary pieces five years ago. I garden with Nico (Nicolas), my nephew Jack and Claire - another apartment-holder in the building. Everything we put in has gone totally berserk. It's quite sheltered and gets plenty of sun. Nothing that I have tried has struggled to grow.
I have been inspired by three women in my life as a gardener. My mother Lorraine would enrol me in some weeding with her - I found this very therapeutic, especially as a tortured teen. When I was at school my best friend's mum Corrie Hughes was ahead of her time - really what I'd aspire to in terms of being a conscious consumer. She grew interesting vegetables such as artichokes that seemed incredibly exotic in the day. I remember making rose petal jam with her in Hastings when I was seventeen. It was a magical sort of alchemy to be able to make something edible and delicious from such a beautiful piece of nature.
My mother-in-law Julienne Stretton taught me about companion planting, feeding the soil and making liquid feeds on her Waiheke Island land. Julienne introduced me to sorrel - a favourite herb that we eat with olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic or in a salad.
I see gardening as a way of honouring my ancestors and myself. My grandfather Jack was a great gardener - the gardener at Cornwall Park in Hastings and a very proud Irishman with a garden where he'd love to grow potatoes.
