Since our working bee was rained out on Saturday it was moved to Sunday. Jacqui came with me to the recycling depot to find a letterbox for Woodside to leave messages and mail in, that we had seen in another community garden in Melbourne. We thought it was a great idea so that's going to happen in our garden. Jacqui also spotted an easel which would be perfect as a stand alone sign to put notices on at the garden entrance.
I managed to grab some ponga logs for 50 cents each and a picnic table for $40. Miraculously, it fit in my funcargo and we managed to get it out again. Thank you Jacqui. It is now in the backyard.
The ponga logs are in my fernery and planted with spider plants. I'm not sure if this works but I am trying planting them in pockets, and also as uprights to lean my fruit salad plant against.
I planted the grevillea which is a juniper hybrid. It won't stay in its pot after all trailing off the bird bath as its actually a ground cover, so I planted it in the ground. I put kalanchoes in a pot on the bird bath stand instead. My kakabeak is being munched and I think that, despite the gorgeous red flowers that look like lobster claws its not a reliable plant for me and I am going to have to forgo this native in favour of grevillea which also has gorgeous red spider looking flowers but does not get munched to a stick. So what if it's Australian? Who knows kakabeak may actually do better in Australia perhaps the munching bugs and caterpillars don't live there!
My ceanothus has buds and so does my cistus rock rose. In a few weeks I may see many more blossoms. Pink flamingo Chinese Toon is also showing small signs of leafing out. My snowpeas are sprouting as are my sweet peas which have put in lots of climbing growth.
I have mulched the fernery with seaweed and moss magic mulch. Pink cyclamen in pots have also been added for a bit of colour, they were in the sale pallet at Mitre 10 and I couldn't resist them. They came with ceramic pots so I can move them indoors if I want and they would still look good.
Pink cabbage tree is still in its pot and I haven't really decided where it shall grow permanently yet. I have not seen them grow to the huge heights normal cabbage trees grow so am a bit unsure where to put it.
Big Sis came back from London bearing gifts so now I have yet another pair of gardening gloves, garden repair moisturiser for my hands and the BBC Gardener's World magazine. Which, strangely, has advertisements for adult nappies. I don't know if that means British gardeners are a incontinent lot or if it just means its hard to stay dry in England but I'm rather embarrassed for them. In NZ Gardener magazine all the advertisements are garden related that I can see and subtly enticing you to buy gumboots, garden mix, gloves and hoses. Except for the one on the back page of this month's mag which is for a Danske Mobler stressless chair. Hammock yes, but a blonde model kicking off her high heels reclining in this green coloured recliner, which looks right in the middle of a shopping mall...how is that related to gardening??
