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The 22nd of April is Earth Day, as most of you will know, a day to celebrate nature and the green places, but also a chance to get involved for some of us. For me, this meant taking a dive into Early Learning! No, I did not regress so much that I had to start schooling again, instead I returned to assist in planting, and accidentally found myself teaching 80-90 eager looking kiddos about trees. I haven't spent much time in this area historically, in fact I find myself either

Many moons ago I was attempting the Duke of Edinburgh award, and I found myself stumped on the service section - no shade but what can a teenager exactly offer to any business or charity honestly. But, alas, the Fo Guang Shan temple in East Auckland took me under their wing to do my weekly service with their supervision, and it honestly changed how I see the world for the long term... well after a few years of maturity I realized that. Meditation is painful but by that I mean

Fire pits have been a trend in Auckland for a while now, and honestly I understand why. My partner is quick to tell me that marshmallows are the real reason, as a huge advocate for smores, but I believe it might be a little further than that. In the 70's and 80's houses on the market had remnant objects in them call conversation pits, carpeted steps that faced in towards themselves, unique and beautiful as they were the New Zealand market hated them... then. But fashion is tr

Every time I visit a new garden space I attempt to find a way to relate it back to my own work. Honestly, there is so much that can be learnt simply by observing, and in this case my main take away was Focal Point. When I was studying this was a hard thing to really focus on, because you try your hardest to make EVERYTHING perfect, overly fantastical, and under practical, and focal point technically falls into the last for me (it is a practical effect that is). It's a tool to

Designing a garden for accommodation can be tricky -" Who will be using the space?" "Why do they want to use this space?" "What are their key thought processes that would make using this space enjoyable?" and so on and so forth, so it can often take a lot of discussion to fine tune a demographic and purpose. In this case, we know the accommodation style, pricing, and location, which was more than enough to get our feet off the ground. Taking a look at the mildly futuristic an

Bartholomew Designs has been working towards this for a while but we have decided to have an even more hands on approach to our designs, and are now mobile! Welcoming Bonsly, our newest member of the fleet, who will be running around, maintaining gardens where needed, and delivering plants, mulch, and compost to sites under development. It isn't just that I am a huge fan of Kei trucks (I really am though), it is small, nimble, and reliable. Trusted by Japanese trades people f

Welcome to the age of Sustainability. We watched, we cringed, and we learnt. And sadly I worry we learnt a little too little too late, with all of the oversights of the past few generations of Gardeners and Landscapers behind us we might be a at a pressure point for our green spaces in New Zealand. But! There is hope, and personally I have hope that Bartholomew Designs can be but a drop in a ocean of change, but just big enough to make an impact to the world directly around u

Let’s get ZESTY; it’s time to get those Citrus in the ground, as the winter creeps in bit by bit. Sounds a little counterintuitive, as with strawberries, but citrus are a commitment.

I’m sure everyone can agree with me, but one of the best parts of my Summer is the fresh produce. And sitting pretty at the head of every advertisement is STRAWBERRIES - 2 punnets for $15.