And there’s a lot of food in this garden. There’s an abundance of avocados, and berries including gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries, as well as plums, figs, peaches and even bananas — it is just fabulous.
John says most of the berries don’t make it inside - he eats them while out in the garden.
It all started in 1983 when John came to Havelock North to teach at Havelock North High School.
“When I first looked at this place, it was a little box cottage sitting on a quarter-acre section with a couple of trees. I thought, ‘No, not for me’, but then I realised how quiet it was, and that suited me, so I bought it.
“For the first couple of years, I just ran around it with the lawnmower. Then people started to give me plants. I didn’t have a garden plan apart from where I wanted the veges.
John says this year's crop of gooseberries is the best he's ever had. Photo / Warren Buckland
“So I just started planting, and it grew like topsy. There has been lots of moving plants around from A to B to C, and sometimes back to A,” he laughed.
Over 40 years, the cottage has been added on to several times and the garden has bloomed.
John led me down and around the garden paths. Flowers, shrubs and trees all add to the aesthetically pleasing nature of his garden.
He has been clever with his planting. For instance, an avocado tree is planted in a small space down the side of the house. It was dripping with fruit.
“You don’t need a huge space to grow a tree, " John said.
The latest addition to his backyard is a raised garden fabricated using the Hugelkultur theory. “Basically, you get old logs and branches, cover them in dirt and plant. The logs rot down and the soil heats up. The logs also absorb and hold moisture and provide nutrition.”
The Timpson on Breadalbane Eco Charitable Trust has been established with support from the Guthrie Smith Trust and its chairman David Allan, who is also one of Timpson on Breadalbane’s five trustees.
The project is also supported by research from Waikato University, which confirmed in 2020 that the Breadalbane property “is an exemplar of how a typical quarter-acre residential section within an urban area can be sustainable, or at the very least, utilised to grow and produce year-round crops.”
John has pruned many of his trees to create shade as well as fruit.
While John acknowledged that not everyone has a quarter-acre section, he says it’s easy and rewarding to grow food in whatever space you do have.
“There’s nothing like picking a lettuce from your garden, and it means you don’t have to get in the car and drive to the supermarket.
“My garden is my happy place, and I’m looking forward to sharing it and developing it into an education and community facility that will be an asset for the community.
“It’s also a memorial to my parents, who grew organic fruit and vegetables. There wasn’t any fertiliser around then. They let nature do the work by nurturing the soil with natural compost and rotating crops.”
If you have a spare hour or so on a Sunday afternoon and are looking for some gardening inspiration, I would recommend a visit to Timpson on Breadalbane.
The Timpson on Breadalbane Eco Garden is open from 1pm- 4pm on Sundays at 39 Breadalbane Road, Havelock North.
