Kat's Garden

A bit of brutal honesty, and asking for what I need.

Putting five commercial growing kits to the test.

Grow the fattest, juiciest, freshest sweetcorn in your home garden with my top sweetcorn growing tips.

We planted some trees years ago, and now we have some very strange fruit that tastes... like ice cream?

Completing the native planting for 2026 in an attempt to save a patch of erosion-prone land.

Every gardener at every skill level kills plants.

Technology goes a little haywire and Kat does her best.

This year’s garden planning also involved writing a book to make it easier for all Kiwis to plan and maintain their vegetable gardens.

Set your seedlings up for success by applying some botanical fundamentals while planting out or moving them in your vegetable garden.

Mine too!

A lifetime of experience, and over six generations of gardeners who came before me.

Can you grow the potatoes sprouting in the pantry?

Potato planting begins for most of New Zealand in September.

Using poplar branches pruned off our driveway, we make a start on this year's planting and restoration project.

Battery-powered tools have become essential in my garden.

Harvest time just felt like work, until I stumbled upon this stupidly-simple trick that most people can do in under a minute.

Avoiding rust, fertilising, mulching, and harvesting scapes.

When to plant garlic in New Zealand depends on your garden's climate.

We've noticed something sinister happening in one of our paddocks, and we've come up with a plan.

The post was abandoned, but the fencing project was not.

Everything you need to know about pruning stone and pip fruit trees: equipment, technique, tree shapes, and the golden rules.

An experiment in making a prodigious banana harvest last longer.

We weren't expecting them, but surprise!

How the women who came before me have shaped my life at The Outpost today.

After ignoring our māra kūmara for several months, we dug it up!

A look into what we do to prepare when the warning comes.

Albert "Snowie" Charles Schaeffer served in World War 1, and returned home, broken.

A frank look at what we do with our cows.

You don't need to buy seeds to start growing food.

Turns out, peanuts don't much love being ignored for the entire growing season.

Gardening isn't all butterflies and rainbows.

A bumper paprika crop means it's time to make one of my best decisions so far and smoke it.

A few things that are happening, or will be happening.

It's time to refresh and re-plant the spring bulbs.

An honest look around my garden beds and how they are doing right now.

When we noticed our tap water was acidic, we decided to get the tank cleaned.

A poorly-timed accident sends me spinning.

Some things that have made 2025 bearable.

Results from my much-smaller 2025 garlic crop.

In the face of a mystery, we find ourselves examining our morals.

Creating a map of my garden using GardenBox 3D, and how I'm using it to plan my upcoming gardening adventures.

This year I've re-introduced kūmara into my garden.

One of my Gran's best recipes.

We've had our Outpost Buildings chicken coop for 8 years.

Does companion planting actually work?

The next stage in the evolution of my wee garden.

The plans I've got for my garden over the summer of 2025-26.

Time to give my gnomes a glow-up!

The pest-control is getting an upgrade around here.

What I've learned about growing peanuts over the last three seasons.