Visit Lindisfarne Denby 2023

 Visit Lindisfarne Denby 2023

Denby's garden in Lindisfarne has quite a few areas that are a picture of perfection. Despite a challenging site, Denby has transformed her garden into a very productive patch indeed.

Here is Denby (in the blue shirt on the stairs) being introduced by Max.

Denby explained the various challenges she encountered when she first arrived around nine years ago. The block is steep and faces south-west. The slope meant a fair bit of landscaping and terracing was needed to improve accessibility. There is a level lawn area next to the house, and then flower beds and vegetable and soft fruit gardens on the levels below. Other problems are the heavy clay soil and the very strong cold winds roaring up the slope from the river Derwent.

A nice row of strawberries have snuck into the ornamental garden.

There is a separate spot, enclosed with very fine netting, for the brassicas. Not a butterfly or caterpillar in sight; the plants looked very happy.

Then there are the two long netted areas, where a lot of vegetables as well as soft fruits are grown. The raspberries have finished after a bountiful harvest.

Lettuce, coriander, carrots, onions, chives, you name it, it's looking good!

We all enjoyed exploring the different levels and kept finding more and more food plants.

Fruit trees are also doing well. Here is a productive pear as well as very abundant looking crabapples.

A thornless blackberry is thriving in the far end of the lower tunnel. Denby feels she does not pamper it at all and it produces masses of fruit each year. The group discussed the best time to pick these; it pays to wait until they are no longer shiny black but go a bit dull black. Also the bunches ripen progressively, so it pays to carefully only pick only the ones that are nicely ripe.

Figs, lemons, plums, we kept finding more food plants.

Morning tea was beckoning and was greatly enjoyed by all. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Denby has now sold her house and in preparation for selling she has not only made her garden look very neat indeed, but she has put a lot of her plants in pots and taken cuttings of others. Ready to start her next garden!

Having learnt from the challenges she faced and overcame in this garden, she is aiming for her next one to be level, face north, have better soil and be sheltered from harsh winds. She is also planning to have a large netted cage instead of netting the beds individually. While we can all understand that wish list from a dedicated gardener, we were all very impressed with what she has achieved on her block. We wish her every success in her new garden and with green thumbs like hers we have no doubts on that score whatsoever.

Thanks Denby, for having us all over for a final look at your very impressive garden!