Growing vegetables or fruit in your own backyard has made a comeback. Rosie Manins learns how it's done.
There is a brotherhood among gardeners, as well as a healthy rivalry, Balaclava resident John Bradley explains.
He has helped neighbours start their own vegetable patches and regularly converses with good mate and fellow plant purveyor Archie Ross, of Concord.
They discuss what works, what doesn't and what they hope to get out of each season.
Mr Ross branches out with herbs such as fennel, coriander and parsley while Mr Bradley has perfected a system for growing runner beans.
His vegetable garden has been admired by adjacent residents for decades.
''We've got a huge competition going between two blokes, one on either side of me. Years ago I started helping them plant a few things and they beat me every year now.''
Mr Bradley has been growing vegetables for about 55 years and says it runs in the family.
He is from ''ordinary'' farming stock and married a farmer's daughter.
''We all grew up with gardens. Now we've grown gardens, our children have gardens and our grandchildren are starting on their gardens. You could say it's been going on since day dot, and I think it's because of that, that we know what we know.''
Mr Bradley and his wife Shirley have lived on their quarter-acre section for about 40 years and have a vegetable garden behind the house at the base of a sloping lawn.
With just a small vegetable patch about 7m wide and 7m long, Mr Bradley generates more than enough produce for them each season.
He enjoys giving surplus to relatives, friends, neighbours and elderly people no longer able to tend to their own gardens.
''We always have far too much, but there are a lot of people around and their eyes light up when you call in with a few tomatoes or lettuces, carrots and so forth. We probably give about half our crop away and have a freezer-full of stuff.''
Mr Bradley grows potatoes, carrots, parsnips, silverbeet, cauliflower, lettuce, beans, leeks, beetroot, broccoli, tomatoes and peas.
Also in his garden are red and black currants, rhubarb and everlasting onions.
Perhaps the most unusual additions are his three 20-year-old kiwifruit trees - one male and two female - from which he has had bumper crops the past couple of years.
''Zespri is desperately concerned that I don't overtake the business,'' he jokes.
''We picked three overflowing 10-litre pails this year. I think there's an element of trying your luck to see if you can grow something, and that's what happened with the kiwifruit.''
Mr Bradley has long been a volunteer for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) and from his home has provided decades of consistent daily rain data.
He says Dunedin growers are fortunate the city gets enough rain each month to satisfy their needs.
The city's average annual rainfall over 38 years is 900ml, and there is only a 30ml difference between the average rainfall of the driest and wettest months, he says.
''We could do with a little bit more sun, but we get sufficient sun to keep us going.''
The ''false spring'' in August and September means those who plant early are unlikely to harvest their crops much before those who plant at Labour Weekend.
''If you plant most vegetables a month earlier you might only get them a week earlier. It doesn't make too much difference.''
Mr Bradley says by all accounts Dunedin is ''not cold'', but its surrounding hills create many micro-climates within the city's suburbs.
Top tips
• Be patient. ''You're not going to get anything out of your garden for the first six months.''
• Superphosphate is a good all-rounder, as is blood and bone.
• Brussel sprouts are susceptible to aphids.
• Most vegetables are best planted in the last half of October.
• Lawn clippings ''cooked'' in the sun makes great mulch.
• Plant parsley under roses to deter aphids.
• Runner beans must be watered daily.
• Birds will pull out potatoes looking for worms.
