Down to the Ground

Diana Noonan is an award-winning writer who combines a life-long passion for food-gardening with a love of foreign places and international cuisine. She has published numerous books and articles on gardening and cooking for both adults and children. Diana lives in The Catlins with her illustrator-husband, Keith Olsen, their two donkeys, a small fleet of pet chooks, and more raised vegie beds that you can shake a stick at!

You can read more about Diana and her gardening adventures on her gardening 4 real blog.

Winter Treats

In winter, more than at any other time of the year, a gardener needs something to look forward to;

Rescue Remedy

We all take a bit of extra care of ourselves in winter, whether it’s by buying a bottle of vitamin C and Echinacea tablets, including fruit juice with breakfast, or wearing a hat and scarf.

Leafy Beets

It is a complete mystery me why so many people (even gardeners themselves) consider silver beet a ‘lesser species’.

The Winter Windowlegde Garden – Colour Comes First

After an autumn that was more like summer, winter has finally arrived.

Edible Edgings

Lawn meets garden – wham – just like that! And, suddenly, there’s a whole lot of work to do, apart from just mowing the grass.

Easy-care Autmn Colour

If you are one of those marvellously organised lifestyle blockers who manages to have a thriving edible garden and an ornamental bed to be proud of, read no further.

Getting into Shape

Beginning a garden can be as simple as chipping off some grass and turning over the soil with a spade.

Biting off what you know you can chew

Good gardening practice is so much about biting off no more than you can chew.

A Particularly Happy Error

Until this week, the last time I saw a kohlrabi looking remotely inviting was in Austria.

New Beginnings

Whoever said gardening was a 'relaxing' occupation doesn't live in New Zealand's unpredictable maritime climate.

Beat winter – act now!

When it comes to fruit and vegetables, winter can be an expensive time of the year, even for gardeners.

Surprise, Surprise

I always find gardens exciting but this week they excelled, handing me a raft of interesting surprises.

Save Our Spuds!

Over the last 10 years there's been a change in the fresh produce section of the supermarket that's quietly 'snuck' up on us – and I don't like it.

Seasonal Composting

As with everything in nature, composting has its seasons and autumn is one of them.

Less than Perfect Pays Off

I distinctly remember, one day, watching my neighbour (a very industrious person who always has several projects on the go at any one time)

March in the Garden

March is the month for mulch. Pine needles (my mulch of choice) go thickly around the Asian vegetables sown in February.

Save the Strawberries

If you’re dreaming over the strawberries you harvested in summer, it’s probably time you took another look at your berry patch.

February in the Garden

My summer sown silverbeet is going to seed which is just as well as I now need that garden space for sowing Asian radishes. Japanese daikon is a favourite. Growing almost as long (and thick) as my arm, I call it the ‘cucumber of winter’, and space seeds well apart to give the plants plenty of room to develop

Berry Nice Alternative

The blackberry season has arrived and, for once, I’m going to be honest with myself: I really, really don’t like blackberrying.

A Little Older, a Little Wiser

Many years ago, Edna Peterson, a well-known watercolourist, lived in our village.

When is a Garden not a Garden?

We’ve all heard of ‘dead waterways’: streams, channels or rivers where life no longer exists.

Harvest How-to’s

In the excitement of growing your own food, it can sometimes be tempting to ‘grab and go’

Mid-summer Makeover

For many gardeners, mid-summer can feel like a time of limbo.

A Home-grown Christmas

Christmas has come and gone and I can honestly say that without the help of my garden I could never have hosted 8 extras for morning tea and thirteen for Christmas dinner in such grand style.

Old Resolutions for the New Year

The eve of January 1st is traditionally be the time for making new year’s resolutions.