I have just put up my new greenhouse, its a mini version with 4 tiers from the Warehouse, in my alcove. I had to tie the shelves down with cable ties and used some old fridge shelves as well. My tray of seedlings have sprouted but I have forgotten which ones are which, it could be the cabbage, the cauli or maybe the leek. I am very pleased with my new greenhouse which can zip up at night.
I also managed to snag some cyclamen that was going for $1.50 a pot as the flowers were past their best, but they will bloom again I'm sure. I bought seven of them and they are now planted under the maple tree. I plan to eventually cover the ground with white cyclamen, bulbs like snowflakes, and snow in summer, as it's Snowy's bed, he also has a Snowball tree in the corner.
We are now harvesting feijoas which everyone is eating, before it was peaches, and then it turned to pumpkins (which seem to be still growing), gourd, choko, tomatoes, and bitter melon. If this was North America it would be the harvest season which coincides with Halloween, but, as we are southern hemisphere we somehow don't celebrate the autumn as it ought to be celebrated and end up having Easter bunnies and eggs instead, which belong to spring. Also whats annoying is Christmas in the summer, but when it's winter here, there is no relief in sight and nobody has any mid-winter parties.
When I read British gardening books I get confused with the seasons and end up expecting blooms at the wrong time of year. So I try and avoid these and only glance at them occasionally to glean ideas. For the Brits having succulents and tree ferns and palms in their gardens is somehow exotic, but just about anything grows in Auckland, which is both good and bad. Bad because weeds like it here too. I was looking at an old gardening book, definitely from Britain, that had a page for gorse and was extolling the virtues of this spiny plant. Good for hedges, it says. uh...
Thats what they said about...privet, wandering jew, castor oil plant, agaves, agapanthus, ginger lily and all these other wonderful plants that just turn out to be weeds in Auckland. I'm sure on judgment day these guilty gardeners will have their comeuppance. Was it you who introduced the first gorse into New Zealand? Oh but I didn't know, I thought it would make a nice hedge. Well, look at the consequences of your actions. Cue horrible graphic pictures of lambs and cows being impaled on gorse bushes and dying from being spiked and farmers cursing this terrible plant and suffering from the carcinogenic effects of round-up spray...
