The days are flying by but I'm counting on going back to school on Tuesday for one whole hour. It's so I can take things home to continue to work from home. That is, books to read.
New Gardenland is flourishing. It really likes the extra attention paid to it. There are no dead leaves or weeds to be seen. All the plants are now happy in their places. Yesterday, I sat on the deck chair and it ripped (with me in it). Thankfully mum wasn't around to laugh but later said 'I told you so'. I am never buying anything from Trade Me again.
Mum and I went down to Woodside as Nicole had harvested some kumara for us. I trimmed the pink yarrow and added the seedheads to my garden. I also took a few seeds that are over 4 years old, to sow. I hope they don't mind, mostly flowers. Today was Anzac Day so I sowed some poppies in the berm. My begonia is flowering as is my abutilon. Flaming red flowers. I have not forgotten.
We even have an extra day off on Monday to remember, but I get sad thinking about the horror of it all, and how none of those soldiers could come back home to be buried. So futile. If everyone stayed home and prayed, we possibly wouldn't have had such a huge death toll. And on top of that, the influenza epidemic that killed even more people than died in the battle.
I have been reading about garlic being the miracle cure of influenza. It has been proven in the past, but I wonder if it's as effective with the mutant strains we are now getting. Otherwise the vaccine is still a year away.
Easter has given us no eggs, but plenty of feijoas. I pick them up everyday and put them in egg cartons which are just the right size for them. My neighbours have offered me lemons, and even more feijoas, which I have had to refuse. As for veges my peas have now come up, and we still have kale, and we will always, always have silverbeet.
Friday 24 April 2020
Saturday 11 April 2020
Resurrection Day
Good news, my peas are sprouting...
People don't really give peas a chance, but peas are so important to our health and wellbeing. They can be snow or they can be sweet, they can be wasabi or mushy, or minted or buttered but wherever they go those little legumes are welcome in homes, gardens and dinner tables everywhere.
I love peas. They fix nitrogen, make a great mulch and can even be eaten raw in their pods. What is not to love?
Another vege that I love but I just can't seem to grow is eggplant. (Too cold at my place). However its the perfect food for Easter when you cannot obtain fresh eggs or chocolate, but a good eggplant gives you that satisfying vegan/vegetarian dish vibe.
For your passover seder along with your roast lamb and unleavened bread you also need some bitter herbs and there are plenty to choose from in the garden. My go to is parsley, the Italian flat leaf kind.
Surviving the ten plagues (or is it seven?) won't be easy, but I have some tips. I am not an expert, but who is at these times? Along with cinchona bark where we get quinine, sweet wormwood and oregano, other anti-viral plants include hyssop, for cleansing, eucalyptus, tea tree, sage, magnolia bark, and ginseng.
I have heard loads of rubbish given online such as bleach kills the virus, but it will kill you too if you ingest it, so I think common sense tells us to keep away from such toxic substances. Roundup kills weeds but it also kills other plants so...I don't put too much stock in what people are saying, such as drink lots of alcohol and it will kill the virus. Yea and if you don't die from it, the alcohol will kill you anyway.
Is there no balm in Gilead? Well I have plenty of lemon balm.
So let the healing of the land begin. Our planet needs gardens and gardeners, never more so than now. Get to it.
People don't really give peas a chance, but peas are so important to our health and wellbeing. They can be snow or they can be sweet, they can be wasabi or mushy, or minted or buttered but wherever they go those little legumes are welcome in homes, gardens and dinner tables everywhere.
I love peas. They fix nitrogen, make a great mulch and can even be eaten raw in their pods. What is not to love?
Another vege that I love but I just can't seem to grow is eggplant. (Too cold at my place). However its the perfect food for Easter when you cannot obtain fresh eggs or chocolate, but a good eggplant gives you that satisfying vegan/vegetarian dish vibe.
For your passover seder along with your roast lamb and unleavened bread you also need some bitter herbs and there are plenty to choose from in the garden. My go to is parsley, the Italian flat leaf kind.
Surviving the ten plagues (or is it seven?) won't be easy, but I have some tips. I am not an expert, but who is at these times? Along with cinchona bark where we get quinine, sweet wormwood and oregano, other anti-viral plants include hyssop, for cleansing, eucalyptus, tea tree, sage, magnolia bark, and ginseng.
I have heard loads of rubbish given online such as bleach kills the virus, but it will kill you too if you ingest it, so I think common sense tells us to keep away from such toxic substances. Roundup kills weeds but it also kills other plants so...I don't put too much stock in what people are saying, such as drink lots of alcohol and it will kill the virus. Yea and if you don't die from it, the alcohol will kill you anyway.
Is there no balm in Gilead? Well I have plenty of lemon balm.
So let the healing of the land begin. Our planet needs gardens and gardeners, never more so than now. Get to it.
Sunday 5 April 2020
Every high thing must come down
I have been really busy looking after New Gardenland.
Mum finally got her wish and the rusty leaning arch came down. We toppled it and piled the hardenbergia clippings by the Cleopatra Magnolia Tree to make a refuge for Martha.
Mum wasn't finished, she decided to blitz the wisteria too and we stripped it of all its leaves, and cut the dead branches off. I thinned and pruned the nearby azalea and now it seems more air can circulate and more sun round the other plants.
Dad asked me to prune the manuka so I have thinned and pruned that as well. The manuka has seeds and where I've laid the branches new manukas may come up.
JoAnne dropped by with some Dutch iris bulbs which she said would come up in October. I put them in the corner under the manuka tree. The grapevine got pruned, and I have set up all the egg trays with seed raising mix. I have made a start on growing some mushrooms - at least, I hope I'm following the instructions correctly (still no real clue on how to do it?!).
I haven't really been counting, but apparently it's day 10 of lockdown.
I have found the cure for the virus, it's not privet but if anyone has sweet wormwood or artemesia annua also known as mugwort or qing hao in Chinese medicine, you can use that to combat it. Just don't drink too much as it's very bitter. Do not use ordinary wormwood the kind used to make absinthe. It has to be SWEET Wormwood. You could also use quinine, but the chinchona tree doesn't grow here. The bark is used for that. Synthetic quinines have been created, but increasingly modern strains of virus and malaria have become resistant to them.
Of course, everyone is washing their hands like mad and being a bit paranoid lately, but I would rather be at home than at school right now (school holidays have been brought forward..hooray!). And I've always been a bit suspicious of kissing and handshakes anyway.
Next door I notice are growing some taro and I'm hoping they will eventually become keen gardeners too. All they need are some more veges to grow along the fence and we could swap produce. Feijoas are just coming in to season.
I have estimated I need three more fruit trees to bring my total to twelve.
1. Feijoa
2. Olive
3. Tangelo
4. Loquat
5. Peach (on it's last legs)
6. Apricot
7. Fig
8. Grape
9. Apple
the rest on the (birthday present) wishlist are...
9. lemon
10. lime
11. Sweet Mandarin
12. Plum
Extras would be - Pear, Valencia orange, Passionfruit, Banana. If all these are planted then I will have fruit all year round! So much to do..maybe this lockdown will last a bit longer hopefully for everyone to get their gardens established for spring. Wouldn't that be wonderful??
Mum finally got her wish and the rusty leaning arch came down. We toppled it and piled the hardenbergia clippings by the Cleopatra Magnolia Tree to make a refuge for Martha.
Mum wasn't finished, she decided to blitz the wisteria too and we stripped it of all its leaves, and cut the dead branches off. I thinned and pruned the nearby azalea and now it seems more air can circulate and more sun round the other plants.
Dad asked me to prune the manuka so I have thinned and pruned that as well. The manuka has seeds and where I've laid the branches new manukas may come up.
JoAnne dropped by with some Dutch iris bulbs which she said would come up in October. I put them in the corner under the manuka tree. The grapevine got pruned, and I have set up all the egg trays with seed raising mix. I have made a start on growing some mushrooms - at least, I hope I'm following the instructions correctly (still no real clue on how to do it?!).
I haven't really been counting, but apparently it's day 10 of lockdown.
I have found the cure for the virus, it's not privet but if anyone has sweet wormwood or artemesia annua also known as mugwort or qing hao in Chinese medicine, you can use that to combat it. Just don't drink too much as it's very bitter. Do not use ordinary wormwood the kind used to make absinthe. It has to be SWEET Wormwood. You could also use quinine, but the chinchona tree doesn't grow here. The bark is used for that. Synthetic quinines have been created, but increasingly modern strains of virus and malaria have become resistant to them.
Of course, everyone is washing their hands like mad and being a bit paranoid lately, but I would rather be at home than at school right now (school holidays have been brought forward..hooray!). And I've always been a bit suspicious of kissing and handshakes anyway.
Next door I notice are growing some taro and I'm hoping they will eventually become keen gardeners too. All they need are some more veges to grow along the fence and we could swap produce. Feijoas are just coming in to season.
I have estimated I need three more fruit trees to bring my total to twelve.
1. Feijoa
2. Olive
3. Tangelo
4. Loquat
5. Peach (on it's last legs)
6. Apricot
7. Fig
8. Grape
9. Apple
the rest on the (birthday present) wishlist are...
9. lemon
10. lime
11. Sweet Mandarin
12. Plum
Extras would be - Pear, Valencia orange, Passionfruit, Banana. If all these are planted then I will have fruit all year round! So much to do..maybe this lockdown will last a bit longer hopefully for everyone to get their gardens established for spring. Wouldn't that be wonderful??
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