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Garden Salad

It has been beautiful weather here in the Bay.Today I have been prepping for a working bee tomorrow. The gardens are quite overgrown, and we will be trimming back, making structures for plants to grow up (as opposed to across the pathways…!), and adding to the compost pile. One of the joys of a garden is the harvest. I have been making a chicken soup, and also a bone broth, and it is lovely to add fresh garden produce to the mix. Today I harvested SpinachSorrelNasturtiumsBaby ge...

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Sunflower Season!

It is almost spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, and the returning signs of life are very welcome. There are lots of lovely magnolias blooming in the parks, the daffodils are all out, and the willow trees are already showing lots of green leaves. We hope you are enjoying spring weather in your corner of the world!My sunflowers are popping up already, and I have potted up the first batch. I have planted a bulk load this year, as I want to make sunflower teepees - they are so much fun! I also ...

From the garden….

It has been an extremely rainy winter here in the Hawkes Bay, and the gardens are looking a bit swampy and soggy. My original plan for the gardens was to have flowers all year round, and I am very pleased to say that I have achieved that so far. At the moment I have beautiful blue cornflowers growing and flourishing. They are the most vivid blue, in all kinds of weather, even when it is very rainy and the rest of the garden looks washed out.As well as being beautiful, cornflowers are a...

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Persimmon Season!

For those of you who know me, you will know that persimmons are one of my very favourite fruit. They are particularly special because they are in season around the time of my birthday, which makes them a bit more celebratory for me personally. Persimmons were not available in the UK, where I grew up before I moved to New Zealand, so that makes them even more special, as well as being totally delicious!...

Off Grid Living

It is a beautiful autumn here in the Hawkes Bay, and the changing colours of the trees and orchards are stunning. Here at Harmony Gardens and Grub Ltd, we have been blessed with a permanent spot to live and build our gardens, and we have been extra-blessed with a transition into off-grid living!. Off grid living can mean many different things for people, and it doesn’t have to be totally off grid all at once. There are many ways to incorporate off-grid principles into your lifestyle, no m...

How D’you like Them Apples…..

It is well and truly autumn here in the Hawkes Bay; the first snows have been spotted on the mountains, and we even had some hail at Harmony Gardens in the recent storms! We hope that you are keeping warm and dry, and getting ready for the colder season. Here at Harmony Gardens and Grub Ltd, we are very much enjoying the harvest, of all kinds of fruits and vegetables. We have been making some delicious chicken and corn soup, with fresh ginger, to keep us warm as we work, and we topped it of...

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Happy Christmas from Harmony Gardens and Grub!

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Calendula for skin health

Here at Harmony Gardens and Grub, the gardens are coming along nicely. One of the first plants I planted were calendulas, as they flower constantly, and the bees love them. They spread from a tiny seedling into a huge patch of stunning and cheerful orange and yellow flowers, and they require very little maintenance other than regular deadheading....

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Edible flowers

Edible Flowers For Beauty and Health Hi everyone, we hope you are enjoying the beautiful spring weather. It has been fantastic for our new gardens, and they are growing amazingly. Here at Harmony Gardens and Grub, we are building an off-grid living space and kitchen, and we are building gardens to provide produce. Our gardens are not certified organic, but all our plants are grown in organic conditions. We do not use any pesticides or herbicides, not even slug pellets! We work with the cycl...

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Super Sunflowers

It is definitely spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, and a great time to be adding flowers and colour to your garden. I love this time of year, I love seeing all the flowers popping out and blossoming, and I am always excited to start off my own sunflower seeds. Sunflowers can be sown from seed, from August to January. I usually like to start mine off indoors, behind glass, at the very end of winter. However this year I have been able to sow them straight into pots, and put them in a pl...

When Life Gives You More Lemons…..

Spring is well underway, the equinox has just passed, and everything is growing amazingly. Lemons are still available in vast abundance, and it is a perfect time to stock up your freezer, fridge and tins with some delicious, home made lemony goodness. Lemons are full of vitamin C, so they are fantastic for chasing off any lingering winter chills and bugs, and boosting our immune systems. They also have other health benefits too. According to the website www.healthline.com,lemons can:He...

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It’s Matariki

It is approaching Matariki here in Aotearoa. At this time of year, the Matariki star cluster can be seen in our southern skies. This is a very special time of the year for Māori, as it signifies a new year, new plans, and a time to let go of all that no longer serves you. From a health and well-being perspective, it is a fantastic time to look at our diet, and habits, and identify things that are holding us back from achieving our health goals. One thing that might be getting in our way, i...