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What can you plant in a boggy garden?

Good‘s new gardening expert Zoe Carafice is ready and waiting to solve your dilemmas! Each question published on Zoe’s blog or in Good receives a fab prize from Tui Garden. This week: advice on which plants don’t mind getting their feet wet.

Good‘s new gardening expert Zoe Carafice is ready and waiting to answer your gardening questions! Each question published on Zoe’s blog or in Good receives a fab prize from Tui Garden Products. Read on for Zoe’s advice on herbs going to seed – plus how to enter!

Image by Adam Wilson via Flickr

Q: I’ve left my silt covered garden in Christchurch and moved to Pinehaven in Upper Hutt. My new garden is a soggy mess with really bad drainage! I’d love to know what plants like getting their feet wet (we do get quite a bit of sun) especially veggies and herbs. Also what are my chances of successfully growing lemons and feijoas? –Leanne

A: The best thing for a problem like boggy soil when planning a veggie garden is to literally ‘rise above it’ by building up raised beds or mounding up the soil with plenty of good compost and organic matter.

There are lots of luscious plants for wet gardens such as native grasses, cabbage trees, irises and ornamental taro but when it comes to herbs and veggies most require fertile, free draining soil. You can build up beds using found materials such as old bricks or natural rock and even just raising up 20cm will result in happier plants.

You could try a few feijoas and move them if they start to sulk but citrus trees hate having wet feet so try planting them in half wine barrels or large feature pots. These can provide lovely structure in the garden!

–Zoe Carafice

Tui Garden Products

Leanne has won a 5kg bag of Novatec from Tui Garden. Congratulations!

Tui Novatec Premium is a compound fertiliser developed with technology that feeds plants more efficiently and sustainably.

Meet Good’s new gardening expert

Zoe Carafice

Zoe Carafice is a landscape designer and photographer. She won gold at the Ellerslie Flower Show in 2007 and has a keen interest in sustainable design and organic gardening.

Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!

One question will be featured in each magazine and in each Good Fortnightly e-newsletter. Don’t receive our newsletter? Sign up to get it here!

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