A grand design
Vision and ambition created this amazing Waipara garden. At the same time, nature and time have left their mark too.
The garden might not be profitable financially but to a couple who believes “a day not in the garden is a day wasted”, it is certainly rewarding…
“We planted 150 olives trees. It’s so delicious to serve our own oil for lunch. But have you ever tried picking olives on a steep bank? We only did it once,” says Lyn Atkinson.
One can have too much abundance,” declares Lyn Atkinson.
From her garden on the sun-baked limestone terrace of Waipara, North Canterbury, Lyn is reflecting on the dreams she and husband Barry Rich had when they began planning and planting the then all-but bare five-hectare lifestyle block 20 years ago. “I actually planted things thinking I would make it profitable and fruitful. So that we could eat and live off it,” she says with a laugh. “I planted swathes of lavender to pick and take to the market. I was full of romantic visions of loading up the car with bundles and heading off at sunrise.”
The 20 quince trees they planted have now been culled to a more manageable seven. Even so, local pigs are thrilled to feast on the golden globes – after other methods of using them are exhausted, of course.
“We planted 150 olive trees. It’s so delicious to serve our own oil for lunch. But have you ever tried picking olives on a steep bank? We only did it once.”
It was also only once, Lyn thinks, that they ever gathered the crop of prickly-burred nuts from the avenue of sweet chestnut trees, selling them to an Asian warehouse. Nonetheless, they have matured into handsome trees; their clusters of spiky pale green fruit contrasting prettily with the darker leaves. And fallen nuts are all gathered for mulch.
The garden might not be profitable financially but to a couple who believes “a day not in the garden is a day wasted”, it is certainly rewarding – both to them and to anyone else fortunate enough to visit.
Lyn and Barry owned the land straddling the Omihi Stream for 12 years before they retired and moved onto it. During that time, they spent just about every weekend and free day planning and planting, commuting from their home on Richmond Hill in the Christchurch seaside suburb of Sumner.
There, the garden was steep and the couple were looking to the future. “For years I’d say I have to find a flat garden,” says Lyn. And she did, pretty much.
Dissected by a precipitous bank, the Waipara garden spreads across a river flat and a sandstone terrace. A gently sloping shingle track linking the two is wide enough for the pair’s ride-ons, which is how Barry, now aged 86, gets to the far reaches of the garden. They now have two of the machines – saves fights, explains Lyn.
Steep as their old garden was, 71-year-old Lyn still says she had never experienced such a tough garden until she came to Waipara.
“The soil is demanding,” agrees Barry. “It is based