(A paid post with the good people from GARDENA NZ) The thing I love about the garden is there is always something new to do or discover. But the knock on effect of this is there are some things that were once new to you that you just wouldn’t be without. And one of those things is irrigation. The garden is big and to water … Continue reading Sorting out the watering
After the drama of the Great Water Escape over Christmas when we lost over 30,000 litres overnight thanks to a tap fiddler, I’ve made a few changes. The leak wasn’t intentional as the tap didn’t immediately gush with water and needed the pump by the tank to activate before flowing so it was impossible to know if it was on or off. There was no … Continue reading Waterwise
With the summer holidays fast approaching the lawn becomes more than the grassy area between the house and the garden. Being the only flat area of land we actually have, it is quite useful. It started out flat and grassy before the house. And to be honest it stayed that way until I created the garden. I needed to remove a good layer of earth … Continue reading Spreading the love
You may or may not remember late last year I bought some fruit trees…. >Read about it here< Umm… yeah…. Well… I killed them, all of them. Well the olive still has leaves, but it might as well be dead by the look of it! It isn’t completely unexpected, as I ended the tree purchasing post with the words: “I do feel a little sorry … Continue reading I have a confession to make
As we are only a year and a bit into this new property beside the coast, there are no trees. It didn’t come with trees and I haven’t quite got to the point of planting some – well not quite, but that is a shameful story for another day! Besides, if I had planted any since moving here, they certainly wouldn’t be big enough to … Continue reading Raking in the Gold
Having a nice lawn around here is kind of a big deal. If anyone has ever built or relocated a house will agree that the lawn is the least of tradesmen’s worries. When we first got the site, it had been grazed by cows and so aside from a few cowpats about the place, which I rejoiced at the sight of – free fertiliser yay! … Continue reading Lawn love in difficult times
Of all the garden tools at my disposal the one that works the hardest is the hose. It is the font of all hydration that is not heaven sent. Actually, all the water here is heaven sent, but the hose delivers the water that was captured upon the roof and then saved for… I was going to say ‘saved for a rainy day’ but while … Continue reading An Ode to the humble hose.
Since we moved here back in January there was an important member of the family who came with us. However we weren’t able to bring all of his bits and pieces with us and had to leave them behind. We are pleased to see they didn’t go to waste and the lovely new people who bought our house soon made the most of them by … Continue reading Nev’s back
Finally, the weather turned to ‘not rainy’ and my schedule cleared up and I could go tree shopping. Only I’ve left it a little late. I knew I had but didn’t realise just how late as all the good stuff was gone. It was my worst fear. Well actually that is an overreaction, but it was rather disappointing. Aside from earlier in the week, I … Continue reading Hunting and Gathering Trees
We are firmly on the down hill run to spring and the final weeks of winter are imminent. Ordinarily this fills me with excitement and a large portion of my being is jumping with joy. The rest of me really wants to apply some kind of seasonal hand brake. There is still too much to be done. I have my lists and a loose sense … Continue reading Boxed in
