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The Sunshine Garden
Cath's Sunshine Garden is a vision of sustainable gardening, two years in the making. Planted in August 2020, this garden is a haven of native and exotic plants, designed for minimal fuss and maximum impact.
The front yard is a semi-natural landscape, featuring a light forest of maples – a cultivated 'Senkaki' and a home-grown seedling. A palette of warm, happy colours dominates, with bronze grasses and vibrant red, orange, and yellow flowers. Hardy dodonea and grevillea form a windbreak, shielding the garden from harsh winter winds.
To reduce water use and maintenance, the garden is lawn-free. The nature strip, planted with Australian natives, complements the garden and encourages local pollinators.
The backyard is a productive food garden, brimming with fruit trees: peaches, pears, apples, cherries, and more. Four raised garden beds are home to a rotating cast of vegetables.
In our food garden
The backyard is the food garden with peach, pear, apple, cherry, Kerri berry, lemon, fig and olive being the primary fruit trees. The pear tree has three varieties of pears on it.
There are raised beds for vegetables and crops are rotated for maximum yield.
Standout sustainable practices
As the sole gardener, Cath has embraced sustainable principles:
Porous ground cover Maximising water retention and soil health.
Composting: Turning organic waste, including cardboard, into nutrient-rich compost.
Top tip for novice gardeners
Just ‘give it a go!’.
Last summer’s big joy was the final arrival of fruit on a seedling grown peach tree. The fruit turned out to be an exceptional variety and scion wood for grafting has been in hot demand by fellow gardeners.
Look out for
The mix of native plants used to attract pollinators that complement the food garden.
For sale on the day
Veggie avatar
Rainbow Chard: multi-purpose and happy to show colour all year round.
