Each year, hundreds are inspired by the abundant, low-maintenance beauty of Korito Garden in New Plymouth. In this Q&A, Virginia Winder catches up with owner Dee Turner to hear how her garden has evolved, what keeps her sharing it with the public, and the simple changes that can transform any garden into a productive, permaculture paradise.
What keeps you coming back to the festival year after year?
I enjoy introducing people to how easy it is to look after a permaculture garden and have year-round fruit and veges with a lot less work than conventional gardens. I love the feedback from people who come every year – marvelling at the growth of the fruit trees, the new additions to the garden and to hear how much their gardens have changed as a result of it. I also get to “convert” people who would never have thought of going to a permaculture garden before.
How has your garden evolved since your first time opening?
Along with lots of tree and plant growth, I keep adding new productive plants. I like to have something new for visitors to see every year that they can easily reproduce, and many people come back year after year and can always identify what’s new! I’ve increased the number of espalier fruit trees, put in lots of mosaics, quadrupled the groundcovers and I now have 158 types of productive plants in the garden – up from 85 when I first started opening my barely two-year-old garden.
What’s one unforgettable moment you’ve had with a visitor?
I’ve had this with more than one visitor but it’s hearing that their whole approach to growing food has changed dramatically after listening to my permaculture practical garden walk and talk, and they’ve stopped weeding, started recycling all their organic waste and spend only a couple of hours a week maintaining their garden. In one case, the wife of someone had to tell me all this as she felt she’d benefitted most from her husband “seeing the light”.
Will we see any new features or changed areas in your garden this year?
I sometimes have to think back as to what I’ve already done since the last festival! So…. I will have finished the mosaics on the mandala beds making them very colourful. I have a new blueberry patch, which is just going in with lots of signage on how to grow them successfully in Taranaki, after meeting a wonderful local grower at the festival last year. I’m also crossing my fingers that the new nursery will be up and running with lots of additional productive plants to buy, and by popular demand I’ve put in a fig fan.
Is there a plant or feature in your garden that holds special meaning for you?
I love the native bush section at the bottom of the property; it is a very special place where you can go and sit to cool off, listen to the birds all year long, and breathe in 400 years of soil and tree growth. It has beautiful pūriri trees with huge buttress roots. I have protected it under the QEII Trust and, last year, with their help, built a wooden boardwalk through the bush so that festival-goers can enjoy the experience without getting muddy feet.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about entering the festival?
Do it! It’s a lot of hard work but it’s lots of fun as well. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the wonderful, positive feedback I get from people who attend the garden during the festival. It keeps me going the rest of the year and helps me push on with new projects and additions for the garden to keep wowing people year after year.