Weed all ABOUT IT

COLIN’S NO ACE OF SPADES, BUT HE IS HANDY WITH A TROWEL. SADLY, NEITHER WILL GET HIS GARDEN TO GROW!

- COLIN HOGG

In the depths of lockdown last year, along with many other restless New Zealanders, we picked up new hobbies. My wife’s turned out to be indoor plants, while mine was bricklaying, both being the sorts of pastimes that can make a permanent mark on your surroundings if you’re not very careful. We weren’t very careful.

A tempting pile of bricks had come with the house we bought when we moved back to Auckland last year and it was the sight of them that got me thinking about connecting with my inner bricklayer. So now our lawns are crowned with two impressive, if slightly wobbly, raised brick-walled gardens, the largest and sunniest of which my wife immediately claimed as hers.