Blog feed
The simple chronological feed of all the blog posts published on this site.
From the most recent to the oldest post, follow the entire journey.
Does your vegetable garden feel overwhelming?
Mine too! Here’s how I’ve learned to feel the overwhelm and harvest food anyway. Get unstuck and make your vegetable garden grow again.
Maybe she’s born for it
A lifetime of experience, and over six generations of gardeners who came before me. Exploring how my roots made me the gardener I am today.
Choosing seed potatoes
Can you grow the potatoes sprouting in the pantry? How we choose our seed potatoes, buy the right amount, and prepare for planting season.
When to plant potatoes: a step-by-step guide
Potato planting begins for most of New Zealand in September. Learn when’s best for your garden, and tips to get the best out of your plants.
Planting poplars
Using poplar branches pruned off our driveway, we make a start on this year’s planting and restoration project.
Power tools and perimenopause: the case for going electric
Battery-powered tools have become essential in my garden. Here’s why, and why they’re worth considering in your garden too.
Eat more fruit with this one weird trick
Harvest time just felt like work, until I stumbled upon this stupidly-simple trick that most people can do in under a minute.
Caring for garlic
Avoiding rust, fertilising, mulching, and harvesting scapes. Everything you need to get your garlic through the season, to a good harvest.
Everything I know about planting garlic
When to plant garlic in New Zealand depends on your garden’s climate. Here’s what nearly a decade of growing in the Far North has taught me.
The sinking gully
We’ve noticed something sinister happening in one of our paddocks, and we’ve come up with a plan.
Pruning fruit trees
Everything you need to know about pruning stone and pip fruit trees: equipment, technique, tree shapes, and the golden rules.
Green banana flour
An experiment in making a prodigious banana harvest last longer. More useful than expected, with some caveats
My mother’s mother’s mothers
How the women who came before me have shaped my life at The Outpost today. The story of my matrilineal line.
Albert (‘Snowie’) Charles Schaeffer (WW1 23/903)
Albert “Snowie” Charles Schaeffer served in World War 1, and returned home, broken.
Growing food from kitchen scraps
You don’t need to buy seeds to start growing food. Your weekly grocery shop is full of ways to get your garden pumping.
Poor peanut performance
Turns out, peanuts don’t much love being ignored for the entire growing season.





















