I'm starting a new garden in Wellington and mostly hope to grow fruit and vegies, but last time I did this was in Christchurch.

I'm interested to get some opinions on which types of fruit do well and which don't. I've got a gently sloping, sunny site with soil that seems to drain fairly well (it hasn't been a bog at any time over the last 2 months which considering the rain is almost miraculous). I get the northerly winds but seem protected from the southerly.

So far I've heard success stories of apples in Tawa, lemons in Lower Hutt and currants in Karori. Anyone have any ideas?

Also, a general hi to people since I'm sort of new (I've been a member for a while but haven't posted regularly here for about 5 years). I'm mad about plants, especially anything weird and things you can eat.

plums and greengages, damsons, nashi pears, kumquats, raspberries, blackberries (wild or other...), logan and boysenberries, persimmons, pines for pinenuts, blueberries, strawberries, red, white, and blackcurrants, gooseberries, tree tomatoes - if you have a sheltered spot, babaco, mountain pawpaw, apples, quince, medlar, mulberries, elderberry, tree fuchsia, passionfruit both black and banana, lemons, grapefruit, hazelnuts.

The Incredible Edibles people have a good range of varieties and oddities which I've seen at the three main outlets locally. If you go over the hill to Masterton there is a couple of nurseries there which also do fruit trees - particularly the grafted varieties for cross-pollination.

You might also want to look at the small ads in the backof the 'NZ Gardener' or 'Growing Today' to see who might have what.

And you could suss out the Tree Crops Association. There's definitely a local branch which I understand is pretty active - and has a group of people similar to you in being interested in trying out new varieties.

There's quite a few on that list that I really like so that gives me something to play with. I don't have a big garden so I'm pleased to see that you've listed some of the shrub fruit. I'm also determined to try with black passionfruit because it's a favourite.

Thanks again.