The Five Course Garden is For Sale

I've had this post title in my mind for more than a year. I've been dreading writing it. But the time has come. The Five Course Garden is for sale.

Those of you who follow this blog know how much I love this garden. And the kitchen, and the whole place. It's been an amazing place to live, and if we weren't off on a rather serious adventure to garden a whole acre in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, we would never leave this place. But we're off on that adventure, and we're selling up.

A gardener feels like a traitor when they put their garden on the market. I know. I've done it a few times, and it doesn't get any easier. The great thing about this garden is that I've documented its every move over the years. I thought it might be fitting (and might soften my guilt) to do a review of the garden over the past five years, and resurface some old but good posts that tell the story of its transformation.

Day one. This is where we started. Before this, there was a whole other story. You can read about the history here.

About nine months later, we've added the glasshouse/shed, and planted a bunch of edibles. Have a look at the whole back yard in those early days.

I think it looks particularly glorious in the dark. See more night photos.

I did my apprenticeship in fruit growing in this garden. It's a tiny space, but at different times of the year you can nibble on giant smooth-stem blackberries, blueberries, orangeberries, guavas, mountain pawpaws, figs, peaches, plums, currants, passionfruit, crab apples (if you are that way inclined). I say "nibble" because this is a tiny garden, so we're not doing huge crops. But we are doing huge diversity of plants, and it's so cool to nibble your way around the place. More fruity reading here.

We brought the old fig tree back to life, and this year it's totally loaded with fruit, and best of all, it's been warm enough for the figs to ripen. I've been going outside every day for the past couple of weeks and eating warm juicy figs off that tree. 

Out the front, we've transformed the old ivy bank into a fruit and nut garden, and it's got a true-blue hedgerow up the side, complete with roses, blackberries and hazelnuts. It's quite a tangle out there, but magically filled with things to eat all year round. Mainly herbs in winter, but there's good fruit picking in summer. Read more about the front garden pickings. (We also had that lovely little shed built into the front yard -- it's very cute, and very useful, just like a shed should be.)

It's also an awesome dog garden. Lucy loves sleeping in the parsley in the gravel paths, eating the little heritage strawberries, and digging the very occasional hole in the soil up behind the shed. 

Even better, it's only half a block from the green belt, two rugby fields for cone-throwing and catching, miles of tracks and hills to climb, native bush, and a creek. Dog heaven. 

People ask if I'm sad about leaving. Of course I'm sad. We've been so lucky to live in Wellington, live in this lovely house, be able to walk to work and the shops, have such a great place for a dog. We've got lovely neighbours all around us here too. I'll miss it all. 

But the thing I'm saddest about is leaving the garden. This year, as if it knew what was going on, it did some spectacular things. The sweet peas and roses out the back were huge and stunning. The pear tree out the front has fruited for the first time. The figs have ripened in great numbers. The orangeberries are fruiting like crazy. The red passionfruit is flowering and fruiting like mad. There are a handful of almonds this year, furry and shy, but true blue almonds. This all makes me happy. It will be sad to leave it. But there's a big adventure ahead. 

Our next gardening challenge is in an extreme climate on a grand scale -- 24 times bigger than this one! If you want to read about that adventure, have a look at our blog about the new house build: 

http://thenestonorchard.blogspot.co.nz/.

If you're looking for an amazing city garden in Wellington, buy the Five Course Garden. Leave a comment below if you want me to let you know about open homes and all that. Also feel free to ask any questions about the garden.