Good echium, bad echium

Well it's a full moon or a harvest moon last night, and I heard rumours it was going to be the end of the world - but only for America.
That's alright then. I'm sure I don't know anybody that important in America.

Anyway...it was a a busy day in the garden as I had to decide what to do about the garlic the chickens kept digging up. The whole L shaped bed needed an overhaul. I placed the flower jonquil bulbs in the corners and removed the netting. Poor garlic, never stood a chance. Also it's not really sunny enough for them there.

I went to Kings and bought four bags of compost to do some heavy duty compost-mulching-layering.
So in that bed now are sugar peas, which I'd been growing as seedlings, and a bamboo obelisk I made with netting. Chickens can't scratch that up, as peas are inside. The garlic is still there but buried underneath more compost. I put lily bulbs in the far corner as chickens dug them up from Fluffy's bed. Then, put some more plants in next to what was already there - lavender, Queen Anne's lace, catmint, nicotania (flowering tobacco), pyrethrum, alyssum. They are all nice and close to each other so chickens can't get in them and dig them out.

Fluffy's bed, now devoid of lily bulbs, is now more secure with an extra post blocking the gap where the chickens might have snuck through. I put in creeping maidenhair in the corner as it will climb up the fence and is native, which will go with the kowhai and manuka. It is springy and unsual, and also, looks great covered with dew. Also it was half price at Kings.

Then the back has now an echium fastostum, which butterflies love. This is the plant Joanne so admired at Ayrlies. I put in the sunny spot. Also, I emailed Kings Seeds and told them their seed, echium plantagineum, 'Blue bedder' is a noxious, invasive and poisonous weed and why are they selling it? I told them I dumped that packet in the trash and not planting it. They got all huffy and replied it was not a problem in NZ and that my council (what council?) didn't know it was an excellent beneficial plant for insects. I wrote back and said Wikipedia does not think so. You can look on the wiki - it's poisonous to cattle and also known as Paterson's Curse. They then wrote back that's only in Australia where they graze scrub and cattle in NZ eat grass in paddocks. Friggin' Kings! I pointed out, that yes so shall I plant prickly pear then, since that's only bad in Australia. And what about gorse? Everyone thought that was great. NOT.

They have not deigned to reply. Nor offer a refund. So, I don't think I'll buy from Kings Seeds again.
What an attitude! They said that nobody had given them that feedback before, well, so hundreds of people have been sowing invasive, noxious weeds and thinking they are flowers. Good one Kings.

Other than that, I have planted three clumps of renga renga lily near the raspberry and hydrangeas border as they like dappled shade and are native and smell nice. Also they are not weeds. I suppose I COULD have planted agapanthus lily. But I was in a good environmental mood today and thought, nope. Only good plants can grow in MY garden.

When will the good apples fall

My side of the fence now has apples..in the spot left vacant by the hibiscus now is a Crimson Spire columnar apple tree. I am going to espalier it - when I figure out how. I hope a single tree is ok, that it doesn't need cross pollination. We do have peach, pear and apricot.

All that's left is plum and nectarine and then I would have a fruit salad.

Beth rang again and said her mum died, she's going down Christchurch for the funeral and would I look after her plants? So I have several indoor plants to look after including a piggy back plant and a Cleopatra begonia. I'm not the best at remembering to water indoor plants but I was plant sitting an impatiens last christmas for Operation Christmas Child, it didn't die and they received a live christmas tree back, so I'm sure I will cope this time.

I must admit this plant sitting gig is easier than cat sitting or God forbid, dog sitting. Dogs are the worst. Have to walk them everyday, they are smelly, slobbery, over excitable, whiny, and in general a lot more work than a baby. At least babies have nappies. Dogs just go anywhere, and if they meet another dog, sniff each others butts and then go crazy.

Plants are more sedate. They don't go berserk unless they are weeds and thorny carpet roses, and then they are trouble.

Dad finally put up the new wooden letterbox with the help from our next door neighbours who gave us a post as they were putting up their wooden fence. We just need a 'no junk mail' sign. Dad said he wanted 'no circulars' instead as it sounded better, but the whole reason I put 'no junk mail' sign in addition to 'no circulars' on the old letterbox is hardly anyone knows what a circular is. And it didn't stop the junk mail!

Sometimes my dad is a bit thick. He has to be forgiven though, he's male.

My land

My writing friend Beth came and gave me some more manuka, a succulent and showed me how to propagate maidenhair ferns. They are really tiny and fragile and need tweezers and a sharp knife to tease them out. I will need to pot them up as they have a habit of clumping and need to spread out.

My garden bounty hasn't really yielded enough to give away yet, although Mum harvested some spinach looking leaves for dinner which tasted extremely salty and turned to green sludge. I think she got the wrong plant. We might have been eating flowers.

I am going to have to buy more netting and thoroughly cordon off the flowerbed and garlic from the chickens. They also got through to Fluffy's garden and destroyed her Queen Anne's Lace, uprooting the lilies as they went. I fear they may get their claws into the Jacaranda, I'm worried the leaves won't turn out and it will stay looking like a dormant stick. I saw this lovely white Clematis at Kings the other day, very tempted to buy it, it's native, but the price tag was $35, like the poor knights lily...should I be paying that much for one plant? Mum gave me grief over buying the Frangipani, and that was about $60, discounted.

I moved the hibiscus which was sited on the north facing fence to the rock garden outside my bedroom window. So there's two hibiscus side by side now, they can grow a small hedge. It wasn't really doing well by the fence as was in a kind of wind tunnel and the chickens kept scratching out the bark mulch.

Now reading Alan Titchmarsh's Garden Year which is a collection of his writings in Gardener's World magazine. I like to read about the goings on in English gardens. I am also, concurrently reading Changing Lives which is about two friends who wrote each other about their gardens in NZ but now are have sold their properties and moving to new places.

It made me think would I ever leave this place...where I'm putting down roots, not that theres much roots yet but it hasn't even been a year. In the forseeable future, unless a dream job comes up or a dream Prince comes along..not likely. I need land. Earth. Soil.
Gerald O'Hara's words come to mind from Gone with the Wind. Why land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts. Oh it will come to you this love of the land. There's no getting away from it...and I'm not even Irish.

You give me fever

arrgh!
Went to the Woodside Garden this morning to plant my sugar pea seedlings. It was a beautiful sunny morning. But...it has started up again.

Mr Sneezy has come back.

My nose started itching, then I was sneezing, and eyes watering...
I have just been to the pharmacy for a remedy. This time, instead of steroids nasal spray I have something made from quail eggs chewy tablets.

Well, there were plenty of volunteers there they didn't really need me..I think they will put up the arch and plant my choko in the corner and there's going to be a roster for watering the potatoes...

Otherwise it looks like Spring is well and truly here, hooray.
I think I must be allergic to the grass pollen, as there is lots of grass down Woodside but thankfully, there's no more privet next door so, where I live so  it won't be so bad.

The other day I bumped into my Horticulture teacher Buffie and we had a good catch up. I think Buffie is amazing and knowledgable about all kinds of gardening. She's into organic gardening/permaculture and ingenious DIY.  I remember fondly my early days of learning how to garden. One of my classmates, John, was a riot. We had nothing in common but he was always cracking jokes and talking/whining.  Some of those kids had just got out of juvie and needed caretakers to make sure they didn't get into mischief. But it was hilarious how, the big strong young guys let the older, weaker women do all the hard work....I didn't chat much and I bet most of them thought I couldn't speak English anyway!

Spring is here...

Daylight saving starts tomorrow...spring is here!

Today I planted some more lily of the valley near my hydrangeas. I had planted some under the apricot tree but they seem to have disappeared? Did the chickens dig them up??

Also, in Fluffy's bed she now has a Queen Anne's lace. As befitting a Queen cat.

Lemon balm, which the chickens dug up now is in the L poppy bed.
Pineapple sage is planted near the lemon tree in the sunny spot.

My abutilons have bloomed. The red one. I have also a yellow and pink one, but no blooms yet.

It has now just rained which is good so they will be watered in.

The chickens have been a menace and tried to dig up my tulips. I got angry and mum put them back with a grill and upturned dishrack over them.
I also have put the spider plants all in the tyres and covered them with twigs also as defence against chickens.

I found a dichondra silver falls at Kings which I had wanted for my hanging baskets as they hang so beautifully, so I had three in a pot and put them in three different baskets.

I've got rhythm, I've got music, I've got daisies in green pastures...I've got my garden, who can ask for anything more?

The best things in life are free

My friend's brother who's into gardening gave me some silver lavender cuttings yesterday, which I put in the ground, one in the corner of the flowerbed and one in the rock garden by the steps. He saw me admiring the plant at his house so he potted them up for me.

Another friend gave me a whole lot of plants, a maidenhair fern, several flaming katies, spider plants, tiny succulents, flax and manuka from her house in Swanson which is near the bush.

I planted them all too and then it rained last night so they are watered in. Tomorrow will be officially spring!

Flowers are appearing, so far I see

Snowflakes
Dutch Iris (bud)
Peach blossom
Lupin
Stock
Geranium
Night scented stock
Alyssum
Calendula
Feverfew
Borage
Kalanchoe
Sweet pea (one bud)
Camellia (red)
Violets
Pansy
Sweet William
Lavender
Bluebells
Primulas (white)
Dianthus (red)
Strawberries
Rosemary

Next door's cabbage trees have come down, the fence is put up and they've got a trampoline in their front yard now. I don't have any play equipment in my garden, I am considering a sandbox maybe, if raised beds are put in for veges. I think a cool thing to have would be a labyrinth or a maize maze, That would have to go in the back though. Or a swing set and tree house and hammock. I don't have a tree large enough for that. Those shepherd huts are cool but we have no sheep. Maybe a gazebo or an arbour? I can dream...can't I?

If I ever get a job or chance to go overseas it might be fun to have a working holiday in England in the National Trust gardens. But that's not likely. I need to be invited first, no point going where you're not wanted. :-(

Spring clean

Yesterday was busy rearranging my alcove/patio garden.

Dad removed my hanging gothic troughs from the verandah fence and they are now in my patio. Two are on the ground, one with strawberries and the other with spinach and chives. The other one is nestling up high with prostrate rosemary and sweet alyssum. I've put the hanging basket which has sweet peas and pansies there too, and rehung one of the wall mangers to the side.

I've relocated the frangipani there where it's sheltered and warm. It still has no leaves but there it will get the rain. I removed the two wooden seats from the corner and now have plants there too. I've got a hook to hang up my spade and a tea light and also my blessing windchime is at the entrance.

Fluffy's garden has also had a makeover. Fluffy now has a jacaranda tree which will grow to shade the area, I've moved the passionfruit vine to a pot to the side and enclosed the area surrounding the jasmine. I mulched everything with hay. Dragon's gold kowhai is doing well, and there will be butterfly gladioli coming up, along with lillies and other bulbs I've out there (that I've forgotten). There's peas and morning glory to grow up the chicken wire.
I've also  fixed the fence so that the chickens cannot escape through any gaps.

I put in some 'love daisies' - chrysanthemums next to the chinese toon so it will have a kind of chinese theme there. I've put in some more dianthus in my rock garden in the stone trough..I found a whole lot reduced to clear at Pak N' Save. The jacaranda also was only $9, at Mitre 10. That was half price. Mitre 10 are going to have a gardening evening next month so I'm keen to go to that. They also have ladies nights where you can win prizes and they do product demos. I don't think I'll be wielding a chainsaw anytime soon, but who knows, I could try out one of those ride on mowers.

It rained last night so everything is well watered in this morning although I was watering and feeding with Yate's Thrive just to boost the flowers. It's a big task to get everything watered so I want to do as less of it as possible, which is why I'm mulching heavily and getting everything in the ground before spring/summer season. I don't use the hose anymore just a watering can. Hoses are annoying and spray everywhere and then you have to turn them on and off. The sunflowers in pots have been requiring water everyday as they droop very quickly, I can't imagine how they'll survive a day in summer in clay pots. Next time I will just grow them in raised beds vege plots which one day hopefully I will have down the back, as its futile having anything else.

That's all for now...

Say it with flowers

I planted my shuttlecock fern in Socks' bed.
Joanne gave me some of her black eyed susans and a cool succulent that I saw at Ayrlies which I put in the hanging basket. I really like the blue ones by her swimming pool and she did have some in her nursery but they weren't for sale.

I've installed the gothic trough planter on the side of the verandah and still yet to decide what will go in there. Is it too early for tomatoes? We've had several fine days now and they are already out in the garden centres, or shall I just put geraniums there? I think trailing cherry tomatoes and basil might do well in that sunny spot. Or chilies, but I don't really eat a lot of chilli.

I need to take some photos of my snowflakes before they disappear. They have come up in Snowy's bed and look really nice, and my chinese toon has sprouted pink leaves, and the peach tree has blossoms. The magnolia has now got leaves, it bloomed early.

For ants on the sunflowers I've managed to quell the infestation by cutting off the chewed leaves which had aphids on them, the ants were attracted to the honeydew, so I put some honey in an eggshell and the ants went there and drowned in the honey. I also put mint leaves around the base of the sunflowers and the ants seem to have gone.

I have a hot orange geranium that is being eaten I don't know if its aphids as well but not sure what to do about that. The round holes even look kind of cool, like a polka dot cut out plant!

I've put in some morning glory moonflower in a pot as seeds and placed that near the drainpipe, I want it to climb up there.

Otherwise garden seems to be on its way and can't wait for bbq season again.

Ayrlies

My friends Joanne and Rita came with me to visit Ayrlies today.
It is gorgeous. It is beautiful. It is lovely.

The day dawned foggy on my side of town, but as we  drove on to Whitford and  entered the gates just after midday and it was beautiful sunshine, so that I had to wear a sun hat. I had one in the car, but my friends unfortunately had not prepared sunhats for the brilliant weather.

We were the only visitors. There is a covered bridge entrance into Ayrlies  and a path which winds around Ollies pond. Ollie is Bev McConnell's head gardening man. He made all the ponds on the property. The waterfalls cascade down the slope surrounded by ferns and schleranthus, kowhais and ponga. Spring daffodils are tucked here and there. A fir tree rises up from another pond, and then we cross the gravel drive into a magical woodland area, with points of interest and stunning plants everywhere you look. A gazebo overlooks the paddocks from which Ayrlies was created, and obliged us with a scene of two woolly sheep gambolling in the pasture.

Magnolia is in bloom and there are several in gullies so that you can look down on their floaty petals. They are pink and white or star shaped. We head on toward the house where Bev has a swimming pool and rockery, with succulents behind a tennis court, and then by the house is a 'blue room' with lots of blue flowered plants and a wisteria covered pergola. Joanne was impressed by the butterfly laden Echium.

The property slopes down from the house and there are winding paths and steps following ponds and cascades which flow toward the coast, you can catch a glimpse of the sea and Rangitoto in the distance. Bev has lots of bluebells, daffodils, hellebores, primulas in clumps underneath her flowering shrubs, mostly magnolia. Red hot pokers peek out beneath shady trees as beacons. Tuis flit through the blooming kowhai. The plants are all shown to good advantage thanks to the slope from which you can gaze above and below.

Orchids do well, and there are all sorts of unusual plants I don't know the name of, like a plant that has leaves that look like they are cut with pinking shears, plants that spill out of pots and down walls. Clivia glows in the shade, ferns look spunky amidst all the exotics. Bev has an eye for colour and some borders have themes like a 'lurid' border thats all oranges and reds and yellows. Most plants are clumped together for effect. The swampy area has these formations that look other-worldy. She has a meadow with fruit trees in blossom an daffodils that have already flowered, and borrowed a view from the countryside with a ha-ha. It is all naturalistic and following the lie of the land, there's no clipped hedges or ridged straight edges anywhere.

We see two gardeners, one on the ride on mower..and we greet Bev's two jack russells and she tells us about the 'blue room' and invites us to wander down the meandering paths of which are many...up to her temple covered with climbing rose which commemorates her family - she's a widow, where we sit and take in the birds and butterflies and flowers.

Joanne buys three plants from the nursery at the side of the house, an echium, iresine and campanula and I purchase a 'shuttercock' fern which I plant in Sock's bed. Its also known as an orchid fern. It's a lovely day out and well worth the $15 to visit this amazing, inspiring creation. Thank you Bev!

Welcome to my world

I rearranged my hanging basket by hanging a christmas cactus from underneath the licorice plant and now my welcome basket has got more ivy geranium in it and and an aloe, as it was getting a bit sun scalded in the manger.

I then thought my fuchsias also are good hanging basket subjects, I have two of them and tried taking cuttings but to no avail, they really like it moist and damp but also seem to enjoy where they are at the moment so I won't shift them.

Pegging down the netting for my garlic was also on my must do list when chickens once again tried to scratch them out.

Also gave sequestron to my yellowing peace lilies, and scattered epsom salts over my ferns, I read its good for them. My hibiscus also needs a good dose of sequestron, but I don't know how long it takes to get the lush dark green leaves that the garden centres ones have.

I have two rue plants that my aunty gave us, they are useful insect repellents and were in pots but they are best planted out so I put them in the rock garden, as they like poor soil.

And that was my gardening for today.

Feng Shui

I have feng shui-ed my garden.
There is now a money tree growing by the back door. I put it with the birds nest fern. It was growing amongst the azalea in Sock's Bed so I liberated it and now hopefully it will do its feng shui magic.
Well, not that I believe in that sort of thing but it does look good there.

Also I noticed my two other money trees, or jade plants, one of them was turning a bit yellow and that must be because it gets the sun. I hope my peace lilies go back to glossy dark green again, like they are in the shops, because they were really taking a beating of neglect where they were holed up before. Who knows, they may even flower one day?

I also repotted a yucca that I had bought years ago in a bigger pot as it was rootbound. At first I thought it had permanently stuck in the pot and would need to chisel it out but it came out easily to my surprise. So I repotted it and gave it a water and hope it revives as it was getting faded and cobwebs were growing in it.

I am not entirely happy with my hanging basket arrangement and would really like a trailing plant that trails right down to the ground, but cannot think of anything except maybe ivy? There is christmas cactus but not sure it would sit right in a coconut fibre hanging basket. It might dry out.

My welcome basket also needs a makeover so I took the cyclamen out and put them in Sock's bed, so all that's left is ivy geranium and a cutting from the money tree. Licorice plant seems ok but I think it might be better as the welcome plant and one that trails better hanging above.

I have not filled my window box yet with container mix and did have a wander round the garden centres today but did not buy anything. There are trailing tomatoes a yellow variety...

Then there was Poor Knights Lily which I thought might be really good in my rock garden, but the price was $35. I wasn't prepared to pay that much for one plant, and it didn't even have flowers. There was also astremias which look cool and a heliotrope that was very fragrant, to go in my shady border, but again I refrained from purchasing.

Plan Bee has been scattered in the sunny corner and another packet of Kings wildflower beneficial insect blend scattered by the Chinese Toon and Snowy's bed after clearing the oats and lupin. I wonder if there is ever a day when the garden looks just PERFECT. When you can go round and there's absolutely nothing out of place and all your flowers are blooming and you can just rest and enjoy. Will that day ever come? Garden swing seats are selling at the Warehouse for $89 but the thing is you can have any colour as long as it's black. Who wants to sit in a black seat at midday under a black canopy? I think this All Blacks outdoor design trend has gone far enough.

More natives

I found a Hebe at Mitre 10 on special for $5. They usually sell for something crazy like $16. It went in my rock garden, its called 'Red edge' and has glaucous leaves with red edging. Very cool. And native.
Also some more ferns, a birds nest fern to go in the pot by the door, a hand fern (looks like a hand), a maidenhair, and a pink plant that isn't a fern called Hypoestes. All these were from tiny pots.

I moved the buxus mop top out of the pot to the back where its with the other buxus to be hedging.
It hailed today, was windy, rainy, then sunny. Typical spring weather. Too cool to grow veges just yet.
I'm planning to put another window box on the verandah but haven't decided what to grow there yet.

I might go for hanging cherry tomatoes,  but will see. They are on sale now, or I could go for chilis. Or maybe basil.

My sunflowers nearly got toppled by the wind so I've lined them all up in the corner of the verandah.
I'm hanging out for some nice sunny days. Next Monday I've got pegged to visit Ayrlies garden if the weather is fine. If not I may raincheck for the following week.

In today's Get Growing newsletter they were advertising lots of garden festivals coming up. There's also daffodil shows and orchid shows, the only thing I've been to are home shows and A&P shows, never an actual flower show, or festival, so I'm wondering if I ought to go to one? Or join a garden club? There's one that meets on Tuesdays in Te Atatu Peninsula so maybe I could join them?

I think about these gardening clubs sometimes you may meet some real eccentric naturists or those who love the good life so much they make everyone else feel stink for not making their own cheese. Yes there are some of those types out there, if you don't recycle everything back you a traitor. But thankfully most gardeners I've met have common sense...

I also managed to snag a free bottle of Tui prickle eliminator so it's goodbye to prickles (onehunga weed) come summer and who knows, it may even work on that return-from-the-dead carpet rose. I feel sorry for the poor folk living in Onehunga, to have a weed named after their suburb. Epsom gets salts named after them even. Henderson so far has nothing although it did used to be known for grapes and apple orchards. Also I think it's sad that there is no more tree on One Tree Hill.

The bug man cometh

Me and my friend Joanne went to the bug man Ruud Kleinpaaste talk at Palmers Planet last night.
Wow, I never knew all that about bugs. It was very educational.

Even though I did fall asleep half way through (powerpoint presentations do tend to do that to me). He was going round the country and advocated outdoor classrooms to teach children the importance of learning from nature.

They can learn all sorts of things, and also..can watch bugs battle each other life or death. Who wins in Daddy long-legs vs White tail spider? How do bugs go toilet? Do slaters have maternity wear? How come ants never crash into each other on their trails? What gets rid of scale bugs? Can't find any bugs? Maybe they are using camouflage. Solar panels? bah, leaves do a much better job. Pump carbon dioxide into a coral reef and they'll love you forever. Biomimicry is the way of the future.

Also, without bees, we might die and our food won't be as tasty.
And..mosquitos do have their uses. In Alaska.

So gardeners do have a mission to teach children all the wonders of God's creation. Did you know that some clueless city people wrap their bananas in cellophane just because they don't think their skins can do a better job? And peeled red onions? What's with that?
Do we really want to live in the future and have it look like 'Bladerunner'? As for global warming. Well. We know how the world is going to end, but we don't have to go down with it.

Anyway I really enjoyed it and best of all it was free.

I snuck some hollyhocks in yesterday and also scattered a packet of cosmos (white). And gave my other friend a grand tour of my garden. She really liked the white alyssum, also known as sweet alice.   The chickens somehow escaped until we banished them again from the front yard. I need to fix that fence, I think they sneak in through a gap.

My sunflowers are blooming. I don't know why, but the ants really like them?  I may need to figure out an ant trap. Ruud said to use 'wet and forget' and put it into a little container so it doesn't evaporate.

Dream London

Well, so much for dream London.
I was so keen on writing to a complete stranger about the prospect of gardening in a genuine English Garden in London UK that I sent off my CV and all my personal details to this person who barely read my email and asked if I was actually in London and whether I had a gardening business and who I worked for.

And how old was I and did I have a drivers licence?
Until it dawned on me that even though it was advertised in the NZ Gardener magazine she actually didn't want people who lived in NZ to apply. I'm like huh???

So I just said sorry I must have misread your ad. I don't know. She was mighty quick to reply to my email. And assume I'd just drop everything and fly to London for an interview perhaps. Yeah right! You can't even get a work visa if the employer hasn't sponsored you to come over.

Anyway.
My referee was all excited maybe a real job prospect! But I had to tell her oh, it looks like it isn't the case. Well, so much for that grand plan. And no, it wasn't for Prince Charles or Buckingham Palace.

Sigh.

On a brighter note, I planted another kowhai dragons gold today in the gardenia's vacant spot and also a tiny boston fern. Looks like spring will be here soon, and my birds will be happy.

Fernz and Flowerz

Yesterday I planted some tiny ferns as they were the cheapest at Mitre 10 in the shady rock garden under the coprosma. I had two aspleniums or lady ferns and two pteris. They were 4 for $10. If you buy fully grown individual ones could cost you at least $20 each.

But then one of my friends who lives in a bushy part of Swanson said I could have ferns from her place for free! Also some succulents. Hooray!

My neighbours further cut down their privet and took away the stumps and the cabbage tree. So it's looking pretty bare at the moment. I was going to anonymously send them little gardening booklets and magazines, but have to wait till they out...

It's been windy so I've cut down the lupin to cover the ground ready to dig in and break down before planting up the beds again. I've decided maybe more blue hellebores in the shady border and perhaps another kowhai or kaka beak where I pulled out the ailing gardenia.

Also, horrors, it looks like the flower carpet rose is growing back?? I saw some sprouts. I'm hoping the Japanese anemones will cover that area. Nothing else will do well there as it doesn't have much soil. I may have to build the beds up more. Although..bluebells are peeking through the blue lupin, so if I cover it with lupin should be feeding the soil there. It's under the maple so...not sure what else I can put there. Next year I will grow more daffodils.

I bought the latest issue of NZ Gardener and they were giving away free 'Plan B' wildflower seeds. I have registered my place on their map so hopefully the bees will come back as I heard they had gone AWOL after all the apple moth spraying.

And I may just become an English gardener after all as I saw an ad in the magazine wanting gardeners, newly qualified in London, UK. So, watch out Prince Charles.

Spring Clean...

My chinese toon is sprouting so and the magnolia now has leaves so spring is on it's way! I was very busy today in the garden sowing peas in pots by the fence, and had put some new plants in from Kings and Mitre 10. I got three herbs for $10 and chose lemon balm, catmint and passionfruit. They went in the borders.
Then I put in 24 primulas in the boggy garden along the edge. Also I found another dragon's gold Kowhai for the border and a Clianthus Kaka beak, they had red and white, I chose red, and put that near the fence at the back. I'm glad I found one as I had been looking for a while and hearing all about it, and it is a very nice plant. Both are shrubs so ideal for the border.

I had to do a bit of musical plants again and I don't think my tea tree, camellia sinesis was doing well where I replanted it so I put it next to the hydrangea where its partly shaded. Even though the tag said to put it in a northerly aspect. What do they know, the leaves were kind of brownish and looking sun scalded. So the kowhai was put where the camellia vacated.
One of my box shrubs had fallen over by the wind and as it was a container topiary I thought it might be better off in the ground so I put it in the back corner next to the camellia. So now there is an empty pot next to the back door.

Speaking of empty pots I filled another one with ten Agria potatoes that were sprouting in a bag (not certified seed) so we will see how that crop goes. They crop a bit later than the early Nectar ones, which take 90 days. Both of these are growing in hay.

Then I noticed our peace lily which has never flowered looking very crowded and being eaten by snails in a pot on the front deck so I unpotted it and divided it to replant in the ground on the southern side of the house. I think it would prefer shade as its leaves were turning yellow. So hopefully it will be happier, now it's in five parts and got room to grow amongst all the other plants.

I added nitrophoska to my new plantings as well as quash for snails and sequestron for yellowing leaves. I poured sour tangelo juice on my gardenias. I figure it's acidic, it might be good for them.

I have built a little teepee and enclosure made of rocks and clay pots and brick for my mexican orange blossom to stop chickens from digging it up, and put in some stakes for the chicken wire and netting to lean against.

I've taken a cutting of my cerise ivy geranium to grow in my welcome pot with the cyclamen by the front door, and hung up the hanging basket of licorice plant as bought a new chain.

That's all for now, all in all, a busy day gardening, in between periods of wind and rain, which watered my plants for me.

Chasing Birds and Butterflies

I have decorated Fluffy's grave and made it into a butterfly garden. It now has colourful bread tags on the chicken wire with the butterflies, butterfly gladioli, sunflowers, peas, and butterfly nets. Along with the kowhai, passionfruit, nasturtium, manuka, oriental lilies and jasmine.
No swan plant but if I get more I'll put some in pots nearby.

I've seen birds come and eat from my bird feeder and the chickens drink from my trade aid bird saucer. And my four surviving sunflowers are starting to bud and have petals!

Also I had a talk with my friend and she's going to ask her handyman brother to make some raised beds for her and me. Hooray! I said I would shout him a dinner or something as thank you. My friend Loretta is planning on growing veges and fruits for juicing for her new healthy diet.
She already has flowers by her front door, busy lizzies and geraniums that I gave her, and she usually has petunias or marigolds as potted colour. As her parents own a farmlet up north in Whangarei, she helps them garden up there. They have a big vege patch. Last time I was there I remember eating freshly dug potatoes with roast pork.

I really need to find some chains and a hook for my hanging basket of licorice plant.
Another thing I may do is plant another batch of potatoes  already sprouting in the bag in another container and see if certified seed potatoes grow any better than the ones that you buy to eat.

I'm hearing thunder at the moment so it seems like the spring rains will soon be upon us.

It might as well rain

It's September.
Technically not the first day of spring but getting closer..

It rained heavily this morning and my boggy patch was small pond. I managed to plant some penstemons I found at Pak n'Save and also a sack of potatoes, that had started 'chitting' or budding, an early variety called 'Nectar'. I planted the potatoes in a tub that had come with the magnolia, and buried them in hay. I'm going for the no dig, no soil method. They should be ready by December for christmas potato salad!

It reminded me that faith is like potatoes. You can't see them, but they are there and it's growing. And one day you will dig them up and hold them in your hot little hands. Also, faith is good to eat, like hot chips. When they're ready. And maybe faith can be mashed. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

Thanks Angus Buchan, for that little parable.

So, if all goes to plan, Christmas will be bumper crop! I expect a harvest of more than 10 seed potatoes that I put in.

I'm also planning on going to this workshop at Palmers Planet to see the bug man, Ruud Kleinpaaste. He's going to talk about his favourite topic, creepy crawlies in the garden. He was hosting on Palmers Garden show for many years. There's a new show called 'Get Growing' which I must set aside time for on Fridays on the sky channel. Lynda Hallinan and her mates are hosting that one.

I'm seriously thinking of installing raised beds but where to get the raised beds from and what to make them out of? Macrocarpa? Pongas? Bricks? Bamboo? Corrugated iron? Not tyres, I already have those.

Of course we have raised beds at the community gardens but I'm not good with knocking together timber. I remember my very first garden was a herb raised bed that I made out of bricks. It had lamb's ears, chamomile and thyme in it, as I wanted to make it like a seat. But all my bricks have disappeared? The garden was dismantled when my brothers ripped out the garden with their box and rose garden makeover. Maybe the bricks are under the house?

I remember my second garden I made out the front that was a circle of bricks and had lavender, hebe, and I think a lemon tree in the middle.  Then I remember buying a swan plant or was it a buddelia from the garden centre and mum chucking it out as she said it was a weed. I was really sore at her for that. My garden became overgrown and that too succumbed to my brother's grandoise plans.

But now that they have their own house in leafy suburbs of Epsom I can garden in peace.