A handwritten sign and a trailer-load of vege seedlings with Bill Rae and wife Elizabeth behind the trailer is a common sight at the Katikati farmers' market at this time of year.

This spring is no different – the couple are busy as bees, carting the trailerload of vegetable seedling goodies into town to sell and fundraise for the Abbeyfield House project in Katikati.

Abbeyfield Western Bay of Plenty has secured a 2020m2 section on Wills Rd to build a large family-style house for senior residents with modest or no assets.

'In all, we're looking to raise $3 million for the total project. Stage one requires $1.2m,” says Abbeyfield WBOP chairperson Carole Parker.

Her committee and volunteers have spent 18 months fundraising towards their stage one goal. The Raes have been contributing by growing vegetable seedlings and selling them to the public – tomato by tomato.

'We've been fundraising with vegetable and flower plants for probably nearly 50 years,” says Bill, a qualified botanist.

They started back in Howick, selling vegetables to fundraise for a new church there. They've helped fundraise for a church extension of St Paul's Presbyterian in Katikati, now it's Abbeyfield's turn.

The Raes moved to Katikati, from Howick, 26 years ago with dream of growing cut flowers. 'But that didn't ever happen,” says Elizabeth with a laugh.

Instead they went with kiwifruit, and have since added avocadoes to the mix. Plus, they've created a fruit-tree wonderland across their property.

Helping to write the horticulture syllabus as a Howick College teacher, Bill has seed-raising techniques down pat.

'We sow a tray of seeds, the more difficult ones are put on a heat pad. After germination they are pricked out into tubes, and trays of 30 are put into a small tunnel house to grow on.”

They stagger planting to ensure new seedlings keep shooting, so they can keep selling. 'You start with eggplant, capsicum and chilli first. They need starting early because they take longer to germinate and they're slow-growers,” says Elizabeth.

Bill says the first plant people look to buy each spring is tomatoes. 'After they've planted tomatoes they'll think about cucumbers and lettuces and everything else.” 'And flowers come last,” says Elizabeth. 'So we go by that.”

The Raes have always had a home garden – even in Auckland. 'My dad used to grow, Bill's parents used to grow vegetables. Funnily enough we have three sons and they're all growing stuff.” Elizabeth says in their parents' day everyone had a back garden. 'It was lovely place to play – that was how we grew up, so you get used to this growing business. That seed is there...

'Today people are worrying about their food budgets – you can always grow vegetables. That's how we coped back then.”

Their youngest son grows veges in buckets and flexitubs in the middle of Auckland. 'So you don't need heaps of room to grow some veges.”

Bill saysCovid-19 has reignited Kiwi's love affair with gardening. 'More people want to grow veges in non-traditional gardens as people's living situations are changing.”

He reckons the hardest vege to grow is an iceberg lettuce. 'If the slugs don't get them, they'll get botrytis rot.” 'We don't even try to grow them anymore,” says Elizabeth. The elusive iceberg is about the only vege they'll pay for!

What's easiest to grow? 'Silverbeet will give you a crop over winter and cabbages – they're not terribly difficult to grow,” says Bill.

'The other things that can make big difference to your bank balance and can be grown in pots is herbs,” says Elizabeth. 'And they make your food a lot more interesting,” says Bill, who also rates scarlet runner as a much-under-rated bean 'that aren't cheap in the shop”.

The green-fingered couple says there's no secret to successful vege gardening. Worm wee, compost, a cover crop and slug bait do the trick.

Catch Bill and his seedlings at Katikati's Friday night farmers' market.