I got a text from Jacqui this morning saying she's planting garlic at Woodside. The shortest day has come and gone, but any time after it is time to put garlic in. The key is preparation, so plenty of blood and bone, sheep pellets, and the biggest, fattest cloves you can find. Then after harvest time in December you can have lovely garlic bread for the rest of the year if you get a good crop, as garlic stores well.
The weather looks miserable so I won't be joining her - come on I have been gardening all week do I not get a day off? Not anymore - this full-time gardening job means I have to squeeze in all my shopping in the weekend where I get abused by shoppers at the mall carpark for being Asian. I'm sorry, I didn't know that looking like a Chinese person means you can call me a crap driver for simply beeping my horn when you sit there blocking everyone else, not indicating, waiting for a park.
Anyway.
I do need to buy supplies like everyone else and now I have been paid, but the weather is conspiring against me. I had a challenging/mucky week, and it sounds like everyone else did as well. My friend Taua was beat up on her new job, Karyn lost her pet chicken, Dad's off sick, and Rita's suffering jet lag. The challenge isn't gardening so much it's keeping 400 people who aren't gardeners happy in their retirement. Yes, I will mow your lawns and pretty up your carpark but I don't have to put up with your abuse.
My new workmates have decided to let me be ignorantly blissful of the realities of gardening for cantankerous old folk till next week but I do owe John a drink or a bottle of something for jumpstarting my car after work. I stupidly left my light on inside because I was going to work in the dark and had to see where I put my secateurs. I wonder if he would appreciate a smoothie, but I think he needs something stronger it sounds like, it's just that I can't really buy him a beer as I don't look old enough. Yesterday one of the gardening club ringleaders asked me if I liked Massey High School, she thought I had just left it. I had to tactfully tell her I was no spring chicken. Little does she know I am three years shy of my 40th birthday and I already have white hairs from years of not gardening.
I wonder if artists ever get abused for making a mess when they make paintings. Actually I have seen some artists just spill paint everywhere and it does get called art, so, what do I know. But how can you even start a job if you can't make a mess?
I think I will take Herb lady Karyn's Book Chook advice and plant more sage because apparently it's good for alzheimers and it's demented cousin, I think I'm going to need it. It will be my last Book Chooks this Sunday so tune in!
Friday 30 June 2017
Saturday 24 June 2017
Rue the day
My hands smell of rue. Caution- wear gloves unless you want a rash. I've been strewing it amongst my green veges as the silverbeet, pak choi, spinach are being eaten and there are little flying insects around. I'm also adding cut up pieces of wormwood and lemongrass, as they are good insect repellents too. I hope it works. I can't afford chemicals.
Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but the Bible says no servile work on the sabbath (which back then was actually Saturday) however gardening on the weekend is kind of different from gardening during the week. It's more relaxed, and I don't need to get things done on time, and its really only for me and God not anyone else. But if other people appreciate it, it's a bonus. Also, I don't get paid.
Well I won't be paid for my 40 hour gardening week until the following week, it turns out, so, I'm kind of broke.
Mum saw me cutting up cardboard for the MBGP beds and asked me what I was doing, and then said there was no room for garden beds and I'd gardened enough. She threatened to remove it, so I had to tell Brent I couldn't have them, I would get in trouble. But, in a brainwave I said maybe St Giles will like them. So I asked Annette the pastor's wife and she seemed keen even to have one at the manse. Hallelujah!
I will just go there on my weekends if I can't garden on Sunday at home. There was really no reasoning with mum. Many of my friends cannot have garden beds because of their parents saying no or mean and stingy landlords. There's actually PLENTY of room, so that answer doesn't wash with me.
But you know how some people insist black is white? It's kind of like that.
There were some other things I managed to fit in - leaf mulch around Mt Asher magnolia which has some blooming grape hyacinth now, dividing the astelias which has now solved the problem of what to put under the maple tree, as they are tough as boots.
Les helped me with the corner St Giles bed which has a plaque dedicated to those who we are going to see in heaven and I added a love carnation as a feature because the people at St Giles are lovely.
Mum will rue the day that she said no to free vege beds. She's all for harvesting at Woodside without lifting a finger though and telling me to get things for her but growing our own veges in the backyard is somehow anathema for her. We won't ever get a decent crop if I have only one bed! You can't do a crop rotation on one bed. I don't get it, and probably never will.
Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but the Bible says no servile work on the sabbath (which back then was actually Saturday) however gardening on the weekend is kind of different from gardening during the week. It's more relaxed, and I don't need to get things done on time, and its really only for me and God not anyone else. But if other people appreciate it, it's a bonus. Also, I don't get paid.
Well I won't be paid for my 40 hour gardening week until the following week, it turns out, so, I'm kind of broke.
Mum saw me cutting up cardboard for the MBGP beds and asked me what I was doing, and then said there was no room for garden beds and I'd gardened enough. She threatened to remove it, so I had to tell Brent I couldn't have them, I would get in trouble. But, in a brainwave I said maybe St Giles will like them. So I asked Annette the pastor's wife and she seemed keen even to have one at the manse. Hallelujah!
I will just go there on my weekends if I can't garden on Sunday at home. There was really no reasoning with mum. Many of my friends cannot have garden beds because of their parents saying no or mean and stingy landlords. There's actually PLENTY of room, so that answer doesn't wash with me.
But you know how some people insist black is white? It's kind of like that.
There were some other things I managed to fit in - leaf mulch around Mt Asher magnolia which has some blooming grape hyacinth now, dividing the astelias which has now solved the problem of what to put under the maple tree, as they are tough as boots.
Les helped me with the corner St Giles bed which has a plaque dedicated to those who we are going to see in heaven and I added a love carnation as a feature because the people at St Giles are lovely.
Mum will rue the day that she said no to free vege beds. She's all for harvesting at Woodside without lifting a finger though and telling me to get things for her but growing our own veges in the backyard is somehow anathema for her. We won't ever get a decent crop if I have only one bed! You can't do a crop rotation on one bed. I don't get it, and probably never will.
Thursday 22 June 2017
40 Hours Gardening
I clocked up my first week on the job full time gardening. I love it! Am getting around different gardens not only out west, but on the Shore too. My favourite so far is the fernery at Waitakere Gardens, a nice enclosed area to have a bit of peace and quiet amongst the ferns. It seemed like nobody had been there in a while because I pulled out a big privet, the fountain wasn't working, and ladder fern and bracken had over taken the path, but once the garden club had got stuck in, and shown it some love, it has revived. We even found a little kiwi.
Back home not much to report except I'm trialling oats on my winter greens to keep snails at bay, I may need to get some bran. Tuesday was Te Atatu Floral and Garden Circle, and they were having their 53rd birthday, an amazing floral demonstration using winter foliage was created right in front of our eyes, it was like Masterchef except with flowers. Good news, it might be will be able to go to the NZ Flower and Garden show held at the Trust Stadium in late November this year for free, if we volunteer to look after a stall for West Auckland garden clubs.
Brent Mags from MBGP or My Backyard Garden Project, is organising some raised beds and compost bins for over 100 families in West Auckland. I just need to mark out a place where it's going to go. I hope mum won't mind - after all we could grow more garlic, garlic chives, onion and coriander. Surely she won't object to food on the table.
Tomorrow I cannot get away from the garden because I'm doing the St Giles church garden corner, which, given the plants I have, will have Ginger lily, aeonium, belladona lily, and lambs ears. I hope that is not a completely awful combination but it will be better than what was there before, which was an entirely uninspiring mat of black mondo grass. Graeme, the church elder has bought a whole lot of pebbles for the garden, it's been weeded and matted, all I have to do it plant. I am going to ask Les to help, before I take him to MOTAT as he kind of talked me into it, even though Dad won't be there and I won't be paid till the following Tuesday. I hope he won't mind the change of plan.
My gardening trainer and Team Leader Clint has got me onto meat pies. I had three this week and two sausage rolls. I will have to watch out. They are so good!
Back home not much to report except I'm trialling oats on my winter greens to keep snails at bay, I may need to get some bran. Tuesday was Te Atatu Floral and Garden Circle, and they were having their 53rd birthday, an amazing floral demonstration using winter foliage was created right in front of our eyes, it was like Masterchef except with flowers. Good news, it might be will be able to go to the NZ Flower and Garden show held at the Trust Stadium in late November this year for free, if we volunteer to look after a stall for West Auckland garden clubs.
Brent Mags from MBGP or My Backyard Garden Project, is organising some raised beds and compost bins for over 100 families in West Auckland. I just need to mark out a place where it's going to go. I hope mum won't mind - after all we could grow more garlic, garlic chives, onion and coriander. Surely she won't object to food on the table.
Tomorrow I cannot get away from the garden because I'm doing the St Giles church garden corner, which, given the plants I have, will have Ginger lily, aeonium, belladona lily, and lambs ears. I hope that is not a completely awful combination but it will be better than what was there before, which was an entirely uninspiring mat of black mondo grass. Graeme, the church elder has bought a whole lot of pebbles for the garden, it's been weeded and matted, all I have to do it plant. I am going to ask Les to help, before I take him to MOTAT as he kind of talked me into it, even though Dad won't be there and I won't be paid till the following Tuesday. I hope he won't mind the change of plan.
My gardening trainer and Team Leader Clint has got me onto meat pies. I had three this week and two sausage rolls. I will have to watch out. They are so good!
Sunday 18 June 2017
Back to work
'Work' as in working not at home and being paid for it. I've always worked, thats what happens when you are born working class there's no real escape from it, I suppose. I have thought I could possibly pass for middle class but there's something about the middle class that I just never got, like owning your own house. Part owning a house does not count apparently - in Auckland at least. And I can't be upper class because I won't inherit, I've become resigned to it, so I am back to work but thankfully not the 'system'. I've filled out yet another IRD tax form and enrolled in another Kiwisaver.
For those who don't know the 'system' is, its a type of government when the richer people get the poorer people to work for them while they tell them what to do. We always used to talk about the 'system' in the library when things were breaking down. It was always the system's fault, because if we tried to fix it ourselves we got blamed as it wasn't our job to fix things, because we weren't the boss.
However, it seems like I am a special case because, I can't really be bossed around. I have learned this the hard way. I resist all attempts for others to do so, because, if they really knew how to do things properly they would actually do the work themselves, so my logic goes. Nobody has a right to tell others what to do when they won't or refuse to do it themselves. So that is why I don't make a particularly good librarian, because of government interference, but I make a great gardener.
So I am only a tiny bit apprehensive of 400 residents of Waitakere Gardens telling me what to do, and hope they let me get on with it, because the way I see it, they've given me a gift of my own patch and paying me to garden, dressing and keeping it permanently. If I can't garden the backyard where I live..well I might just move into the Waitakere Gardens in 13 years time when I turn 50. I think that might even be a possibility, although the job doesn't appear to come with a grace and favour shed.
Mary Lennox from the classic Frances Hodgsen Burnett children's book 'The Secret Garden' asked, "might I have a bit of earth?" Nobody was looking after it, so she went and cared for it and by caring for it made it her own. I loved that book as a child, even though I had no idea what a moor was and how could a house have a child in it that nobody even knew about? I could not imagine a house so big you could get lost in it because I lived in a shotgun house where you walked in the front door and could walk straight out to the back. As for a walled garden...how could you lock a garden? It wasn't until I got into the creation of gardens that I realised a garden cannot just be a lawn and some trees. A yard is not a garden. I just think people need somewhere to belong and to thrive and I can think of no better way than to garden and if you don't have one - quit your day job and start one. You won't regret it.
For those who don't know the 'system' is, its a type of government when the richer people get the poorer people to work for them while they tell them what to do. We always used to talk about the 'system' in the library when things were breaking down. It was always the system's fault, because if we tried to fix it ourselves we got blamed as it wasn't our job to fix things, because we weren't the boss.
However, it seems like I am a special case because, I can't really be bossed around. I have learned this the hard way. I resist all attempts for others to do so, because, if they really knew how to do things properly they would actually do the work themselves, so my logic goes. Nobody has a right to tell others what to do when they won't or refuse to do it themselves. So that is why I don't make a particularly good librarian, because of government interference, but I make a great gardener.
So I am only a tiny bit apprehensive of 400 residents of Waitakere Gardens telling me what to do, and hope they let me get on with it, because the way I see it, they've given me a gift of my own patch and paying me to garden, dressing and keeping it permanently. If I can't garden the backyard where I live..well I might just move into the Waitakere Gardens in 13 years time when I turn 50. I think that might even be a possibility, although the job doesn't appear to come with a grace and favour shed.
Mary Lennox from the classic Frances Hodgsen Burnett children's book 'The Secret Garden' asked, "might I have a bit of earth?" Nobody was looking after it, so she went and cared for it and by caring for it made it her own. I loved that book as a child, even though I had no idea what a moor was and how could a house have a child in it that nobody even knew about? I could not imagine a house so big you could get lost in it because I lived in a shotgun house where you walked in the front door and could walk straight out to the back. As for a walled garden...how could you lock a garden? It wasn't until I got into the creation of gardens that I realised a garden cannot just be a lawn and some trees. A yard is not a garden. I just think people need somewhere to belong and to thrive and I can think of no better way than to garden and if you don't have one - quit your day job and start one. You won't regret it.
Thursday 15 June 2017
Odd jobs
It's been a busy week and I haven't yet started my full-time job.
There's still things to do in my garden. But I can say I accomplished a few things like learning more tips from Ben Cheah at the pruning workshop. I grilled him on what fruit trees would grow on clay and he said he didn't bother - he just grew his fruit trees in the biggest planter bags he could find.
Huh.
But he did say citrus did especially well in Auckland's climate. As well as feijoas, but everyone has feijoas. We are still eating ours. What happens when you cross an orange with a pomelo? You get a strange hybrid citrus called a grapefruit. Ben said they tried to get the thick rind of the pomelo with the sweet juiciness of an orange but instead got the thin rind of an orange and the bitterness of a pomelo. It was like crossing Einstein and Marilyn Monroe but getting Einstein's looks and Monroe's brains. Instead of the other way round. So I'm not sure about planting a grapefruit..but am interested in maybe a lime and two blueberry bushes. In the biggest planter bags I can find.
Mt Asher Magnolia now has grape hyacinth at her feet. I moved three clumps and mulched with shredded notebook paper, and also added giant cyclamen that had nearly died at church. I'm hoping for a revival. So it's looking a bit literary at the moment before I head up to Palmers and see if I can buy some of that fancy manuka and seaweed mulch. It's just I don't know if Magnolia will thrive on shredded memories alone. Don't try piecing them together, writers have to process a lot before anything gets published. Most of our jumbled thoughts make good mulch.
Olga has put forth the idea that we have a remembrance chair in the garden so we can sit and remember our loved ones who have passed on. I just need a plank of wood to make one as I have two palm stumps for the base but nowhere to put it yet. Mine would be more like a seat or bench, I have considered making one for church but even the church elders thought it would be stolen just like the poppies were, so have given up the idea of putting it there. I do think its odd how the faithful are no longer buried in the churchyard and we have parking lots instead. I find cemeteries can be wonderful places to sit and reflect and have hope that one day, just like a seed put in the ground, new life will sprout again.
My Quiet Garden movement is still under wraps but I am sure one day it will happen. Just have faith!
There's still things to do in my garden. But I can say I accomplished a few things like learning more tips from Ben Cheah at the pruning workshop. I grilled him on what fruit trees would grow on clay and he said he didn't bother - he just grew his fruit trees in the biggest planter bags he could find.
Huh.
But he did say citrus did especially well in Auckland's climate. As well as feijoas, but everyone has feijoas. We are still eating ours. What happens when you cross an orange with a pomelo? You get a strange hybrid citrus called a grapefruit. Ben said they tried to get the thick rind of the pomelo with the sweet juiciness of an orange but instead got the thin rind of an orange and the bitterness of a pomelo. It was like crossing Einstein and Marilyn Monroe but getting Einstein's looks and Monroe's brains. Instead of the other way round. So I'm not sure about planting a grapefruit..but am interested in maybe a lime and two blueberry bushes. In the biggest planter bags I can find.
Mt Asher Magnolia now has grape hyacinth at her feet. I moved three clumps and mulched with shredded notebook paper, and also added giant cyclamen that had nearly died at church. I'm hoping for a revival. So it's looking a bit literary at the moment before I head up to Palmers and see if I can buy some of that fancy manuka and seaweed mulch. It's just I don't know if Magnolia will thrive on shredded memories alone. Don't try piecing them together, writers have to process a lot before anything gets published. Most of our jumbled thoughts make good mulch.
Olga has put forth the idea that we have a remembrance chair in the garden so we can sit and remember our loved ones who have passed on. I just need a plank of wood to make one as I have two palm stumps for the base but nowhere to put it yet. Mine would be more like a seat or bench, I have considered making one for church but even the church elders thought it would be stolen just like the poppies were, so have given up the idea of putting it there. I do think its odd how the faithful are no longer buried in the churchyard and we have parking lots instead. I find cemeteries can be wonderful places to sit and reflect and have hope that one day, just like a seed put in the ground, new life will sprout again.
My Quiet Garden movement is still under wraps but I am sure one day it will happen. Just have faith!
Monday 12 June 2017
Strange Gardens
I have just finished reading a book about Plunket founder Truby King - apparently among other things he was a manic gardener as well and bought hundreds of rhododendrons for his Wellington property - that didn't do well because Wellington is way too windy.
It was called 'In a strange garden'. But I do think the biographer didn't really do him justice because there's not much evidence it was at all strange. Truby King (1858-1938) trained as a doctor and became the superintendent of the now defunct Seacliff mental asylum. Back in those days, those who did not have sound minds were admitted to these hospitals or retreats far away from town to rest and recover. They didn't administer things like anti-psychotics or lithium or tranquilisers in those days, what Truby did was get these people to garden and fish.
I have encountered in my life many mentally ill people and having experienced it I can tell you gardening is the best thing for a troubled mind, with fresh air and fresh food it will do you a world of good. King went further because he could see it was like having an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for these broken and damaged people. So with his powers of observation and oratory skills of persuasion, he made a convincing case for the proper care and feeding of babies, prevention being better than cure - so that they would grow healthy and strong and be able to resist, among other things the 'Evils of Cram'.
What is the 'Evils of Cram?'. Well basically it's too much studying. lol.
His theory was (and he and his wife never had biological children either) that too much studying and book learning and memorising useless information you are deprived of fresh air and exercise, and most of it is rubbish anyway that you only need to know to pass an exam. Hear hear.
And then that makes you unattractively bookish and unfit to be a mother. Hmm. I don't know about that, but I think if you always have your nose in a textbook maybe men don't make passes at women who wear glasses. However much that wasn't true in my case..but it did mean I probably attracted all the weirdos. Which is why I am an old maid.
Sigh. Also, I do recall I wasn't breastfed but I was Plunketed. One of my earliest memories was being weighed in at the Plunket offices. I think Truby King could have continued on with his work in the Plunket by showing these mothers how to garden as well, to teach their children and then, maybe I wouldn't have ended up insane from too much study.
It was called 'In a strange garden'. But I do think the biographer didn't really do him justice because there's not much evidence it was at all strange. Truby King (1858-1938) trained as a doctor and became the superintendent of the now defunct Seacliff mental asylum. Back in those days, those who did not have sound minds were admitted to these hospitals or retreats far away from town to rest and recover. They didn't administer things like anti-psychotics or lithium or tranquilisers in those days, what Truby did was get these people to garden and fish.
I have encountered in my life many mentally ill people and having experienced it I can tell you gardening is the best thing for a troubled mind, with fresh air and fresh food it will do you a world of good. King went further because he could see it was like having an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for these broken and damaged people. So with his powers of observation and oratory skills of persuasion, he made a convincing case for the proper care and feeding of babies, prevention being better than cure - so that they would grow healthy and strong and be able to resist, among other things the 'Evils of Cram'.
What is the 'Evils of Cram?'. Well basically it's too much studying. lol.
His theory was (and he and his wife never had biological children either) that too much studying and book learning and memorising useless information you are deprived of fresh air and exercise, and most of it is rubbish anyway that you only need to know to pass an exam. Hear hear.
And then that makes you unattractively bookish and unfit to be a mother. Hmm. I don't know about that, but I think if you always have your nose in a textbook maybe men don't make passes at women who wear glasses. However much that wasn't true in my case..but it did mean I probably attracted all the weirdos. Which is why I am an old maid.
Sigh. Also, I do recall I wasn't breastfed but I was Plunketed. One of my earliest memories was being weighed in at the Plunket offices. I think Truby King could have continued on with his work in the Plunket by showing these mothers how to garden as well, to teach their children and then, maybe I wouldn't have ended up insane from too much study.
Friday 9 June 2017
Pruning workshop this Sunday!
Tuesday 6 June 2017
Sand, silt, clay...or mud?
The gardening books all talk about sand, silt, loam and clay soils but never say anything about mud.
Is 'clay' just a fancy name for dried mud...? Because I have mud.
I don't think much grows in mud. I'm trying yacon, but I think I might have to dig them out again and put them in pots with potting mix and wait until spring. By then the mud shall have turned into..pudding.
Herb lady Karyn tells me there's marvellous benefits to clay, like curing cancer... and I've suggested since we have a bathtub down at Woodside garden we could open a luxury garden mud baths, it will be the next trendy thing to do. Forget spas and saunas. We have mud! Soak your aches and cares and dashed hopes of a permaculture fruit tree garden away in a relaxing mud bath and you will feel brand new.
You will also look like the mud monster but that's ok. All those beneficial minerals are soaking into your skin. When it dries and hardens to clay we can chip you out.
I have come up with a few plants that may grow in mud -
Flax
Cabbage trees
Bog sage
Taro
Kikuyu
Creeping Buttercup
Willow
Mangroves
Rice
Now rice looks promising. Where can I find some seeds? I don't think the grains from our rice bucket will grow - you can't just chuck a whole sack of Uncle Toby's into the ground and expect a crop. I once tried that with a sack of sunflower seeds I had bought from the pet shop. Well they were the smallest and shortest sunflowers I ever grew.
Is 'clay' just a fancy name for dried mud...? Because I have mud.
I don't think much grows in mud. I'm trying yacon, but I think I might have to dig them out again and put them in pots with potting mix and wait until spring. By then the mud shall have turned into..pudding.
Herb lady Karyn tells me there's marvellous benefits to clay, like curing cancer... and I've suggested since we have a bathtub down at Woodside garden we could open a luxury garden mud baths, it will be the next trendy thing to do. Forget spas and saunas. We have mud! Soak your aches and cares and dashed hopes of a permaculture fruit tree garden away in a relaxing mud bath and you will feel brand new.
You will also look like the mud monster but that's ok. All those beneficial minerals are soaking into your skin. When it dries and hardens to clay we can chip you out.
I have come up with a few plants that may grow in mud -
Flax
Cabbage trees
Bog sage
Taro
Willow
Mangroves
Rice
Now rice looks promising. Where can I find some seeds? I don't think the grains from our rice bucket will grow - you can't just chuck a whole sack of Uncle Toby's into the ground and expect a crop. I once tried that with a sack of sunflower seeds I had bought from the pet shop. Well they were the smallest and shortest sunflowers I ever grew.
Sunday 4 June 2017
No more fruit trees
Surprise, mum came with me to look at Kings Plant Barn today and we looked at all the plants. Then she said I couldn't buy any. Actually she said, I couldn't buy any until I had my own place.
Fat chance of that.
Basically she said I was not allowed to plant anything because as you might have noticed I do NOT have my own place -she claims it doesn't belong to me, then where exactly does she imagine that this place of my own is?
So if I want my own fruit I will have to walk to the Woodside Garden to pick anything.
Unless, I have them in pots, but they are hundreds of dollars if you buy citrus in a pot, and they don't do as well because my brother tried that and we never got any fruit at all.
I said I am not driving miles to Ngatea just to pick my own blueberries. What a nightmare. I remember going there one time and there were hoards of Asians (including us, well, mum and her family) doing the same thing. It would have been cheaper to buy them frozen already bagged from the shop.
Yesterday she bought a pineapple, bananas, and persimmon. I said, we could grow our own bananas. Why should we import them from Ecuador where they've been gassed and fumigated? The pineapple will not be fresh, nor the persimmon. She laid them on top of the feijoas which I had picked from our tree that we already have. Actually she moved the basket outside which means I have to go outside in the dark and cold if I want any feijoas.
Then she said, plants are cheaper at the flea market. (They also have fleas). But I don't know why she said this because, I am still not allowed to plant any trees, even if they come from the flea market.
So all that means is going to Kings was a waste of time and I failed in my Arbour day mission.
Look at my backyard. Do you think there is absolutely no room for any more fruit trees here?
I am watching Downton Abbey. In that story, the girls have no inheritance it's only boys that get the land. I don't know what they really do all day, but the eldest says she has no life and wastes it taking tea and talking about frocks, until she gets married to someone she doesn't like. If I were her I would have given all my clothes to charity and said stuff this upper class life, I'm going to get a job as Head Gardener and plant up the place, it's looking pretty boring and then all the servants don't have to be stuck inside all day serving us toffs.
Fat chance of that.
Basically she said I was not allowed to plant anything because as you might have noticed I do NOT have my own place -she claims it doesn't belong to me, then where exactly does she imagine that this place of my own is?
So if I want my own fruit I will have to walk to the Woodside Garden to pick anything.
Unless, I have them in pots, but they are hundreds of dollars if you buy citrus in a pot, and they don't do as well because my brother tried that and we never got any fruit at all.
I said I am not driving miles to Ngatea just to pick my own blueberries. What a nightmare. I remember going there one time and there were hoards of Asians (including us, well, mum and her family) doing the same thing. It would have been cheaper to buy them frozen already bagged from the shop.
Yesterday she bought a pineapple, bananas, and persimmon. I said, we could grow our own bananas. Why should we import them from Ecuador where they've been gassed and fumigated? The pineapple will not be fresh, nor the persimmon. She laid them on top of the feijoas which I had picked from our tree that we already have. Actually she moved the basket outside which means I have to go outside in the dark and cold if I want any feijoas.
Then she said, plants are cheaper at the flea market. (They also have fleas). But I don't know why she said this because, I am still not allowed to plant any trees, even if they come from the flea market.
So all that means is going to Kings was a waste of time and I failed in my Arbour day mission.
Look at my backyard. Do you think there is absolutely no room for any more fruit trees here?
I am watching Downton Abbey. In that story, the girls have no inheritance it's only boys that get the land. I don't know what they really do all day, but the eldest says she has no life and wastes it taking tea and talking about frocks, until she gets married to someone she doesn't like. If I were her I would have given all my clothes to charity and said stuff this upper class life, I'm going to get a job as Head Gardener and plant up the place, it's looking pretty boring and then all the servants don't have to be stuck inside all day serving us toffs.
Friday 2 June 2017
Miracle job! Praise the Lord.
Hooray I was offered a full time job yesterday!
It's gardening with a company called Bark and they do schools and retirement villages and large private gardens. I start in a few weeks. I am really looking forward to it and I'm going to be based at the Waitakere Gardens in Henderson. They have amazing productive terraced vege gardens, a woodland retreat and wonderful flower beds. Not bad for old folk! (This is what people do when they retire - garden, and keep the kids out).
Actually I think it will keep ME out of trouble. Also it means, If I earn enough I can now afford things, like paying off holiday debts and mum cannot nag me anymore, saying I don't have a 'proper job'. She might despair that it's gardening and not being a secretary or receptionist, but let's face it I would be a useless secretary/receptionist. I imagine if I was one I would find lots of excuses to go out of the office into the garden. I'm just taking out the shredded paper...be back in a few hours.
Hello, you rang, I'm weeding at the moment can I call you back later?
Yes, just wait there under the tree. Sorry we don't have any magazines to browse just smell the flowers. While you are at it would you mind giving them some water? If you want any tea just pick some from that bush there. Need water? There's the fountain outside. Oh we not going to bother with meetings anymore. All we need to do is meet at the garden and do some gardening and we will get twice as much work done than sitting round at a table.
Speaking of work yesterday I dug and planted yacon. I have three clumps of this new fangled South American vegetable I have not tasted before, apparently it is a tuber that tastes like apples but grows like sunflowers. The house also now has a 'Welcome' mat at the back to front door, I've cleared a path to the drain, and weeded cymbidium orchids, as well as divided and repotted a yellowing jade plant. Aenomiums are now by the entrance. There's also even parsley as edging and Vincent's pukeko near the ponga trees.
Not this Sunday but next Sunday 11 June Woodside Garden is hosting a free winter pruning workshop with Ben Cheah at 1pm. So beat your swords into ploughshares and sharpen your spears into pruning hooks. We aren't going to fight anymore! We are going to grow fruitful gardens. It's also Arbour Day June 5 on Queens Birthday this long weekend we all have the day off so you have no excuse. Go plant some trees!
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