Mama Fern & Papa Sam: First wedding anniversary weekend

This weekend was our first wedding anniversary, so the garden got a little less attention than normal. But, I got spoilt by Sam, so it was all good... Not only did he take me out for dinner to my favourite restaurant, but he bought me a lovely pounamu (greenstone) necklace in the shape of a koru, which I haven't taken off yet. I've always wanted a pounamu necklace, but according to tradition, you cannot buy or acquire pounamu for yourself, you must buy it for someone else or have it given to you. The koru design is a traditional design based on the unfurled leaf of the fern plant, and represents new growth, new beginnings, renewal and hope for the future. The iwi which my family originates from, Ngai Tahu, have had long links with pounamu and ownership of all pounamu in its natural state in the South Island of New Zealand lies with them.
Pounamu Information


My pounamu koru necklace

Our strawberries have started to produce more fruit just lately, so Sam and I got a couple of berries this weekend. Best performers so far have been the smaller Camarosa berries, but we've had a couple of Gaviota as well. Some of our berries have been planted with garlic nearby, which will apparently affect the taste of the fruit for the worse in time, so I will have some transplanting to do before next season.

Another nearly ready to pick Camarosa

Being my usual stubborn self, when I was told that lavender cuttings can be really difficult to do properly, I had to prove everyone wrong... And I actually succeeded in getting at least 10-15 plants to root properly. I took cuttings, dipped them in honey and left them in potting mix for a couple of weeks and now, we have some tiny lavender plants, some of which are already flowering. 10 are out in the tyres round our lasagna garden and the rest in pots, while I see how many of the original 40 actually took root.


Lavender cuttings, just starting into flower

We have had an unwelcome visitor this week. Or should I say visitors... So far, we've spied two rats going in and out of the chicken coop, so we went out and bought two massive rat traps and have concocted a safe place of sorts to keep them in... Here's hoping we get them both! And maybe more, if there are more rats.

Function over form - modern art or rat trap?

The lasagna garden is filling in faster now. In the tyres, from left to right are: celery, a tamarillo tree, lavender, 3 tyres of kumara, cape gooseberry, bergamot, more lavender, cos lettuce and globe artichokes. The centre contains our 3 sisters (zucchini, corn and beans), beetroot, ruby chard, broccoli, sunflowers and hollyhocks.

Lasagna garden

We're hoping for some pumpkins this year, and have planted about 7 plants in different spots, then found a few self-seeded ones. So there might be one or two or ten dinners of pumpkin soup planned...

Some of the pumpkin plants

We're getting a new footpath in front of our house at the moment, and I might have convinced the digger guy to scrape all the grass away in front of the fence at the same time... Either way, I have big plans for the front berm, starting with dichondra repens (mercury bay weed) for a metre or two each end of the fence, in place of grass, then filling the centre with lupins to prepare the soil for being inundated with flowers... So watch this space, because I've laid down two seedling trays in preparation for the lupins starting to shelter the new seedlings. Master 7 has already planted scarlet runner bean seeds at the base of the fence some weeks back, which are already popping their heads up, so there will hopefully be a riot of colour out there any day soon.

My next proposed garden space being nicely prepped by the council

Baby scarlet runners coming through

Sam spent a few hours lugging tyres, mulch and soil around, and has completed and planted out the rest of the front yard tyre wall. In addition to what was already there, he's added bergamot, lemon grass, rosemary, Southland snow peas, and ruby chard.

The last part of the tyre wall, completed and planted

The greenhouse is proving to be useful, but we've had a few problems with the zips on it, so my next project is to fix them, perhaps using some velcro instead. In the meantime, it's still filling up with future plantings... There's a few larger plants to go out to the garden soon, including the feverfew and horseradish, which will be going into tyres on top of concrete, to try and stop them becoming too invasive.