Earthquakes, Earthworks and a Good Feed

Some keen gardeners and those with earthquake phobias might like to skip the first few paragraphs - just jump straight to the first images and you'll be safe.

This week's blog will have to do for the past two. After a hectic week attending to work, garden and other things that come under the general heading of "life" and finally sitting before the pc on Tuesday evening, the wheel fell off. Blogger was down and as Janice and I flew to Christchurch on Wednesday morning for a few days rest I simply enjoyed a break from blogging too.

Since the Magnitude 7.1 earthquake on Sept 3rd, and because there have been so many sizable aftershocks (including a Mag 5 a few days ago) Christchurch has earned the reputation in NZ of Earthquake City . It was interesting therefore to see how the city is handling the quake and its aftermath. The first thing we noticed was the lack of disruption and damage. Quakes of this magnitude in places where building codes are less stringent would have caused the city to be flattened -witness Haiti for example, where a quarter of a million people died. In Christchurch there was no loss of life and damage was limited to the oldest brick buildings, some of which have simply been strengthened, some pulled down to be replaced.

Wanganui and most of New Zealand is either on, or very close to, active fault lines, so we regularly experience small quakes here too and are used to a little rocking every now and again. However, as we were "upgraded" to a 26th floor apartment in the hotel we stayed at we were pleased there was no significant shake while we were there. Never-the-less, the fact is that had there been another quake we would have been perfectly safe.

So why am I telling you all this? I have no idea. Perhaps I'm highlighting our good fortune in living in a society that values life enough to take steps to prevent its loss. Perhaps I'm telling prospective visitors to Christchurch and NZ not to worry about earthquakes.Either way I'm digressing from things horticultural.

Spring is well and truly here and heading full tilt towards summer. The vege garden is flourishing, more trees are in flower and perennials are waking up to the fact that they have to get on with another growth cycle..... again. I too must wake up to the fact there is an awful lot of work to do in the garden, not the least of which is making more terraces (more earthworks with a spade) to extend the vege garden into - because i'm RUNNING OUT OF ROOM.!!!!

I love trees and so the blooming cherry which flowered outside my office window (upstairs at home) a few weeks ago and the sycamore and manuka now in flower and also seen from the office are great friends to me.

The wisteria loves to climb the sycamore and rewards me with this sight of them both in flower. I love  the sycamore seed pods seen developing mid left in the image below. They will bring "helicopter" excitement for our granddaughters later in the summer.

The manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is beginning to flower now and will be a mass of blooms in a week or two.

And the clematis climbing up the tortured willow is a great sight in late spring

The willow has also allowed us to hang a swing from one of its branches and this has given much pleasure. Here my cousins James and Jasmine enjoy a ride in the autumn a few years ago

But back to today


The orchard is changing again as the azalea finishes flowering, the lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina) reach upwards and granny's bonnets flower in front of the myosotis

And the first flower appears on a new rugosa rose 

The Rhododendron comes into bloom

The vege garden already alluded to as rapidly becoming too small is flourishing. The plant poking through the bird netting protecting the radish seedlings is a cabbage palm Brassica oleracea and the bare ground will be planted up with another crop of onions, beet lettuce seeds etc in a few days. We are harvesting sugar snap peas, carrots, radish, lettuce, beet, spring onions, spinach, broccoli and looking forward to much more

Vegetables and herbs are my favourite plants because not only do they look good but they also feed you. Janice and I love cooking and I'm looking forward to having a garden full of many different species for use in flavouring our meals. Last week I made some delicious vegetable pastes and sauces for garnishing. So delicious they were! Try parsley and spring onion, shredded and then blended with olive oil and lemon juice using a mortar and pestle. Or oregano and thyme likewise treated. Get the combination right and you have a wonderful garnish that's so easy to make....fresh

Just one more thing. This spotted lettuce (below right) has a great flavour and does not go bitter as the plant ages. Fantastic!!

Sorry I can't give you the name as I bought them as a plug. I'll get it later. Anyone know?


Cheers


Terry

Fine weather

At last, the garden is sufficiently dry to walk in without sinking up to my armpits. There is no sucking "thwup" noise when I turn over a sod. There's a large, round, yellow apparition floating across the sky and my back warms when I'm facing away from it. OOoooh tis lovely, and warm enough to suggest I wear a long sleeved shirt. No, not to protect from the cold but to keep my tender, youthful (Ha!) skin from burning. What a joyful day in the garden. Don't Gazanias and lettuce look good together in the sun? Oh yes they do!

The major task yesterday was to weed a couple of vegetable beds that I've been unable to attend to for a few weeks due to the wet. Boy, were they weedy and unruly! The job took longer than anticipated because when I planted the peas I didn't also plant the netting although I did plant carrots and radish. Here's a before and after:

And when I planted the onions I didn't leave enough room to get a hoe between the rows - really dumb! Here's another before and after only this time the before is looking in one direction and the after is looking the other - just to test you.

 I was trying to save space and cram them in. We have shallots, spring onions, red bunching onions, Ishikura (a white bunching spring onion) some small, round fella's who's name escapes me and red onions. Yes, we love onions. We love herbs and spices and plenty of green vegetables too and this year I aim to grow heaps of them for use in cooking and salads. Oh yes, I picked the first radish today too, two actually, long red ones. and that means it's time to sow a whole new lot of veges...tomorrow. Evening. If I'm not working.
Then again I might weed the orchard seen here above the azalias:

Last week I showed an image of our granddaughters preparing to pull up some stocks. here's what they planted in the freed up space:

One of the delights of owning a dog is that if you fence your vege garden off they will find a space to lie in the flower beds. I haven't seen her there but I sure saw the result.

The bad weather of the previous few weeks held most growth back but just a few days of warmth and sun has kick-started the garden big time. Now that the vege garden is weeded I have to tackle the orchard and with luck I'll find a few hours in the evenings during the week. Nursery work is full on because, like in the garden, the cold and fierce winds held growth in check and now that the breaks are off everything has to be done at once - so I might be pushing it to crib time in the orchard I guess.

If you ever wondered what a large hedge of trees looks like when exposed to westerly gales in the spring wonder no longer. Note the battered left side and the rampant right hand side:

Have a nice week.

Cheers

Terry