I have been informed this afternoon that as of April 19 there will no longer be a local garden feature in the Bay of Plenty Times.
As you might imagine I have been left shocked and upset by this decision, based entirely on “budget”, the editor told me. The garden content that is shared by all APN regional newspapers in New Zealand (and written from Kerikeri) will continue to be used, and the third section in the Saturday broadsheet will become a tabloid insert with a focus on “activities”. But not local garden events or activities! Apparently, garden events in the Tauranga area will have to take their chances finding space on the news pages.
At no stage in the process to develop this new section did anyone in the “project team” ask for my opinion or input, or even let me know it was happening (a third party kindly gave me the heads up).
I have had a little cry, because this is a job I have loved dearly – I’ve met interesting and kind people and seen some wonderful gardens over the past 6 years – and I have learned so much along the way.
I’m hoping that “another door” that people talk about will open soon but in the meantime I shall keep posting here and am today, more than ever, thankful that I started this project.
– Sandra
Sandra's Garden 
Sandra this is such sad news! now I know we did the right thing in canceling our BOP Times subscription when they stopped our daily rural delivery and gave it to the mailman who doesn’t get here till 3pm, by which time it’s OLD news, we read it on the computer in the morning. Please remember the friends you made are still there
and still your friends, call in for a cuppa anytime.
Helen McDonald
Thanks so much for the supportive comment Helen. It means a lot.
Arghhhh! My commiserations. I have recently discovered this site and although I am not in your region I very much enjoy reading your posts, including hearing about local events. It seems to be a crazy paradox that there is less and less information in popular media about gardening and plants and people with knowledge and experience at the very time when we need more and more to be aware of how to care for the environment and to value the natural world and our connection with it. And gardening is such a special way of finding that connection. All the best as you deal with this, Helen N
Thanks Helen. I’m still processing it – can’t believe that the article I’m starting today will be my last. I was even mad enough to always ensure I had enough pieces to cover any of my holidays. But, unfortunately, loyalty is something that seems to no longer cut both ways.
Sandra, I have sent an email message and now come to your blog. I am not very up on blogs but am hoping I can register somehow so that yours will simply appear in my email. Fingers crossed. The BOP Times changed the food segment some time ago and I was aware of a local woman getting the chop. She wrote a vegetarian segment and a wee anecdote with it and I enjoyed it even though her recipes were not always my cup of tea. She was most unhappy when her column simply didn’t appear one week and then not the next week, so she enquired only to be told she was no longer required. No communication at all. Beats me!
Hi Joanne, If you click on the “follow” button at the very top of the page, you will receive an email each time there is a new post published. And yes, I wondered what had happened to that food column!
Hi Sandra
Just came across your website and the same thing happened recently in the Dominion post in Wellington. We lost Hannah Zwart’s weekly gardening page, full of regional,
seasonal advice in exchange for generic NZ Gardener magazine column :o(
I’m so sorry to hear that about the Dom-Post. I always enjoy reading Hannah’s pieces when I’m in that circulation area. It seems a mad thing to do when there’s a growing number of people gardening and wanting gardening knowledge.