From jungle to a productive forest garden

Dave and Anne Hunt removed much of the forest garden on their five-acre section in Gore to reveal the stunning views from the garden towards the Blue Mountains. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

Dave and Anne Hunt have transformed their forest garden into a productive and restful space.

The couple moved into the five-acre lifestyle property, just outside Gore, almost three years ago and have been busy working on the project ever since.

Mrs Hunt said a forest garden is based on the premise that you have thick layers of vegetation, tall trees, shorter trees, shrubs and lower productive plants.

The 4m-high echium was grown from seed and is a favourite plant in Anne Hunt’s garden.

"The forest garden had become very overgrown and there were no flowers when we arrived," she said.

"We have thinned out some of the trees and removed most of the ‘jungly’ growth and introduced many new plants including lots of flowers.

"We have retained all of the productive fruit and nut trees that we found among the waist-high grass and were delighted to discover raised beds in the vegetable garden.

"We have added a fruit cage for soft fruit, as the birds were getting it all before and Dave built a lean-to greenhouse for growing tomatoes."

‘Imogen’ is a favourite rose and is planted in a long flower bed that borders the garden.

He has also built a deck along the front of the house so that we can enjoy the views towards the Blue Mountains.

"We have bee hives in the nuttery where there are hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts and medlars and the bees also help with pollination of the fruit trees in the orchard."

Mrs Hunt said the couple enjoy working on gardening projects together, combining their skills and creativity to create something unique.

"This is our third garden project since moving to New Zealand from England nearly 14 years ago.

Dave and Anne Hunt’s stunning country garden sits on a five-acre section just outside Gore and has been expertly landscaped over the past three years.

"I like creating order from chaos. Each garden has had an English influence as well.

"Our current project has been landscaping the driveway, which has opened up views across the valley."

Her favourite part of the garden is a new flower bed planted recently and just getting established, but she also likes her cutting bed, planted last year with flowers for dried flower arrangements.

A favourite plant in the garden is a 4m-tall echium which is always covered in bees.