You may remember the story behind The Driveway Garden. We paid a man, who claimed to be a fencer and driveway maker, to make a driveway for us. It was a complete disaster. The concrete cracked within days, the retaining wall leaned the wrong way and it was too narrow to drive a car up it. We ended up paying another man to dig it all up and take it away.
Then, our friend Paul, who built my greenhouse, built a new fence and gate at the end of it. It became a garden.
Now the old garden is making way for the new one.
I’ve dug up a lot of plants and weeds this week. And added compost.
Then I planted daffodils into blocks, which I fenced off with bamboo (in my latest fence design). I hope this will stop my Project Manager and Communications Advisor from walking across the gardens. I’ve made sure they can walk along the fence line, checking the perimeter (which they like to do), and take short-cuts across the long garden (when you’re short and impulsive with an inability to plan ahead or remember three dimensional layouts, paths in all the right places are crucial). As I say, I’m hopeful (but not overly) that my two teammates will respect the fences.
I’ve given myself a challenge. Every week I have to come up with a flower display using plants from my garden and anything I’ve foraged. Here’s this week’s offering.
I bought 3 vases this week during my regular op shopping excursion with my son and his girlfriend. I decided to make a flower arrangement in each one.
I've been reading the best flower arranging book. And I mean THE BEST. It’s called ‘How To Do The Flowers’ by Constance Spry. It was published in 1953 but was written earlier. She talks about bombed out streets and Nissan Huts. And it’s all about being playful and having fun when it comes to arranging flowers. Constance encourages people to use anything plant related that catches your eye. Most importantly it’s about ignoring rules when it comes to aesthetics (which appeals to me, I’m allergic to rules). It’s a very modern book (thanks Sal for this wonderful gift).
The Paekākāriki garden has a lot of skinks. I hardly ever saw them in my Karori garden. After a quick search on the DOC website I’ve identified the guy in the photo (I think). It’s a Northern Grass Skink, which are abundant in coastal areas, apparently. Hopefully it’s not an Australian Plague Skink (which look similar) and are a threat to our native skinks.
I’ve started planting out my hardy annual seedlings. I grow most of them in compostable pots. To stop the blackbirds digging up the seedlings and pots I use bamboo skewers to hold them into the soil. It also makes the the raised beds less attractive to my Communications Advisor who likes to jump on top of raised beds to eat compost or sheep pellets or just because she can.
There’s a lot going on in the greenhouse. Lots of seed sowing and potting on of seedlings.
I visited my friend Gaylene this week @fogbowflowers. She makes up an organic brew to feed her seedlings. I’m inspired to do the same. I’ve got seaweed and comfrey tea in big buckets behind the greenhouse. The seaweed is from the beach and the comfrey is from my garden. I’ll dilute some of this and spray it on the seedlings this week.
And this is why I live where I do. I’m very lucky. I never take it for granted. Or my Project Coordinator and his funny ways.