50 Gardens in one Month It isn’t often you can say you have visited over 50 gardens in one month, but this November that is what I did. Well, if I’m completely honest – a few were in the very tail end of October and one of the gardens was mine, so the exact tally is a little hazy, but it was all part of … Continue reading 50 Gardens in one Month
I’ve been away again. But the best kind of away. I put on one of my favourite hats to do my job as a Botanical Tour Guide for Botanica World Discoveries. I hosted a bus load of garden tourists across New Zealand over two back-to-back tours. Firstly, it was the NZ Taranaki Garden Spectacular and Private Gardens Tour followed by the NZ Private Gardens and … Continue reading I’ve been away again.
Coming back to the garden after such a long time out of it feels weird. It isn’t helped by the weather. We are just three days away from the start of the meteorological summer and to be honest it feels like the early days of spring. Instead of slowly raising the temperatures and increasing the sunshine, the season seems to be stuck in some kind … Continue reading This is not what I was expecting
There has been a lot going on since I last chatted with you. Just re-reading my last post, brought back all the feels – the nerves, the determination, the long, long list of things to do, and the excitement. There was so much ahead and a lot of it was unknown. But now it is all behind me and I look back and wonder how … Continue reading I didn’t intend to leave you so long
When you move to a new spot it can take a while to get the hang of the new environment and adjust your technique and style to the new conditions. For the most part I have been quite happy with how things grow here, but since we moved I have not had a lot of luck with tomatoes. I enviously watched other people complain about … Continue reading Shrouded in Love
After a period of life getting in the way of the garden with its dodgy weather, emotionally anxious pandemic, teens and exam related stress and non gardening computer related activities, the pendulum swung back in my favour. All it took was for me to muster up all my everything to tackle all the non gardening things indoors while the weather was less than ideal, the … Continue reading Sunny Days are Here Again
Normally my only early thoughts of Christmas are getting the spuds into the garden on time. Jersey Benne’s take 100 days and so the planting day is 16th September. Then I turn my back on all things festive until about two weeks before and have a massive panic as I cram in everything that needs to be done. Well not this year. It has been … Continue reading Getting the Christmas Spirit Early
Yesterday a found myself with a bit of a headache I just couldn’t shake so I erred on the side of caution and didn’t push myself to do much at all. So today was a bit of catch up. It wasn’t like I didn’t do anything yesterday, but I’ve decided to be proactive regarding Christmas and am making a few bits and bobs as gifts. … Continue reading 10 Task Thursday
It was touch and go there for a while as to whether I would actually achieve my daily 5 things. I was slow to get out into the garden due to a load of computer gardening. Some of it was fun and one weekly chore a mundane necessity. Sometimes real life encroaches on the magic of gardening, sucking up time that, if I could, I … Continue reading The five things I did today.
Now the garden has been planted out, it is easy to think, Nah… I’ll leave it for today, the garden doesn’t really need me. Or I’ve worked hard up to this point, and it is the lull time before the harvest, so I deserve a break. But the key to managing a garden as big as mine is to chip away at it, take care … Continue reading 5 Things for Today
