What's a garden blog with out plants?
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| Back door garden |
Well not much.... and not much is happening in the garden just yet. We are into our fourth week of no rain. This is the one bed that I had time to give a good going over with some new home made compost, some liquid seaweed and a biostarter to get all that life going in the soil. This bed had store bought compost added to it every few years or so. One of these batches of compost seemed to have locked up the nitrogen and or potassium - basically everything went yellow, limp and died off early. I am so pleased with the results giving me healthy happy plants again. What pleases me most is I have not watered this bed once while the lawn is dying off. Stoked!
At the moment the Billardiera Longiflora has its berries on display. Its growing well in the semi-shade under a house eve, during pruning time I would say a little too well. This is the least tasty of the Australian bush tucker vines. As you can see from the top photo its a climber that has been given no support as it weaves up into itself and clings to gaps in the logs. It gets a good hair cut each year. I'm thinking of putting up a semi arch to grow it away from the house. The main reason I have this plant is that in mid-spring it is covered in lime tubular flowers that stand out so well against the dark green leaves. When in flower next year expect to see a photo or two.
Welcome to my blog. Here I hope to share the progress of bringing my garden back from the wilds and to talk and share the love of plants. I have been very busy the past couple of years and unfortunately my garden has suffered.
New Zealand is a great place to garden. In general the country is a temperate rain forest with many micro environments all around. Sub tropical in the north through to snow laden winters in the south. I live basically smack bang in the middle at the bottom of the North Island, USDA Hardiness Zone 9. The growth rate of plants is very fast. You can plant out an arboretum and in thirty years or so enjoy a well established forest of trees. So as you can imagine weeds can become overruling in a very short period of time. And man do I have some weeds! Bindweed/Convolvulus is the most relentless beast here, but all the others which send shivers down a gardeners spine co-exist as well. But if I can remove Oxalis vallicola I can remove anything. The key is just keep at it!
Mitzi at Holmley? Well the Mitzi part is in memory of my lovely little cat who as a tiny kitten four years ago literally appeared from no where during the lowest period of my life, unfortunately she got hit on the road two weeks ago. I really appreciate her living with me and miss her a lot as she had quiet the personality. The Holmley part is the original name given to the property in 1898 when the land was cleared of virgin forest and set up as small holdings for railway workers. My garden has never had a name before. I feel really comfortable with this name so Mitzi at Holmley it shall be.
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| Mitzi aka Meow Meow |
