Welcome to my Garden

 Me and my dog.
Head Gardener

Welcome to Mooseys Country Garden. This is the never-ending story of a one-woman country garden in New Zealand and its long-lived, frost-hardy, perennial Head Gardener (me).

I'm a compulsive gardener and chronicler, and Mooseys Country Garden has been making its small contribution to the gardening internet for over fifteen years now.

Like the real garden it's gone through several huge redesigns, plus the odd weekend make-over. And there are always plans for expansion...

The Moosey Garden informally rambles over more than three acres, with roses, foliage plants, paths, and lots of New Zealand native evergreens. The planting style is rather robust and random, with not very many straight lines evident.

There are wooded areas, lawns and shrubberies, flower gardens (I love roses) and water features. My large country-style pond has - dare I mention it - rather a lot of garden gnomes in residence.

Cats, Dogs, Birds...

My garden has always been home to happy, sociable cats (some rescued as feral kittens) and dogs. The 2020 feline inhabitants are two tabby identical twin boy cats, both called Fred, a beautiful black cat called Buster, and Minimus the oldest cat, a small grey tabby with the shortest of tails. Rusty the red Border Collie is no longer with us - in his place are two black and white Border Collie sisters, Winnie and Pebbles. There's much noisy local wildlife, too (mainly bell-birds and fantails, bumble bees, and some pheasants in the orchard). The property also has a small flock of merino sheep, with a few lambs born each spring.

I'm a compulsive rescuer, and I provide a country sanctuary for unwanted plants both big and small - particularly roses. I'll go and dig them out personally, rather than have them abandoned or dumped. Poor things!

My garden website mirrors my real garden, and embraces its philosophy of sharing and celebrating the universal love of gardening. I'm always thinking about the garden, taking photographs, nurturing the web-soil, watering and feeding the web-plants, adding a new web-border here, pruning an older web-shrub there...

 Fluff-Fluff the cat is helping...
Me in My Vegetable Garden

That is, when I'm not hidden somewhere in the real garden planting my latest plant treasure.

Home-Grown

As far as writing credentials go I'm strictly home-grown. But I am a web-ancient, writing and publishing my journal many years ago, while the word 'blog' was still germinating. After all these years of word-watering, adding compost and spraying (organic, naturally), I still call my journal a journal.

As a gardener, the more I think I know, then the more I find there is to learn. And then I have those heady days when I think I know everything! Oh dear... But I have so much fun trying, every day, to be a good gardener, to work hard, and nurture this precious land I live on. I am so lucky!

I love having garden visitors. So you're most welcome to drop by my garden any time. Meet the cats, sit on a garden bench (oops - it's rustic, so might be a bit wobbly), enjoy the foliage and flowers, and join me in pondering 'The Meaning of Gardening Life'.

A New Zealand GardenA New Zealand Garden...
Moosey's Country Garden is situated 20 km from Christchurch, New Zealand, on the flat Canterbury plains in the South Island. Our property is almost flat and lies in the flood plain of the Waimakariri River.
The Head GardenerThe Head Gardener...
I'm proud to be the Head Gardener (actually, the only gardener) at Moosey's Country Garden. My real name is Mary, but my adult children rechristened me 'Moosey'. I ignored them for months, but now I'm afraid the name has dug itself in, like a tenacious garden weed...
A Private GardenA Private Garden...
Moosey's Country Garden takes our visitors' privacy very seriously. We do everything we can to ensure that your personal details are kept away from prying eyes.
Garden Copyright and Legal DisclaimerGarden Copyright and Legal Disclaimer...
Don't infringe Big Fat Sifter's Garden Copyright. Legal disclaimers and content ratings are also included here.
Non-Gardening PartnerNon-Gardening Partner...
For a Non-Gardening Partner, Stephen is a very responsible and hands-on chap. He looks after lawns, irrigation, fences, pumps, garden seat and pergola construction. He also welds rose archways. Naturally I am trying to get him interested in digging a second pond...
Webmaster and Senior SonWebmaster and Senior Son...
Eggy is my senior Son and this site is his mothers day present and retirement present for 'years of teenage angst'. He lives in South London. By day he's a web developer and search engine consultant for a leading UK financial firm.
Garden Website HistoryGarden Website History...
A garden website is the perfect companion hobby to gardening itself. Associated activities will fill up cold winter evenings as well as summer days too hot to go outside. Moosey's Country Garden is a home grown labour of love.
Website PeopleWebsite People...
The Moosey website is about four P's - Plants, Pets, Places, and People. Relatives, friends, and famous gardeners are often mentioned. Occasionally a reader must be perplexed - for example, who exactly is this walking friend? And this David Austin man?
The Moosey Spelling PolicyThe Moosey Spelling Policy...
The Moosey Web-site finally has an official Spelling Policy. During a couple of recent rainy days I decided to do some web-weeding. How embarrassing! I found soooooooo many silly spelling mistakes...