Banished

I have been banned from buying any more plants.

Ok. Now it is up to those plants to reproduce. I am not spending any more money.

Those money trees better start multiplying soon.

So much for my planned garden arch and honeysuckle that would have lent an elegant charm to my humble abode (and kept the chickens from crossing the road to get to the other side).

And, that ceramic garden stool that I put in a bid on trademe..well. Technically it is not a plant and it COULD be used as indoor furniture. And I can't go back on an auction bid if already placed.

Otherwise, I'm sorry, the thrill of plant shopping can no longer be mine. No more retail therapy.

I will have to find solace in gardening books, which can be borrowed free from the library and 50 cents each from the withdrawn table. Not that they are giving me any grand ideas...but there are ones that tell you how to save money.

Mum also said I had to get a job and buy a house of my own because she doesn't like my plants and doesn't need them. I can't win.

Does anyone know of a place I could buy for under $175,000 that has a decent bit of land?

Not Antarctica.

A hanging

My gardening addiction is reaching new heights.

I now have hanging baskets in the trees with orchids. I saw hanging baskets in tree branches in a parishioner's garden once while I was out carolling. They were delightful and I thought, yes that's where hanging baskets belong. Mum says they will freeze, but I think they look pretty and besides, orchids appreciate the fresh air around their roots.

I also made a trip to the $2 shop to buy a $7 wind chime. I know, the prices have gone up, and don't I already have an angel one? Well yes, but this one is looks like a boat with anchors and it says on the sail 'the blessing of the lord'.  I hung it on the acer tree. It goes with my rubber duck family in the bird bath. I can now hear the delicate tinkling in the breeze. The breath of heaven.

Sorry, no plastic pink flamingos, no garden gnomes. Chinese Toon is pink anyway.

I will have butterflies, and saw a monarch alighting on a spider lily today.

I also have spider plants underplanting the tree out the front. I forget it's name. It's deciduous. My brothers originally planted it because I complained my room was facing the road and all I could see was lawn, fence and road. Previously in another decade, our house was surrounded by evergreen conifers. These quickly took over the yard, and threatened to suffocate us all with pine needles. 

They were so dense, thick and matted that they seemed like those 70s plant equivalent of thickly crocheted fashion disasters people used to wear all the time back then. All form and no function.

When my brothers got the gardening bug, they were into formal english garden beds and started putting in box hedging and standard roses. The flower carpet roses spread and spread, but the other ones succumbed to black spot and grew top heavy. I appreciated the scented ones but never did think much of the flower carpet roses, with all their thorns. 

But now those flower carpet roses are eradicated and burnt to a cinder in hell, I can now plant with hand friendly plants, like...spider plants. Impatiens. Alyssum. Lavender. Thyme. Chamomile. Lambs ears. And..cyclamen.

Plants that don't nick you and cut you. Plants that behave and give instead of take demanding to be fed. Plants you can actually caress and touch. 

My next plan is acquiring a silver fern ponga tree. I plan to plant that near the hen and chicken ferns at the back near the chook house. 

I decide, since I'm living in NZ I should at least have one iconic patriotic plant. No..not the ubiquitous cabbage tree. The neighbours have those. Kowhai and manuka are pretty and will attract birds and bees and butterflies, but nothing says New Zealand like the silver fern. 

It would be like living in Texas and not having a yellow rose. 

Another Planet

On my wishlist for my garden is that one essential thing - somewhere to sit!
I investigated all the options. Currently I have one place to sit in my garden - the steps of the deck or the verandah. That is not very good if I want to sit anywhere else...maybe on the grass? Under a tree? I could lug my camp chair around..but that's not garden sitting. That's camp chair sitting.
A picnic rug is not practical..

So today I made a trip to another planet. Palmer's Planet.
You wouldn't believe the alien things I found there.
It was all very tempting but I do have the sort of same things on Earth..without price tags attached.
In the end I bought a small wind chime to hang on my wisteria. There were bigger ones that played 'Amazing Grace' and even some odes to Planet Neptune and Buddha...but I figured a small one that played a minor chord to the angels every time a sinner repented was more my style.

I also bought a little fan trellis for my snow peas growing in a pot. A naked lampshade would not cut it.
I wanted to buy some hebes but they were ridiculously expensive. So I made do with hebe seeds in a packet instead. When I opened the packet to sow them they were ridiculously small. Even smaller than mustard seed. I could not believe a big plant would come from that tiny seed I could hardly even see. It was foil wrapped and then inside the foil wrap it was cellophane wrapped.

I scattered them near the roses.
The chickens had been digging them up too. But now with my defence system of bird netting and coat hangers, they won't be able to scratch those seeds out, though they near succeeded uprooting my stocks. I put in some more sweetpeas, bouncing the seeds into the ground. No point holding on to seed...the fresher the better. I even scattered more poppies even though it isn't Anzac day yet. I may be busy on Anzac day. Either baking Anzac biscuits or singing the national anthem. I don't know yet.

I also found, in my hoard of forgotten abandoned STUFF, some bamboo rings, the kind you use to steam dim sum, with the bottoms fallen out, so I used them as plant protecters around the bases of this swan plant and canna lily. No more chicken scratching and cat scratching.

And just now..the dog was barking so I ran to get my gun, shot two sprays of water, the dog ran back to his backyard with his tail between his legs. Hooray!

Phew. Gardening is hard work. I want to put my feet up..but I can't. I have no hammock. Yet another thing to acquire. I did find these wonderful ceramic stools at Palmers. Just the thing, won't rot, won't rust, won't split. Yet at $129 each maybe a bit out of my budget. But I'm thinking. I REALLY need at least one.


Photos coming...

Tiny and Toony

Success!

Found a chinese toon at Kings St Lukes.
Of course, whenever I go to visit my friend at Epsom I go past that garden centre.
So I just had to drop in.

So now, my Pink Flamingo Chinese Toon (that is still green, but come spring...) has pride of place where Miss Leggy French Lavender was. Frenchie has now been removed and two other lavenders have joined the parade...one Pommie and one Spanish. Pommie Lavender (sorry, English) is lavender purple but the Spanish one will be WINE colour. I can't wait.

I feel like an artist. Or maybe I am one, but instead of toxic paint I am decorating with living colour.

One dear reader, no, two have complained I have made these postings too long and tend to ramble. I'm very sorry. That is the nature of the enterprise.

So here is the short version:

Bought wave thrower water gun that shoots 8.5 m. Loaded it last night - very effective. So next door dog..you are not getting my chickens.

Thank you Freecycle lady who gave me geranium and succulent cuttings.
Also cape gooseberry and thyme.

Slashed the wild ginger forest.

As a picture paints a thousand words I will take some photos to share. As soon as I figure out how.

Considered enrolling in Unitec Home Garden design course. Do I have a spare $300 lying around? Or shall I just buy plants and books with that money instead?

My fingers are turning green. No actually I should paint them green, to disguise all the dirt under my fingernails. Is that why nail polish was invented?

A rubber ducky now lives in my birdbath, which I moved to Sock's Bed.

That's all for now. You can go back to watching TV.

Trees are Green

What a wonderful world..
Except for maybe dogs.

I have a problem. There’s this dog in the house down the back and I’m sure he  is eyeing the chickens thinking maybe one day he will jump the fence and then it will be chicken burgers.

Of course the chickens being chicken they can’t defend themselves.

The neighbours put up a fence and gate but it doesn’t seem high enough and our back fence seemed to have some gaps in it. I put a pallet against it to stop him from being nosy but I still see him with sad puppy dog eyes staring at the chickens. 

Also the neighbours cat, seems to like using our garden for it’s business.
I decided to take some action and put chilli powder in the bare patches of dirt so..if the cat tries to dig, they will get chilli powder up their nose.

This is all very annoying but I have to defend my property. Nobody else is going to do it. 

Also I don’t have any guns..hmmm. 

We have a border out the back because it was the 70s and that was the fashion. The border has been gardened over many times so I have put in green crop to restore all the minerals back and give it a rest.

However the border will not stop a dog jumping the chain link fence unless I put some more plants in, to shield the chickens.

so..going round my property  there is - box hedge. chain link fencing. wisteria vine. more chain link fencing bordering side of long back of house driveway. Pear stump (it grew from seed, in the wrong place) bare ground now covered in green crop, wildflower seed mix and poppy mix…and some bulbs (not sure which ones yet). another box. Lemon grass. Four tyres, two with daisy, one with cherry tomato, another with basil, and some lilies. Then a blueberry tucked in there too. The tyres are chicken wired off so they are not dug up. next, another box, then three roses, and my sweet pea border along the chain link fence. I have also put stock in, mulched with pea straw, and some random green crop - mustard, phacelia, oats, lupin. Then the wooden fence separating the backyard from the neighbours. This has…lemon tree, grapevine, more green crop, a loquat, a canna lily, a compost bin and an incinerator. 

The rose thorns burned to a cinder. 
It was a mission getting those flower carpet roses out I tell you. But…thankfully, mission was accomplished. The remaining stumps I covered with pots, rusty buckets and old frying pans. 
Hooray!

I have covered all the green crop, and the sweet pea with bird netting so that the chickens do not dig them up.

some more random plants I bought with my $10 kings plant barn voucher (since I spent so much money)..sweet alyssum, sweet william, wallflowers (to go at the backyard fence) and stock. 
Mum of course was horrified. She kept telling me not to buy anymore plants.

I told her I got those plants free from the garden centre. It was true.

Also people give me plants. Like the other day I received a cigarette plant. I don’t smoke, but I couldn’t say no. It was a plant!
It really does look like cigarettes.

I’m not sure if that means anything or maybe I just have bad habits now. 
Well, I better go, and dream of my next plan of attack and defense. A wall of shiny CD’s? the dog will look at them, see how ugly he is, and then won’t dream of attacking my chickens.

There is one plant that I covet though. I see it every spring around the neighbourhood and it never fails to delight. It’s called a pink flamingo tree or chinese toon and I really…really want one badly. So bad that tomorrow I am going to Mitre 10 and ask if they any in stock. Kings didn’t have any, I checked. 
I plan to plant it where the citrus tree that didn’t take is. It would be good there, and then my garden will be complete (for now).

Of course my parents won’t know my secret plan for irrigation, but that will be later. Unfortunately I cannot turn my block into a rice paddy with lucky bamboo cos we not in China, but I was thinking that might save on importing costs if we did. Oh yes, apparently you can eat Chinese Toon, just add the fresh shoots to stir fries.

Good Friday

I wanted to rest on Good Friday and bury all my seeds, to be miraculously raised to life in about 3 days later. I’m sure Gesthemane saw plenty of flower power in action after all that happened there.

So. I secretly sowed some sweet peas in the community garden. Everyone will think they are just peas and try and eat them but..no, wait..they smell sweet, and flowery. 
I expect some backlash from the ‘I only want food in my garden’ hortivulturalists.

But meh. That should convict them of neglecting to give their sweethearts/wives flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Also..in a fit of guerilla sniperdom, I scattered poppy seed everywhere. Well, it’s only fitting. Anzac day anniversary and all.

After deadheading the daisy/chrysanthemums, I then attacked the flower carpet of thorns. I hacked and hacked away until the three bushes my brothers had planted like bombs were mere stumps. Then took the thorns to be burnt. In hell.
They give no scent, so how do you even know they are roses? A blind person would think they are just gorse. 
To stop them from growing again, I poured straight apple cider vinegar on them..and covered them with pots, plats and a rusty bucket and lightproof bags so that they would die like reverse vampires from lack of sun. Phew, what a relief.
No more thornville. They seem impossible to dig out without breaking one’s back. Mum tried. Dad wimped out. He got thorned, and whenever he bleeds us women have to come to the rescue with bandaids. What is it about men and blood? I don’t know. 

Although, the thorns do come in handy to stop chickens scratching around…as long as they aren’t growing in MY space.
Snowy’s bed is looking fine now. He got the catmint, the convolvulus that’s Kings Plant Barn’s bestseller, a not sure but it’s pretty shrub that I moved to be under the tree- acer? Not sure. Lambs ears, all manner of spring bulbs, daffodils, freesias, snowflakes and..bluebells. The lavender free from Palmers is till there, as is some oregano, and I stuck in some rosemary…for remembrance.
The rest I seeded with…honesty, and ubiquitous mustard, poppy, and various other annuals and perennials I forget now. They’ll show themselves soon enough. 

Socks’ bed got the Warehouse treatment, they were selling cyclamen for only $2.50 a pot..so I put in about five. A spiderplant I depotted from a hanging basket is now at home under the feijoa, and several of it’s babies. I plan to further seed it with sweet violet..and then Socks will get his dream bed, with the lone clivia, mondo grass, maple, and of course, box.

The two other L shaped beds mulched and sowed and soiled. Various annuals will soon make their appearance. that vietnamese mint..is still there, as is comfrey. I cut down the french lavender, it was leggy, and made cuttings, but I’m not sure if they will take. So English lavender is there instead, which I think I prefer..it’s the most fragrant of all. 

The rockery is looking much better. Rosemary is lying prostrate amongst the rearranged granite, various seedlings are coming up, sweet william is happier by the olive tree, and the echeverias have divided amongst themselves and conquered new territory. Hibiscus is budding..and hyacinth is in a bucket. 

More pots..while I don’t really enjoy potlucks of the edible variety..so much hassle, so much wastage..if they are flowery and hanging or herby I’m fine. Better if they are big and I can squeeze many different kinds of plants in one.
Now there are three window box mangers on the fence, there’s trailing ivy, busy lizzie, geranium, lobelia, catnip..and strawberries. 
And sweet peas in pots to climb the fence. And even a new passionfruit, which has three crucifixes staked nearby on Fluffy’s grave. I know..it all seems very..garden of eden. But I swear, that passionfruit would not grow even a leaf, I had to buy a whole new one. Black beauty. As was Fluffy, who was terribly vain. She now has a kowhai, a manuka teatree, and that passionfruit to keep her happy. Later on I will mulch and see if I can introduce some catnip, but I think Fluffy might prefer something a bit more royal..like Bishops flower, or queen Anne’s lace.

The rest is as before but growing, and netted and chicken wired so that all my hard work does not come undone. Besides, I discovered worm castings. They can do the fertilising for me, as well as chicken manure.. 
Mum still thinks it’s a waste of time and I should get a real job. 

huh.. I don’t think you could pay me to get a real job. I plan to take winter off and just write stories about How I couldn’t find a real job and gardened instead.

Autumn

Its now Autumn.

I have moved Sweet William to be next to the olive tree, as he was getting a bit damp and also the lambs ears were crowding him out.
I am going to grow Snow Peas next to the lambs ears in that pot instead.

Sweet William is now also next to the Love Carnation.
I have also put in some more Pinks and Violas, and a few Poppies. It is sunnier in that corner of the garden by the house with gravel around.

I am going to make one bed a Poppy Bed, I decided, and will have the Lavendar as the pillow. 
I haven’t decided if I will put in other things, like a teddy bear ivy topiary or maybe some Queen Annes Lace for curtains. 

I have done so much gardening work these past few days that..I need a rest. 


I have mulched and composted and buried a whole lot of freesias, daffodils, jonquils, bluebells and snowflakes. I cut back the flower carpet rose and have poured vinegar on it to kill it.
Tembe said she found some roses so…it’s ok. 
The only ones left are the iceberg ones and the pink/scarlet ones down the back (I forget the name). I really don’t like those thorns..but they will keep the chickens from digging up my bulbs and also put netting over the beds.

There are now four wall boxes on my fence and I think I will add one or two more. I have put in one ivy geranium, silver falls, viola, another lobelia, fuschia cutting, and succulents.
I put the spider plants hanging baskets in the trees, and another one I filled with extra viola.
I have put cyclamen in socks bed..actually, I may put more there. They look good there.

I found a bathtub for the chickens, it’s a baby’s bath.
Or it could be for mummy cat.

Green crop has sprouted. Green crop includes lupin, mustard and oats. I also sowed phacelia, hope it survives the winter.
several other random flower annuals I have scattered around. sweet alyssum…and, where is my night scented stock? Disappeared? Well I scattered it somewhere.

Foxgloves, hollyhocks, statice, lemon balm, thyme, hyssop, more sweet peas...
Carrots, spring onions on seed tape in tubs..with a little makeshift plastic cloche.
Hyacinth I’m keeping secret till they start sprouting.
I’ve put in a shrubby kowhai over Fluffy’s grave.


Random thought…if mum or dad ever agreed, I could put square metre plots on the back lawn and then I could really grow a crop of sunflowers and corn and beans to take advantage of the full sun. Be good for the chickens.
But…I don’t want to risk it. Mum is getting suspicious of all this gardening activity.
Wait till spring…then she’ll ask..where did all these flowers come from? 
And I will say…ask God. ;-)

Funny thing happened yesterday. Just after finished mulching…it started to rain. Dad said, that’s unusual, it seems to be just over our house..as theres blue sky everywhere else. 
We got 41mm.

February

I haven’t written here for a while…

But things are growing!
My snow peas and beans have finished so I pulled them out. I didn’t sow anymore cos I want to do something different. I’ve weeded and plan to dig or mulch the weeds back into the soil to enrich it.
Mum dug out much the soil that had been piling up at the back and blocking drainage so I still have to figure out what to do with that bare soil which is very poor with nothing much to grow as well as being dry and too far to carry much water to and fro.

There is one lone swan plant, a grapevine, a loquat, a lemon tree/bush and a red canna lily.
I tried to sow alyssum under the grapevine, it came up then shriveled again cos of lack of moisture.

I’m thinking maybe blanket the area in green manure - mustard, oats and lupin and then once those dug in with nitrogen back into the soil I can think about what I can grow there again. Or phacelia, to encourage bees. I’d love a wildflower border, and have recently been inspired by Prince Charles garden at Highgrove. I watched a doco in which he showed us the garden with Alan Titchmarsh. It’s all grown according to organic principles. Still looking for that sundial.

Sweet peas are doing well, have flowered, though small, they have lovely scent. I’m picking a few to press into my garden book..keeping leaves and flowers and just having a record of what I’ve grown. Some have seeded already..have to keep these seeds.

I want to dig out those pesky roses at the front I hate the thorns and give them to Tembe but still haven’t got round to it. It’s flower carpet so it’s prolific but the flowers have no scent so it’s useless to me.
My brothers planted those. You cut them back and they keep growing.

They also planted other roses down the back but problem is with Auckland’s humid weather they get black spot easily plus the blooms don’t last long and wilt in the heat.
And I hate the thorns too! grrr.

The peach tree is fruiting, mum bottled a whole lot the other day, I can hear them thud on our garage roof as they fall. I put in a comfrey plant underneath, a bizzy lizzie (impatiens) and also that hydrangea which now has new leaves.

I plan to do a bit more underplanting in that area which is also where the chickens have their coop.
I have put the hen and chicken ferns still in pots underneath the verandah..not sure where to plant just yet but maybe underneath the peach tree? 

As for the begonia, it didn’t survive. Sorry.
I planted it in Sock’s garden but it was too dry there and also the chickens kept digging there, so…no luck. Socks’ clivia is doing well, I put in a spider plant too, but if do manage to find more clivia will put those in as clivia looks good in bunches of three underneath the shade of the feijoa.

I’ve made a little rock garden in the corner with spider plant, mint, echevrias, aeoloforums (sp?) succulents and money trees. this little patch I’ve put in logs and also air lillies to make a kind of wild terrarium kind of garden. I also found moss and seaweed magic mulch is good, esp for hanging baskets.

My hanging basket did not hang as was too heavy, but I now have those window boxes that do hang off the side of my verandah and they have strawberries, succulents, trailing rosemary, alyssum and basil.

My attempt at growing thyme was thwarted when I forgot to water them on a particularly hot day they all shriveled up and died. So I wasted that packet of seed.
I bought a sack of the King of Mulches as they say pea straw and lucerne and have mulched my pots and tyres and strawberries and the frangipani, hibiscus and olive tree.
It’s good stuff.

I have in another pot sweet william and lambs ears. The lambs ears have grown giant and seem to be listening to Sweet William, who has pink flowers. 
I cut him back and he’s still growing more. So…looks like he’s here to stay.

I gave my christmas tree to Operation Christmas Child charity and the manager said do you have a name for it? I said…oh Mr Tree?
I also gave them back their bizzy lizzie I had been looking after over Christmas and they said they missed her. 

Yea I don’t know I thought I was the only one giving personalities to plants…
Moses in the basket..doing well, tea tree…sort of growing…passionfruit..still looks the same as ever and hardly grown at all. BUT heard it said that, they just putting down roots first. Phew. American thornless hybrid blackberrry..seems to be doing well, but we’ll see if this hybrids fruit is any good. 

So…am gearing up for Autumn!

ps. bought the latest nz gardener came with a garden diary and free gloves. Gloves were too big for me so gave to my Dad. Otherwise I am not spending that much more on my garden as now getting free cuttings, the only thing I’m spending on lately is mulch.

That’s all for now..
S.

December in the Garden...

My Christmas Lillies are in bloom. I put them in early September as the bulbs were on special at Kings. One did really well and it is spectacular with five blooms. The christmas lily is said to have flowered at Mary’s annunciation, as a sign she was blessed. 

Otherwise, tis the season for christmas trees, and I was lucky to have a real one this year Joanne gave me live in a pot, so I’m not sure what to do with it once christmas is over. We could keep it in the pot inside or on the deck, but it may need to be planted out at some stage. Any forests nearby? Are we allowed to put it in the park? The pine smell is divine.
Boxing day sales have bitten me, so I drove to Kings again, buying two planter boxes to hang on my deck walls, planning to put herbs and flowers in them, like rosemary and thyme. And basil.

I found a frangipani, as was 25% off all plants, so bought the most fragrant one I could find. The larger ones were selling for hundreds of dollars. I’ve repotted it in a larger pot and it’s outside on the north side of the house. 

I planted my hydrangea by the peach tree in the shade, as noticed my original site by the fence it was not doing so well. I plan to sow mustard as a green crop in the autumn, to get the nitrogen into the soil and build up humus. I’ve also asked some neighbours if they could spare some worms to put in my compost heap. I want the worms to do my work for me. 

The snow peas are shooting up, not flowering yet though. The sweet peas are lagging behind, but I expect much from them in the next month or so. They are my favourite flowers.
My birdbath I’ve placed under the tangelo tree. Unfortunately no birds seem to be visiting it, I plan on buying a bird feeder and maybe leaving food there to entice them. It’s painted blue and apparently birds do not see blue. But it could double as a handy plate to place tangelos on. I’m planning on underplanting the tangelo with nasturtiums, to encourage beneficial insects, and also comfrey, that will bring up nutrients from the soil and also, can use the leaves for fertiliser. I will need to grab a few more from the community garden.

The cosmos I’ve tucked into some beds, dotted around everywhere. They will self seed freely. They are good value.
Now the weather is warm it’s time to get busy with growing herbs from seed. 

I have my eye on hen and chicken ferns, only cos I like the name. I prefer the look of maidenhair ferns, and wonder if they will thrive in my shady bed. Some cat must have destroyed my catnip as found the stalks were all bent and broken. I have pruned it back and hope it will grow again. 

I still don’t really know what to do about the back fence, maybe another berry plant would go there espaliered against the fence. The soil is not too good there..my passionfruit has not grown an inch so maybe its just not hot enough for them. I’ve placed the fuchsias in patio pots as well as the olive tree and hibiscus. 

The jasmine too, does not seem to be doing well where I’ve placed it maybe it should be against the fence again. I want my borders every inch full of flowers and foliage, as that will save on water. I don’t like to see bare soil. Too bad where I live they scraped all the good soil away.