My spring garden

I’ve discovered that there are a lot of plants I can leave in my garden to grow on another year. Chillies are good. Scarlet runner beans can do another year. Some people tell me, even more than one year. It comes down to space and whether you want to put winter vegetables in at the end of summer. I have bleated on about tarragon plants coming back in spring, and they do for several years. This year I left two strawberry plants in, and they are thick with leaves and heavy with berries. But in my garden it is always a race with the birds. I am hiding the berries under pea straw, but the birds still get in and scratch around and eat green berries. I will need to put wire cages on to keep them out. ‘Wild’ rocket has been amazing, all through winter. The plants are in their second year, and are strong and lush. I trim off any flowers and stalks before they have a chance to mature. All of this is possible because there is no frost on Waiheke. An advantage, for sure, but the downside for gardeners here is the clay soil, lack of water and salty wind. And the birds. Gorgeous as they are, they like nothing more than digging in loose soil looking for worms, and on warm days, having a dust bath and digging out seedlings. I don’t think garden nirvana exists.