Visit New Town Karen 2023

Karen and Rex's home is not just 'the last house' at the end of a cul-de-sac in old New Town. No, the house sits confidently right across the road, as if to say 'here I am and no public access beyond this point'. If you are lucky enough to be invited to go further, enter the gate, and walk around the corner of the house to the hidden garden behind, you do indeed enter an oasis away from the public eye.

First you see above you and to the side of the path the most perfect greener-than-green flowering climbing hop bush ever, and then, when you stop admiring that and look down again, you realise that you have entered a garden that is quite unique.

Here we have a garden designed and maintained by two people who dare to be different. They have a vision. They know what they want. They do it with conviction and style. And they are not afraid to put a lot of time into it.

Surrounded by high fences on all sides, Karen and Rex's back-garden is a private green oasis of peace and calm, where topiary, a pond, and the sound of flowing water take you away from whatever was bothering you in the street at the other side of the house.

It is quite a long garden. Dividing it in two 'garden-rooms' by having an arbor with a grapevine in the middle was a great move.

We all know that finding the right balance between time devoted to the garden and other activities can be tricky. When someone asked Karen why she did not convert more lawn to garden beds, she answered 'I work. I haven't got time to do more and we love the lawn!'. Knowing what you want from life, knowing your limits, and giving everything sufficient but not too much time, is a challenge for most of us.

Karen explained that she has a clear vision of how she wants plants to look, and most plants, after sometimes a bit of hesitation, comply, because she looks after them so well. The results are there for everyone to see.

Four pumpkin plants (photo above) are trained up four stakes until they reach the top. Side shoots are consistently removed for as long as it takes, so the plants have one stem, plenty of ventilation, and focus all their attention on the pumpkins that form.

In another part of the garden we see a similar but different approach. All pumpkin plants go up a stake and have one pumpkin. Lower leaves are removed, so the plant focuses on its flowers and fruits. Very ornamental!  

Lawns are well-kept, lush and green, and the clippings are used to mulch garden beds.

Nearby zucchinis are kept in the same manner,  with sometimes interesting sculptural results:

Below we see the same method applied again, this time with tomatoes. Up a pole they are sent, no side shoots, so there is ample ventilation between plants. This season's challenging tomato conditions make the plants look less than perfect, but you get the idea.

Karen has been very much focused on improving the soil in her garden over the years because it originally was just reactive black clay. 

All plants are fed generous amounts of cow poo that Karen gets from her sister who runs a beef herd in the south of the state. 

Firstly, the dried-out cow pats are immersed in water (the two large black buckets in the photo above) for a few weeks, so the manure becomes a slurry. That also allows Karen to get rid of some of the weeds in the manure. Then she fills a plant pot with slurry (pot at the front), and puts it upside down somewhere in the garden. Worms enter, have a feast, and break it all down. The result is a much smaller heap (to the right of the upside-down black pot at the back of the photo), which Karen then spreads out and mixes with surrounding soil.  Karen does this in the period May - September when the upside down pots with slurry won't dry out. Once again an approach I have not seen elsewhere! 

By the way, Karen does not grow carrots, parsnips and other root crops, which would not want this treatment.

Karen's chooks deal with kitchen waste and the waste that the garden produces and also contribute towards continuous improvement of the soil.

In the photo below I introduced Karen (middle of photo) and thanked her and husband Rex for hosting this FGG food garden visit. Wasn't it the most perfect summer weather you could have wished for!

Karen's beans are thriving:

 

In Karen's hothouse the cucumbers are very happy. Having them draped high up along the roof makes a great use of the available space. I will be copying this approach next season.

Karen is recognised within our group as 'the banana expert', and she has produced many tasty ripe bananas in her warm conservatory over the years. However, today there was so much to see and discuss that her banana trees got little attention. If you would like to know how Karen grows bananas, read Growing Bananas in Hobart.

Of course every garden has its problem cases, and the Avocado in the photo below is one of them.  The keyword with Avocados is drainage. After some discussion it was agreed that this Avocado is in desperate need of 'regular watering without over-watering'. There is a post on the FGG blog that discusses how to grow Avocados in Tasmania.

Karen would love to have a beehive in her garden, but she does not know what would be a good spot for it, so we discussed this. Bee-savvy FGG members were happy to help out. The keyword here is flight path. It is best to have the beehive in a sunny spot, but bees, when they approach/leave the hive, should not feel challenged by wind, obstacles or people. Neighbours and children should not feel threatened.  It can be a challenge to find a good spot on some properties, also because bees do not respond well to being moved from spot to spot, so it is best to get it 'first time right'.  If you are contemplating keeping  bees in the future FGG blog post Starting out Keeping Bees is a good introduction.

Many thanks to everyone who came and brought morning tea and produce. Yummy and much appreciated! After a lot of positive feedback on a Spicy Sweet Potato Loaf that Linda brought, she provided the recipe, and Pauline put it on our FGG Extra blog. Thank you, Linda and Pauline! 

 

And now it is time for a rest in Karen and Rex's inviting gazebo .....

Text by Max, photos by Max, Gaye and Pauline.