Dawn and Tom Mckenzie of Palmerston North recently got creative and mowed their own 'crop circle'. "It's a wonderful place to relax and walk, meditating on busy days. A friend recently edged the vegetable garden in wood for us. and we recycled the path in the middle of the plots using our old rotary clothes line path. Tom and I have loved growing our potatoes, radish, beans, spring onions, carrots, lettuce and much more in our little plot. We tend to companion plant, and as an added bonus the marigold look bright and cheery."

Darise MacKenzie of Hamilton says, "We were inspired by an article in your magazine earlier in the year to make garden beds for the kids.  Now they each have one that they have painted and planted. They get so excited to see veges ready to pick, they also help out with the rest of the garden.  My 7-year-old has even decided she loves broccoli now that she has grown it herself! And yes, that is a chookhouse.  I made it myself for our 2 free range chooks. (Tell Lynda to shift to Hamilton). Thanks for the great ideas."

Vanessa Riley of Timaru is right into her gardening. "My lovely husband built me these raised vege gardens. To make things even better we found 2 shower doors at the recycle centre in Timaru (paid $4 each) and these have worked like a green house effect helping to get the seedlings going. The gardens have really taken off and we are now eating our own lettuce, spring onions, chives and radishes. In a few more weeks we hope to have peas, courgettes and carrots."

Linda Brunt of Paeroa is a big fan of square foot gardening, as well as round tractor tyre gardening. "This is my second year and things are coming together really well." The original square foot gardening method was devised by Mel Bartholomew and comprises 16 grids (each a square foot), and each grid is planted with a different crop. Plants that normally take up a lot of space, such as courgettes and cucumbers, are grown vertically. This method is said to take up 80% less space than conventional gardening.

Rowena Bourke previously wrote about her two rascally dogs who caused complete carnage in her vege patch. "I thought it might be interesting to see my lovely dogs who caused the damage and the resulting patch from putting up the electric fence which is about a 200% improvement on what it was!" But they look so innocent, Rowena!

Simon & Karen Grantley of Palmerston North say this is "the beginnings of our garden plot. Though we shouldn't have, we pruned a few young leaves off out rainbow silverbeet, beetroot and green silverbeet for our family to have in our Friday night burgers. (Much nicer than buying a salad mix from the supermarket!) Here it is... an ongoing work in progress. Those are recycled pallets we break down and remake into our raised beds. Most businesses give them away. They're great because they cost nothing and are easily replaced when they rot down."

Tracey McGregor of Greenhithe sent in a photo of her 1-year-old vege garden. "I am so proud! I make my own steaming compost and my little girl and the neighbourhood kids love looking after our worm farm together. We are presently eating lots of brocolli and silverbeet and salad greens with fresh herbs. The beetroot is ready and the tomatoes and zuchinnis look like they'll be ready whilst we are away camping. Lucky neighbours!

Belinda Lansley of Christchurch sent this photo of her vege garden at the front of my house... "my pride and joy!  Note the large brassicas. They are called collard and I bought the seeds from Kings Seeds. They are massive. One leaf does a stir-fry for two. And they keep you regular too. Notice my cat protection. I have about 5 local cats that just love my freshly tilled soil for doing their business. Also planted in the garden are carrots, beetroot, endive, garlic, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, red Russian kale, kohlrabi and parsnips. I also have two other smaller plots which hold shallots, silverbeet, coriander, parsley (both curly and flat leafed), runner beans, rhubarb, mizuna, strawberries, blueberries and blackcurrents!  I'm just garden mad!"

Sheryl is immensely proud of her recent efforts in the vege garden. "I moved into this house in July and this is what I have accomplished. In my garden I am growing chillies, capsicum, lettuce, radish, marigolds, cucumbers, tomatoes and lots more to come!"

Andrew's vege patch is in among the blooms and planted in raised beds. A plaque reads: "Gardening is good for you, if one can straighten up afterwards". In the raised bed there are carrots, beetroot, mini savoy cabbages, 'Purple Tee Pee' beans, spring onions and lettuces. In the main garden: 'Honey' and 'Pearl' sweetcorn, early potatoes ('Jersey Benne'), main crop potatoes ('Nadine'), 'Dreena F1' tomatoes interplanted with sweet basil, rhubarb, courgettes, capsicums and 'Diva' cucumbers. In another vege patch (not shown), there are beefsteak tomatoes, basil, parsley, mint, 'Tiny Tom' tomatoes, beetroot, butter beans and mesclun lettuces.

Kate Cook of Ohaupo says her potager changes all the time "with different flowers, veges and herbs all thrown in together. I take photos so I can remember the different planting combinations and what worked well together and what didn't. I like the idea that a vege patch can look pretty and I use this area as my place to put a few bits of garden art.  Guests always get a bit of a surprise when they wander around and find this all secreted away behind the garden shed."

Catherine Field-Dodgson of Lower Hutt started her vege patch earlier this year, inspired by the Get Growing emails. "It has since tripled in size and my partner, Simon, and I have embraced the 'good life' and even have two free- ranging bantam hens, Penny and Jackie. Our 2-year-old boy, Olly, enjoys helping in the garden; he diligently waters all the potted plants with his watering can and helps feed the chooks. I'm very proud of my patch, and am currently growing potatoes, silverbeet, mint, strawberries, beans, peas, leeks, garlic, broccoli, cabbage, corn, tomatoes, herbs, beetroot, lettuce, fennel, zucchini and cucumber.  I also have lemon, mandarin and lime trees and a blueberry bush in pots. For a bit of colour, we have geraniums growing up the fence (taken from cuttings from my grandmother gave me) and some lobelia and ageratum planted around the edges of to encourage bees."

Sherayl McNabb of Upper Hutt converted a small grassed courtyard into a productive patch. "We have a great bed of garlic. I had spare garlic so have planted these out among the roses and they two are doing well. In the other gardens we have a row of beans, beetroot, spring onions and some baby lettuce, 3 tomato plants and have sown a row of carrots and parsnips. We are so committed to having our vege garden that we added a fourth at the back. This was originally a paved BBQ area that we did not use. The new garden has a row potatoes with room to add another small row.  The pots have blueberries, capsicums, chilli and another a Jalapeno.

Ethel Goodfellow of Kaikohe revels in her large vege patch. "We have tyres planted with rosemary, kumikumi, strawberries, celery, onions and mint, and in the gardens we have potatoes, silverbeet, tomatoes, borage, leeks, garlic, beetroot, Chinese cabbage, chillies, capsicum, parsley, onions, strawberries, lettuce, a swan plant, lavender cuttings, rhubarb, cauliflower, cabbage, kumara and basil. And if you are wondering what the white stuff is around the fruit trees, it is sheep dags. It apparently keeps the possums away so we are trying it. Our fruit trees are double grafted apricots, double grafted apple and a kaffir lime. We also have 5 peach trees, a nectarine, plumcot, orange, lemon, tangelo, mandarin, 2 low acid tree tomatoes and a red guava, pawpaw and a small macadamia nut tree. I have an old cast iron bath filled with strawberies, spinach, radishes,parsley and basil."