Who is The Manic Botanic?
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Who is The Manic Botanic? *
I spent years dodging the gardening genes that clearly run in my family. I could barely tell a daisy from a dandelion once upon a time. Then one day I blinked, and suddenly I was knee-deep in compost, wrangling wheelbarrows like a pro. Twenty five years later, the garden’s taken over my life AND become a side-hustle…so much for my youthful resistance.
Hi, I’m Kate. I live in North Canterbury, New Zealand, and I’m the slightly mud-splattered human behind The Manic Botanic. I’ve spent the last 13 years coaxing two acres of stubborn paddock into something that’s starting to resemble a garden.
You might have seen me on Instagram, where I show you the good, the bad, and the “what the heck happened there?” moments. I’m not here for glossy magazine-perfect shots that pretend gardening is all champagne and roses. I show you the weeds, the fails, the triumphs… and how you can do it too.
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.”
Gardening isn’t something you ever “finish” (trust me, I’ve tried). It’s a work-in-progress with as many surprises as weeds. So come hang out with a community of gardeners who like to keep it real… less perfection, more progress, plenty of dirt under the fingernails.
If you’d like to go deeper into all things gardening, you’ll find me over on my Substack page, with the same name The Manic Botanic.
There, you can choose a free or paid subscription:
Free subscribers receive:
One full newsletter each week
All the photos and daily content I share in Notes
Paid subscribers receive:
Everything in the free tier
Two additional articles per week - detailed deep dives into all types of gardening topics designed to grow your skills and confidence. That’s eight more articles per month that free subscribers receive.
“Gardening is cheaper than therapy… and you get tomatoes.”
The paid subscription is $5 NZD per month or $50 NZD annually. For many of my North American readers, that works out to only a few dollars a month. Less than the price of a takeaway coffee. You can cancel anytime - no hard feelings, no awkward break-up speech required.
Why a subscription model?
Because I’d rather write for people who genuinely want to learn and grow than rely on social media algorithms deciding who sees what. And, if I’m honest, I’m also building a small income stream from sharing what I’ve learned (retirement is looming rather closer than I’d like to admit).
If you’re keen to build confidence, experiment boldly, and create a garden that reflects you - not a magazine spread - I’d love you to join me on Substack.
I’ll share the wins, commiserate over the fails, and celebrate the fact that gardeners are, obviously, the coolest people on the planet.
“If you’re not killing plants, you’re not really stretching yourself as a gardener.”
