Award comes as surprise for gardening newbies

In the words of Alan Cruise-Johnston, he and his wife Gillian went from "window box to quarter-acre" two years ago but their Boydfield St, Wanganui East, property shows a lot of tender loving care.
Their home "Cherilee" is strong on roses and companion planting, and they are firm believers in gardening the organic way.
And they have some Ancona breed hens helping in the process as well. Not only do these "girls" provide a steady supplement of eggs, they also get to digest some of the garden greens and in return generate manure that helps the plants flourish.
For the record the chooks home is named "Chicilee".
When the Cruise-Johnstons bought the property the previous owner had everything perfectly laid out.
"He even laid out a vegetable area for us. Since then we've been developing a pottager style garden," Alan said.
They have worked hard at promoting companion planting, developing a herb garden and planting a few more fruit trees, including a Monty Surprise apple.
"Gillian's the one with the ideas," he said, "but it will be a few years before we get it to where we want it to be."
Gillian is quick to add that her husband is the "engine" in the garden. "He's got a three-bin compost arrangement and Alan 'owns' the compost," she said.
The seasons dictate how much time the couple spend tending their garden. While they're busy planting in spring most of their time lately has been spent watering to keep the garden going.
They don't eat meat so the vegetable plot is very important to them and they keep it productive all year round.
"We don't buy vegetables and even our hens get to share the greens. That's why their eggs are so wonderful," Gillian said.
They shy away from chemical sprays, creating comfrey "tea" every month.
"Two days before the full moon you apply the 'tea' and then harvest the next lot of comfrey to make more 'tea'. So it's a continuous cycle."
Gillian swears by it: "It's a really very good fertiliser on our garden and the pot plants."
Alan has another theory for the comfrey tea working.
"It's the stink from it that makes it happen. The plants want to get as far away from it as possible," he said.
They entered the competition last year as "newbies" but their vege patch was good enough to win the best vegetable garden award.
But this year's supreme award took the Cruise-Johnstons by complete surprise.
"You could have knocked me over with a feather," Gillian said.
"But only 40 people entered the competition so there are lots of lovely gardens around the city that never enter," Alan said.
Will they be back next year?
"I think so," Gillian said, "because it gives you and interest and something to aim for. And the judges come here at the best time of the year too."
The Cruise-Johnston garden will be open to the public toward the end of January when their property is included in the Arthritis Foundation's garden ramble.
"Now we've got to get everything tuned up for that in five weeks time," she said.