The sixth day of Christmas

We harvested the agria potatoes at Woodside today, from 27 potatoes planted we hauled in 260!
I am going to make potato salad with the baby ones and bake the big ones. Yum!

More things have been happening, red busy lizzies or impatiens are now under the wheki fern tree. I had another visitor to my garden, who to my dismay asked if most of my plants were weeds. I concurred that in Auckland, every plant is a weed.
He quickly changed the subject and asked where are the carnations? Over there, I said,  and pointed. Also  I have sweet williams, also known as pinks, or cloves, and they do faintly smell. So I picked one and gave it to him. I wonder if its proper to give a man flowers.

After looking at my garden and pronouncing it 'good' he asked why I didn't have any quotes from Shakespeare. Well I don't know, should a garden have quotes from Shakespeare? I suppose I could put some by Sweet William. 'The quality of mercy is not strained' he suggested, but I thought it would be more appropriate to have 'the rain it raineth every day.'
Then, after saying everything that was missing, like a fountain, I said, if he would like to dig a well or  build a viaduct from the creek he was welcome.

Nevermind. You can't win them all.

I planted my kowhai today, after removing the everlasting spinach that was just a thick stump with no leaves in hopes that it will grow into a tall tree so that tuis can come and feed off the sweet nectar and we wouldn't have to stare at our back neighbours' motorbikes parked in their driveway. Everybody needs good neighbours, but we also need good boundaries, and its much nicer to listen to birdsong in the morning than roaring motorbikes. Our neighbours are somewhat Westies. Actually they are not too bad, so much better than the one we had before who complained if a leaf so much as dropped on his side of the fence. But now thankfully that grumpy neighbour has moved to another galaxy far, far away.

The fourth day of Christmas

Yesterday I went with mum to the West Lynn Gardens and had a wander through the Butterfly House. It was packed with Monarch butterflies and was delightful. They were giving away swan plant seeds so I managed to snag a whole lot. I am going to sow them all along the border.

I took down my licorice plant from the hanging basket where it had grown in a mass and planted it near the driveway under the coprosma as it would make a good furry groundcover, it even has flowers. I think it's too much of a hassle watering hanging baskets from up high, so I may hang something else there instead.

I still plan to buy or snag some red busy lizzies and put them in pots to brighten up the foundations of the house as its a bit bare. I pulled up the vietnamese mint in  the L shaped border and scattered sunflower seeds there, not sure if they will grow big enough there as its shaded in the morning, but I think they would look good there.

For my dad's weather station I was thinking wouldn't it be nice to make a herbal parterre there in a square or diamond star shape. I could have chamomile and thyme growing there.

More plans and ideas - when bluebells and snowflake bulbs are on sale I plan to buy masses to put under the maple tree. More daffodils may be nice too but they may go in the L shaped border as they grow long and scented and would be nice by the pathway.

Our bbq went well, but, I have to say there's some things I need which would be ideal for our bbq, and that would be another bench or table, to sit at, and also, tip - if you barbecuing chicken, do not buy the nibbles!! They are too small, buy the whole wings instead and you must marinate them before you cook them, otherwise they end up being burnt to a cinder. I try telling my family the art of bbq but they don't listen, they just think they can burn any old thing. Grr.

Oh well. At least I had the baked  spuds from Woodside. Delicious.

The first day of Christmas

Seasons Greetings!

I went to a Boxing Day sale and managed to find a weather vane with a rooster on top and solar light. I have put it in Dad's weather centre, all I need is a sun dial and it may be complete. There are now coloured lights on the verandah rail. I'm a big fan of solar lights.

At Kings, it was 25% of all plants and I found another wheki tree fern, this time a bigger size and that's going in the rocky bed behind the bathroom, to complement the chatham island forget me not and hen and chicken ferns. I've underplanted with spider plants. I put an owl there and some tree stumps. Mum threatened to dig it up, but I hope she doesn't. Tree ferns don't need pruning as they just grow straight up. I just need to remember to keep it well watered, but the gardening books and the tag said it could cope in all sorts of situations. I even read after a bush fire these whekis regenerate quickly. They are very hardy, just need to be shaded and sheltered.

Well everything is set for some summer entertaining and I will be having a bbq tomorrow, so please come along if you so inclined, starts at 6pm.

Bring food and salads and plants.

Or you could just bring a fruit salad plant.

Pukeko in a ponga tree

Well it's technically a wheki tree fern but I now have a nz christmas tree that isn't a pohutakawa.
I planted this little cutie in amongst the terrarium money trees on the shady side of the house. There was a little gap that was the perfect spot for it's graceful umbrella fronds so I put plenty of compost in and now I have another real kiwi corner of the garden.

Sorry no nikau palms, do you know how huge they can get???
I was contemplating that for a while as West Auckland is their natural habitat but..they really need a shady gully and I think they would be a bit out of place on our flat section. Even though I would really like at least two so I can hang a hammock.

Also good news or maybe annunciation - my christmas lilies have bloomed. Their white trumpets are practically announcing Christmas is here. It is the longest day and the summer solstice. Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I haven't hung any stockings up yet.

T'is the season.

Next door is putting up some kind of pergola. Their home improvement is coming along and soon I don't think I'll recognise the place. Maybe my prayers have been answered? I wonder if I can seed bomb their new garden bed with sunflowers...

Another idea I had was to buy one of those push mowers and just mow a garden path and leave the rest of the lawn to grow wild and flower as a meadow. This is because I don't really like noisy lawn mowers. When dad retires and can't mow the lawn anymore I will just abandon the lawn to the elements. I wonder if I will get in trouble with the council for letting the grass grow. I better not say too much as I applied for a city parks job as a gardener and they might think twice about employing me if I express my views.  But then again, they're the ones that abandoned mowing peoples 'berms' and then charged people a horrendous tax for growing anything bearing fruit on them. Which doesn't make sense as we already have olive trees growing on all the 'berms' in our street, that the council provided!

Ok, my cognitive dissonance is going into overdrive. I can just use another by-law to fight the other one they created, by saying lawn mowing is damaging people's hearing and that noise pollution is just as real a nuisance as grass verge or sorry, 'berm' neglect.

Cool Bananas

We planted four banana palms at Woodside yesterday. Jacqui had grown them from seed and they had reached a good size to be planted out. So, in the future we shall add bananas to our harvest!

I am thinking it would be nice to have at least two palms in my garden so I can hang a hammock in between. Bananas may be nice but I'm thinking nikau as its native.

I also put in three bitter melons at Woodside where the peas were, and two busy lizzie cuttings that I don't know if they will take. They are red and christmassy looking. My sister has showed me her 'christmas tree' which is a poinsettia. I have chosen to give the honor to the olive tree that I planted earlier this year, and it now has a sheep and a duck gracing it. I will have to ask the planet Venus to be  my star of Bethlehem and to please shine brighter than all the stars in the sky directly over my tree.

Next door has lit up their deck with lights AND put in some plants and soil to make a raised bed next to the house. I see they have basket ferns and busy lizzies too. I may have to get some busy lizzies as I quite like the hot pink coloured ones, although red or orange would stand out against the house. Or I could try begonias.

I am thinking also of some kind of water feature in my garden. Perhaps just a pond with irises or lillies. I do have a birdbath and various pools of water dotted around for the chickens but it would be nice to have a fountain or bit of running water. Or a wishing well?

My friend Beth has offered me to have a selection of tree ferns or pungas growing wild at her place. So my dream of a fernery may be realised after all!

Went to the New Lynn $1 book sale. I bought three books, one of which is Readers Digest Good Ideas for Your Garden. So be warned the next few rambling garden diary entries may be full of those ideas.

Planning a BBQ

I think it's time to have another BBQ.
I sat down on my lawn and thought. Weather is right. Warm with cool breeze. Daylight saving. Flowers in bloom.

I also thought what if Dad didn't mow the lawn and just left it, save for a few pathways. Then I could have a meadow instead. It will be hard to convince him to not leave our yard looking like a cricket pitch but, why not? So what if nobody else lets their grass run wild. We can be the first. It will save gas.

Then the chickens can lay their eggs amongst the grass and the dogs wouldn't be able to find them so easily if they somehow jumped the fence.

But Dad is so ingrained in his lawn mowing habits. But at least he is composting the clippings. I just think that lawns are really only good if you have the appropriate garden surrounding them. They don't need to be huge and extend all the way around if they are not being used. And that would mean more room for plantings and wildlife and bees.

Anyway. I went for a drive around Auckland the other day over to the North Shore. Its only in places like St Mary's Bay and Freemans Bay, the rich areas that have lots of canopy of trees and hedges. Pt Chevalier is sunny and seems bare. Going over the bridge to Takapuna, are motley collections of 70's houses with a sunny aspect. Then Devonport has some old villas.

Where are the hidden gardens? When I read NZ Gardener they often feature private gardens and its usually a farmer's housewife who transforms a paddock into something wonderful. When they have the 'Heroic Garden Festival' they usually feature suburban gardens from Mt Eden and Remuera. These are the moneyed middle class folk. They also have rich volcanic soil to work with. I don't recall any gardens from Henderson making the grade.

If you go down Lincoln Road what was former vineyards is now Texas Chicken. They have put up more shopping developments where they used to make wine. Chicken seems very popular here. We have Southern fried chicken, Nandos, KFC, Oporto, Indian places serving Butter Chicken, Thai places serving Thai Green Curry Chicken, Chinese places serving Chicken Chow Mein, and Japanese places serving Teriyaki Chicken, Italians places serving Chicken Carbonara.  There's even a Filipino restaurant called Chikos.

Not sure what to think of this sudden chicken invasion along Lincoln Road. But I am thinking BBQ chicken wings for my BBQ served with potato salad.

Christmas Lights and Vita

Just down the road from me, are two houses lit up like Las Vegas. It's Margaret's daughter and her neighbours homes, and they have really gone to town.

I'm sure Santa knows our street now and where to land his sleigh. I have only got measly twinkling solar lights that I have all year round, but they have lights hanging from their spouting, all over their fence, on the lawn, in the bushes, in the trees, hanging out the window, over the driveway....

Mum is so bedazzled that she wants to go have a look. She thinks its much better than a church christmas drive-thru. I'm dismayed. She likes all this razzle dazzle even better than my own garden. Yet if I spend what amounts to a small fortune on mine, she ridicules it.

I find myself buying christmas ornaments, I have three red french hens and a sheep. I hang the sheep off the olive tree and the red hens off the peach tree. Thank you, Salvation Army.

I'm thinking, well, with my haybales I COULD make a manger scene. Just need some sheep, and a holy family in miniature. After all, Margaret's daughter has blow up Santa Claus on their lawn. I could have blow up sheep.

It rains slightly and I don't need to go water the garden. Instead I'm watching the National Trust DVD give tours their gardens, the first episode is a look at the famed Sissinghurt, and an expose of the creator, Vita Sackville-West's life. Did you know she was a lesbian and her husband was gay? No I did not. And they had three children? I don't know how that works...? But they loved each other and the garden.

And when I look at the garden I can't tell if its gay or not.

Anyway. I was thinking maybe it was an English thing. Have same-sex lovers, shock society, but leave behind a lovely garden. Or commit adultery, but still have your grand organic garden like Prince Charles. Or bump off your first wife, but still have your garden like Manderley in the novel Rebecca. It doesn't matter what sins you commit. You are redeemed in the garden.