Gardener Focus - Bayly Terraces

When Chanelle and Dave were looking to buy their first home they had something more like the typical kiwi backyard in mind, but when they found their place on Bayly Road they fell in love with the lush urban forest, complete with a boardwalk. Their New Plymouth urban garden will debut on the Sustainable Backyards Trail this October and November.

Chanelle, Dave and their rescued greyhound, and cat.

To follow their progress visit Instagram @bayly_terraces.

Bayly Terraces is a work in progress! Situated alongside a community orchard, this garden is a haven for bees, birds, and people.

Purchased in 2018, it now has three main garden areas on different terraces: a small-scale veggie garden, a 'zen' garden for relaxing and birdwatching, and the original 'forest' made up of a mixture of native and exotic trees and bushes.

Rather than starting completely from scratch, their aim is to increase the productivity of their property by adding edible plants and sustainable systems wherever they make sense while respecting much of the existing garden.

So far Chanelle and Dave have transformed the top terrace from a tropical garden (repositioning the plants elsewhere) into a small but productive vegetable garden, established a clover lawn for our dog, set up chickens, and planted a few more natives.

Before the trail, they are working to turn the second terrace into a tea (and gin!) garden, creating a magical space to relax and unwind.

They live alongside a community orchard and the beautiful Mangaotuku Stream, and they are not far from the new Marfell Community Garden, so they feel really fortunate to be connected to such a community and environmentally-focused part of Ngāmotu.

We can’t wait to share our work in progress on the trail in the hopes that we can both inspire others and learn from their ideas as well.

They will be giving a talk called, Urban chickens for beginners on 6 Nov at 12 pm. Check out their garden details on the Taranaki Sustainable Backyards Trail official website.

A special thank you to Chanelle and Dave for supplying the words and inviting us all to their property this spring.