Tui Autumn Times Magazine Tui Autumn Times 2018 | Page 5

@VICTORIA
MAKES
URBAN
GARDEN
BY VICTORIA
SWEENEY
Location: Auckland
Follow my urban
garden:
@victoriamakes
My name is Victoria and
I am an urban gardener
based in Avondale, Auckland.
I started my current garden
about two years ago, but
have been urban gardening
for six years (I still gardened
even when I only had about
two square metres of dirt
I could ga rden in!). The pull
towards growing something
has been strong ever since
I first started gardening.
My little patch of gardening paradise is
made up of two raised beds on either
side of my house that all together is
about 14 square metres, plus a whole
heap of pots and small planter boxes.
Having limited space means you have to
get a bit creative, but this doesn’t bother
me because I also love the look (and
practicality) of creating my own herb
garden in pots.
Being an urban gardener with limited
space, I love to grow things that are fast
growing – so I tend to avoid the slower
growing root vegetables as this takes
up too much of my space for too long.
Instead I fill my garden with radishes,
leafy greens and plenty of herbs (I like
heaps of mint for mojitos!) and in spring
and summer I always dedicate room
to growing many different varieties of
tomatoes as these look impressive and
taste amazing homegrown.

One side of my garden gets almost a
full day of sun, which is perfect for my
tomatoes, cucumber and capsicums in
summer. The other side gets midday
to early afternoon sun, so this is where
I plant my leafy green favourites
including lettuce, spinach and kale.
This year in my garden I have gone for
a more eclectic, natural feel, with no
straight lines of vegetables and with
plenty of flowers dotted between all of
the veges to encourage more pollination.
I planted a lot more flowers than I ever
have before because I love the look of
classic cottage gardens and wanted to
recreate that same feel in my vegetable
garden. Part of this was also me trying
to create a garden that didn’t require too
much maintenance, as like most people
these days I don’t have a lot of spare
time but still want to have a beautiful
vegetable garden with enough harvests
for use in the kitchen.
I love that my garden gives me a space
to enjoy and appreciate my hard work
but is manageable enough that I don’t
have to spend all my spare time looking
after it! One of the best feelings about
gardening for me is sharing my produce
with my friends and family – especially
food and cocktails that include fruit or
vegetables that I have grown. This year at
Christmas dinner I served my homegrown
potatoes and I couldn’t have been more
proud. Sharing something you’ve grown
from scratch always blows people away
and just secretly, it’s not actually too
difficult to do!
Happy autumn gardening, Victoria.
TUIPRODUCTS.CO.NZ
5