Latest fromGardening
Peter Calder: Cultivating a healthy enterprise
It's the hottest day of the summer so far when I meet Tom Wichman.
Plants to avoid in NZ
The National Poisons Centre has analysed more than 11,000 inquiries it received after people came into contact with or ate poisonous plants and fungi.
Planting in the summer heat
Adding to your garden at this time of year doesn't have to be a horticultural death sentence, writes Justin Newcombe.
Gardening: Growing awareness
What's in a garden? Well plants for a start, some paths and a bit of lawn, sometimes water but all together that doesn't make a garden. The one thing a garden always has in it that the natural world doesn't necessarily, is people.
Grant helps gardening skills project take root
Each week the Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust gives out 65 food parcels of rice, flour and tinned food. There's no fresh fruit or vegetables, but that's about to change with a community garden.
Gardening: Just mint to be
As far as useful plants go, nothing is quite so maligned as the poor old common mint. The connection between the plant and the phrase implying something is near new or "flash"
Gardening: Scents of the season
I love how the festive season gives us license to let loose and be creative in all sorts of areas. Some people bejewel their homes with fairy lights; most tackle the interior in some way to evoke Christmas for family and guests.
Gardening: Teaching trees to grow
Today's lesson is about tree training. If you lop off a branch so your gordonia doesn't scratch your car as you back down the drive way, you are tree training.
Gardening: Lovely lavender
The bees love it and so do we. Justin Newcombe extols the virtue of a purple garden treat.
Justin Newcombe: Head off the pests
Landscape gardener and Life columnist Justin answers your questions.
Gardening: Worm bin magic
Wrigglers turn food waste into black gold for the garden, writes Meg Liptrot.
Gardening: Cut down to size
Justin Newcombe admits the error of his ways and gets rid of a nuisance tree in his garden.
Gardening: Living the high life
For superior-scented lavender it helps to tweak growing conditions to imitate that of Mediterranean foothills, notes Meg Liptrot.
Gardening: The green green grass of home
A good lawn makes a good garden, so it's worth a bit of hard yakka, says Justin Newcombe.
Justin Newcombe: Garlic spritz
Landscape gardener and Life columnist Justin answers your questions.
Gardening: In the right company
Good companions will join forces to weed out the nasties, says Meg Liptrot.
Gardening: Give bugs the heave-ho
Justin Newcombe shares his sure-fire methods for making black spot and blight walk the plank.
Auckland restaurants cooking what they grow
Alexia Santamaria rounds up some of the Auckland eateries serving up what they grow.
Weekend project: Stepping it up
With so many admirers of his new deck, Justin Newcombe decided it needed easier access.
Making it happen in your own backyard
A Kiwi summer is about getting out in the backyard. Danielle Wright discovers that can mean a lot more just having than a sausage sizzle.
Gardening: Hot pots for summer
Clusters of themed pots can lift your garden's mood, says Meg Liptrot.
Gardening: Spilling the beans
Justin Newcombe works out the secret to a healthy of crop of beans, to be eaten fresh, or dried and stored for winter.
Found: a vegan haven in a meaty town
Anyone who has ever spent time in South Africa knows meat plays a key part in its national cuisine. Smoked, roasted, dried, fried, whatever - meat is king.