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 My letterbox scouting trip did not go very well. I thought I would be able to just buy a new letterbox from Mitre 10 and install it  and all would be well. Now the shops are open we are able to go and view the products instead of blindly ordering them online and hoping for the best.

I took mum along because she has strong opinions on what a good letterbox looks like. I just wanted one that would not rust, corrode, or rot. Seeing as Auckland is known for rainy weather, I thought a weatherproof one would surely be the best. Because we don't have a wall to mount a box on, or room to inset some bricks, the only option seemed to me the plastic ones. 

Mum thought the plastic ones, of which there are two types, were super ugly. There is a rural type one that has a little flag you can open up, very long and open only at the front, and the more urban type one that you can lift the lid on a hinge, basically, looks a bit like a mini rubbish(or worm) bin with a slot. 

They were $115. I was in despair because we surely needed a new letterbox but with nothing much to choose from how was Santa going to leave us any Christmas presents? Let alone Christmas cards. We also looked in Bunnings. They had fancier letterboxes, but same story. 

Unless...I write to NZ Post, tell them about my dilemma, and ask them if they would mind sparing a not used letter box for us. Or...hitch a sack to a post. Or empty my worm bin, and use THAT for our letterbox. You'll just need to lift the lid to put the letters in. 

Anyhow I can't think too much as my brain will hurt and I'll start sneezing again at the prospect of going all over town shopping for a new letterbox. Perhaps there will be one at the dump, that some  owners have ditched because it looks too old fashioned for their brand new property renovation/development  that I could rescue? 

While pondering this Dad would like to share the photo he took of our bottlebrush, now in bloom. It's a Little John one so won't grow to shade his thermometer. I actually heard him surmising, after I had cut back the fennel a bit more, that maybe he COULD move the thermometer a few centimetres further into the lawn.

 

On my feet again

 Well after nearly two weeks of self-imposed quarantine thanks to...the wasp jab! I am now immune from walking in the garden barefoot and will make sure I always wear shoes when weeding. I celebrated by walking to Kings Plant Barn where I bought some seeds - snake beans, 'Lazy Housewife' beans and cosmos. As well as seaweed fertiliser.  

The garden centre seemed fairly busy though I figured it was safe to go there seeing as half of it is outside and with all the plants around it would have been well oxygenated. It was nice to look at the spring plants and to see everyone's front yards in flower. 

On my way back I came across some bottle gourds for sale at the Indian shop (as well as tomatoes, chilis and bitter melon) so bought one to climb the back fence. Then Jacqui drove by to drop me a lebanese cucumber she had extra and so I will plant those together.

Gardenia got a good soak of epsom salts as did my foot in the bath, and I am fairly certain after that soak the swelling went right down. 

Everything is blooming, the feijoas, the bottle brush, the abutilons which never stop - did you know you can eat abutilon flowers? Just as you can magnolias and lillies. I am sure that no cafe has really picked this up and put out a menu of flower dishes, but it could be a winner? Or maybe for school lunches? 

Mum got some coriander seed from my uncle and now it seems I need to do another round of planting, problem is..where? I am rapidly running out of room. Dad hadn't relented and let me have the next bit of New Gardenland I want to reclaim..beside the garage. Instead he accused my plants of forming a 'brick wall' and shading out his temperature gauge spot, and when I suggested instead of cutting down the trees maybe he could just move the thermometer? Oh no can't do that! It's been there for 40 years. Right.

So to avoid World War three I just thinned out some branches and he seemed happy. Phew, kowhai and manuka saved (for now). Dad seemed a bit obsessed with recording the lunar eclipse, but again, it was a non-event as it usually is because the cloud was covering it. I learn never to pay much attention, whenever one wants to see a brilliant sunrise,  sunset or full moon or even Matariki, you can guarantee that the sky will be overcast! 

My neighbour gave me a geranium cutting I think it's called 'Martha Washington' geranium. I exchanged some zygocactus with her. I am glad that my neighbours are getting into gardening despite the harsh conditions in West Auckland clay. Though I have heard some rumours that down the back the owners want to build another townhouse in their backyard. I hope it won't be another container shed house like what they built round the corner of Riverpark. Whatever they build I hope they at least put a decent roof on it, not like some houses I have seen that don't even have eaves, so in the next downpour the water goes straight down the walls and ends up rotting the house. I reckon there ought to be a 'Worst Homes and Gardens' magazine, where everyone votes on the worst looking and most badly designed home, and takes pictures of weeds (for ID purposes) and it will be as educational as the aspirational, out of one's league  'Better Homes and Gardens' magazine on what NOT to do. 

Anyway, it is back to school on Monday (finally! Auckland has been as lockdown as Wuhan this time round) but don't worry as yours truly has been double vaccinated and multiple stung by wasps. And lived to tell the tale. 

Ouch

 I'm off work for the week - was stung by a nasty wasp on my foot when I was weeding out the applemint! Note to self - don't garden in bare feet! 

I am not going to post a photo of the hideousness it has left, suffice to say, my left foot now looks like an elephants bubble wrapped balloon toy! 

Christmas has come a bit early, thanks to Saint Jacqui, who left some sweetcorn seeds in my decaying/rotting letterbox, in exchange for lettuce seeds in the new Woodside letterbox (that I rescued from the dump). Mike has also been leaving a constant supply of avocados and lemons, for which me and mum are very grateful for, as it relieves the monotony of having baked beans for lunch in lockdown. Oh well, it's better than carrots everyday for school lunch! 

Yates should have known by my last name that I was not going to be a fan of lettuce and sent me Chinese cabbage, chives or bok choy instead. I had sent away for free seeds for National Gardening Week (meant to be in October) for which we are meant to plant an extra row, and give the produce to charity. However, I don't think many people really like lettuce, it doesn't fill you up that much. To me it's just something people put on hamburgers to say they've eaten something green...

I think I'd rather eat taro or kumara leaves than crunchy watery raw lettuce sorry. Speaking of taro, I have divided some clumps at Woodside and now half of them are in my little pond garden I've made out out of a pot near the tangelo tree. The extras are gracing the ditch that leads to the creek. 

Back to my cleared garden, which has now had a lot of pumpkin seeds thrown at it (will they grow? who knows?), I've been thinking if I ever get to Rogers after lockdown ends ... I need some ground cover plants that are good weed suppressors. I have two in mind that might work or at least crowd out the creeping buttercups - alchemia mollis aka Lady's Mantle, and helichrysum aka licorice plant. I've grown furry licorice plant before and know it spreads into a huge bush but I think it could work against the back fence. 

Anyway I am itching to get to the Garden Centre..literally. But I can't until this swelling comes down My foot  looks like it's going to burst at any moment. It could be worse, I suppose. But people may think I've got covid anyway with all the sneezing thanks to hayfever. I've had to make sure that no grass grows tall enough to flower because that sets me right off.  Arrrgh. 

Christmas wish list

 I thought I might put in an early letter to Santa and see if he brings me any garden goodies. So here's the deal big guy, I'll be good and prepare everything, weed and tidy, and maybe a miracle will happen and these plants will appear in my garden? Or supplies will magically turn up by my letterbox? By the way, we need a new one since ants started eating the wooden one and it's starting to rot!

So Santa,  here is the list - gardening items

1. New letterbox - one that won't rust or rot. Or will give it a double coat of paint if it's an old one.

2. Epsom salts for the gardenia

3. Indoor decorative ceramic cover pots all matching to put our houseplants in

4. Outdoor decorative cover pots all matching

5. Seaweed fertiliser

6. Container mix

Plants

1. English iris bulbs

2. Babiana bulbs

3. Dahlis tubers

4. Bluebell bulbs

5. Freesia bulbs

6. Ixia bulbs

7. Eerlicheer bulbs

8. Lillies - tiger lily and asiatic lilies (they are edible!)

9. Lobelia for potted colour

10. Alyssum for hanging basket

11. Kalanchoe - all different colours

12. Alstromeria peruvian lily

13. Burrow's tail succulent for hanging basket

14. Statice seedling punnet

15. Bean seeds

16. Gourd seeds

17. Sweetcorn seeds

Well Santa that gives you plenty of options in case you are out of stock I would be happy with any one of these items.  I heard you won't be in the big parade this year. But I'm not worried if I don't see you.  You know where I live.  Just leave anything under my Christmas tree (this year I've chosen Tangelo as the honorary Christmas tree) 

Lots of love from one of your helpers

Selina Elf

Mowvember - Spring Fever

 Garden is going great thanks to all attention being paid to her in Locktober.  I have been very busy and got spring fever (not covid) and thankfully next door removed their privet tree so I haven't been sneezing so much. I have noticed they have moved their lavenders to be nearer their fruit trees and the taros are now planted by their fence.

I have moved my taros too to the north bed by the wisterias where it is always damp (buttercups grow profusely) and some are also now living in a pot that is a shallow pond - them being swampy/aquatic plants. I managed to harvest five big fat ones, though they have been growing for several years half forgotten behind the garage. 

My lavenders have been trimmed and the flowers are now being dried in the garage. Got to keep them in shape or they flop all over the place! Echium also got some surgery and now there's a stick library which I am going to put out for the dogs of the neighbourhood to borrow and return. 

Mum and I pruned the tangelo a bit, well the old leaves which had whitefly on it. If the tree is opened up a but more, air and birds can circulate who can eat the bugs and it won't be so infested. It's kind of like getting rid of nits in your hair. Radical solution is to remove all the leaves! 

I have also been pruning the camellia and feijoa to open it up a bit and bromeliads are now happily ensconced in the lower branch crooks. The 'fat lady sings bed' had several spider plants removed (now gone to good homes in Riverpark...I left them outside the fence for anyone to take) and the agapanthus is now near the back gate. I managed to find a daphne shrublet and another tiny gardenia buried amongst all the growth. 

As lockdown continues into November it's certain this year won't be any garden trip to Rotorua, or Rogers Garden Centre in Mangere for that matter so am just making do with what I already have (and removing what I don't need). Out came an ugly spiky aloe, and in went a fuzzy succulent I bought from the garden club trading table that had been sitting in a pot for most of the year. 

Beth called and said I was welcome to adopt her geraniums (hooray!) as she STILL hasn't moved to a new house though she managed to finally actually sell her old one. Otherwise the pots are getting a refresher even without new potting mix as I swap and change them around. 

I miss recording Garden Planet with Karyn, it's just not the same in lockdown so its on hiatus for now but hopefully next year we'll be back in the swing of things.