Happy Queen's Birthday!
Yesterday I watched Audrey Hepburn present Gardens of the World. She, looking spiffing in her Ralph Lauren and kitten heels, walked around the gardens of Paris remarking on rose gardens, parks, trees, and long allees. There were glimpses of George Washington's garden in the US, elaborate Italian gardens, baroque tapestry formal gardens, gorgeous greenery growing in ruins, the immense gushing water fountains of Versailles, quaint English landscape gardens with grassland and trees and ha-has, and my favourite, the English country garden (or cottage garden).
How inspiring! And that is just the first DVD. I think its amazing that some of the leaders of those countries, created gardens and then gifted them to the public for all to enjoy and care for. I suppose that is the privilege of being a wealthy landowner, like Prince Charles. Instead of raping and pillaging, they grow and nurture. I am currently reading another book by Prince Charles about his organic gardens, of Highgrove, Birkhall and Clarence House. He writes (with some help) about the organic techniques he uses in developing his garden. Things like composting, water conservation, feeding the soil.
I can see how he can be seen as a kind of eccentric, obsessed person. Others probably thought why isn't he fighting battles and going forth to conquer like the Kings and Princes of old. Well, maybe he's already learned to turn his swords into pruning hooks. Even though the French King Louis XIV created that grand monstrosity that is Versailles, requiring thousands of gallons of water and manpower to maintain it, at least his luxury and excess was all in the pursuit of beauty rather than destruction. The angry French peasants who called for the Revolution probably didn't thinks so or appreciate it though! But Marie Antoinette, even though she said 'let them eat cake' was the original hipster, wanting to live the hippy lifestyle on a champagne budget. She was down to earth, and somewhat naive...even though it probably seemed like her head was in the clouds (and on the chopping block). It was not her fault she was groomed for royalty.
Well, I'm going to try and make that rhubarb crumble now.
Sunday, 31 May 2015
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May...
It's nearing the end of May. Time has flown by!
Yesterday had the working bee in which we we were very busy. Nicole planted garlic, and I sowed a green crop of buckwheat. The peas I sowed last time had disappeared?! They must have been eaten by birds or maybe slugs. We never have much luck with peas at Woodside. We also planted silverbeet. I managed to snag four rhubarb plants! I'd never tried rhubarb before. So I have no idea what they taste like, but they look healthy and are a giant vegetable which I duly planted amongst my roses. Apparently they make good companion plants. I also put one in a pot, moving the strawberries to other places and the chives in it's own pot. Rhubarbs are deeply rooted and also they like to be in part shade.
It has rained and the house plants get put outside to have a drink of rainwater.
I still haven't decided on Daphne, as thought maybe by the letterbox as it's partly shaded and sheltered by the hedge, but, when I tried to dig the soil it was too hard with roots and I would never get enough loam there to plant anything deep in. Reader's Digest 'short cut to gardens' suggests Daphne is good in shady places by doorways. And 'What shrub is that?' suggests some Daphnes are good for rockery areas, which our gravel garden assuredly is. Maybe I should have bought two, to plant in my two places so if one died it wouldn't be a loss.
I am also thinking the pot the peas are currently in which is quite large and may suit Daphne, if given enough acid based potting mix. It is on the corner of the terrace so would give off a nice fragrance instead of by the back door in which there is no place to linger. But the peas are already in it! So she will have to wait. Her tag did say suitable for pots. I dropped by Mitre 10 yesterday and had a look around, Daphne was selling for $23! Some things are marginally cheaper there, but not by much.
I'm going to watch a dvd called Gardens of the World, hosted by none other than Audrey Hepburn. She had a garden in Switzerland. Her vine covered farmhouse was called 'La Paisible' The peaceful place. She retired there after film making, and I read she loved roses and fresh greens from her garden.
It's nearing the end of May. Time has flown by!
Yesterday had the working bee in which we we were very busy. Nicole planted garlic, and I sowed a green crop of buckwheat. The peas I sowed last time had disappeared?! They must have been eaten by birds or maybe slugs. We never have much luck with peas at Woodside. We also planted silverbeet. I managed to snag four rhubarb plants! I'd never tried rhubarb before. So I have no idea what they taste like, but they look healthy and are a giant vegetable which I duly planted amongst my roses. Apparently they make good companion plants. I also put one in a pot, moving the strawberries to other places and the chives in it's own pot. Rhubarbs are deeply rooted and also they like to be in part shade.
It has rained and the house plants get put outside to have a drink of rainwater.
I still haven't decided on Daphne, as thought maybe by the letterbox as it's partly shaded and sheltered by the hedge, but, when I tried to dig the soil it was too hard with roots and I would never get enough loam there to plant anything deep in. Reader's Digest 'short cut to gardens' suggests Daphne is good in shady places by doorways. And 'What shrub is that?' suggests some Daphnes are good for rockery areas, which our gravel garden assuredly is. Maybe I should have bought two, to plant in my two places so if one died it wouldn't be a loss.
I am also thinking the pot the peas are currently in which is quite large and may suit Daphne, if given enough acid based potting mix. It is on the corner of the terrace so would give off a nice fragrance instead of by the back door in which there is no place to linger. But the peas are already in it! So she will have to wait. Her tag did say suitable for pots. I dropped by Mitre 10 yesterday and had a look around, Daphne was selling for $23! Some things are marginally cheaper there, but not by much.
I'm going to watch a dvd called Gardens of the World, hosted by none other than Audrey Hepburn. She had a garden in Switzerland. Her vine covered farmhouse was called 'La Paisible' The peaceful place. She retired there after film making, and I read she loved roses and fresh greens from her garden.
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Frost in May
There's a chill in the air and winter has arrived.
This morning's temperature was minus 5 degrees. We've wheeled out the heater. I walk around the garden, checking if any plants have succumbed to frost. A borage seedling looks wilted, and one of the sunflowers looks droopy. But other than that, it looks like the plants have survived. We have bought some of the flowering succulents inside.
I still haven't decided on a location for Daphne. I could put her by the deck, which would be east facing, by the stairs, so we can smell her as we walk past. Or I cold put her by the back door, near the laundry, again so we can enjoy the smell. This is on the south facing side of the house, near the rosemary, also near a tap, in the gravel bed. I'm just worried if she gets too big, but, the tag said one metre shrub. If I put her by the deck, Dad would have to mow around her.
Hibiscus is flowering big peachy orange flowers. The mustard I sowed a few months back is now flowering, although I've pulled a lot out and let it lie for green manure.
The tangelo tree is bearing fruits. The feijoas have nearly finished fruiting. The hydrangea doesn't look too good, it hasn't got any flowers and the leaves are brownish. The passionfruit has buds.
The basil has gone to seed, but when I try to pull it out, it is deeply rooted. Perhaps I should just leave it to die down amongst the plants along with the cherry tomato? Unless I need to make room for something else but nothing much will grow now in terms of veges and herbs and flowers.
Now's the time to plant trees and shrubs. And soon, garlic. I have one sack of strawberry mix still to use up, but I've planted all my strawberry runners. I have a working bee tomorrow at the gardens. Maybe I can see whats going on there...I wonder if my broad beans have come up.
I think maybe I shall ask at the garden centre about the Daphne. I don't want her to turn up her roots and die, considering she cost $12. The books said she was fussy, but rewarding. Well at least she doesn't have thorns!
This morning's temperature was minus 5 degrees. We've wheeled out the heater. I walk around the garden, checking if any plants have succumbed to frost. A borage seedling looks wilted, and one of the sunflowers looks droopy. But other than that, it looks like the plants have survived. We have bought some of the flowering succulents inside.
I still haven't decided on a location for Daphne. I could put her by the deck, which would be east facing, by the stairs, so we can smell her as we walk past. Or I cold put her by the back door, near the laundry, again so we can enjoy the smell. This is on the south facing side of the house, near the rosemary, also near a tap, in the gravel bed. I'm just worried if she gets too big, but, the tag said one metre shrub. If I put her by the deck, Dad would have to mow around her.
Hibiscus is flowering big peachy orange flowers. The mustard I sowed a few months back is now flowering, although I've pulled a lot out and let it lie for green manure.
The tangelo tree is bearing fruits. The feijoas have nearly finished fruiting. The hydrangea doesn't look too good, it hasn't got any flowers and the leaves are brownish. The passionfruit has buds.
The basil has gone to seed, but when I try to pull it out, it is deeply rooted. Perhaps I should just leave it to die down amongst the plants along with the cherry tomato? Unless I need to make room for something else but nothing much will grow now in terms of veges and herbs and flowers.
Now's the time to plant trees and shrubs. And soon, garlic. I have one sack of strawberry mix still to use up, but I've planted all my strawberry runners. I have a working bee tomorrow at the gardens. Maybe I can see whats going on there...I wonder if my broad beans have come up.
I think maybe I shall ask at the garden centre about the Daphne. I don't want her to turn up her roots and die, considering she cost $12. The books said she was fussy, but rewarding. Well at least she doesn't have thorns!
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
The Tui NZ Flower Garden
I am reading the Tui NZ Flower Garden book.
Its very good, and lists flowers from A to Z with pictures and tips on how to grow them. Obviously I can't grow ALL of them, as some are really only suited to colder climates, and are unobtainable in Auckland, but the majority I can at least give a go.
I do have a list of ones missing from my garden that I can picture having a spot there.
My list
Abutilon (chinese lantern) would look good by the back fence
Allium - ornamental onion. I could just plant some shooting onion bulbs as did last time, although they were white flowered not pink.
Amaryllis - naked ladies. I like the pink ones. It says bulbs arrive early October.
Anemone - Japanese windflower. I think my brothers have pink ones at their house at Epsom.
Although..I like the florist ones either in hot pink or violet.
Bleeding Heart - they look cute like little hanging valentine hearts. I haven't seen them in the shops though.
Bottlebrush - these would make good chicken hedging plants along with Kowhai.
Clematis - am considering a climber for the back fence, although I have sown some native seeds there.
Evening Primrose - a romantic looking flower which I'm sure smells, also opens during the evening
Gladiolus - the pink edged ones and frilly peach ones look gorgeous. For the back fence as they are tall, and will attract bees.
Lisanthus - these look like roses without thorns! Where can I find them?
Violet - I need to find these. Violas are not the same as violets.
I think its cute that Tui have developed a garden mix and called it 'Flower Power'. Tui is a garden brand but they don't sell seeds just garden mixes and fertilisers and some sprays, and wild bird seed. I get most of my seed from Yates and Kings Seed and also Watkins and McGregors. Sometimes its easier to just sow from punnets or plugs. But I'm hoping my seeds will come up..I sowed plenty. Then after they have flowered and set seed I won't need to buy seed anymore!
Its very good, and lists flowers from A to Z with pictures and tips on how to grow them. Obviously I can't grow ALL of them, as some are really only suited to colder climates, and are unobtainable in Auckland, but the majority I can at least give a go.
I do have a list of ones missing from my garden that I can picture having a spot there.
My list
Abutilon (chinese lantern) would look good by the back fence
Allium - ornamental onion. I could just plant some shooting onion bulbs as did last time, although they were white flowered not pink.
Amaryllis - naked ladies. I like the pink ones. It says bulbs arrive early October.
Anemone - Japanese windflower. I think my brothers have pink ones at their house at Epsom.
Although..I like the florist ones either in hot pink or violet.
Bleeding Heart - they look cute like little hanging valentine hearts. I haven't seen them in the shops though.
Bottlebrush - these would make good chicken hedging plants along with Kowhai.
Clematis - am considering a climber for the back fence, although I have sown some native seeds there.
Evening Primrose - a romantic looking flower which I'm sure smells, also opens during the evening
Gladiolus - the pink edged ones and frilly peach ones look gorgeous. For the back fence as they are tall, and will attract bees.
Lisanthus - these look like roses without thorns! Where can I find them?
Violet - I need to find these. Violas are not the same as violets.
I think its cute that Tui have developed a garden mix and called it 'Flower Power'. Tui is a garden brand but they don't sell seeds just garden mixes and fertilisers and some sprays, and wild bird seed. I get most of my seed from Yates and Kings Seed and also Watkins and McGregors. Sometimes its easier to just sow from punnets or plugs. But I'm hoping my seeds will come up..I sowed plenty. Then after they have flowered and set seed I won't need to buy seed anymore!
Monday, 25 May 2015
Dear Daphne
Daphne is sitting in her pot in the corner of my terrace. I have not decided where to plant her yet. I looked up online and it seems she may prefer the morning sun and an easterly site. The tag said good for pots, and I'm wondering if should keep her in a pot for the time being.
I wonder if she'd be good by our back door in the gravel garden behind the rosemary, as some people said plant her near entrance ways so you can smell the perfume from her flowers. There is also a tap nearby so she would have adequate moisture. The tag also said lime-free soil, or acid soil. I don't know if I ought to buy a special compost mix for acid loving plants.
We do have a camellia in the back gravel garden which does well, no flowers yet though. Camellias like acid soil. Although there are azaleas and a tea tree on the North side of the house too. So maybe our soil is actually acid anyway? I have not done a proper test to find out.
I'm a bit scared of planting her out at the moment in case mum sees and wonders what this new plant is doing here. She is currently camouflaged by the other plants near the frangipani and peas. Mum of course threw a fit that I bought a frangipani. Even though it was with my christmas money, which was garden vouchers, and it was 25% off. Later she saw some frangipanis at the flea market and scoffed at my plant buying. Obviously I couldn't have waited for a bargain.
She doesn't seem to mind about christmas trees though. Christmas trees are IMHO horrible and unsuitable for our climate. What is the use of a dying christmas tree when you can have a live, fragrant frangipani reminding you of tropical, sunny days? Also they need no decoration, the flowers are heavenly enough.
Any ideas? Daphne lovers are welcome to comment here. Extra bonus, Daphne will flower in winter.
I wonder if she'd be good by our back door in the gravel garden behind the rosemary, as some people said plant her near entrance ways so you can smell the perfume from her flowers. There is also a tap nearby so she would have adequate moisture. The tag also said lime-free soil, or acid soil. I don't know if I ought to buy a special compost mix for acid loving plants.
We do have a camellia in the back gravel garden which does well, no flowers yet though. Camellias like acid soil. Although there are azaleas and a tea tree on the North side of the house too. So maybe our soil is actually acid anyway? I have not done a proper test to find out.
I'm a bit scared of planting her out at the moment in case mum sees and wonders what this new plant is doing here. She is currently camouflaged by the other plants near the frangipani and peas. Mum of course threw a fit that I bought a frangipani. Even though it was with my christmas money, which was garden vouchers, and it was 25% off. Later she saw some frangipanis at the flea market and scoffed at my plant buying. Obviously I couldn't have waited for a bargain.
She doesn't seem to mind about christmas trees though. Christmas trees are IMHO horrible and unsuitable for our climate. What is the use of a dying christmas tree when you can have a live, fragrant frangipani reminding you of tropical, sunny days? Also they need no decoration, the flowers are heavenly enough.
Any ideas? Daphne lovers are welcome to comment here. Extra bonus, Daphne will flower in winter.
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Daphne
Remember Neighbours? The Aussie soap?
If you were a child of the 80's you might have followed when Kylie Minogue was Charlene Ramsay and Jason Donavon was Scott Robinson, and their neighbours were Des and Daphne. Daphne owned a coffee shop they all hung out in called - Daphne's.
Daphne, like all good characters in soap operas, died a tragic death after laying in a coma several days. Des was heartbroken. This former stripper turned suburbanite meant everything to him.
Now, I was not meaning to go plant shopping today. But I knew I had to get out and do something after several days of being cooped up indoors with wind and rain. And I was looking for Daphne. Daphne, according to NZ Gardener, was a flowering shrub that no garden could be without. The virtues of this plant were even more exalted than lilac, which, unfortunately does not grow well in Auckland climes. I had no idea. I had never smelled the scent of Daphne before. I didn't even know it was a plant, just a tragic soap character with a heart of gold.
So, I was wandering around the mall, as I do when after a weeks bed rest and nowhere to walk around in the cold and wet, I thought would be safe....I had this feeling I ought to go to the Warehouse. I had been to Whitcoulls and the only had a handful of gardening books. Wrong season?
I noticed that, more than half of their store had been given over to toys and stationery but the pickings were slim. I was thinking what a sorry state for booksellers in this country when you can't even find a decent read in the only bookstore in town. Even the Warehouse it seems has more books than Whitcoulls.
The selection at Warehouse was pretty dire too, but at least they had a few. Yates Garden Problem solver. 100 New Zealand Plants to plant in your garden. Salads. Tui Garden Book.
I wandered down the aisles. DVDs. Toys. Onesies. I really don't know what the deal is with onesies right now. They are horrid, and honestly why would anyone go to bed as Pink Panther? That just totally defeats the purpose of sleep. I kept walking, past the panel heaters, and rows of sistema plastic ware. My feet took me to see the bulbs. I bought them all last month, thank you, with my birthday money. I walked past and out to the plants area.
I guess you can tell what happened next. Let me tell you. I saved $3.
If you were a child of the 80's you might have followed when Kylie Minogue was Charlene Ramsay and Jason Donavon was Scott Robinson, and their neighbours were Des and Daphne. Daphne owned a coffee shop they all hung out in called - Daphne's.
Daphne, like all good characters in soap operas, died a tragic death after laying in a coma several days. Des was heartbroken. This former stripper turned suburbanite meant everything to him.
Now, I was not meaning to go plant shopping today. But I knew I had to get out and do something after several days of being cooped up indoors with wind and rain. And I was looking for Daphne. Daphne, according to NZ Gardener, was a flowering shrub that no garden could be without. The virtues of this plant were even more exalted than lilac, which, unfortunately does not grow well in Auckland climes. I had no idea. I had never smelled the scent of Daphne before. I didn't even know it was a plant, just a tragic soap character with a heart of gold.
So, I was wandering around the mall, as I do when after a weeks bed rest and nowhere to walk around in the cold and wet, I thought would be safe....I had this feeling I ought to go to the Warehouse. I had been to Whitcoulls and the only had a handful of gardening books. Wrong season?
I noticed that, more than half of their store had been given over to toys and stationery but the pickings were slim. I was thinking what a sorry state for booksellers in this country when you can't even find a decent read in the only bookstore in town. Even the Warehouse it seems has more books than Whitcoulls.
The selection at Warehouse was pretty dire too, but at least they had a few. Yates Garden Problem solver. 100 New Zealand Plants to plant in your garden. Salads. Tui Garden Book.
I wandered down the aisles. DVDs. Toys. Onesies. I really don't know what the deal is with onesies right now. They are horrid, and honestly why would anyone go to bed as Pink Panther? That just totally defeats the purpose of sleep. I kept walking, past the panel heaters, and rows of sistema plastic ware. My feet took me to see the bulbs. I bought them all last month, thank you, with my birthday money. I walked past and out to the plants area.
I guess you can tell what happened next. Let me tell you. I saved $3.
Friday, 22 May 2015
What a day for a daydream
It continues to rain.
My car is now revived. We found the culprit. Apparently there's a button that has been left ON that has been draining the car battery. I have no idea what it's for, and must have been left on ever since I bought the car a year ago. But hooray, now it is switched off, and I won't need to worry, I can leave the car in the garage for a few days without worrying it won't start.
I do the grocery shopping, passing the Pak n'Save plants stand from Awapuni Nurseries. They have little punnets wrapped in paper to pop n' grow and I see they have violets. BUT I have already bought seeds of those and sowed them so I must be patient and wait for them to grow. So I resist the urge for instant gratification.
I'm wondering if it's ok to buy chinese vegetables though. Surely mum won't mind, as she buys them fully grown and cut anyway. Last night she wanted chives to garnish the salmon and unfortunately I had clipped it all back, but I told her we can have parsley instead.
Things to do ...
*harvest basil seeds before it's too late and keep them for spring season.
*pull out cherry tomato plant if no more tomatoes and put chinese veges there.
*perhaps..buy another two more blueberry bushes as need more than one, which doesn't seem to be doing well where I planted it, so may need to be in a tub of some kind...in acidic/peaty soil. Surely mum won't object to more blueberry plants? Especially if buy one to replace the one that seems to be dead.
*prepare a garlic bed
* weed
*gather bamboo for community garden fence
* find an arch. I have requested Kings order some in, they don't seem to have any at the moment
* scope out free cuttings/plants swaps in Sunnyvale, apparently every Saturday they meet at the community hall.
*join a butterfly club and visit West Lynn gardens again
Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow, They toil not, nor do they spin....
I'm considering while my garden is all wet making some clothes on mums sewing machine. If she doesn't kill me first. Cos I might wreck it. Well. I do think it's important to wear clothes, since the current state of our gardens and climate is that, its too cold and wet in winter and too hot and sunny in summer to walk round naked all the time. Animals are fortunate in that they've already got fur and feathers.
My car is now revived. We found the culprit. Apparently there's a button that has been left ON that has been draining the car battery. I have no idea what it's for, and must have been left on ever since I bought the car a year ago. But hooray, now it is switched off, and I won't need to worry, I can leave the car in the garage for a few days without worrying it won't start.
I do the grocery shopping, passing the Pak n'Save plants stand from Awapuni Nurseries. They have little punnets wrapped in paper to pop n' grow and I see they have violets. BUT I have already bought seeds of those and sowed them so I must be patient and wait for them to grow. So I resist the urge for instant gratification.
I'm wondering if it's ok to buy chinese vegetables though. Surely mum won't mind, as she buys them fully grown and cut anyway. Last night she wanted chives to garnish the salmon and unfortunately I had clipped it all back, but I told her we can have parsley instead.
Things to do ...
*harvest basil seeds before it's too late and keep them for spring season.
*pull out cherry tomato plant if no more tomatoes and put chinese veges there.
*perhaps..buy another two more blueberry bushes as need more than one, which doesn't seem to be doing well where I planted it, so may need to be in a tub of some kind...in acidic/peaty soil. Surely mum won't object to more blueberry plants? Especially if buy one to replace the one that seems to be dead.
*prepare a garlic bed
* weed
*gather bamboo for community garden fence
* find an arch. I have requested Kings order some in, they don't seem to have any at the moment
* scope out free cuttings/plants swaps in Sunnyvale, apparently every Saturday they meet at the community hall.
*join a butterfly club and visit West Lynn gardens again
Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow, They toil not, nor do they spin....
I'm considering while my garden is all wet making some clothes on mums sewing machine. If she doesn't kill me first. Cos I might wreck it. Well. I do think it's important to wear clothes, since the current state of our gardens and climate is that, its too cold and wet in winter and too hot and sunny in summer to walk round naked all the time. Animals are fortunate in that they've already got fur and feathers.
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day...
Yesterday .... continued my convalescence and read two books. Then found out my car battery had died while I was in bed. The funeral may be today...when the coroner comes to look at it.
So I have not really been able to go anywhere or do any gardening. The only new thing I had done was divide some lambs ears so now there are three clumps growing in Snowy's bed. And clipped back some chives that seem to have become infested with little black insects. Also, I found some grass had been growing amongst one of my chives so, I may have been eating plain grass along with chives with my scrambled egg.
On my short walkabout between showers I noticed my hyacinth is sprouting! All different colours, mauve, pink, and white. This is very exciting as I had never grown them before.
Also, my ivy leaved geranium is flowering in a most gorgeous cerise colour, and bonus I have two of them as I took a cutting. Dead easy, just pick a stem, stick it in soil, and it roots.
Will take photos to show you...along with the white alyssum, which is doing very well and giving the beneficial hover flies much food. I am thinking of joining the local butterfly club.
Then after eating some more chicken and corn soup (thank you, Watties) I went and organised my empty seed packets and labels. I have a little box that's shaped like a book. So I put them all together. I was going to organise them into a little scrapbook to show what a delightful garden I have with a myriad of different seeds but..now those professional scrapbookers have made it an unhealthy obssessive and expensive hobby in which you need to buy all these bits and pieces instead of using actual, genuine SCRAPS, I kind of put paid to that idea. I'd rather spend money on...well..seeds and bulbs. Seeds and bulbs! Arrrgh!
Can having a cold make you delirious?
So I have not really been able to go anywhere or do any gardening. The only new thing I had done was divide some lambs ears so now there are three clumps growing in Snowy's bed. And clipped back some chives that seem to have become infested with little black insects. Also, I found some grass had been growing amongst one of my chives so, I may have been eating plain grass along with chives with my scrambled egg.
On my short walkabout between showers I noticed my hyacinth is sprouting! All different colours, mauve, pink, and white. This is very exciting as I had never grown them before.
Also, my ivy leaved geranium is flowering in a most gorgeous cerise colour, and bonus I have two of them as I took a cutting. Dead easy, just pick a stem, stick it in soil, and it roots.
Will take photos to show you...along with the white alyssum, which is doing very well and giving the beneficial hover flies much food. I am thinking of joining the local butterfly club.
Then after eating some more chicken and corn soup (thank you, Watties) I went and organised my empty seed packets and labels. I have a little box that's shaped like a book. So I put them all together. I was going to organise them into a little scrapbook to show what a delightful garden I have with a myriad of different seeds but..now those professional scrapbookers have made it an unhealthy obssessive and expensive hobby in which you need to buy all these bits and pieces instead of using actual, genuine SCRAPS, I kind of put paid to that idea. I'd rather spend money on...well..seeds and bulbs. Seeds and bulbs! Arrrgh!
Can having a cold make you delirious?
Sunday, 17 May 2015
In my Poppy Bed
I am laid up. Thankfully, I have many back issues of NZ Gardener to fall back on. I hunt out the May and June issues. It seems nows the time to plant garlic...but where? I'm thinking maybe my front corner bed that has a lot of soil in it, I would need to fertilise it a bit more though.
My choice in fertiliser would be aloe vera liquid, but I hear sheep pellets are really good. Since we have so much sheep in our country. Composted chicken manure, also, and I have good quantities of that, for free. The comfrey plants are also sending out shoots, which can be made into tea for fertiliser. And then there is vermicast, which comes in yellow bags and is a crumbly texture. Vermicast is the high class garden term for worm droppings.
Traditionally, garlic bulbs are planted on the shortest day, June 21st so, and are ready by the longest. I have plenty of time. Before August at any rate.
Garlic is an absolute staple for Chinese Cuisine, along with ginger and spring onion. My spring onions are coming up with my carrots but I will have to thin them as planted them with green manure crop. The green manure crop is keeping any bugs away though. Other chinese herbs and vegetables to plant are - coriander, chinese radish, chinese cabbage, garlic chives, and bok choy.
No..I am not planting a rice paddy. But...has anyone ever tried in NZ? In Wellington right now with all the flooding, they could make a fortune. I often wondered how rice in Australia was grown. Isn't Australia meant to be a desert? I am reminded that, in Hamilton, they now have chinese tea plantations thanks to some enterprising fellow who found that camellia sinesis, or the tea tree, grows really well in Waikato soils. Hamilton, King Country and surrounds are highly fertile and excellent for growing roses. The Hamilton Gardens are simply amazing.
Auckland only has volcanic soil that has lots of rocks..or it has clay. Only places like Pukekohe have excellent soil that you can just grow anything. You drive past acres and acres of productive market gardens. Out west, the vineyards have moved up to Kumeu and beyond. They like stony soil, poor soil, and warmth. I miss the days when Henderson was known for its vineyards and orchards.
Now it just seems like shops, shops and more shops. Not the destination kind, more like $2 and big box warehouses. However, our green legacy lives on with parks and reserves. There are streams with wildlife and community gardens dotted in every neighbourhood. And the people are still friendly, down to earth, and a great majority still live on full size sections. We even plant trees for babies.
I think I'd like to get into some guerilla gardening. One of the streets nearest me, Universal Drive, has a big centre island section planted with trees. I am so used to these trees but I think they can be livened up a bit by planting spring bulbs underneath. They would be easy care and you could leave the alone and still mow the lawn. I saw in some places in America, like Portland Oregon, neighbourhoods band together to plant the best verges outside their homes. The result, an abundance of plants and wildlife, attracting bees, birds and butterflies where once was barren and bare lawn.
My choice in fertiliser would be aloe vera liquid, but I hear sheep pellets are really good. Since we have so much sheep in our country. Composted chicken manure, also, and I have good quantities of that, for free. The comfrey plants are also sending out shoots, which can be made into tea for fertiliser. And then there is vermicast, which comes in yellow bags and is a crumbly texture. Vermicast is the high class garden term for worm droppings.
Traditionally, garlic bulbs are planted on the shortest day, June 21st so, and are ready by the longest. I have plenty of time. Before August at any rate.
Garlic is an absolute staple for Chinese Cuisine, along with ginger and spring onion. My spring onions are coming up with my carrots but I will have to thin them as planted them with green manure crop. The green manure crop is keeping any bugs away though. Other chinese herbs and vegetables to plant are - coriander, chinese radish, chinese cabbage, garlic chives, and bok choy.
No..I am not planting a rice paddy. But...has anyone ever tried in NZ? In Wellington right now with all the flooding, they could make a fortune. I often wondered how rice in Australia was grown. Isn't Australia meant to be a desert? I am reminded that, in Hamilton, they now have chinese tea plantations thanks to some enterprising fellow who found that camellia sinesis, or the tea tree, grows really well in Waikato soils. Hamilton, King Country and surrounds are highly fertile and excellent for growing roses. The Hamilton Gardens are simply amazing.
Auckland only has volcanic soil that has lots of rocks..or it has clay. Only places like Pukekohe have excellent soil that you can just grow anything. You drive past acres and acres of productive market gardens. Out west, the vineyards have moved up to Kumeu and beyond. They like stony soil, poor soil, and warmth. I miss the days when Henderson was known for its vineyards and orchards.
Now it just seems like shops, shops and more shops. Not the destination kind, more like $2 and big box warehouses. However, our green legacy lives on with parks and reserves. There are streams with wildlife and community gardens dotted in every neighbourhood. And the people are still friendly, down to earth, and a great majority still live on full size sections. We even plant trees for babies.
I think I'd like to get into some guerilla gardening. One of the streets nearest me, Universal Drive, has a big centre island section planted with trees. I am so used to these trees but I think they can be livened up a bit by planting spring bulbs underneath. They would be easy care and you could leave the alone and still mow the lawn. I saw in some places in America, like Portland Oregon, neighbourhoods band together to plant the best verges outside their homes. The result, an abundance of plants and wildlife, attracting bees, birds and butterflies where once was barren and bare lawn.
Saturday, 16 May 2015
The cold has hit
The plants are OK but I am not.
My fingers feel decidedly frosty and I am wrapped up in blankies.
I eat garlic and honey in vain attempt to kill this nasty virus, but what I really need is chicken soup. Except Mary and Martha are still alive. I ask mum if she would consider killing the chickens once they stop laying eggs, as it says in the Chicken Coop book. I don't think she will, she's far too attached. I say, they will be tastier than farmed chickens.
How far I have come since I was a semi-vegetarian from aged 12 to 24. I have to content myself with hardboiled eggs in congee. Or chicken noodle soup out of a packet. The chickens being cremated and crushed into a powder. Will those chickens sacrifice their lives so that I can live and be warm?
I don't do much gardening, Mum shells feijoas and makes up jars of preserves. I do pot up a choko that has sprouted, to plant out in spring after the frosts. Chokos are green and kind of bland, but they make good curries.
Mum repeats..do not buy any more plants! I think she may have seen my bromeliads.
Oh for a place of my own! Then I can do whatever I like and plant whatever I like. Instead, like Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, I ask meekly for soil, saying 'might I have a bit of earth?'. Mary was sickly and sallow and went around wearing black, just like Mary our chicken. But then she discovered a secret garden...
My fingers feel decidedly frosty and I am wrapped up in blankies.
I eat garlic and honey in vain attempt to kill this nasty virus, but what I really need is chicken soup. Except Mary and Martha are still alive. I ask mum if she would consider killing the chickens once they stop laying eggs, as it says in the Chicken Coop book. I don't think she will, she's far too attached. I say, they will be tastier than farmed chickens.
How far I have come since I was a semi-vegetarian from aged 12 to 24. I have to content myself with hardboiled eggs in congee. Or chicken noodle soup out of a packet. The chickens being cremated and crushed into a powder. Will those chickens sacrifice their lives so that I can live and be warm?
I don't do much gardening, Mum shells feijoas and makes up jars of preserves. I do pot up a choko that has sprouted, to plant out in spring after the frosts. Chokos are green and kind of bland, but they make good curries.
Mum repeats..do not buy any more plants! I think she may have seen my bromeliads.
Oh for a place of my own! Then I can do whatever I like and plant whatever I like. Instead, like Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, I ask meekly for soil, saying 'might I have a bit of earth?'. Mary was sickly and sallow and went around wearing black, just like Mary our chicken. But then she discovered a secret garden...
Friday, 15 May 2015
Chicken Coops for the Soul
I went to the Home and Garden Show today, and...broke my ban. They were selling bags of bromeliads for $5, each bag had about seven large bromeliads. I could hardly pass that up!
When I got home, I snuck them into the beds and corners. Mum hasn't noticed (yet). They are green and camouflage well with all the other plants in the shade.
They were also exhibiting this new bio fertiliser, made from aloe vera plants and seaweed, with six different microbes for the soil. All organic. I bought a small bottle for $5 and fertilised my borders.
We shall see if it makes any difference!
They didn't have any rain barrels as thought they might do, but there was one exhibit of solar power panels. If I had the money and permission to install a few on the garage roof, I could power my car! Or at least, save money on power. You never know when the power will run out in Auckland.
I also saw the eglus that my book I'm reading at the moment, Chicken Coops for the Soul, mentions. Pretty pricy, and all plastic. Chickens seem to be the in trend these days. After my mum got Australorps Mary and Martha, my other aunties joined in. Now I have fresh free range eggs everyday.
However our coop is not much to be desired. It's an old wire cage. Mum managed to find a rabbit hutch on the side of the road, but Mary and Martha prefer the wire cage. It's cosier. She's lined it with newspaper and plastic, and they have a nesting tray lined with hay, and at night they go to roost.
I have seen some flash chicken coops in books complete with roof garden, balconies, even a gypsy caravan on wheels. But Mary and Martha aren't fussed. They want to stay together in their cosy battery coop behind the garage. I'm sure those organic free range farmers will be annoyed. Chickens preferring cages?! But we gave them freedom!
Dont worry, they are free to room in the backyard, but their hen house is actually a cage.
I think I may be coming down with a cold from being outside in the wind and rain. I ate some garlic and honey to combat it, but, I can just feel my throat going tickly and my nose starting to run. Grr. I may be out of action next week, resting up and reading the rest of Chicken Coops for the Soul.
When I got home, I snuck them into the beds and corners. Mum hasn't noticed (yet). They are green and camouflage well with all the other plants in the shade.
They were also exhibiting this new bio fertiliser, made from aloe vera plants and seaweed, with six different microbes for the soil. All organic. I bought a small bottle for $5 and fertilised my borders.
We shall see if it makes any difference!
They didn't have any rain barrels as thought they might do, but there was one exhibit of solar power panels. If I had the money and permission to install a few on the garage roof, I could power my car! Or at least, save money on power. You never know when the power will run out in Auckland.
I also saw the eglus that my book I'm reading at the moment, Chicken Coops for the Soul, mentions. Pretty pricy, and all plastic. Chickens seem to be the in trend these days. After my mum got Australorps Mary and Martha, my other aunties joined in. Now I have fresh free range eggs everyday.
However our coop is not much to be desired. It's an old wire cage. Mum managed to find a rabbit hutch on the side of the road, but Mary and Martha prefer the wire cage. It's cosier. She's lined it with newspaper and plastic, and they have a nesting tray lined with hay, and at night they go to roost.
I have seen some flash chicken coops in books complete with roof garden, balconies, even a gypsy caravan on wheels. But Mary and Martha aren't fussed. They want to stay together in their cosy battery coop behind the garage. I'm sure those organic free range farmers will be annoyed. Chickens preferring cages?! But we gave them freedom!
Dont worry, they are free to room in the backyard, but their hen house is actually a cage.
I think I may be coming down with a cold from being outside in the wind and rain. I ate some garlic and honey to combat it, but, I can just feel my throat going tickly and my nose starting to run. Grr. I may be out of action next week, resting up and reading the rest of Chicken Coops for the Soul.
Thursday, 14 May 2015
The rain it raineth everyday
In between bouts of shower power I potted up my strawberries using my strawberry mix. I had one wire basket that used to be used to cook fish and chips in and lined it with some sheepskin, and put one plant there. The other three, I put in a hexagonal stone pot that used to house one of my fuchsias.
I think I need to mound them up a bit more, as they get a bit damp. But pots are good as when the strawberries start fruiting, their runners and berries can dangle off the side. My flowering fuchsia (white and pink) I repotted in a hanging basket because it looked a bit sad in the pot, flowering away you couldn't appreciate the flowers as they were so low down. Now up a bit higher, it has more air in a basket, which I hooked beneath one of my mangers off the garden fence in my little patio.
I also liberated one of my orchids from the coir basket liner I had been using, now its lining the fuchsia basket and the roots now have freedom in it's wooden hanging basket - I learned that, orchids have aerial roots and don't really need to be confined in a lined pot.
Tomorrow I am off to a Home and Garden Show so..am looking forward to seeing the different ideas and talking with fellow gardeners.
I think I need to mound them up a bit more, as they get a bit damp. But pots are good as when the strawberries start fruiting, their runners and berries can dangle off the side. My flowering fuchsia (white and pink) I repotted in a hanging basket because it looked a bit sad in the pot, flowering away you couldn't appreciate the flowers as they were so low down. Now up a bit higher, it has more air in a basket, which I hooked beneath one of my mangers off the garden fence in my little patio.
I also liberated one of my orchids from the coir basket liner I had been using, now its lining the fuchsia basket and the roots now have freedom in it's wooden hanging basket - I learned that, orchids have aerial roots and don't really need to be confined in a lined pot.
Tomorrow I am off to a Home and Garden Show so..am looking forward to seeing the different ideas and talking with fellow gardeners.
The upside down plant Kingdom
I head to Kings again. This time to buy a pot of feverfew. Not for me! For a friend who suffers migraines. I had read it in a home remedy magazine, of its healing leaves.
I was about to buy some seeds as well, but then I remembered..that plant looked familiar, is it not the same as pyrethrum daisy? I have that plant!
I will need to check my beds again to make sure.
My strawberry plants need potting up, as they have been sending out runners again. I am going to put more into a hanging basket, so I bought some strawberry mix. I do have some straw, well, its more hay, as mulch. The strawberry mix says it has extra potassium in it, for extra juicy strawberries. Well I hope so. I haven't decided where to hang them yet, and did get some hooks, but I think I need ones that nail from a wall, or I could just hang the basket off the acer tree. I'm a bit worried that the birds will steal my strawberries though if I hang them there.
Salvation Army was good to me and I found some Gardening Made Easy folders for $4 each. Someone had collected the whole part work! It must have cost a fortune when all counted up, because I remember collecting once a similar part work series that cost $8 an issue. And there were at least 50 issues. Yes, a way for publishers to make money...dole out bits of gardening advice each month. When you could have just waited several years later, someone passed on perhaps, and gave their old gardening books to charity...and you happened to be in the shop and snap up the blessing for a fraction of the price.
This is the economy of gardening. One seed produces thirty, sixty, ninetyfold. Faith the size of a mustard seed becomes a huge tree the birds nest in. Now why didn't I learn this in school? Maybe it is because I skipped Sunday School. In my defence, my parents weren't church goers. And the neighbours never invited me, so, when I first read this in the Bible I thought it was profound, cos all I had learned in school was, if you studied and passed your exams and went to university and then got a job/career, you got paid. And that was it. Then your parents could wash their hands of you and your name be up in lights and you could move away. But slight problem. Your parents grow old and need someone to look after them. Who's gonna do it? Some strangers who they don't even know whom you pay? Shunt them off to a rest home? Well, I think I got gypped in that department, clearly I am meant to be the stay-at-home daughter. While everyone else is off complaining about their naughty kids and trials of marriage to indifferent spouses...I get to enjoy the slight snubs from people who think that I do no work and that I ought to work and make money and labour hard...for someone else.
I am not waiting to retire to do gardening. Yes I'm working, in the garden. My own. Something wrong with that? After a while, the naysayers learn not to cross me on this. You can't eat money, but you can eat the produce from your own backyard, which is free. And its cheaper than seeing a $300 an hour psychiatrist.
I was about to buy some seeds as well, but then I remembered..that plant looked familiar, is it not the same as pyrethrum daisy? I have that plant!
I will need to check my beds again to make sure.
My strawberry plants need potting up, as they have been sending out runners again. I am going to put more into a hanging basket, so I bought some strawberry mix. I do have some straw, well, its more hay, as mulch. The strawberry mix says it has extra potassium in it, for extra juicy strawberries. Well I hope so. I haven't decided where to hang them yet, and did get some hooks, but I think I need ones that nail from a wall, or I could just hang the basket off the acer tree. I'm a bit worried that the birds will steal my strawberries though if I hang them there.
Salvation Army was good to me and I found some Gardening Made Easy folders for $4 each. Someone had collected the whole part work! It must have cost a fortune when all counted up, because I remember collecting once a similar part work series that cost $8 an issue. And there were at least 50 issues. Yes, a way for publishers to make money...dole out bits of gardening advice each month. When you could have just waited several years later, someone passed on perhaps, and gave their old gardening books to charity...and you happened to be in the shop and snap up the blessing for a fraction of the price.
This is the economy of gardening. One seed produces thirty, sixty, ninetyfold. Faith the size of a mustard seed becomes a huge tree the birds nest in. Now why didn't I learn this in school? Maybe it is because I skipped Sunday School. In my defence, my parents weren't church goers. And the neighbours never invited me, so, when I first read this in the Bible I thought it was profound, cos all I had learned in school was, if you studied and passed your exams and went to university and then got a job/career, you got paid. And that was it. Then your parents could wash their hands of you and your name be up in lights and you could move away. But slight problem. Your parents grow old and need someone to look after them. Who's gonna do it? Some strangers who they don't even know whom you pay? Shunt them off to a rest home? Well, I think I got gypped in that department, clearly I am meant to be the stay-at-home daughter. While everyone else is off complaining about their naughty kids and trials of marriage to indifferent spouses...I get to enjoy the slight snubs from people who think that I do no work and that I ought to work and make money and labour hard...for someone else.
I am not waiting to retire to do gardening. Yes I'm working, in the garden. My own. Something wrong with that? After a while, the naysayers learn not to cross me on this. You can't eat money, but you can eat the produce from your own backyard, which is free. And its cheaper than seeing a $300 an hour psychiatrist.
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
The Nativity
Went to work today in the garden, this time thought I would tackle the remaining stump of flower carpet rose in Sock's bed which I had covered with a rusty metal bin. I uncovered it to find it had sprouted these horrible looking shoots that looked like spiny crabs legs, or something underwater.
I got out my spade and fork and dug and dug and dug and stabbed it with a fork but still the thing would not budge. It had also sent out roots wider than the stump which I cut down. I could not lift the stump from the soil although I had a fair go at loosening it.
I conceded defeat, it had to stay, but not without giving it all I had. I covered it back up with the rusty bin and added another container over the top so it is completely light proof and air-proof, short of pouring concrete around it or dousing it with salt (I don't have enough) I instead made this into a feature. Now my cymbidium orchids sit on top of the upturned container with their lancing leaves showering down, and I have placed other pots around and placed those staghorn ferns/moss at the base, with a white cyclamen that wasn't really rooted under the feijoa tree, some lilies (I'm sure they will be lillies, they are in a pot) and the remaining bed covered with seed raising mix in which I sowed violas and renga renga lily.
I hope they still come up because I overturned the soil a bit and stepped all over it. This little corner of Sock's Bed is the awkward L shaped bit so there is only a narrow strip between the box hedges. I do not intend it to become a haven for thorny rambling carpet roses again. My new plants there have smooth glossy leaves and no thorns.
I was on a mission today. Bibles in Schools helper. Afterward the children came up to me and asked me where I was from. I never know what to say to this but always answer honestly 'New Zealand' or "I was born here" or "Henderson" although they expect something totally different. I think if I come up with a really good answer like 'Outer space' they wouldn't believe me.
Of course I am not from China as never been there but that's what they expect. Some small clues give it away. I look totally chinese. I have the black hair, the slanty eyes, the pale yellowish skin...I could totally say I'm from China and everyone would be happy and believe that. But I would be lying.
I am native born. So you could say I'm naturalised. I was not imported, my mum was. She met my Dad here. His parents were the ones on the slow boat FROM China.
I thought of this as I sowed my native seeds. I was at Kings trying not to buy any plants. Its ok I was not tempted in the slightest but was fascinated by the seeds. I had pretty much sown all the flowers I wanted to sow and there were none left that took my fancy. Except for a collection of native seeds. Watkins had a line so I bought aforementioned Renga Renga Lily, Clematis, Silver Fern (Ponga) and Mountain Rock Daisy.
Silver Fern packet claimed it had 500 spores. I wonder how they counted them, they were so tiny.
The directions on the packet were to sow them indoors at anytime, but I dispensed with this molly coddling and put them direct where I wanted them to grow with a bit of seed raising mix.
So, we shall see if they germinate!
Why not? They are native, they should be used to the conditions. I wonder if they ever get asked 'where are you from'? when they visit a foreign country. Well, since the majority of flowering plants come from China I think it's fair exchange. I hear Pohutukawa grows like a weed in Malborough.
I got out my spade and fork and dug and dug and dug and stabbed it with a fork but still the thing would not budge. It had also sent out roots wider than the stump which I cut down. I could not lift the stump from the soil although I had a fair go at loosening it.
I conceded defeat, it had to stay, but not without giving it all I had. I covered it back up with the rusty bin and added another container over the top so it is completely light proof and air-proof, short of pouring concrete around it or dousing it with salt (I don't have enough) I instead made this into a feature. Now my cymbidium orchids sit on top of the upturned container with their lancing leaves showering down, and I have placed other pots around and placed those staghorn ferns/moss at the base, with a white cyclamen that wasn't really rooted under the feijoa tree, some lilies (I'm sure they will be lillies, they are in a pot) and the remaining bed covered with seed raising mix in which I sowed violas and renga renga lily.
I hope they still come up because I overturned the soil a bit and stepped all over it. This little corner of Sock's Bed is the awkward L shaped bit so there is only a narrow strip between the box hedges. I do not intend it to become a haven for thorny rambling carpet roses again. My new plants there have smooth glossy leaves and no thorns.
I was on a mission today. Bibles in Schools helper. Afterward the children came up to me and asked me where I was from. I never know what to say to this but always answer honestly 'New Zealand' or "I was born here" or "Henderson" although they expect something totally different. I think if I come up with a really good answer like 'Outer space' they wouldn't believe me.
Of course I am not from China as never been there but that's what they expect. Some small clues give it away. I look totally chinese. I have the black hair, the slanty eyes, the pale yellowish skin...I could totally say I'm from China and everyone would be happy and believe that. But I would be lying.
I am native born. So you could say I'm naturalised. I was not imported, my mum was. She met my Dad here. His parents were the ones on the slow boat FROM China.
I thought of this as I sowed my native seeds. I was at Kings trying not to buy any plants. Its ok I was not tempted in the slightest but was fascinated by the seeds. I had pretty much sown all the flowers I wanted to sow and there were none left that took my fancy. Except for a collection of native seeds. Watkins had a line so I bought aforementioned Renga Renga Lily, Clematis, Silver Fern (Ponga) and Mountain Rock Daisy.
Silver Fern packet claimed it had 500 spores. I wonder how they counted them, they were so tiny.
The directions on the packet were to sow them indoors at anytime, but I dispensed with this molly coddling and put them direct where I wanted them to grow with a bit of seed raising mix.
So, we shall see if they germinate!
Why not? They are native, they should be used to the conditions. I wonder if they ever get asked 'where are you from'? when they visit a foreign country. Well, since the majority of flowering plants come from China I think it's fair exchange. I hear Pohutukawa grows like a weed in Malborough.
Monday, 11 May 2015
Mum's the word
The day after mother's day (my birthday!) I go shopping and see a lot of chrysanthemums for sale that were not sold before Sunday. I am tempted to rescue one or two as they are in bloom and would be instant colour for my garden beds.
After all, chrysanthemum is a chinese flower and you actually can use it to make tea.
Instead, with my birthday money I buy bulbs. More crocus, bluebells, snowflake daffodils and some anemones. I will make a pot for the crocus to put in my shady hen and chicken fern corner garden.
I will put the bluebells near the apricot tree or I may place them under the feijoa tree. We have five baskets full of fruit.
I will place more snowflake daffodils in Snowy's bed.
I buy seed raising mix to sow the rest of my seeds before winter. The pots I find at the Salvation Army for $2 and $3 each.
I also found a box disguised as a book to place all my unused packets of seeds in from a dollar store.
I give mum a box of books that are 'Grandmother's Household Hints' which has recipes and things to do with bicarbonate of soda, lemons, honey, salt and vinegar.
Mum said she wanted me to get a job as a mothers day present, but I really don't know where to find a paying one. I have looked everywhere, trademe, seek, asking friends, even going up and asking workplaces, but nothing. So, I don't know. I think she just wants me out of the house. I tell people I work from home. Home includes garden, so I don't know what they are thinking. Maybe they think, just because I don't work outside of it, at a proper official govt sanctioned tax paying workplace, that there's actually no work to do? That I just sit around all day, while my plants just grow themselves? They do need care you know. Also I DO get paid, in fruit and flowers. Mum just will not accept that money does grow - on money trees. Its just not legal tender and can't be banked so the Australians can get it and the govt can't cream off their 12.5% GST.
After all, chrysanthemum is a chinese flower and you actually can use it to make tea.
Instead, with my birthday money I buy bulbs. More crocus, bluebells, snowflake daffodils and some anemones. I will make a pot for the crocus to put in my shady hen and chicken fern corner garden.
I will put the bluebells near the apricot tree or I may place them under the feijoa tree. We have five baskets full of fruit.
I will place more snowflake daffodils in Snowy's bed.
I buy seed raising mix to sow the rest of my seeds before winter. The pots I find at the Salvation Army for $2 and $3 each.
I also found a box disguised as a book to place all my unused packets of seeds in from a dollar store.
I give mum a box of books that are 'Grandmother's Household Hints' which has recipes and things to do with bicarbonate of soda, lemons, honey, salt and vinegar.
Mum said she wanted me to get a job as a mothers day present, but I really don't know where to find a paying one. I have looked everywhere, trademe, seek, asking friends, even going up and asking workplaces, but nothing. So, I don't know. I think she just wants me out of the house. I tell people I work from home. Home includes garden, so I don't know what they are thinking. Maybe they think, just because I don't work outside of it, at a proper official govt sanctioned tax paying workplace, that there's actually no work to do? That I just sit around all day, while my plants just grow themselves? They do need care you know. Also I DO get paid, in fruit and flowers. Mum just will not accept that money does grow - on money trees. Its just not legal tender and can't be banked so the Australians can get it and the govt can't cream off their 12.5% GST.
Friday, 8 May 2015
Working Bee
Went down to the Woodside Community Garden this morning and helped Jacqui putting some broad bean green crop in. I may do some buckwheat later, and also we are planning to put in asian greens - bok choy, chinese cabbage, etc over winter. I cleared away the nasturtiums that had taken over where I sowed the sweet peas, and found only one seedling. Disappointed, I put in more garden peas - Dwarf Massey. Massey because we live near the suburb. If mum is against my garden arch I'm hoping we can have one for the community garden to grow climbing beans and peas over it. They are only $20 on trade me.
Well the rain was good and my oats have now sprouted, mainly in the front beds. The crimson clover has sprouted too, although I'm not sure they will take with maurauding chickens around! Yes, more netting is called for.
I found some ceramic and terracotta pots to put my sunflowers and other pot plants in so my place does not end up looking like a nursery/garden centre.
I also found some ceramic ducks that look quite good sitting on my rocks.
I moved some of the spider plants that weren't taking on Snowy's Bed to the other front bed that has the apricot tree there, after removing some convovulus. That's bindweed to you. It has taken over a corner patch and I am unable to kill it, it just keeps coming back. Well at least it doesn't have thorns.
My next project is to get some more pallets from mum's work and try a bit of vertical gardening by the shed/garage. You can tack weedmat on the back and line the pockets and then put plants in. Plants that like the sun can then peep out like a makeshift window box.
That's all for now..yes I have been as busy as a bee!
Well the rain was good and my oats have now sprouted, mainly in the front beds. The crimson clover has sprouted too, although I'm not sure they will take with maurauding chickens around! Yes, more netting is called for.
I found some ceramic and terracotta pots to put my sunflowers and other pot plants in so my place does not end up looking like a nursery/garden centre.
I also found some ceramic ducks that look quite good sitting on my rocks.
I moved some of the spider plants that weren't taking on Snowy's Bed to the other front bed that has the apricot tree there, after removing some convovulus. That's bindweed to you. It has taken over a corner patch and I am unable to kill it, it just keeps coming back. Well at least it doesn't have thorns.
My next project is to get some more pallets from mum's work and try a bit of vertical gardening by the shed/garage. You can tack weedmat on the back and line the pockets and then put plants in. Plants that like the sun can then peep out like a makeshift window box.
That's all for now..yes I have been as busy as a bee!
Thursday, 7 May 2015
Rainy Day
It started raining last night after seven days of no rain.
So my water jars are full.
Comos is flowering down the back.
I went to the Warehouse which was awash with Mother's Day gifts. I resisted the gift packs and bought five crocus bulbs. They were 'Purity' variety, and I buried them in amongst the money trees and aeoniums in my shady garden.
Bulbs are not plants are they? Yet.
They will flower and then I can harvest saffron strands from them.
It seems like the oat is starting to sprout. Shall I chuck in some buckwheat as well? I'm not sure. I bought the buckwheat as I've never grown wheat before and wondered what it was like to harvest grain. It seems a waste to have all this lawn and never able to harvest the grain from the grass.
I also found some fake butterflies to hang on Fluffy's garden chicken wire. I caught Martha trying to fly over the fence. Naughty chicken!
When it rains they come indoors.
I'm thinking of putting a roof garden on their coop one day.
All this rain is making me sleepy...I watched Sleeping Beauty on ice last night and fell asleep before the end. So I missed the dance of the sugar plum fairies. Aren't fairies just human butterflies?
So my water jars are full.
Comos is flowering down the back.
I went to the Warehouse which was awash with Mother's Day gifts. I resisted the gift packs and bought five crocus bulbs. They were 'Purity' variety, and I buried them in amongst the money trees and aeoniums in my shady garden.
Bulbs are not plants are they? Yet.
They will flower and then I can harvest saffron strands from them.
It seems like the oat is starting to sprout. Shall I chuck in some buckwheat as well? I'm not sure. I bought the buckwheat as I've never grown wheat before and wondered what it was like to harvest grain. It seems a waste to have all this lawn and never able to harvest the grain from the grass.
I also found some fake butterflies to hang on Fluffy's garden chicken wire. I caught Martha trying to fly over the fence. Naughty chicken!
When it rains they come indoors.
I'm thinking of putting a roof garden on their coop one day.
All this rain is making me sleepy...I watched Sleeping Beauty on ice last night and fell asleep before the end. So I missed the dance of the sugar plum fairies. Aren't fairies just human butterflies?
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Jars of Clay
I've read in another one of my gardening books about conserving water and they showed a method by which you bury a terracotta pot in the soil, fill it with water and it slowly leaches out when its dry to water your plants. It's an ancient method of irrigation.
Other than digging a ditch, for a stream, I decided to try it and thought where to get clay pots from? Then I thought - what about those water pots that are kind of covered with the narrow holes like gourds, could I just not fill those and leave them by the corners of my garden where it's dry and the water that evaporates will keep the moisture in the air? So I managed to find some, actually, four of them for $5 each at the SPCA op shop.
So now I have one sitting in my hen and chicken ferns corner garden, one in my wild terrarium money tree garden beside the house where it's dry and shady, one in the corner in Socks bed by the silver fern and clivias, and another by the grapevine in the sunny corner by the back fence.
I also found a pink painted terracotta pot at the Sallies and a grey one. The pink pot will be ideal for my winter sunflowers (yes, I'm doing winter sunflowers- they've already sprouted in pots by the sunny brick wall of my house). And the grey jar be good for one of my spiky spotty succulent plant that has no name. Spike Jones?
I also fill the birdbath with water, that has my rubber ducks floating in it, I've put a glass bowl there that has daisies painted on it. Also the bird feeder I've hung from the tangelo tree. The thing with water is you don't always want to be lugging hoses around everywhere. Drip feeding is good, I have those glass ones too. I have a plastic watering can that's doing good duty and some teapots for the smaller pots that need a top up every so often.
What I wouldn't mind is a rain barrel of some sort to catch the stormwater from the garage roof. But they seem quite expensive and a bit of a job to attach to the drainpipes. You'd also need a tap for the water butt.
Eventually, I think if ever had the money, I would put solar panels on the garage roof as a power source for our house or by the future electric solar powered car.
That takes care of that, and a windmill...I mean if Auckland has a power strike or gets blown up by volcanoes don't you think we should take precautions and not completely rely on the grid?
I dont' want to keep paying the power company! They keep coming to our door like JWs hoping to get us to switch. I don't know. I remember last year endless disruptions because of Chorus putting in ultra fast broadband. Well it's good that we are all wire-less now because before that trees couldn't grow without being entangled in those power and telephone lines. We'll just all get radiation poisoning instead....
I'm joking! If we have plants around us, they will remove the noxious fumes and any harmful effects of radiation.
If anyone would like broad beans I've got plenty as...Kings Seed gave me a whole sackful and I really should have only ordered an ordinary packet.
Other than digging a ditch, for a stream, I decided to try it and thought where to get clay pots from? Then I thought - what about those water pots that are kind of covered with the narrow holes like gourds, could I just not fill those and leave them by the corners of my garden where it's dry and the water that evaporates will keep the moisture in the air? So I managed to find some, actually, four of them for $5 each at the SPCA op shop.
So now I have one sitting in my hen and chicken ferns corner garden, one in my wild terrarium money tree garden beside the house where it's dry and shady, one in the corner in Socks bed by the silver fern and clivias, and another by the grapevine in the sunny corner by the back fence.
I also found a pink painted terracotta pot at the Sallies and a grey one. The pink pot will be ideal for my winter sunflowers (yes, I'm doing winter sunflowers- they've already sprouted in pots by the sunny brick wall of my house). And the grey jar be good for one of my spiky spotty succulent plant that has no name. Spike Jones?
I also fill the birdbath with water, that has my rubber ducks floating in it, I've put a glass bowl there that has daisies painted on it. Also the bird feeder I've hung from the tangelo tree. The thing with water is you don't always want to be lugging hoses around everywhere. Drip feeding is good, I have those glass ones too. I have a plastic watering can that's doing good duty and some teapots for the smaller pots that need a top up every so often.
What I wouldn't mind is a rain barrel of some sort to catch the stormwater from the garage roof. But they seem quite expensive and a bit of a job to attach to the drainpipes. You'd also need a tap for the water butt.
Eventually, I think if ever had the money, I would put solar panels on the garage roof as a power source for our house or by the future electric solar powered car.
That takes care of that, and a windmill...I mean if Auckland has a power strike or gets blown up by volcanoes don't you think we should take precautions and not completely rely on the grid?
I dont' want to keep paying the power company! They keep coming to our door like JWs hoping to get us to switch. I don't know. I remember last year endless disruptions because of Chorus putting in ultra fast broadband. Well it's good that we are all wire-less now because before that trees couldn't grow without being entangled in those power and telephone lines. We'll just all get radiation poisoning instead....
I'm joking! If we have plants around us, they will remove the noxious fumes and any harmful effects of radiation.
If anyone would like broad beans I've got plenty as...Kings Seed gave me a whole sackful and I really should have only ordered an ordinary packet.
Tuesday, 5 May 2015
Safe in my Garden
I was thinking about my friend today and gardens in general, how its nice to just sit on my stool and be around plants, with the blue sky overhead listening to the birds.
She never got to see my garden, in person, but I suppose Paradise is something else again. Recreating the garden of Eden is a labour of love. I received a royal parcel today - from Kings Seed.
More green crop - crimson clover, dwarf broad beans and buckwheat. I sowed the first two, and have yet to decide where I would like the third. It is a good time to sow broad beans as they are a cool weather crop.
I also have - Morning Glory -Moonflower and Hazelwood Blues
Gourds
Viscaria
Heartsease
Viola 'Chicky Chicks'
Nicotiana (Flowering tobacco)
Nepeta (Catmint)
Echinacea
They sent me two wonder weeders as a thank you gift for ordering first in the month and also included two free packets of seed in my order.
I'm hoping that will be enough and once all these plants are growing and flowering and seeding I won't need to buy seed anymore. As you might be wondering what about veges?
Well I do have veges growing - carrots, spring onion, peas. I just don't have the space for huge crops.
Besides, I need to establish the flowers for the bees and beneficial insects before putting in the heavy feeders over summer - as well as green manuring the soil, fixing nitrogen and cleansing nematodes.
I think I know what I'm doing - at least, I know more than I ever did before. I used to plant and sow things randomly thinking, oh it's in soil, as long as I water it, it will grow. I didn't know how to fix or feed the soil. I didn't know what to plant when, or where. It's amazing how much you learn when you start gardening. Wwoofing helps, volunteering in community gardens help, doing courses gives you an understanding. But there's nothing like working your own patch. Growing what you want to grow because it gives you pleasure. You start caring more for creation and wonder at how God made all these different plants - and how clever and resilient they are. They couldn't have just 'evolved'.
Have just finished reading 'Common Ground' by two ladies Janice and Virginia who write to each other, one has a city garden and one has a country garden on a farm with sheep. I can't really say I live in the city, Henderson, west Auckland has always been a country town that was built on vineyards and orchards. Going to Hawkes Bay was like living in Henderson when it was the fruitbowl of Auckland, before it all got developed and suburban. Our land is on former orchard that grew apples..so I don't know what's been sprayed, and where our topsoil went - it's pretty much clay here. Anyway, it was an interesting book from a gardening perspective, those two ladies write to each other all year describing the changes in the seasons and the way they cope with country/city life.
It made me think that I want the best of both worlds, chickens to give us eggs, cats, enough land to run around in, but the convenience of having people around. I think I would get too isolated being a farmers wife in the country. You can't really do that, be a single woman running a farm all on your own. For a start if you tried to slaughter a sheep or sell cattle at the auction, all the men around would laugh at you. They'll think you are nuts and wonder why you not making them shepherds pie.
City girls can live on their own..no problems. But that means they have to work in offices or some other human factory. Ugh.
I am very glad I do not need to work in that environment anymore. Thank God!
She never got to see my garden, in person, but I suppose Paradise is something else again. Recreating the garden of Eden is a labour of love. I received a royal parcel today - from Kings Seed.
More green crop - crimson clover, dwarf broad beans and buckwheat. I sowed the first two, and have yet to decide where I would like the third. It is a good time to sow broad beans as they are a cool weather crop.
I also have - Morning Glory -Moonflower and Hazelwood Blues
Gourds
Viscaria
Heartsease
Viola 'Chicky Chicks'
Nicotiana (Flowering tobacco)
Nepeta (Catmint)
Echinacea
They sent me two wonder weeders as a thank you gift for ordering first in the month and also included two free packets of seed in my order.
I'm hoping that will be enough and once all these plants are growing and flowering and seeding I won't need to buy seed anymore. As you might be wondering what about veges?
Well I do have veges growing - carrots, spring onion, peas. I just don't have the space for huge crops.
Besides, I need to establish the flowers for the bees and beneficial insects before putting in the heavy feeders over summer - as well as green manuring the soil, fixing nitrogen and cleansing nematodes.
I think I know what I'm doing - at least, I know more than I ever did before. I used to plant and sow things randomly thinking, oh it's in soil, as long as I water it, it will grow. I didn't know how to fix or feed the soil. I didn't know what to plant when, or where. It's amazing how much you learn when you start gardening. Wwoofing helps, volunteering in community gardens help, doing courses gives you an understanding. But there's nothing like working your own patch. Growing what you want to grow because it gives you pleasure. You start caring more for creation and wonder at how God made all these different plants - and how clever and resilient they are. They couldn't have just 'evolved'.
Have just finished reading 'Common Ground' by two ladies Janice and Virginia who write to each other, one has a city garden and one has a country garden on a farm with sheep. I can't really say I live in the city, Henderson, west Auckland has always been a country town that was built on vineyards and orchards. Going to Hawkes Bay was like living in Henderson when it was the fruitbowl of Auckland, before it all got developed and suburban. Our land is on former orchard that grew apples..so I don't know what's been sprayed, and where our topsoil went - it's pretty much clay here. Anyway, it was an interesting book from a gardening perspective, those two ladies write to each other all year describing the changes in the seasons and the way they cope with country/city life.
It made me think that I want the best of both worlds, chickens to give us eggs, cats, enough land to run around in, but the convenience of having people around. I think I would get too isolated being a farmers wife in the country. You can't really do that, be a single woman running a farm all on your own. For a start if you tried to slaughter a sheep or sell cattle at the auction, all the men around would laugh at you. They'll think you are nuts and wonder why you not making them shepherds pie.
City girls can live on their own..no problems. But that means they have to work in offices or some other human factory. Ugh.
I am very glad I do not need to work in that environment anymore. Thank God!
Always something there to remind me...
I thought of my garden and how I'd made those beds for my cats. I have a pet cemetery.
Fluffy, Snowy, Socks. And who can forget Pepper.
Pepper is buried outside the gate in the reserve. She was one crazy cat, and thinking about it, I wasn't sure if she was copying me exactly. Like how pets resemble their owners? She came to a bad end - got mauled by a dog. I was devastated. Pepper didn't just like to hide in boxes, she ATE them. I suppose she thought they were good sources of fibre.
Fluffy was the Queen of our house. She was...a proud Norwegian Forest Cat from Norwegia. I mean Norway. Originally. Yes, sometimes she did get stuck in doorways. She had furry boots made for walking. Officially, known as QueenFluffylotta. She did not seem to do much except preside over her palace and we, the humans, were her humble servants.
She was black with fur that turned brown in summer, tanning herself on the neighbours shed roof. She wore a red collar with a bell. She was incredibly vain.
Her bed is the one with kowhai, passionfruit, manuka and jasmine by the wooden courtyard enclosure and catwalk. Fluffy, by sheer force of personality, is immortalised in cartoonland, graven images and Ansett air commercials. Well the last one, technically wasn't her but...its the name that counts. All Fluffys are famous. You know how people like to swear using the f-word? Our popular F-word was F----! but if we didn't feel like swearing, we just called her Bubby, and she still answered. Think maybe she had too much fur in her ears to really hear us.
Snowy was Pepper's grandson. A rather complicated family tree, which I won't go into, and no he wasn't actually snowy white. He was tabby ginger and white, and liked to chase birds and mice. He was a bit of a tom cat. He liked to curl up in baskets.
His bed has the acer tree and a little stone plaque in memory.
Socks is one of those black and white bobby socks cats, who was very clever. He had a milk moustache. And he looked like he was wearing a tux. Very smart. His favourite songs were Bee Gees.
He has the other shady corner bed in the front yard that has feijoa, acer, a birdbath, ferns, clivia, azalea, spider plants, cyclamen and mondo grass. Bill Clinton's cat was a Socks as well.
Socks was the cat God gave me. Often he would climb the neighbours cabbage tree and chase bouncy wouncies (paspalum grass) and look at me like I was stupid and then smirk. Ah..socks. So sad he ran away before the vet could put him down. It's like he knew. Nevermind, we still planted that clivia in his memory. I used to tease him about liking flowers. After all, he's a boy.
I like to think I'm gardening for these cats who came to live here. Home is where the cat is, isn't it Mummy Cat?
Meow!
(she says yes).
Fluffy, Snowy, Socks. And who can forget Pepper.
Pepper is buried outside the gate in the reserve. She was one crazy cat, and thinking about it, I wasn't sure if she was copying me exactly. Like how pets resemble their owners? She came to a bad end - got mauled by a dog. I was devastated. Pepper didn't just like to hide in boxes, she ATE them. I suppose she thought they were good sources of fibre.
Fluffy was the Queen of our house. She was...a proud Norwegian Forest Cat from Norwegia. I mean Norway. Originally. Yes, sometimes she did get stuck in doorways. She had furry boots made for walking. Officially, known as QueenFluffylotta. She did not seem to do much except preside over her palace and we, the humans, were her humble servants.
She was black with fur that turned brown in summer, tanning herself on the neighbours shed roof. She wore a red collar with a bell. She was incredibly vain.
Her bed is the one with kowhai, passionfruit, manuka and jasmine by the wooden courtyard enclosure and catwalk. Fluffy, by sheer force of personality, is immortalised in cartoonland, graven images and Ansett air commercials. Well the last one, technically wasn't her but...its the name that counts. All Fluffys are famous. You know how people like to swear using the f-word? Our popular F-word was F----! but if we didn't feel like swearing, we just called her Bubby, and she still answered. Think maybe she had too much fur in her ears to really hear us.
Snowy was Pepper's grandson. A rather complicated family tree, which I won't go into, and no he wasn't actually snowy white. He was tabby ginger and white, and liked to chase birds and mice. He was a bit of a tom cat. He liked to curl up in baskets.
His bed has the acer tree and a little stone plaque in memory.
Socks is one of those black and white bobby socks cats, who was very clever. He had a milk moustache. And he looked like he was wearing a tux. Very smart. His favourite songs were Bee Gees.
He has the other shady corner bed in the front yard that has feijoa, acer, a birdbath, ferns, clivia, azalea, spider plants, cyclamen and mondo grass. Bill Clinton's cat was a Socks as well.
Socks was the cat God gave me. Often he would climb the neighbours cabbage tree and chase bouncy wouncies (paspalum grass) and look at me like I was stupid and then smirk. Ah..socks. So sad he ran away before the vet could put him down. It's like he knew. Nevermind, we still planted that clivia in his memory. I used to tease him about liking flowers. After all, he's a boy.
I like to think I'm gardening for these cats who came to live here. Home is where the cat is, isn't it Mummy Cat?
Meow!
(she says yes).
Sunday, 3 May 2015
A new life
I've just heard yesterday that Princess Kate had a baby girl, a little Princess.
And that Prince Harry is coming over for a visit. He'll be here next week!
Ok, I don't know, I mean, I'm not a royalist maybe I just get caught up in the media reporting things like this. But my heart does a little flutter, that a real life Prince will be visiting my country. Last time Kate and William visited, I was stuck in an office keywording pictures (not ones of them). I remember Prince Charles coming to visit, he drove through my town and gave a royal wave.
What has this to do with my rambling garden? I don't know. But..my sweet williams are spreading. I had planted more, and the original I did have, has been dying back and setting seed, and I think wants to have more babies.
Also I'm thinking of attracting more Monarch butterflies to my garden. Yes, Royal butterflies. I have one swan plant down the back but also a friend gave me some seeds which I sowed in the front bed.
I sowed the delphiniums and larkspur in the beds, uprooting some of the mustard which is about to flower, as green manure. I also sowed another packet of sweet peas down the back near the fence, to ramble. I thought about making one of those obelisks, from the bamboo that's been chucked into the reserve and the council still hasn't removed it.
I had my first garden visitor! Margaret came and I showed her around. She was very impressed with my brothers box hedging. Of course I don't have to do a thing, they come round with their electric hedge clipper and make a mighty noise getting them into shape. I showed her the rose carpet free beds and she said what a relief, no more thorns.
Bloody gardening! Cos that's what it is, isn't it? However...I saw one shoot trying to work it's way out of the soil and wondered where that came from? Grr. It's like that movie with the giant underground worms that rise up and attack you. You cut them down and more come up as they've been hiding.
Margaret was less impressed with the neighbours huge privet tree next door. It makes me sneeze something awful in summer. The neighbours are not doing anything bout it though. Mum said she told them. Maybe they don't have a chainsaw. If they cut it down, could plant something really nice instead. I don't know, another Chinese Toon? They are nice and don't give you allergies.
I went to Jeans funeral yesterday and paid my respects. I gave her a yellow poppy bunch. She was a bright sunny lady full of the joy of the Lord. I will miss her very much. Church just didn't seem the same when she left. I hope she enjoys paradise and look forward to the day when we will all be together...
And that Prince Harry is coming over for a visit. He'll be here next week!
Ok, I don't know, I mean, I'm not a royalist maybe I just get caught up in the media reporting things like this. But my heart does a little flutter, that a real life Prince will be visiting my country. Last time Kate and William visited, I was stuck in an office keywording pictures (not ones of them). I remember Prince Charles coming to visit, he drove through my town and gave a royal wave.
What has this to do with my rambling garden? I don't know. But..my sweet williams are spreading. I had planted more, and the original I did have, has been dying back and setting seed, and I think wants to have more babies.
Also I'm thinking of attracting more Monarch butterflies to my garden. Yes, Royal butterflies. I have one swan plant down the back but also a friend gave me some seeds which I sowed in the front bed.
I sowed the delphiniums and larkspur in the beds, uprooting some of the mustard which is about to flower, as green manure. I also sowed another packet of sweet peas down the back near the fence, to ramble. I thought about making one of those obelisks, from the bamboo that's been chucked into the reserve and the council still hasn't removed it.
I had my first garden visitor! Margaret came and I showed her around. She was very impressed with my brothers box hedging. Of course I don't have to do a thing, they come round with their electric hedge clipper and make a mighty noise getting them into shape. I showed her the rose carpet free beds and she said what a relief, no more thorns.
Bloody gardening! Cos that's what it is, isn't it? However...I saw one shoot trying to work it's way out of the soil and wondered where that came from? Grr. It's like that movie with the giant underground worms that rise up and attack you. You cut them down and more come up as they've been hiding.
Margaret was less impressed with the neighbours huge privet tree next door. It makes me sneeze something awful in summer. The neighbours are not doing anything bout it though. Mum said she told them. Maybe they don't have a chainsaw. If they cut it down, could plant something really nice instead. I don't know, another Chinese Toon? They are nice and don't give you allergies.
I went to Jeans funeral yesterday and paid my respects. I gave her a yellow poppy bunch. She was a bright sunny lady full of the joy of the Lord. I will miss her very much. Church just didn't seem the same when she left. I hope she enjoys paradise and look forward to the day when we will all be together...
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