Express - Winter Gardening series

A packed house of appreciative southern gardeners provided a warm and welcoming audience for New Zealand Gardener editor Lynda Hallinan in Invercargill on Saturday. It was no day for being out in the garden, with cold temperatures and constant drizzle making digging and planting unattractive, so flower and vegetable growers alike headed instead for the Invercargill Workingman’s Club to hear the vivacious editor of the popular gardening magazine describe her gardening experiences from A to Z, her varied life as a hands-on editor and even stories of her recent fortunes both good (meeting her bloke Jason, dubbed (’the Hunk from Hunua’) and not so good (the fire that destroyed many of her much-loved art works and her valuable stores of seeds).
The invitation to come south and speak was issued by Southland Heritage Roses and Lynda was delighted to accept, knowing that there would be an opportunity while she and Jason were down here to have a quick look around this ‘distant’ part of the world. “It was a little cold and drippy outside”, she said, “but the reception from people living here was wonderful. Southlanders love gardening and do it so well!”
While Lynda’s talk “The Good Life: From Radishes to Roses”, centred on the ‘Queen of flowers’ and her experiences with nurturing them, she covered a wide range of other gardening trials and tribulations, many of which growers in the audience identified with immediately. Even talk of the joy of chooks and the frustration of roosters struck a chord with the crowd, “They’re the next big thing, hens”, she said “and I’ve already got mine settled in and laying. My 5 hens laid 9 eggs in the first week! Chooks are now officially cool!” Not everything in the Hallinan garden is a ’top crop’, Lynda explained. She’s had her fair share of flops as well. This season it was potatoes (miserable) and tomatoes (barely enough to make a pot of bolognaise) which buoyed the audience hugely, hearing that even the experts are subject to the same vagaries as ordinary gardeners.
Arriving in the south a day early gave the two Northerners a chance to visit Riverton where they spent the morning at the Farmer’s Market where they met with coastal growers and customers and took the opportunity to find out how one of our smaller communities ticks. “I visit farmer’s markets wherever I can”, Lynda said, “They are always buzzing with activity and enthusiasm and have the most wonderful produce - look at these carrots!” (pictured).
“I’ll be back”, Lynda promised, “perhaps in the summertime. I’d love to visit some of the gardens I’ve heard about. Southern gardeners are a special bunch”.