Hello From New Zealand

Hello all... My names Leonie & my partner & our 2 youngest sons aged 17 & 3, live in the Far North of the North Island of New Zealand. We live on 60 acres of far north bushland. With about 8 acres of that in grazing.

I never liked gardening as a child but around 5 years ago something clicked & I've fallen in love with it. Mainly because we moved up North 3 years ago to become self sufficient & go off grid with our power.

I have a large outside garden, a 6x4 plastic greenhouse & a older garden structure down behind our house. I want to turn the larger gardens into poly tunnels one day (hopefully).

We have streams running all over our property so we pipe water from up stream to water our gardens etc.

We are just in the midst of finishing our pond which isn't huge. And surrounding gardens & also building up our orchard which needed some work when we got here.

I've planted 2 avocado trees so far (with 4 more to plant), a feijoa tree. We have a peach, nectarine, 2 apples, 2 figs, 2 guava already. But we had to cut them right back 2 seasons ago & they've only just come away again.

We have blackberries all over the place, blueberries, red currant, pears, tamarillo, elder berries, tangelo, more apple seedlings, blood orange, lemon, lime, passion fruit, & 3 grape plants I've grown from seed.

My goal with veggies is to grow my own carrots, sweet corn, sugar snap peas, beans, carrots, to make my own mixed veggies which I'm working on.

I grow broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, leeks, zucchini, tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplant, garlic, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, capsicums & peppers at the moment & I just enjoy it so much.

Gardening is my time out, relaxation.
And to see my family eat food I've grown is the reason why I do it...... Healthy, homegrown produce that I know where it came from, how it was grown.
I preserve as much as I can by drying or bottling.
I'm always looking for tips on gardening. I'm still a beginner & love learning new things & I hope to get to know some of you and share with you our journey also.

My greenhouse


Thanks
Leonie (Barefoothaven)

 

Hi and welcome to Gardeners Corner

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

I'm off grid and grow most of my food too

 

Welcome Leonie

 

Welcome to GC, Leonie, I wish we could grow some of the plants you can grow outside, Oranges and Limes etc.

 

Welcome to GC Leonie you'll love it here

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Leonie! You're living in a wonderful place and with the best of the weather at the moment. Some of us are shivering here!

 

to GC

 

Thank you all for the wonderful welcome & I hope you & your families have a safe & merry Christmas also

 

I don't know what I'm doing but I'll grab any seeds out of anything & give it a go.
Avocado seem to do well up in this climate along with citrus & nut trees, of which we don't have..... Yet lol.

I was given a chiramoya which tastes really sweet like a apple custard. It had around 20 seeds in it so I just potted them. Fingers crossed.

And I'm going to get a couple of cherry & plum trees next.

What are those HUGE dark, almost black/red plums called? Would love a couple of those.

We have a few kune kune pigs & around 12 chooks so all their poop gets dug into the garden or mixed into a big drum full of water. It does wonders for my plants.

My garlic has only been in the ground 6 months & I purchased it from the supermarket. The bulbs are already the size of a large onion & yet it isn't elephant garlic so I put it down to the pig poop I dug in before planting lol.

 

welcome