Our Land

Kick off the flower garden by sowing annuals and planting tubers this October.

Add these seeds to your shopping list before heading to the garden centre.

Planting asparagus crowns all comes down to technique.

Growing good quantities of quality grass doesn’t take a science degree or a large investment, but it does require care and common sense.

Lock Up and Leave with Sarah Perriam

The Canterbury High Country’s landscape is more than just the mountains and the sky. It holds embossed stories of long family heritage and history of stewardship with the environment. Sarah Perriam learns more about the threat to inter-generational connection to the high country’s future with Philip Todhunter of Lake Heron Station.

Under the cover of the right plants lurk good guys who are weapons of mass destruction.

When you have enormous amounts of water moving over your block, good earthworks keep everything calm.

A beginner’s guide to hiring a digging contractor.

You don't eat the fruit, they have little or no juice, and the tree may grab you and never let go. Meet the amazing yuzu.

There’s just one bean that can survive the worst of winter and can be planted through spring.

If weeds are springing up all over your freshly tended beds, there are a couple of easy, spray-free ways to beat them back.

If you need cucumber but don’t have any, this leafy herb is here to help.

A Nelson-Tasman conservation group encourages its youngest generation to love and protect a 120-kilometre coastline.

Fresh wasabi is a hot pick for the patient gardener.

Empty those winter beds and get started with (carefully selected) warm-weather crops.

A beauty therapist loves her new rural life while keeping up her work for a good cause.

The best way to increase the nutrients in the food you grow means a fundamental change in how you work in your garden, using some very special crops.

Microgreens provide fast-growing, highly nutritious mouthfuls of goodness.

Keep an eye on the pasture and young livestock as the weather starts to warm up.

Imitating nature to grow food seems like a good idea but creating a thriving food forest can be tricky.

It's time to start sowing a plentiful veggie garden.

Good equipment saves you time and money.

Mythological creatures live harmoniously in a fun-but-formal Italianate garden created by a pillar of the community.

Glass Half Full on Canterbury Water Quality

‘Whisky’s for drinking, water’s for fighting’ was a favourite saying of Sarah Perriam’s grandfather. Here she uncovers how there has been less fighting and more collaboration, resulting in Canterbury being years ahead of government expectations on the future of freshwater quality for all of New Zealand.

Huw Evans bought a bundle of houseplants from Trade Me. They’ve grown into a passion that’s taking over his home, inside and out.

Thirty-three years ago, Hawi and Susann Winter decided to create a jungle of the most delicious kind.

To cement their partnership, Antonia de Vere and Mark Seeney got married. Now they combine their talents in one very creative business, Markantonia

Use data from a basemap to find the best places for fruit trees.

Don't let chilly weather stall progress in the garden.

It's a berry good time of year to plant these varieties in the backyard.

While cutting back a tree may seem counter-intuitive, pruning is an essential step to promote a fruitful harvest.

The best time to plant a tree is always today, but when it’s best to chop one down takes more consideration.

As temperatures tumble, the process of composting slows down, but it doesn’t stop altogether.

Many country driveways will worsen as they erode with use and time. Here's how to fix the most common problems.