Ferns and Grass

Went to the Oratia Native Plant Nursery yesterday and bought two ferns - an asplenium obfastusm and a blechnum.  Which if you know your ferns are very cool ferns to have but to most people they are just ferns. I was actually looking for Shining Spleenwort but they didn't have any in stock. The fronds are shiny and it does well in dry shade, while the blechnum has an orangey tinge and is ok with sun.

Mum came with me and tried to stop me buying these ferns claiming we had enough plants already. Well she gave me a christmas pay packet and then tried to stop me spending it. So I said I will just plant them at church or the Waitakere Gardens. This changed her mind quick.

Why more ferns? Because ferns like to have other fronds I mean friends not just all the same. See my garden is becoming very biodiverse not just bog standard landscaper paint by numbers.

Mum was given a Michelia by my brothers but she said it was too big. It is rather huge size and they have nowhere to plant it. People if you going to buy plants please plant them somewhere not leave them in their pots to become root bound, dry out and then die. I have the same issue at work where lots of plants are left over yet, because of time limits of the job I cannot plant them all and so they are left in their trays to die. It is because people think lawns are more important. But truth be told I do not care too much about lawns because I don't really see oldies romping barefoot in the grass. There is even fake lawn for them to play bowls and petanque on and if really pushed maybe they could join a golf course. But I don't want to be mowing lawns when I could be gardening. Next thing they might be asking us to wash windows.

Maybe I will just say for health and safety reasons I am going deaf from noisy lawnmowing and can I please have a quieter job tending plants. Perhaps in the new year. I'm still annoyed with whoever mowed over the hydrangeas at church so I might just make a display with stalks of paspalum grass because we have no flowers.

The Art of Frugal Hedonism

I didn't go to any Boxing Day sale as my body said it needed rest. Besides, usually sales are on every weekend anyway so I don't know that the Boxing Day ones are any different, except for trying to clear the tinsel and chocolates from the shelves. I ended up spending most of my Christmas pay packet on petrol...and food for lunch.

However I did buy hopefully my last 'Wonder Weeder' and have hooked it onto my belt with a carabiner since I've lost about three so far out of my pocket.

Next gardening item on agenda is sausages for Mitre 10 sausage sizzle but given the paperwork wonder if it's such a good idea, we may need a council permit, observe Health and Safety Regulations (still no safety shoes!) and to pay a $50 bond before we sizzle any sausages. I didn't know this and I'm not sure I have the time to go buying sausages the night before since they have to be kept somewhere...and to sell at least enough to pay for the bond...! We aren't allowed to sizzle chicken it has to be sausages. I thought of sweetcorn on the cob but no it has to be pre-cooked sausages. Which I am not the biggest fan of. I thought maybe instead of sizzling sausages could we just ask Mitre 10 to give us more wood for raised beds as the money raised from sizzling sausages will just be buying wood from them anyway. And we still have to buy sausages, which Mitre 10 do not sell...

Besides, wouldn't it be more fun to have a bbq at my house and if people want to donate money in return for bbq supper that could work? They could have salads and drinks and it wouldn't be just sausages... and they wouldn't have to shop at Mitre 10. Maybe I am just being lazy and don't want to be selling sausages to hungry shoppers when I could be...sharing bbq with friends.

It was like when we were asked to keep a shop at the library. I don't want to sell cards and jewellery. Why can't people just borrow the jewellery and have the cards for free. I am the worst salesperson, and I don't enjoy being a cashier. The world wants me to be a consumer I suppose but honestly I don't have the time or inclination to be wandering around shops aimlessly buying anything that takes my fancy, fingering merchandise and being sold things I don't need. Also I don't really have the money, but even if I did, I wouldn't be spending it just because I can.

My Permaculture teaching is rubbing off and have now started reading another of the core texts - 'The Art of Frugal Hedonism'. It's about how we really don't need to buy stuff to be happy.You can be happy NOT buying stuff.  Of course I already knew this and it's probably preaching to a choir but it's nice to be affirmed in your thinking, to declare that shopping really is a drag and to say no next time anyone tries to drag me to a mall of no return.

Anyone who's ever tried to garden or clean house for a hoarder will be put off indulgent shopping forever. As well as those people who don't bother taking the price tags off their plants, or buy the plants then just leave them in their pots to die cos they have nowhere to plant them. There are so many people out there who would appreciate being given a plant who have none and if you have so many that you leaving them there to die in their pots then maybe think a bit more carefully before you go out shopping!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (and ladies)

Hallelujah its raining!
Christmas day was full on at my brother's home with both sides of the family over for lunch and then dinner, but I did manage to fit in naptime so I do feel rested, today is Boxing Day and then it's back to work (groan), the only thing is...so tempting to go to Boxing Day sales since Mum gave me my pay packet yesterday for the year. Of course I have been a good daughter!
She also gave me a lunch bag and matching notebook which I will use for work.  And dad paid my AA membership. I don't know why it always falls near christmas to renew, that can be annoying. My sister does not even have a car and lives in London yet Dad still pays for her AA membership anyway which I am not sure why since the AA doesn't really need to be called out to London.

So with money in my wallet I can make my shopping list before I go out. I can't buy safety shoes however until after 8 January.

Petrol for car
Flowers and herbs for edging church garden bed - alyssum, thyme, candytuft, lobelia, gazania, petunias
Wonder weeder (keep losing these!)
Toolbelt
Decent spade for making holes - the straight sided ones aren't the best for clay, needs to be rounded
Aromatherapy fig and olive lotion for dry hands
Orchid for mum
Paper shredder
Outdoor rug
Mulch
Vases and pots
Lavender 'grosso'
Sausages (for Mitre 10 sausage sizzle)
Water cooler flask
Darn tough socks

One gift someone gave me for Christmas was some black fishnet stockings. I have no idea who gave them to me as the tag didn't say. Santa must have got his lists mixed up as, I had not asked for them..? Sure I am a working girl but not THAT kind of working girl.  But I suppose I can use them to -- go fishing or tie up trees. They aren't big enough to cover the grapevine! Or maybe catch butterflies with them. Maybe Santa thought I needed some hose, but wrong kind of hosiery!

Home time, garden time

I was too tired to water last night, after being left on my own to do a display bed at what I thought was following somewhat garbled instructions and then finding it was all wrong. And having to redo it again. Um..does it matter if the red begonias are next to the white begonias, I thought it was a red triangle of begonias and white inside, and the other guy mixed them up? Also taking out the small begonias and putting in bigger begonias well how small is too small and what you meant to do just chuck them, won't they grow bigger anyway? Oh no, don't plant them there its too high, well I was just planting them where you placed them. They have to be all in straight lines but how do you know its a straight line when the whole bed is crooked.

After being sworn at and told I was incompetent I was just about to leave and go eat my cookie instead. But, I had no way of getting home.  My bottle of water was in the ute and it was locked cos the other guy had the key. And he was nowhere to be found, unless you want to wander a huge apartment property with no trees in 27 degree humid heat. Oh can't you just drink out of the hose. Well how do you know it hasn't been sprayed with Roundup. Why do you wear gloves real gardeners don't need gloves. Just back off mate!
Ok so we deal with poo and cigarette butts in gardens and we are touching them with our bare hands and sometimes there isn't a clean tap for miles. And then maybe you need a break and you are eating with your hands because I don't see a table and knives and forks or chopsticks anywhere to sit down.

It wasn't even my display bed anyway. If you want a job done the way you want it done, don't tell someone else to do it give them unclear instructions then go away and then when they do it wrong blame them. Do it yourself! Give them the right tools! I had someone moan to me they got their child to do weeding and complained well they didn't get the weeds out properly. Well did you actually show them how, and give them the right tools to do it? Some weeds are tough you can't just yank them out with your bare hands. And did you give them enough time to do the job, or compensation at the end?

I get told by one to weed this way, and then by another to weed that way. Use the hoe. No don't use the hoe pull it out by hand. Um, isn't any wonder I am confused. Don't wear gloves. But then why are we given gloves to wear by the boss. Why don't I just walk round naked and bare feet then. You only give me one t-shirt as uniform so if I end up smelling really bad at the end of the week cos you only give me one t-shirt who's fault is that? And the safety shop was closed till 8 January. My nagging did not result in any safety shoes purchase after all. I get told to nag my team leader cos the manager doesn't want to deal with any of these issues.

What are you doing after work?
I just said I'm going home. I don't care if you going off to drink in town by yourself. Why would I even want to do that with you? That's your choice. I'm going home.

Praise the Lord we have a long weekend where I am going home and not going to think about work. Oh and by the way isn't it someone's birthday we need to remember. (Actually it's not cos He wasn't even born on that day). I bet his mother was probably thinking her husband a bit nuts to go all the way to Bethlehem on  a donkey while she was pregnant when she could have stayed at home, cos they had nowhere to stay either. Good planning Joseph. He didn't think to book ahead did he? No worries we'll just stay in the barn. Traffic is heavy but we will go at the busiest time of year cos we just have to pay our taxes. Hurry up woman do as I say.  Ok well Mary was too tired to argue I expect. Men!

Love your Neighbourhood

Well it's Saturday and for once I have a free day. So many possiblities. Mum came with me to water the garden last night at Woodside and harvested some tong ho (it's a leafy green) but she did have her eyes on the courgettes/zuchinni and asked if she could take one, but I said well, maybe leave it for others as you don't work in this garden.

She ok with taking the weeds nobody else eats. They sell them at the market and aren't as fresh. Mum also placed the jasmine she bought on the deck and said it was for my brother. Who already has one.
I'm not envious but why is she giving a plant that cost $17 to my brother who already bought one when we don't have that plant here? Oh but its not as big as the one she bought. So I figured if Leyton doesn't want the small one since mums giving him a bigger one, he might let me have it?
It's ok I know daughters aren't given anything special...we just have to be content with crumbs from the table but sometimes I feel like I can't live on crumbs.

I have applied for Ecomatters Love your Neighbourhood funding for our church garden to get underway in the new year so fingers crossed that goes through. We also need to be thinking of the Mitre 10 sausage sizzle fundraising we booked for Woodside. I was at Mitre 10 yesterday and had a walk round the garden centre, it seems the place is booming. Every thing is in flower, it's a riot. The front of the store is loaded with sacks of compost. I tried to look for lavendar 'grosso' but couldn't find it, there's princess lavender, and ghost lavender, but no 'grosso'. Maybe Kings has it, haven't looked there yet.

I have been reading 'The Humanure Handbook' by Joseph Jenkins. It's all about composting your own manure, the stuff that comes out of your rear end. Now after reading that book, which is packed full of information that it makes my head hurt a little, I feel a bit guilty everytime I go use the flush toilet. All that water flushed away that could have been used for the garden! And free manure for the compost! They had a compost toilet at Earthsong eco village but I'm not sure how they work that system whether it's someones job to empty it or it composts directly where it is, but I do know Cathy Angell told me I couldn't use it if I was on antibiotics or other medication. I did wwoofing once staying out near Bethell's and the property did have a brand new composting toilet that was perched up a bank and the compost would be collected beneath the retaining wall but I did remember the owner saying it was expensive to build one.

Basically how it works is you do your business in a bucket, cover it with sawdust (from fresh lumber, not treated) or some other organic material, and then when its full empty it into a hot compost pile, cover it, let it sit for a year or so, and voila compost for your garden. Sounds simple to me, but wonder how in reality people are going to learn new toilet habits when we are so used to using flush ones.

Well, I hope it happens in the future cos I would like to be able to still enjoy Auckland's beaches. In some other countries the beaches are not free and you have to pay to go to them, and they are crowded and polluted as anything, so if you go for a swim you end up with a rash or looking like the wicked witch of the west, it would be like swimming in the Thames of London when it was just one big sewer. The urban myth is that all the water there has gone through seven people before it gets to the tap.  I heard that in recent years they cleaned it up so much that there are actually now fish living in there. So next time my sister calls from London I might ask her if she has ever tried fishing (or swimming) in the Thames.

Let us not grow weary of well doing

God reminded me that I shouldn't let a small setback get me down, after the mowing of the hydrangeas, and stolen sheep pellets, plus the car crashing into the retaining wall (thought that intersection was meant to be an improvement on the roundabout??)  because Ecomatters got back to me about applying for $500 funding for St Giles church garden and even could give us free native plants next year..hallelujah!

We also could have a rainwater harvest system installed and Compost Collective would be happy to teach composting and worm farming when we have our vege garden underway. The BOM (board of managers) discussed the church garden plans and are considering planting suggestions so its all good.

For a bit of a breather I made tracks to Henderson Baptist to find one of our church flower beds looking a bit neglected, so with helper Joanne managed to tidy, weed and prune, and now it has been watered with new compost mulch and looking much better. The polys and begonia should spring back again hopefully, the spider plants in hanging baskets were trimmed and were hanging on, tough plants they are, doing much better than any annuals. We found another bed out the front that was empty but won't do any planting till autumn/winter as its getting dry and rather late to prepare another bed now.

On home front am continuing to watering gauras workmate John helped me plant, digging through tough maple tree roots, have moved a stepping stone to my new rose/salvia/olive bed, which I can see from my bedroom window, as would like a view other than the neighbour's driveway. I am hoping to find a lavender 'grosso' to plant there as it's a wonderful compact variety that has long stems of flower spikes and doesn't grow all leggy. I have done a makeover of the two verandahs, one we call the deck, as it's wood, and the other is the terrace, as it's concrete. The deck doesn't have any plants except for what's growing below it, but the terrace has lots of pots and a deck chair and am hoping to find an outdoor rug to make the space more inviting.

It's been so hot and at work we are still planting...just put in a new display bed today...the run up to Christmas is hectic and I find myself now being asked to water a Christmas tree everyday, amongst all the tinsel and fake wreaths and baubles. T'is the season...!

One of our temps asked us workers what we did on the weekend, he was horrified when both of us answered 'gardening' thinking that would be the last thing we would want to do on our days off, but it can't be helped. Many people also ask where I am going for the holidays and I just say I'm staying home, I have actually never in my whole life spent Christmas away from home. Besides where else would I go?? Where else would I rather be? Maybe its the people that 'go away' for the holidays that don't really have a home to go to!

Giving up on gardening?

I have days when I think maybe I will just give up gardening since people are going to mow over hydrangeas, say they going to help and then pike out on you, or put weedmat in places where you need to cut a hole if you going to plant anything. I had thought maybe it would be just ok to plant flowers but then when someone says well you just going to have to take them all out again and you get there and people say sure do the garden and then dont give you any tools or plants and then say well we dont like what you planted anyway I just think I'm not going to bother. Also if they steal your sheep pellets. It was like doing the library at one church what a nightmare bureaucracy it was just to  weed books and put more bibles in. Which were free, I might add.

So I figured if people are going to look a gift horse in the mouth I can just go elsewhere and they can have their lawn/wasteland that is now a crash site for drunk drivers (it hit the retaining wall, and was only stopped from crashing into the daycare by the tree) and go where people call me, or pay me rather than think well thats a good neighbourly thing to do when the people in charge would rather you just didn't do anything at all. There are many people that sit on their butts and do nothing in this world who expect everything to be done for them. And them there will be others that think by controlling everything that people do even if its not their calling just because they want to be in charge and take credit for it. Maybe they just want to boast I'm rich and paid for this so I deserve it.

I have thought about how young people get depression its not because there arent any jobs actually there is heaps of work to do but people really just dont want you to do any work and not even try, and they aren't willing to train you either, unless you pay them, but when you ask for training all you get is abuse for not being perfect the first time. People forget that, when they first started out they did not get things instantly even after a few months on the job. This isn't just gardening this is any kind of job that requires some skill and even endurance. For example, cooking. Mum will complain I dont cook, but when I do cook she will complain on what I cook especially if its not perfect. If its good enough she wont say anything and if I didnt leave the kitchen spotless she will complain so what is more important I cook or I just dont make a mess, cos any kind of work will require you to make a mess and nobody has a right to say well its a mess if its still a work in progress.

Some ladies go in for something called 'finishing school' which doesnt mean they finish school actually or die..it means they just get all dolled up and look pretty. But there is really no kind of finishing school for gardening because the rain is going to fall regardless and plants are going to grow and fruit and die and its never going to be the same. Maybe you will have one day in seven when there will be no work to be done where you can just enjoy but to expect that all the time is not realistic. So to all those workers out there getting on with the job good on you for you know that your labour is not in vain and practise makes perfect.

Maybe you have a dream or vision that you know may take years to come to fruition. Well that is better than having no vision at all. When people try and stop you from achieving your dreams or perhaps you may even die before it becomes reality but at least you made a start and others can carry on.

Gaura and "that smelly plant"

Packed up the Flower show on Sunday and as a bonus bought ten plants for $10, they were $1 each from a display garden that were auctioning off their oasis water feature, which was surrounded by maples and meadow flowers, so I bought purple Verbena bonariensis, Salvia and a tall thin flower I am pretty sure is Gaura. Which is my boss' favourite plant.

I got home after work to plant them (except the gaura, not sure what to do with yet, perhaps plant them at church?), and have now created a little bird bath garden around the rose and olive with the salvias, added a lavender and mulched it with spent sweet peas.

All the plants from our Woodside display save Ben's fruit trees are going to go in our garden, so we have lots more herbs and flowers to add. Or...could plant the gaura at Woodside. Decisions decisions. Gaura is also known as wandflower or butterfly plant, because the flowers are on thin wands and look like whirling butterflies. I will need to plant them soon because they will dry out in their plastic bags.

Have moved my Chatham Island Forget-me-not to under the gardenia, hope it survives because I nearly killed it by over watering. I thought giving it some crayfish and mussel shells as mulch might help it, but then it started to turn black and yellow. I had read somewhere that seawater was good for it? Well apparently not. It was doing alright in it's pot, not flowering yet, but if that one dies it would be the second one I have killed. The other forget-me-nots are doing fine. Huh. Don't confuse forget-me-nots with Wet and Forget - a highly toxic cleaner that kills all plants it touches. We know because someone sprayed it on the paths round the village and all the edging plants turned crispy. When your plants leaves turn all crunchy it's a sign they may need some attention..especially if it's not autumn yet.

One thing I have found after graduation is I have free time on Saturdays and now I have run out of books to read, except for gardening ones. My bookcase is all gardening books now and just added another one called 'Classic Camellias for New Zealand Gardens' by James Young. I figured I might learn to appreciate camellias after my rant the other day.

Today a resident complained about "that smelly plant" she showed me growing near the apartments and it was star jasmine. "I can smell it down the street" she complained "people have lung problems and asthma you know". I said well it doesn't have any irritating pollen, and it does smell lovely. But she wouldn't have a bar of it. She kept up her whinge and moan saying it was too strong so I said if we remove it, something will have to go in it's place, what do you suggest? She says 'a plant that doesn't smell!' Sooo...gorse and moth plant it is then...?

Mum has shown some interest in plants, and has me taking cuttings of a succulent she saw on her Waitakere Garden visit, and keeps urging me to find Chinese Jasmine, which I think actually may be a weed according to Weedbusters Auckland. This is why it's being sold at the Avondale Black Markets and not the garden centres, who only sell Star Jasmine. Perhaps I shall tell the lady who doesn't like 'that smelly plant' that maybe we could replace it with Chinese Jasmine, that has a milder scent, but will climb all over the apartments that are four storeys high. She will have to complain to the Quest Apartments down the street as well because they've got Star Jasmine growing at their entrance. And then she should complain to Kings Plant Barn who are selling Star Jasmine 4 for $20 and also the Bakery across the road have got it planted in their garden too. And everywhere she goes that has it growing all over Auckland all summer long!

Show off!

Just come back from the NZ Flower and Garden show - mum and I walked up (after offering to pay for her ticket, she wasn't keen when she learned how much it cost) but have to say it's worth seeing and everyone is putting on a good show. Sorry no photos..actually I don't have a camera smartphone (um...work are you going to pay for one?) so will have to paint a picture with a thousand words.

Buffie took two Golds and a Bronze,  with her Community garden display and also runner up in the upcycle garden contest, where she exhibited 'Funk my Junk' which included plants growing in shoes, sewing machines and out dresser drawers. Our Woodside Garden display was a delight and just how we envisioned it with Ben's fruit trees behind and strawberries with herbs and flowers in front, the breast cancer pink tables and chairs, and our children's gardening tools scattered about. Actually we don't have breast cancer pink tables and chairs at the real community garden, but, now we can put them there - since at the moment we just sit on planks of wood. Triangle Community Garden were right next door with a display of tools and worm farm, and the other side of us Ranui Community Garden with tomatoes in buckets and mulched veges galore.

West Lynn Gardens had a stand, as did Brent Mags from MBGP (My Backyard Garden Project) which is now going national, Heritage Roses had a traditional English style rose garden complete with climbing rose over arch and purple salvias. And then local garden clubs teamed together for a rustic courtyard display.  So all in all the Yates Community Garden Marquee was buzzing.

Of the big displays the showcase garden was the Hobbit's garden. I didn't see any hobbits however but it was very cute. This hobbit's garden had lots of flowers and nasturtiums growing over their roof. I had to explain to mum what hobbits were, like little people with big hairy feet who live in hobbit holes in the ground.
Others that stood out - In upcycle section, a retro kitchen garden that looked out of the 50s with formica tables and chairs, in the school section a weed garden - which teaches how weeds can be beneficial. The floral tent had floral arrangements that were striking, and many florists plying their trade.
 There was a pink bedding display for breast cancer awareness, and I reckon if the flower show comes back here next year Bark could do a spectacular flower bed display. We could put in a roundabout bed right in the middle and direct garden show traffic. Waitakere Gardens where were you? I saw mobility scooters for hire right at the entrance.

Apart from garden displays there were many exhibits from retailers, I trialled an e-bike which you plug in and charge, then turn on so you can go up the hills. Only $1500.  Had to restrain mum from buying $180 kitchen knives but compromised on $50 rubber brooms. Will have to keep reminding mum to pay me back since she got the show deal  of buy one and get one free plus  a two extra brushes for $10. We walked back home with our brooms and mum was very happy because she's a clean freak and started on the carpets and kitchen lino right away. Because I have a broom too, I can now brush and squeegee my car, and even sweep the terrace and garden paths.

Some ideas for next year...if they do have it again, I would go for more flowers..like big masses of carpet bedding, more colour parterres, patterns and designs, because that's what I would go to see. I'm not that keen on the $27,000 watershed that just looks like an ol' shed on the back of a farm, or the latest designer outdoor showcase furniture nobody can really afford.  I would go for sprinklers fountains and water gardens, shepherds huts and gypsy caravans, colourful flowerpots, a library garden, church gardens, how to plant up your grave plot, woven baskets, leis and ti vae vae patterns and other gardeny stuff. I would have a prize for the most floral frock and everyone would dress up for this garden party and there will be special garden band rotunda. I wouldn't charge people to come see, donations to charity would be voluntary and all the ladies would go out with a flower in their hair and the men carnations in their buttonholes.

If I was doing a flower display I would have an aisle of A-Z flowers so everyone can get their flower ID correct from alyssum to zinnia. And then I would have a rainbow flower bed as mentioned in a previous post so everyone can know that roses are red and violets are violet.