Seeds of difference blossom | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

Sophie Bond talks to a gardener who's growing something a little different from the produce Kiwis are accustomed to eating.

The tiny woman crouches by a basket of strange-looking, knobbly, bright-green fruit. "This is called bitter melon. You can make it into juice or stir-fry it." She peeks from under her hat's floppy brim and grins.

"And it is good for constipation, so if you like spicy food you should eat bitter melon, too."

Sue Robertson is all smiles as she picks her way through her jungle-like vegetable garden in Coatesville. Every metre of the large plot sprouts something weird and wonderful.

Trellises tower over her head, laden with snake beans and cee gwa, a  type of okra. Leafy vines bear hairy melons the size of large watermelon, their skins covered in pale fuzz. "Chinese make soup with this and, while the melons are little, we can stir-fry them," explains Mrs Robertson.

Her childhood in Hong Kong was spent helping her mother on the family farm.

"I left Hong Kong in 1975 and went to England and Australia before coming here in 1993." Along the way she met her Scottish husband in the customs hall of a French airport.

She began growing Chinese vegetables in her garden at home. "My friends all loved them, so I decided to grow more."

Mrs Robertson was  given a pocket of land by Virginia and Stuart Angus, artists with a large rambling garden of their own. Sue took care of Mrs Angus' mother at Torbay Rest Home.

"She was very, very good with my mother," says Mrs Angus, "and we got talking over time and Sue told us she didn't have enough room for all the vegetables she'd like to grow. We had this land we weren't using."

Mrs Robertson works 25 hours a week at the rest home and manages to spend at least 16 hours a week tending her garden. "Yes, it's a lot of work", she beams, "and it's an expensive hobby, but I love it."

Five months ago, it was a boggy paddock. Now it is a dense, productive, organic vegetable garden, though parched after a hot summer. Sue's brow furrows as she surveys patches of dry, cracked soil.

"In the middle of February, we had no rain at all. Right now, I am praying for rain."

She says the garden produces enough to keep all her friends happy and she also sells to a Chinese restaurant in Northcote.

"It's hard for Chinese restaurants to find the kind of vegetables they need and they can be very expensive; you can pay $14 a kilo for cee gwa."

She says the garden will produce for only three more weeks, then it will be time to clear and prepare it for spring.