Garden Ramble Time

 

Though working on Saturdays means I don't get to go. Though I have started going on Mondays, although sadly I get an earful from some of the grumpier gardeners when I do go, so am reconsidering whether they still want me around. Between you, me and the fencepost, I could do without the stress and just get on with it. I personally wouldn't stick around if anyone tries to nag me. 

Mum had to go to hospital but I can't convince her to come to the garden with me and chop up weeds for someone else when she won't hardly do anything in our own garden, yet expects me to do everything perfect. Meanwhile, the trimming in the orchard with  the trees and perennials gets left for months and months until everything is overgrown. I don't understand why some people just don't bother to PRUNE anything, to keep the plants healthy, and use the prunings as mulch or cuttings  but would rather pull out and dig and to make even MORE work for themselves.  I am very happy to do pruning, and not nag anyone else to do it, yet get told by others its' 'busy work' or some such rot. 

But it falls on deaf ears. It would be kind of like pulling out your own hair when you're done with it and going bald instead of giving it a good trim so it will grow again healthy and strong. Of course if pulling out your own hair is what you really want to do, go for it, but don't expect me to do it for you!

Anyway. If you see flowers in the community garden, it's only because I've convinced people to plant them, because before there was really nothing and no bees wanted to visit as there were hardly any flowers to attract them. 

Rest from the wicked

 The 7 days lockdown has passed relatively uneventfully except for a rogue tsunami warning on Saturday. I just carried on as usual but with more naps. My sister doesn't quite believe me when I say librarians need naps to rest our eyes from all the reading we do. 

Tomorrow it's back to school and work, so will load up my funcargo with books again. Today, I managed to pick up a kaffir lime (thanks Ben!) and was  shown  his syntropic food forest, just two years old, in Glen Eden. He has a keyhole garden, a hugelkultur bed, a tree that has grafted ten different kinds of apples, azzolla water weeds in buckets, a banana circle, and what must be hundreds of various edible plants all waiting to be planted in his north facing slope of a garden.  He has been busy!

The kaffir lime has gorgeous limy tasty leaves and can keep growing happily in a pot so I will keep it there for now. It does has some thorns but doesn't seem too vicious.

I harvested the fennel which has gone to seed so I've made a little teepee/obelisk from the stems in Socks's bed, and seeded it with fennel, yarrow, parsley, agapanthus, swan plant, cardoon, borage, wormwood, lychnis, basically, ANYTHING that could grow there I would be happy with. I'm planning to chuck some sheep pellets and gypsum on there and also poppies, sweet pea and any seeds past their expiry date and see what comes up. Honestly nothing's really worked in the past, not even green manure,  I'll just keep on adding organic matter until something clicks. If I can get any mushroom compost maybe that might start things.  The feijoa tree seems to be doing alright and the manuka is still there, but the abutilons look a bit lonely and straggly, while the lambs ears seem to have reached their limit and the spider plants no longer like it as it's too sunny. 

Martha has been helping dig the driveway beds and it seems like she's actually doing quite a good job of it. For once! 

Dad's captured some more of our bounty - we had both kinds of grapes, and more naked ladies. Another week and it will be time to plant and sow again, so now everything's open I'll need to get growing again.

Hooray!