Horowhenua-based organic gardener Kath Irvine is passionate about the value of homegrown food. The key, she says, is to keep it simple.
In her new book The Edible Backyard, Irvine documents a year in her own garden to show how you can successfully produce bountiful crops throughout the seasons and provide a daily harvest with minimal wastage.
Photo: Supplied / Catherine Cattanach
Irvine has been growing all the vegetables to feed her family for the last 20 years. She's full of practical tips and is a proponent of using what you've got lying around to help you do the job.
With spring in the air and people keen to get planting, Irvine shares advice on how to be sure your soil is ready and how to win the war of the weeds.
Photo: Supplied
Diversity and soil health is the key to a healthy garden, Irvine tells Kim Hill.
"I'm a huge fan of pre-rotting everything. And one of my top tips for everybody is to just always be foraging and collecting organic matter and piling it up.
"When things are pre-rotten the worms start to come in and they're at much more easily absorbed into the soil in that way rather than a raw product."
Irvine recommends digging up a patch of soil for a soil test once a year to see how building towards healthy soil is progressing.
"You can gradually see it working its way towards that lovely chocolatey, brownie-type fabric, which is the holy grail of soil for the food gardener."
Notice the soil's colour, its smell and how it feels, she says. Trust your instincts and avoid adding artificial fertilisers.
"Just constantly adding organic matter and a little and often in a gentle way and keeping it quite simple, stay away from the little blue pills and things.
"There's no faster way to put your soil life to sleep than to put on artificial fertiliser."
