Nice and orderly is not the way to garden, according to Horowhenua permaculture gardener Kath Irvine.
I suppose many urbanites would call her large rural garden downright untidy. There are weeds everywhere!
At first glance this may seem mad, but there is method in this madness: if you dig upthe soil you will only get more weeds, unless you are ready to plant the bare spot and tightly so. Besides not all weeds are useless, some are even edible.
Letting plants go to seed also has a purpose: you can harvest seeds and the flowers that go before the seeds tempt bees and butterflies into your garden. Fruit trees are surrounded by weeds in this garden, though a weed is only a plant growing in the wrong place.
Kath Irvine says keen observation and patience are important skills every gardener needs.
Vegetables intermingle with flowers in Kath's patch and there are no straight rows of plants here. Every harvested plant gets replaced immediately with something else to ensure the weeds do not have a chance.
She's got the garden paths down pat though. They are perhaps the one tidy aspect of her garden. Thanks to tonnes of cardboard and sawdust, they immaculately wind themselves through her garden with very few weeds in sight. Though there is the odd one on the edge close to a flowerbed.
Kath and family have been in rural Horowhenua for the past 13 years, after spending a few years in the Ōtaki Gorge after leaving Wellington, where neighbours got her hooked on vegetables and gardening. They'd fled the city with a multitude of health issues, including allergies.
"The cleaner environment as well as eating healthy, homegrown food got me well," she said.
The garden was a mess when they first arrived and she has spent a long time getting it just the way she wants it.
Observation is the crucial skill for any home gardener, said Kath.
"Sadly it is an old-fashioned skill that seems to have been lost. People need to learn to calmly watch what is going on in their garden for at least 12 months or four seasons."
Don't be scared of 'weeds' underneath your trees.
Regrettably, she's found that many people start their gardening journey with great enthusiasm, take on too much, are in too much of a hurry, and then totally freak out.
"For a successful garden you need to lay a solid foundation and that takes time. Do not want everything ready by tomorrow or even yesterday."
She warns that every garden has its own micro-climate, which explains that one plant does well and the one half a metre away is ailing.
"You must find out what your micro-climate is. Listen to nature."
In her new book Edible Backyard: A practical guide to growing organic fruit and vegetables year round, she advocates observing the seasons for at least a year, and that means taking the time to find out where the sun shines, where the wind blows, are there any pockets of frost, what is your soil like, get soil tests done to ensure nothing nasty hides in it.
Once you know that you can make a garden plan, based on that information, laying a strong foundation for years to come.
"A strong foundation among other things means you will have few pests down the track."
Kath uses the no-dig method in her own garden. Instead of digging into the soil, she has built up her garden on top of the soil over the years.
"You must add organic natural products. Healthy soil is full of life that exchanges nutrients with plants. Healthy soil needs a lot of organic matter."
Cabbages going to seed attract bees and butterflies in Kath Irvine's edible backyard.
She keeps any bare soil covered as much as possible and leaves weeds in place until she's ready to plant something in its place.
"Patience pays off," she said reassuringly. "It makes gardening a nice experience."
For busy people she has a recipe though: a row of leafy greens, some herbs and a lemon tree will make a good start.
Her book, which was published in September, offers a slow-go step-by-step guide to establishing a fragrant and edible garden from scratch. Don't skip the small steps. She shows you how to incorporate chickens, how to set up a tunnel house and organise your watering systems.
There is even a guide on how to grow many plants and fruit trees, and she explains how to sow seeds and when to transplant seedlings into the garden, how to harvest them.
She deals with tools you may need and fertilising and there is a pruning guide for your fruit trees. The book ends with a year round growing guide, of what to grow when.
It is a complete guide from sowing to harvesting and everything in between, such as watching the moisture, how to deal with any pests.
The Edible Backyard is 352 pages thick, is published by Penguin, and is priced at $50. Kath organises workshops and is available for consultation.
