Transforming a Paddock into a Bountiful Garden

[@eleanorchapple8772]

Your garden has developed wonderfully. I remember when it was a barren soggy acreage. Well done Karen

[@craigcottingham35]

Looking good Kay. Gardening is good for the soul. ❤️🙏

[@TravellingK]

I'll agree with that!!

[@nannajaysadventures]

I have a gooseberry....I had to have it from memories of being a kid.

[@stanleyclark7758]

Just one suggestion Karen. Not a fruiting plant, but one which has lovely blossom that keeps producing for maybe 5 months continually as you pull out the dying stems. ‘Alstroemeria’ which can be obtained in a couple of different varieties. Hope that helps. Thanks for sharing your gardening achievements. Hope all are well. Take care. Stan

[@philkfoto]

Your garden efforts have paid off, it looks very productive.

[@TravellingK]

I really hadn't realised until I looked at the old footage. Guess it's good to reflect.

[@dianebaker5243]

Love what you doing in your garden.👍🥰

[@TravellingK]

I'm getting there!!

[@jng66]

Love how the food forest is progressing. Thank you for the update and I look forward to seeing how it all turns out, not matter when you post 😊

[@PeterPazucha]

Here in the U.S. we say the first YEAR plants sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. Hang in there and let Momma Nature have her own time.

[@TravellingK]

I like that saying! Have noticed the plants are doing much better than the year before.

[@donnakuljish832]

I love your enthusiasm! Gardening is certainly good for the soul 😊

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! I do enjoy it

[@janebray9736]

Lovely to see how you have got on with your project, you have certainly caught the gardening bug. Hydrangeas are very thirsty plants so give them plenty water and I wonder if its better to wait until a plant is a decent size before planting out. It will be a couple of months before we can do any meaningful gardening here in UK and I cant wait! Good luck. 😊

[@TravellingK]

Maybe I haven't watered enough! I probably should have waited... hope they survive.

[@michellehowell2590]

Your garden is looking wonderful Karen, I love the messy look as well ❤

[@nannajaysadventures]

my favourite plant currently is my tamarillo ... I have had it for 4 years, and it was sad and a stick when I had it in a pot and when I planted it in one garden and finally planted it two years ago in the rental I am in now and it is thriving. I am about to have a whole lot of tamarillo. the flowers smell absolutely divine.

[@ericlacey6593]

Great to see you looking so well and enjoying yourself in your “happy place “ . The garden is really looking good and nice to see you are now reaping the benefits of your hard work. Thanks for sharing 🌱🌾👍

[@TravellingK]

Thanks Eric! Feels good eating the food I've grown

[@wendybrealey8368]

Your garden is an inspiration - it’s doing so well. Congrats!

[@HelenBeeee]

Gosh you have worked hard it is certainly paying off and will be wonderful place of learning and enjoyment for the whole family. Potatoes of all varieties the humble potato is so versatile has many interesting growing techniques and is awesome for a child’s garden growing adventure. Plus you can store them easily too. Thanks for posting look forward to your next update.

[@ChristinePPM]

Lovely video Karen, lovely to see you full of energy, enthusiasm and smiling. :) Your garden is amazing, you've worked really hard to get it looking so good. Have a look for ground cover plants, that will cover the weed membranes around your lovely Maple trees. Take care x

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! Any suggestions for ground cover? Probably shouldn't put mint there too, haha. I've had success with wild strawberries in the fruit tree area.

[@ChristinePPM]

@@TravellingK Sorry Karen, I wouldn't know the plants that work best in your climate, I'm in the UK. However there are some moss varieties that might help and also look for creeping types, or maybe even low growing conifers, the colour contrast with your Maples would look good. :)

[@TravellingK]

@@ChristinePPMlow growing conifers… that’s a good idea!

[@keitarasell2075]

Wow ! Both you and ur garden are looking so well. Great job Karen

[@TravellingK]

Thank you!!

[@ronniemanuel6287]

Great to see you again, very nice garden ! 😊

[@TravellingK]

Thank you!!

[@iangrice329]

That garden is lush, and so nice to see greenery and flowers as it's mid winter here in the UK . I adore dahlias ❤

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! And I'm becoming a big fan of dahlias too.

[@justinaddis1505]

Amazing piece of work. So hard keeping on top of newly cultivated land and transforming. Well done, and lovely to watch and see. We need more x

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! Yes, I really should be out there now weeding! haha. I'm aware I haven't posted for a while... hopefully improve a bit more soon.

[@gerard227]

Gardening is very therapeutic. All that hard work is paying off ,it's a big difference this year from last.

[@TravellingK]

Yes, definitely therapeutic! And glad I have the old footage to compare, as I hadn't realised the change.

[@carolinecaiger6717]

Well done! What a garden :) Sitting here in cold, wintry Canada seeing all the greenery and hearing the birds singing is a real joy ♥️ My favourite flower /flowering bush is peony. Glorious scent :)

[@TravellingK]

Sounds like the opposite season to us! Ah a friend suggested I try peony. They look beautiful.

[@mezanian]

Nice to catch up with your beautiful garden, warts and all its still beautiful 😊

[@TravellingK]

haha it's not perfect, but I still love it!

[@Tomcroese]

Thank you for showing your garden. It look nice!

[@TravellingK]

Thanks Tom!

[@Tomcroese]

I think you have a great garden now. And you are learning much I see!

[@brigidaodonnell7053]

Yes I have cape gooseberries too! They are so good and I just love cape gooseberry pie which my grandmother used to bake

[@TravellingK]

Yum!!!!

[@carolbarber7066]

Great to see how the land and nature is working its magic on you..and also how comfortable you look in your beautiful garden. We always have lemon balm in all our gardens. It’s kind of mint and makes the most delicious herbal tea that helps relax and calm the mind.

[@TravellingK]

I planted a small patch of lemon balm! Seems to be surviving. Even with my lack of attention.

[@norm5785]

Wiw, what a change and a now lovely garden 😊. The Maple tree line will be wonderful. Thank you for sharing all you great accomplishments. Everyone stay safe, warm, happy and healthy. From Henrico County Virginia

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! Yes, give the maple tree line a couple more years, and it should be lovely.

[@bertkelly7650]

Wow! Miss all the green! It's drab and cold here in the states. At one of my camps there was a black hen that I would hand feed bread to. Thanks for showing your garden.

[@TravellingK]

Yes, I'm enjoying the warmth right now! Not looking forward to our winter. Our hens like pecking out worms from my hands while I garden.

[@SuzieHQ72]

Great to see your garden, have missed you updates.

[@TravellingK]

Yes, I've been a bit slow lately... filmed some of the house today.

[@mpaws]

I can't wait for the summer to return here in the UK. The temperature has only reached 2 degrees today where I live. I think you are doing a great job with your garden. You have a achieved a great deal in a very short length of time. It looks lovely. If I was you though I would quickly get rid of the nightshade before it produces berries. It's not called deadly for nothing. I always look forward to your videos. They inspire me to do more in my garden and home. Thank you for sharing.

[@TravellingK]

Yes, I agree, I do need to pull up that nightshade. It's everywhere here! I really appreciate hearing that you enjoy the videos. And wow - that's cold! I'm not looking forward to winter here.

[@tesIa.Iives.on.24]

Very impressed with what you've managed to do with the land you guys bought!

[@TravellingK]

Thank you!!

[@yarntaxi2176]

You have worked magic ❤!

[@TravellingK]

Thank you!

[@highlandlass74]

Oh my gosh, you have created a beautiful haven! I can imagine how lovely it is to be surrounded by the different plants and all of the sounds of nature

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! I wasn't sure I was a practical gardener either - but so far so good!

[@highlandlass74]

@@TravellingK Absolutely! PS, I really love Lupins, though they are quite old fashioned.

[@TravellingK]

@@highlandlass74 yes! I’m a fav of them too 😀

[@glocke380]

I grow a plant here in the PNW that has beautiful flowers and really attracts pollinators. Sedum Stonecrop.

[@TravellingK]

Oh I just googled and it's frost tolerant too! I'm keen

[@KatharineMcHardie]

Looks wonderful karen. I havent tried freezing whole or even sliced zucchini, but they freeze well grated. Defrosted they're fine on fritters mixed in to stews. I also have a recipe for zucchini and walnut loaf that went down well with reese's grandfather.

[@brigidaodonnell7053]

You could try achocha/caigua, as it is a beautiful plant too, and produces little fruit similar to cucumber. It is a vine similar to cucumber and can screen off large areas, or be used for shading plants like hydrangeas, which I did use in my garden to shade my hydrangeas

[@TravellingK]

I've found the seeds for sale on King Seeds! Keen to try next year, thanks!

[@kerriirvin5206]

Impressive 🤩

[@crochetingaroundnewzealand]

Wonderful garden and you're looking amazing! The fruit tree at the top of the slope will be losing too much water as it drains downhill. Maybe move it to a lower spot to benefit from natural rain drainage and plant a feijoa there as they like it dry. I hate that seed grass stuff. Lots in my gardens too. I walk around pull off the heads before they seed up if I can. Helps a little lol everything here has gone to seed constantly this season. It's the hot,cold,hot, cold changes in the weather all the time. Broccoli and lettuce prefer cooler weather so I grow them in the shade. My tomatoes still aren't red. I tried vaseline around the bottom of my fruit trees this year. Apparently stops the bugs/larvae etc from climbing up. Fruit does look better. I've got brown spot tho so that needs spraying before buds open I think. I splashed out on blood n bone and strawberry food and acid food for my lemon trees this year but I still mulch the fruit trees with grass clippings. Works great to feed my poor soil and suppress weeds for awhile. Chives is meant to be good around fruit trees to stop bad bugs etc so I need to try that. Foxton is on level 3 water restrictions so thank goodness I have my water tank in town. I'll be visiting a friend in taumaranui at some stage so will email you 😊

[@TravellingK]

Ohh, I've enjoyed reading this! Yes, you are probably right about lack of water. I've been reading in a Facebook gardening group about the tomatoes struggling this year with the hot, cold, hot changes. Bugs... I've had a few too, haha. And yes, please email me when you're up this way! [e-mail]

[@crochetingaroundnewzealand]

@@TravellingK I got kicked out of one fb gardening group. A guy in city was saying he now had 20 neighbours over the back instead of one, with the new laws of building apartments blocks on 250sqm sections... he wanted to know which trees would hide people from viewing his backyard and stop noise...I commented..."sell up and move quick". Apparently I was being too truthful 😂

[@crochetingaroundnewzealand]

@@TravellingK email sent. Check your spam lol

[@TravellingK]

Are you Kiwi Gardener?

[@crochetingaroundnewzealand]

@@TravellingK yes.

[@griswald7156]

The land looks really beautiful now…we are having minus 5 degrees C tonight in the UK…

[@TravellingK]

Ouch! That's cold!!

[@brec5879]

Well done garden looks great. Hope your house coming along well. I suppose it’s festival season so we are busy.

[@TravellingK]

Thank you! Just working on a house update video

[@anfieldroadlayoutintheloft5204]

looks good nice work thank for good vid

[@TravellingK]

Thank you!

[@nigelmarx3578]

Did you know that the feijoa flower bracts (the thicker part at the base of the flower) are edible? They have a sweet fruity flavour that reminds me of bubble gum.

[@patrickjobling8676]

...oh jackranda ..😁

[@melanieodey6552]

I love persimmons, and they are dormant in winter, grown across NZ now, just need protecting when young. Worth trying? Cheers

[@griswald7156]

Rhododendrons would be nice on the drive…they give you good cover..purple ones are great,, Blue Hydrangeas are amazing…. Foxgloves are lovely in July in the UK…Bourgonvillea are lovely to tell people you’ve got… Grapes….Avocados..Pineapples..Bananas.. Can you grow oranges and lemons?

[@TravellingK]

Rhododendrons do seem to grow well here... Foxgloves blanketed the surrounding farm land this year. I enjoyed them! But bet the farmers hated them. Bourgonvillea... I'd be keen to try that one. I'm attempting a grape, but it doesn't seem to enjoy this area. I'd love tropical fruits, but its just too cold here in winter. I'm going to try citrus in pots. You always need lemons!

[@kerrylaw100]

Seriously need to weed more and give yr hydrangeas lots more water … but definitely looking like more gardening has been working out better keep up the good work 👍

[@TravellingK]

Yes, definitely need more time to weed! Never ending jobs. Everywhere I look, there are things to do.

[@k9nick]

We had two fejoas. They like flipping weeds. Never touched them. Every year, the kids sold them on the road side and we were sick of them. Until next year. With seven, I hope you plan to sell a few. You'll be swamped.

[@TravellingK]

haha I hope we get swamped! It was supposed to be a hedge... but they are taking forever to grow!

[@kevinmcintosh4412]

plant some buddleia..the purple ones are best..easy and fast to grow and very good for butterflies and bees

[@TravellingK]

Ah I know of these! A certain type has gone native in this area.

[@kevinmcintosh4412]

they are also known as the butterfly bush

[@crochetingaroundnewzealand]

I planted one of those in Levin but apparently it's on the pest list. It certainly seeds everywhere and I finally regretted planting it but they are beautiful

[@Liofa73]

Maybe get some wood chippings and put them over the good weed mat under your trees. Seems to work for me.

[@TravellingK]

I did wonder... but how would I stop them sliding down the bank?

[@griswald7156]

You need to contract a tractor driver with a plough get a local farmer to pattern certain areas of the garden….it would take the back breaking work out of tilling the land and get you a great garden faster… Maybe get him to do a mechanical raking too…on his PTO

[@TravellingK]

Ohhh interesting!! Wonder if I should have done that right at the start.

[@griswald7156]

@@TravellingK its never too late….maybe hire a bulldozer driver too ,to get the right terracing and scaping …. You could have flat vegetable gardens on different levels..of different sizes… Save up some cash he might do it in a couple of days… And set yourself free from the natural contour of the land …design the whole contours..

[@TeeVeeZed123]

How are you with garden machinery, because if you’re okay operating small machines a tiller is often helpful, it doesn’t have to be a big one either. I am currently using a Ryobi tiller attachment for my weed trimmer to help turn over small garden beds and help with weed/grass growth around the beds. It is a cordless one so no power needed except to charge the battery.

[@TravellingK]

You know, I saw that Ryobi tool... tempted!

[@LittleCamperNZ]

Hello Karen. I was wondering if bark would be an option instead of using weed mat ?

[@TravellingK]

I'm just worried the bark would wash away down the slope?

[@LittleCamperNZ]

@TravellingK what about mulch or do you think that would do the same thing? Love to you and Hayden and the handsome wee fella Reece.

[@brianna56ism]

When you have so much you make pickle or just jar it.

[@TravellingK]

Yes, I suspect I'll be freezing a lot of the courgettes! And hopefully beans too.

[@gracehomestead1389]

Try swapping the batteries and see if it makes a difference,if it dormant then you paid for a repair which isn’t repaired and go back to them and ask them to do the job specified by you

[@ianlove3]

Poppies

[@TravellingK]

Ohhh yes!

[@philkfoto]

Gosh Karen I thought the worst, illness or even death as no videos.. But here you are. Why no videos on the house build or more. Your vlogs were a weekly event going back years of me watching, why not now? Missed seeing you from UK.

[@TravellingK]

I actually made a house build video... but I felt it was so bloody negative, I'm going to do it again! I'm a bit over the build and it shows. Yes, I'm aware I've slowed down with posting. It's tricky. I don't have the time I used to, to film and edit, now I have Reese to look after. But not posting weekly, plus changing topics, has affected my KZbin income. Even if I started posting weekly, I wouldn't be at that same income. I've been focusing a bit more on my graphic design business as money is important 🤷‍♀️

[@alc7926]

It’s lovely to see your food forest become established. Your entire plot is slowly maturing. Congratulations on the house, the land and the produce grown on it. It looks idyllic & and a beautiful place for Reece to grow up in. Well I love night scented stocks for growing close to the house. The scent that you get off them through an open window on a warm summer night, reminds me of my Granny’s cottage garden (middle England). They come in a variety of pretty pastel colours too.

[@lisahodges8299]

Sounds like you need horse manure. Late Autumn the cold weather will break it down. Do you want to walk a long way to the veggies? Do you have set of compost heaps? Birdy

[@TravellingK]

And I know someone I could get horse manure from... hmmm. I might need to build some veggy gardens near the future house too. Aware of that hassle! Just built some big compost bins

[@Britbabe53]

My fave is ranunculus. May I suggest Chocolate Zucchini Bread? :). Are you full in your new house now?

[@TravellingK]

ranunculus does look beautiful! I don't know much about them... shall investigate. I suspect I need to freeze lots of the zucchini! No, nowhere near ready to move in unfortunately. Just starting filming an update today.

[@griswald7156]

I think you need garage sized polythene cloches like we have in the uk ?

[@TravellingK]

I think I can get the next size up. Maybe I need to change the hoop sizes next year?

[@griswald7156]

@@TravellingK you could park a single decker coach in the size im thinking of…

[@JeffinBville]

Skip out on the wood-chip path and just mow low and frequently. In a just a few years the woody stuff in the path will be gone and most of the weeds as well and you'll have a really nice path. I've built my share of them and yours already looks like it's on it's way. And, for the record, your type of garden is a lot of people's type of garden. Rows are boring.

[@TravellingK]

My challenge with the mowed grass is the grass ends up growing out the sides into the garden. I guess that's when you have the trimmer tools?

[@JeffinBville]

@@TravellingK Unless you lay landscape edging that's going to happen regardless.

[@eleanorchapple8772]

Be careful how you use plastic matting. Your ground can be contaminated with micro plastics.

[@patrickjobling8676]

Amazingkts job mzz travelling k .. solution 2000 ..cow poop stuffed in a cows horn furr aboot 6 t 9 months ..you wont know yaself ..😍😎😁pip pips and carryon pilgrims

[@TravellingK]

I had not heard about that!! Would you buy the horns from a butcher?

[@griswald7156]

Wouldn’t that soil be good for bananas…?

[@TravellingK]

I think we get too cold here for bananas. Lots of frosts in winter.