New Year, Old Projects

The time off over Christmas has given me the odd opportunity to catch up on some things that I'd left undone. 

Staking this kowhai was a top priority. It had quite a lean and has started to yellow. It's a special tree as I planted it over one of my two placentas. I also love kowhai and the tui that they attract so I was keen to save it. Fingers crossed it works. 

Fixing the flapping and fraying wind barrier on the raised beds became more pressing once I planted my first crown of rhubarb and a cape gooseberry. 

I used my father's idea of threading through a bamboo cane and hooking on a bungee cord. Some of the original hooks had rusted through so I hammered in a baling hook saved from a cube of sawdust. The bungee won't last in the sun though so I'll need a more sustainable option for the long term. 

Inside the house, I conquered my fear of meringue and made a pavlova base. Sadly our hens have stopped laying (in the coop at any rate) so I had to buy eggs. I was able to buy them from a local producer who once took some of our chicks so they're almost our own eggs. 

I also squeezed in an hour of sewing to put together a shopkeeper's apron and a tool belt for the children. They need the straps adding in but they're much closer than before. Progress at last. 

A Walk on the Wild Side

Although the weeds are taking over round here, some of them are, at least, pretty attractive. And our native plantings are still winning the war.

Harakeke/flax that I planted shortly after moving in is flowering and the tuis are loving the nectar. I've found bird's nests under - and inside - the shed and underneath the deck too.

The mynah birds inside the shed have made a scruffy nest but we have another bird that makes the most beautiful nests with a smooth lining. I'm not sure what it is but suspect it's one of the European immigrants - maybe a thrush. Any ideas, anyone?

Tui in the harakeke

One step backwards...

We had one of the worst storms on record for forty years a fortnight ago. Amazingly the only damage was to my globe artichoke. It had already grown to giant proportions so it was a bit of a setback for my vegetable patch. 

Interestingly, the damaged leaves seemed to be even more under attack from aphids (or similar) than when the plant was thriving. I've stripped those leaves off now and hope the plant revives itself. 

The pumpkin growing in my old compost heap is looking very healthy in comparison. It's still quite small but there are flowers already. There's a new choko plant growing alongside it too. 

In the native bed, I was delighted to find that my two dwarf kowhai are in good health and both of them have their first flowers. None of the native grasses survived the summer but some of the other ground cover plants have new leaves. 

Inside, I've been busy pickling red cabbage. 

We've been enjoying bok choi and winter salad too. Our first cos lettuce is in the fridge ready for a salad tomorrow night. Winter growing is off to a good start. 

Undergrowth 3

Undergrowth 2

Undergrowth 1

Nursery spider on manuka

Native bush

The native border on the edge of the lawn is coming along well. The plants have grown fatter and taller and we even had a flower on one of the native iris.

The border has benefited from some weeding by my parents and the out-laws and a bit of mulch has been added. My father also built a barrier from wattle tree logs which will prevent the mulch from washing away down the valley as it did over last winter.

I've taken out a privet or two which were crowding out a pink-flowered kanuka tree and purchased some ground-cover which you can see at the front of this picture. I also picked up two dwarf kowhai to attract tui and provide some colour.  

Unfortunately we have even more weeds to pull out now that I know that these grasses are invasive pampas rather than the native toetoe. The two plants are hard for an amateur like me to distinguish and I had hoped they were toetoe but suspected they weren't. When they flowered in January, I knew that they were weeds. We'll add them to the kill list along with wattles, privet and tobacco trees.

Grand Designs

I have decided that I need a plan. A grand plan for our garden. Unfortunately I'm struggling a little bit because we already have a gorgeous landscaped garden - parklike, the estate agents would say. Rolling lawns, mature trees and a few borders already planted out with shrubs. 

It looks lovely (if a little parched right now) but it holds no surprises. You take it all in with one sweeping glance and a tour of the garden consists of a ramble around looking at a handful of interesting plants. I'd much rather have one of those gardens where every corner offers a new aspect, a new experience. 

I know what I'd like to include in the garden - lots of natives, lots of edibles and some colourful exotics which will thrive in the Auckland climate. But I don't quite know how to achieve it. Particularly when I factor in a lack of time and a lack of inclination to do any serious digging in the hard clay soils that predominate. 

So I took some books out of the library to get some inspiration... 

And I visited the garden of some friends...

...and admired their different areas of beautiful plants and flowers...

...and I'm finally beginning to get a few clues as to how to proceed. I've even made some progress thanks to the strong arms and green fingers of my parents and my out-laws... Look out for updates through the coming year to see how my plan is taking shape.

Weedbusting

I went to a series of gardening talks the other weekend. There was a biosecurity officer from the council talking about tackling pest plants. He recommended that block owners develop a weedbusting plan rather than attempting to attack all the weeds at once. One option is to focus on just one or two types of pest plants.

We've already made a significant impact on the convolvulus - the most pernicious weed that we have. We started attacking privet last year and now it's the turn of the wattle.

This wattle had grown up since we moved in four years ago and had started to obscure our view. When the wattles flowered a few months ago, we could see quite how many there are around the neighbourhood and the more that we have, the more we will get as the seeds spread.

When J cut back the lower branches in order to fell the tree, I was amazed to see how thick the lower trunk was - surely that wasn't just four years of growth? J found older cuts at the base though - it had obviously been cut back before and had re-grown. The tree is now waiting for the next bonfire and we'll have to get some weedkiller to poison the stump so that it doesn't revive itself.

Nikau 2

Nikau 1

Toetoe

Seed pods 2

Seed pods 1

Puriri Tree

The other treat that the arborist gave us was identifying this tree. I hadn't realised that it was a native - a puriri tree - as it's planted alongside magnolias and other exotic species. The berries are loved by kereru - the native pigeon - and puriri moths make their homes in the trunks and branches of this tree. A great addition to our landscape.

Toetoe

Winter sky

Autumn Sunshine