Homes

Get in the garden at Summerset

Let the team at Summerset take care of the bigger jobs so you can focus on spending time doing things you love

At Summerset Retirement Villages the choices are all yours – from the range of homes to choose from, to the extensive activities and events on offer – meaning you’re able to continue living your best life, with the bonus of being in a warm and friendly community.

A resident at Summerset on Cavendish harvests beetroot for salad that night

Summerset take the hard work out of maintaining your home, enabling you to spend more time doing what you love. And if you’re of the green-fingered nature (or just love any kind of gardening), you’re able to tend to your own garden and flower beds around your home.

If you’re a lover of growing your own vegetables, the villages have their own vegetable beds and boxes for you to tend to.

Long-time gardener and resident, Jim, working in the garden at Summerset in the Vines

Summerset resident Jim Sowerby enjoys spending time in the village vege garden.

“My wife Colleen and I have been at Summerset in the Vines in Havelock North, where I’ve worked in the vege garden for 13 years. We pick the veges every Friday and sell them to the residents for 50¢. It’s good fun, and the money goes to the village social club”.

Jim’s top tips for green-thumbed success:

  • Look after the soil. Get some good quality compost and try crop rotation (where you don’t always plant the same thing in the same place) to lessen nutrient loss in the soil.

  • Choose seedlings. For the best results further down the track, spend a little extra and buy punnets of small plants rather than seeds.

  • Play to your strengths. Rather than coaxing a failing plant into flourishing, just cut your losses and move on. Focus on what works best for your particular climate, garden environment and soil type.

  • Get thrifty. Try growing plants that are costly to buy in the supermarket. It’s often cheaper just to buy certain things, but green vegetables are more expensive, so it’s worth growing your own.

When you move to a Summerset village, you’re not just moving house – you’re joining a community. How special is that!

Love the life you choose. Find out more about living at a Summerset village at summerset.co.nz

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