Questions & answers

Yes — a two hour minimum for garden care visits, so there’s time to make a real difference rather than just skim the surface. Coaching sessions can be shorter.

Most gardens do well on fortnightly visits through spring and summer and monthly through the cooler months. If you’re happy to do the small jobs yourself, a seasonal visit four times a year keeps the bones in good shape.

Yes. Anything that can be composted or chipped on site usually stays (it’s free mulch), and the rest goes with me for a disposal fee.

Wellington city and the Hutt Valley. If you’re a little further out, ask anyway — I sometimes group visits by area.

Yes, Little Bird Gardening Limited carries public liability insurance. Happy to send details.

In Wellington, mid-July to early August for the main winter prune — once the worst of the frosts have passed but before growth takes off. Through summer, just deadhead down to the first strong five-leaflet leaf to keep flowers coming.

Not at all — clay holds nutrients beautifully once you improve its structure. Compost on top, mulch every year, and stay off it when it’s wet. It takes a couple of seasons but it’s a permanent fix rather than a patch.

Natives earn their keep here — corokia, hebe, coprosma, pittosporum, flax and grasses. For flowers, look at lavender, salvia, rosemary, echium and hardy geraniums. A shelter planting on the windward side changes everything behind it.

Water in the morning instead of the evening, clear damp hiding places, plant seedlings out a little bigger, and go out with a torch after rain — twenty minutes of hand-picking beats a season of bait.

Autumn. The soil is still warm, the rain does the watering, and roots get established before summer. Spring works too, but you’ll be on the hose.