"Anika understood immediately that we wanted to grow food without the garden looking like an allotment. Two years on, we pick feijoa from the front hedge and the neighbours think it is ornamental."— Rachel & Simon Greer, Havelock Hills
Havelock North · Hawke's Bay · Garden Design
Gardens that feed you and the birds
Seedbed creates edible-ornamental hybrid landscapes for Hawke's Bay homes — blending native underplanting, fruit trees, rainwater harvesting and outdoor living into gardens that look after themselves.
Design services & fees
Initial consultation$350
90-minute site visit with written notes and a direction sketch
Concept plan$2,800
Scaled plan, plant palette, materials board, one revision round
Full design package$5,500–$8,500
Concept through to planting plan, irrigation layout and contractor brief
Planting plan only$1,800
Species selection, spacing, sourcing list — you or your landscaper plant
Planting day support$120/hr
On-site supervision with your team or contractor
Design portfolio
Recent gardens
Our approach
From soil to story in four steps
Site visit & listening
We spend ninety minutes walking your land — testing soil, mapping sun, noting wind and drainage, and hearing how you want to live in the garden. What do you eat? Where do children play? Which view matters?
Concept design
A scaled plan drawn over your survey with planting zones, materials, paths and structures. We present two options — one closer to budget, one that stretches — so the trade-offs are visible. One revision round included.
Detailed design
Every plant named and spaced, irrigation drawn, construction details for walls and paths, and a full sourcing list with nursery contacts. This document goes straight to your landscaper.
Planting day support
We are on site when the first spade goes in — placing plants, adjusting spacing in real time, and making sure the vision survives contact with the ground. Optional ongoing seasonal reviews for the first two years.
Services
What we design
Every project blends edible, ornamental and native layers. We do not do purely ornamental gardens — food is always part of the picture.
Edible-ornamental landscapes
Feijoa, olive, citrus, heritage apple and persimmon integrated with perennial borders and groundcover so the garden looks designed, not farmed.
Native underplanting
Pseudopanax, Griselinia, Coprosma, Hoheria, Libertia, Arthropodium — we use locally eco-sourced stock wherever possible and design for kererū, tūī and waxeye habitat.
Rainwater harvesting
Rain gardens, swales and concealed tank systems sized to your roof area and soil. We work with your plumber so the tank connects to laundry and garden irrigation.
Outdoor living integration
Fire pits, dining courts, sheltered reading nooks, children's zones — placed where sun, wind and privacy actually allow them, not where the house plan assumed.
About
Anika Patel
Dip. Land. Des. (Lincoln), NZILA Affiliate
Anika founded Seedbed in 2018 after a decade designing public landscapes for local government. She wanted to work at a scale where she could watch the garden grow — and eat what it produces.
She lives on Te Mata Road with her partner, two children and a garden that is half test plot, half dinner. The olive grove is finally bearing and the feijoa hedge feeds the entire street in autumn.
Seedbed is a one-person consultancy with a network of trusted landscapers, irrigation specialists and arborists across the Bay. Anika does every design herself.
Client stories
What they say
"The rain garden solved a flooding problem we had lived with for years, and it looks like a natural stream bed. Council stormwater signed off first time."— James Timu, Bridge Pa
"She talked us out of a lawn and into groundcover. Our water bill dropped, the mowing stopped, and we gained three fruit trees and a reading nook."— Lena Oberg, Clive
Common questions
Before we start
How long does a full design take?
Eight to twelve weeks from site visit to final documents, depending on complexity. A concept plan alone is typically four weeks.Do you project-manage the build?
We do not manage construction, but we recommend landscapers and attend site at key stages — earthworks, planting, irrigation commissioning — to make sure the design is followed.What budget should I allow for planting?
As a rough guide, planting and mulch for a standard Hawke's Bay section costs $8,000–$15,000 on top of the design fee. We always design to your stated budget.Can you design for an existing garden?
Yes — about half our work is redesigning mature gardens. We keep every healthy tree and work around structures. The consultation identifies what to save and what to remove.Do you source the plants?
We provide a sourcing list with nursery names and lead times. If you prefer, we place the order on your behalf and arrange delivery to site for a 10% handling fee.
Book a consult
Start with a conversation
A ninety-minute site visit where we walk, listen and sketch. $350, credited in full if you proceed to a concept plan.