I’ve been away – not for long, but just long enough to soak in a few days of someone else’s summer, which was a lot better than ours. I got away to Flinders, outside of Melbourne for three days for all things gardening, hanging out with my fellow Botanical Guides from the fab tour company Botanica World Discoveries. It is a privilege to be counted … Continue reading Jumping the Ditch
This is not how I meant to start the year. I have dropped the ball and started to fall by the wayside. But I had a very good excuse. I somewhat foolishly decided it would be a good idea to open up my garden to the general public so they could see what I had done. I had no real plan – a sort of … Continue reading Epic visit
From time to time Hubby the Un-Gardener has meetings with clients away from home and more often than not it is at a café location that roughly halfway between them both. So, this week when he told me a client suggested meeting at the wonderful café at the Auckland Botanic Garden, I told him he wasn’t going there without me. The weather this week was … Continue reading I’m coming with you
Day 2 of #MakeMayCount was starting to look like there would be no room at all for anything ‘planty’. As it was a weekend day, we wanted to paint one of the bedrooms in our house. We haven’t really done a lot to the inside of the house since we moved it onto our coastal property, as the outside and gardens have been our priority. … Continue reading Amazing Avocados
I have a garden group visiting the garden today, probably the last for a while. But I do love having groups coming to visit, first and foremostly to share the garden love, as there is always the opportunity for it be a wonderful exchange of ideas. A throw away comment made by someone that starts with “have you thought of…” can completely revolutionise the way … Continue reading Looking its best
Our water tank has a little red ball poking out of the top. It should be on a long stick as the internal part is floating on the surface of the water letting us know just how much we have left. But it seems to be constantly positioned on a short stick as we ride the rest of this season of little rain. I crunched … Continue reading Raining there not here
I have to say in this fine country we are completely blessed with people full of passion and added to that exceptional resources, which have come together to make the kiwi gardening experience what it is – something amazing. Many of our established garden brands are built on such vision and invention and to be honest as a humble gardener I don’t think we fully … Continue reading A proud history
There is never a dull moment in my world. Actually, no that isn’t true – there have been plenty of dull moments this spring while I wait for my recently almost dry soil to drain again after yet another deluge and to be honest it is as dull as watching paint dry. But we haven’t had an inundation in over a week so I’m going … Continue reading The day the police came
It has been an interesting week. It hasn’t rained for a start. Well not much. These days rain doesn’t count unless it is bucketing down. And Sunday doesn’t count as this week, because if it did then I would have to say we had yet more torrential rain and we ended up with surface water across the lawn and paths again. So I’m happy to … Continue reading It’s slowly drying out
I have spent a lot of time over the years just plodding about in my own garden and this made me perfectly happy. I love my garden and I wake up every morning and feel blessed to be living where we do. It is my slice of paradise and gives me all I need – all the vegies we can eat, an incredible vista, all … Continue reading We need a lake
