Visit Denby 21 February 2016

On Sunday 21 February the Food Garden Group visited Denby's garden at Lindisfarne:


Denby's large garden looks out onto the Derwent. When we arrived she commented that we were so lucky with the weather (cloudless wind-still day 27 degrees) because, with winds coming down the river, it can at times be quite windy at her place.

Here Denby welcomes us and tells about the work she has done since arriving here three years ago.

Here is her wonderful looking veggie garden ending in a row of asparagus and behind that her hothouse.

And here we are looking at a level down where she has a lot of productive fruit trees.

A great crop of perfect apples ready for picking.

At the bottom of the property there is an impressive long covered berry area that is very productive.

It was great to see how much Denby has achieved in three years and how she is making the most of her wide sloping block.

Every bit of space is used and in the bottom corner of the block is her hothouse.

And here a look inside the hothouse. The window at the back and the open doorway provide the ventilation.

And this is one of this year's hothouse successes: a melon!

Denby was very enthusiastic about her dehydrator in which she dries a lot of fruit.

She also uses a canner in which she heats and compresses a lot of vegetables for out of season use, and the advantage of course is that you don't have to store the jars in the fridge.

Also very interesting to see was her Yardeco compost tumbler that has thick insulation that makes for a stable composting temperature throughout the year.

Thanks everyone for their great contributions to the produce and morning-tea table and a big thank you to Denby for hosting a great morning in an impressive garden.

This text was previously published on the Food Garden Group blog. It was written by Max Bee.