A selection of projects showing our passion for vibrant, abundant and beautiful landscapes.

We love plants and they are always the centre of the gardens we create, we maximise plant diversity for a long harvest season and a healthy garden. The spongy healthy soils that we create hold water and require less watering, plants cover the ground so there is minimal weeding to do. Outdoor living areas are paved with permeable paving. Paths are made with woodchips, and edges are minimised because they are expensive and get in the way of roots. We promote gardens and orchards that are current best practise in natural landscapes, such as in-ground compost-as-mulch no-dig vegetable gardens.

We weave together parts of the garden so that they work to support each other. This is ecological permaculture design. Our natural gardens often include:

• Organic in-ground compost-as-mulch vegetable beds
• Culinary and medicinal herb gardens
• Berry gardens
• Espalier fruits and vines on fences and buildings
• Fruit trees selected for a harvest of a great diversity of fruit over six months
• Food forests
• Chicken runs with healthy houses and integrated compost making
• Compost and worm farm systems to turn household waste into compost
• Perennial flowers for beauty, bees and beneficial insects - often combined with ornamental grasses for easy care naturalistic beauty
• Native plants for beauty, wildlife, shelter planting and difficult areas
• Outdoor living - seating and pergola or roofed spaces that become warm microclimates for you, special plants, and your cat : )
• Excavator or hand landshaping for paths, terraces and water systems such as rain gardens
• Roofwater capture for gardens

Like what you see? Get in touch to discuss how we can help you with your natural garden. We listen carefully your goals and work with the character of your land to create unique gardens that thrive.

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A small potager with big goals

We redesigned this tired vegetable garden area. Creatively packing in a lot more diversity and production. We installed in ground compost-as-mulch no-dig garden beds, a glasshouse, water systems, macrocarpa compost bays, an orchard  underplanted with a perennial flower meadow, and a berry garden. We loved working with this client, because as soon as we had a garden bed made she was right behind us filling it with seeds and seedlings!

"Jason and the team helped me realise my dream of a productive food garden.  I was able to work with them to create a plan, and could to pick and choose which parts I could do myself and which parts I wanted them to do. I learned heaps along the way."

 

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The solid essentials for a very keen vegetable grower

For this very windy small garden on pure sand we designed and installed a practical and solid setup: an insulated polycarbonate greenhouse, vegetable gardens, and a three bay macrocarpa compost area. A few months later it is was dripping with a huge diversity of crops. Note the in-ground compost-as-mulch no-dig garden beds outside and in the greenhouse, these 'raised gardens' with no edges are economical to install, retain moisture very well and have less weed and pest problems than raised beds, so are a dream to grow in.

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Orchards, vegetable gardens and local native plants for a high country station

Working closely with the owner who is passionate about growing food for staff and guests. We designed orchards, vegetable and herb gardens, and ornamental gardens using local native tussock and shrub species. We supplied plants and aided in the install of these large gardens in this unique and challenging environment. The last photo shows the gravelly beginnings for these gardens!

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A quarter acre full of fruit in a meadow of dreamy ornamental grasses and flowers

Our home garden in Waitati. Look out for opportunities for a tour, such as during the Wild Dunedin Festival, we would love to show you around.

Our garden produces year-round nutrient-dense greens and herbs from perennial vegetables, in-ground vegetable beds outdoors and inside an eight metre polytunnel. We harvest a diverse range of fresh fruits from November to July. The paved and clear roofed outdoor living space creates a microclimate for grapes, passionfruit, lemon, cape gooseberries etc. Happy chickens process all of our kitchen scraps through a deep litter and worm-farm system, making enough compost for the vegetable garden, as well as protein rich worms for the chickens to feast on.

The groundcover plantings are a dreamy mix of ornamental grasses (native rainbow grass, bush-rice grass and Calamagrostis) blended with perennial flowers - inspired by the new perennial movement - they are selected for their bee and beneficial insect feeding blooms as well as their beautiful winter forms.

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A diverse food forest with cutting flowers for the house

When we arrived, these garden beds were an overgrown jumble of shrubs, trees and overgrown perennials (see last pic). The owners wanted a food forest and flowers to pick for the house. We worked with them to select their favourite fruits and the most tasty and reliable croppers for Dunedin - dwarf apples, pears, plums, Meyer lemon, raspberries, blackcurrants, thornless blackberries, hybrid berries, strawberries etc. Because the garden has a warm microclimate, they were keen to try a few species rare in Dunedin: mandarin, fig, kiwifruit, and even some cold-hardy avocado varieties. We designed, cleared, planted and installed a drip irrigation system. Photos are from the first growing season after planting.

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Whole section edible and natural landscaping for a new build

These keen growers have a family tradition of growing the biggest tomatoes I have ever seen. So a large polycarbonate polytunnel took centre stage in this garden. Vegetables, fruits, and herbs, surround the house and native shrubs cover the steep clay banks. A mix of native grasses and bold perennial flowers make a gorgeous house entrance. We provided design, soil shaping and amendments (last photo), glasshouse installation, planting and follow-up tree management.

"Inspirational! Jason produced a magnificent planting plan for our large sloping section. Jason certainly knows his edible plants; he is easy-going and relaxing to work with, listens to our requests and has been calmly adaptable to our late thoughts. He is doing initial pruning of our 15 fruit trees, while training us for subsequent years. We will soon be enjoying a productive veggie garden and orchard along with an easy-care property. We have really enjoyed working with you and thank you for all your efforts on our project. We couldn't be happier with the results. We get so many positive comments from people about our garden."

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Lifestyle block orchard, hazel nut grove and diverse woodland

Imagine walking out of your home, through your diverse fruit orchard to a grove of hazelnuts and then into an exquisite woodland of birch, maple, oak and redwood trees. We designed with the contour of the slope on this Otago Peninsula property with orchard rows that ripen sequentially for ease of harvest and tree management. This also allowed us to match the rows with the seasonal sun for great fruit ripening. Nitrogen fixing support trees were planted within the orchard for soil improvement and shelter.

The growth of the trees has been phenomenal and it has been satisfying for us to return for pruning and fruit tree branch training alongside the owners of this unique orchard. We designed, supplied trees and planted including shelter trees.

"What Habitate created is a lovely harmony between form and function - the food forest is our favourite part of our property, and we love it more every year."

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Going big with cottage garden flowers

This gardener has a big love for countryside cottage style gardens and wanted to bring that vibe to this suburban garden. The backyard was an uninspiring, ugly blank slate to start with (see last photo). We designed a paved courtyard with pergola to screen the neighbours house, a paved path up to a new art studio, formal vegetable beds, and compost bays. We squeezed in a small polytunnel for tomatoes and cucumber growing, and had heaps of fun with a riot of culinary and medicinal herbs along with cottage flowers in our planting plan. We carried out excavator work, installed gardens, compost bays, polytunnel, sourced these special plants, and planted. All done organically of course!