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Common Questions

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If you have a question of your own, that you can't see below then please fill out the enquiry form on our contact page. We are happy to help.



Questions and Answer Archive

I have a fairly shaded garden what can I grow?

Most vegetables need about 6 hours of sunlight a day. However you can usually find at least one area where you can create a sunnier spot. It may require pruning back trees that are causing shade.

Always plant tall plants to the south of the bed and smaller ones to the north. However some crops, particularly leafy and root vegetables, can do well with much less sunlight.

Choose plants that will grow in limited light: spinach, silverbeet, cabbages, onions, beetroot, lettuce, rhubarb and taro. Herbs chives, mints, lemon balm and dill.
Fruit trees can tolerate shade when young and will grow to find light, as do vines.
We can always come and give you some advice.

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 How much do I need to grow for us to be self sufficient in vegetables? My family consists of 2 adults and 2 small children?

The amounts will vary according to the amount each member of the household eats but as an approximate guide:

Based on our box sizes:
  • One 1.2m x 1.2m box can provide enough produce to make a salad for one person every day of the growing season.
  • Another 1.2m x 1.2m box will supply the daily dinner vegetables for that person.
  • One 1.2 m x 2.4 m box can provide both the salad and vegetable crop. A child will use about 3/4 of this quantity.
To get a continuous all year round crop the box will need to replanted or reseeded, as one crop is finishing in spring, summer and autumn.   For your family to be totally self sufficient in seasonal vegetables you will need three 1.2 x 2.4 boxes.

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 How do I keep the neighbourhoods cats off my garden?

 Here are a few ideas:
  • Hose the cat – squirt with a spray bottle
  • Grow mint and lavender in or near the vegetable garden
  • Spray around plants with citronella or sprinkle with cayenne pepper
  • Surround the garden with cut up branches with prickly thorns
  • Plant spiky bushes to protect small birds
  • Devise an automatic sprinkler system activated by cat movement
  • Keep cats indoors

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 I have a windy garden what can I do?

 Living in Wellington makes it hard to avoid wind but here are some very good tips from Rachel from ‘the kitchen garden’:
  1. Grow shorter crops. You’ll have more success in a windy area with varieties that stay closer to the ground. Bush beans and bush tomatoes rather than taller pole beans and vining tomatoes. You can keep tall crops like tomatoes, broad beans and runner beans short by pinching out the tops when they get as high as you want them to grow.
    Corn is tall, but some varieties are taller than others.

  2. Put up a shelter. The best shelter is semi permeable. Use hedges, windbreak cloth and trellis.

  3. Keep plants well watered. Wind increases the transpiration from plants, particularly seedlings, which stresses them. You’ll need to water more in a windy area and might find your plants need more shade to survive. Plant them out in the evening if you can so they can establish themselves overnight when it’s cool. Put shade cloth shelters over newly planted seedlings if it’s windy.

  4. Give plants support. You can secure some plants to bamboo canes or wooden stakes. This reduces ‘wind rock’ when the wind literally tears the plant out from the ground. Use a soft, expandable tie to secure the plant to its support. Strips cut from old teeshirts.

  5. Trade off sun and shelter. Often the sunniest spots in the garden also get the most wind. The rule of thumb is that vegetables need six hours of sun a day. However some crops, particularly leafy vegetables, can do well with much less. Try planting in a more sheltered but shady area and see whether the trade off is worthwhile.

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 I want to grow vegetables but I have heavy clay soil.  What is the best way for me to deal with it?  I have tried digging it but it is either too wet or rock hard.

 Clay soil will have a good supply of nutrients but will have poor aeration, limited oxygen and will lack phosphates. It also becomes water logged and takes longer to warm up in spring.

You have two options:
    1. Dig in garden lime (gypsum) and sharp sand, which will help to open up the texture of the clay sods, then dig in plenty of well rotted compost. It can take several years to get the natural balance of the soil right. You are aiming for a pH balance of 6.5 –7.

    2. Build a raised bed. This is how Home Harvest came about. We have the same problem and I gave up after two years of digging. John built me three raised beds and filled them with the perfect mix. No more digging, no more weeding, no more backache and the right natural balance.

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