Art for Heart's Sake

Dark Beauty & A Summer's Day!

Hi, on a rather hot summer's morning in late Spring - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!  This does not bode well for the summer to come I fear.  I love the sun when I'm sitting in the shade but otherwise it just makes me hot and grumpy, oh dear, giggle!

Isn't she a beauty - this gorgeous dark iris is in full flower at the moment and I caught her at her best with raindrops on her petals on Sunday morning. 

I also have a very pretty golden (hmmm I think that's the colour, it looks more lemony here) one too, plus a few others in different shades of blue and apricot.

Today I am going to find a spot to garden in the shade and then this pm we are off into Richmond for our weekly grocery expedition.   I want to get some impatiens (busy lizzies) to brighten up the parts of the rockery that I haven't planted with perennials yet.  It's in semi-shade so they ought to do very well.  I will need to keep it very well watered though because it dries out super fast.

Yesterday I received my brother's iPhone 4 in the mail.  He posted it about 2 weeks ago but there was a big hiccup with the value his PA had put on the paperwork so it had to be redone and rechecked through customs.  A very long long process it seems.  I had almost given up on it.  I have a really nice Nokia phone but I have to admit I have wanted an iPhone for ages.  How lovely to have one given to me.  Chris had updated to the iPhone 5 so didn't need it anymore.  I walked the dog listening to music this morning for the first time and it really felt good.  I've always disliked the idea of having music playing but I have to say it upped the tempo of my walk considerably.  I think Chester was wondering what had happened to me!  Giggle.'  I can't use it as a phone yet but we will get that sorted this pm in town.

A-watering I must go!  Smiles...

Finally, the Photos!!

Good Tuesday morning!  It's another gorgeous day, ermmmm dare I say it, it's going to be far too hot for me! 

The garden group arrived at around 2.15pm and didn't leave until 4.40pm.  They really enjoyed their time in the garden and ended up having their afternoon tea, sitting in the shade, and then their meeting.  It was so lovely to have people REALLY interested in the plantings etc.  Needless to say I was a bit tired by the time they left but it was worth it.  They bought a few plants too which was a bonus.

Here are the photographs I promised you of my tomatoes protected with frost cloth.  So far they are looking very happy, without the slightest sign of stress after a few days. 

I have a few more tomatoes to plant (heaven knows where!) and I also need to sow lots of herb and vegie seeds.  Eeek I'd better get going...  More photographs of some lovely irises tomorrow.  Smiles..

Garden Group Day!

Hi, yikes it's the day the Motueka garden group are coming to the garden and I will be rushing around like a mad thing this morning getting everything in the nursery etc ship shape.  I need to put all of my labels in the plants, sort out my arty bits to display on the verandah and, and, and...

I'm about to walk the dog and then I will launch myself into preparations.  They are coming around 2pm armed with their afternoon tea and chairs.  I love that they want to have refreshments sitting in our garden, how special!

The garden is looking so beautiful at the moment.  There are still gaps here and there where I've weeded but so many of my hardy geraniums are in full flower, just breathtaking!

I'll keep this short because I have so much to do this morning.  Oh I still haven't uploaded the photos I promised you, ack, will do it later today.  Big smiles, slightly nervous in a funny way, ones...

.. and Again!!

Hi, it's Sunday morning and it was raining when we woke up which was just lovely.  We didn't get much at all, only a few millimetres but it was enough to swell the sheep manure pellets up nicely!  A gardener's dream, giggle.  Now the sun is out and I can almost hear everything growing! 

I spent most of yesterday in the garden again, and got a lot more of the perennial garden weeded which is just wonderful.  I feel so much better about the garden group coming now.  I still have a few areas to concentrate on in the next week or two but that's okay.  At least tomorrow the garden will be looking fresh and lovely. 

I have just cooked the first globe artichokes for the season, yum!  I have to say they smell very weird when they are steaming - it's a very earthy smell to say the least.  Luckily their flavour makes it all worthwhile.

Early pm I need to go to a neighbour's house to get together with a few other women.  My friend Innes that I posted about over a year ago (she died after finishing a VSA assignment in Africa) bought gifts for her friends and her husband doesn't now who is meant to have what so he suggested we get together this pm so everyone gets something.  I feel a little strange about this, it doesn't seem quite right to me but I now his heart is in the right place and Innes would love that we are getting together too.  Ken's (husband) not going to be there either which I also find a little strange.  I can't help wondering how it's going to work - what if 5 of us all launch towards the same thing???  Eeeeekk not my scene at all.  It is making me feel very unsettled today!

I'm hoping to get time to plant my tomatoes in their growing bags later today because I didn't get round to it yesterday.  Oh our two neighbours Don and Judith popped round for a drink at 5pm last night and they are just delightful.  We had a very entertaining 1.5 hours and we're looking forward to getting together again soon. 

I must dash outside because we need to move the ducklings.  I took some photos around the kitchen garden this morning so I'll post them for you tomorrow.  Smiles..

Face Down in the Garden....

....well almost!  Giggle.  I spent most of yesterday in the main perennial garden weeding a fairly large area.  I had cleared this area a few weeks ago and there were gaps waiting for planting inspiration when, you guessed it, the weeds grew again, aaaggghhh!  Now I have lovely gaps again and I did manage to get some plants in yesterday too. 

Rain is forecast from this afternoon and it is meant to be quite heavy so I'm going to toss around a few bags of sheep manure pellets this morning so the rain will swell them up nicely.  When I say pellets, it is sheep manure that has been sterilised, compressed and then extruded in pellet form.  They are fabulous and I wouldn't be without them.  Not only is sheep manure a great soil conditioner especially for clay but they break down slowly, releasing their nutrient over a fairly long period of time.  I usually only have to do two fairly thick applications in a year, at least on the main perennial garden.

Oooh here is a link to an electronic magazine ''Get Growing''.. if you scroll on the right hand arrow through to page 20 (I think) you will see my ''Regional Chat'' bit and oh yay they've put an ad in for my nursery too as a mail order one.  This is really good because I'm hoping to be able to send plants nationwide again, eve though it can be a bit of a phaff!

http://getgrowing.realviewdigital.com/#folio=1

I hope the link works!  This pm we have some American neighbours coming to see us.  Don called in on Thursday pm and wants to bring his wife, Judith, over to see our property.  I saw her yesterday and she said Don came home saying he'd never seen anywhere so beautiful and that she'd never heard him so excited about anywhere he'd seen in the past.  How lovely to get great feedback like that.

Okay, off to toss some pellets around!  Happly place.. giggle...  Smiles..

 

Phew, Where Did Yesterday Go?!!

Hi, it's Friday morning and I'm sitting here wondering where on earth yesterday went.  It was a fairly full on day and time just flew.  In the morning I got three more tomatoes planted and their wind protection set up (must take the camera out there today for you).  I also planted two lebanese cucumbers under a cloche type thing in the KG (kitchen garden) and three gherkin plants in one of the vegie gardens on the north side of the house.  I had to change where I wanted to put them because I realised a cat (Monty or Chloe from next door?) have been using one lovely area of fine tilth to poop in.. ewwwwwwwwwwwwww!  They look too large to be Monty's... ermmmm too much information, giggle.

In the pm John rigged up our bigger pen that allows a paddling pool for the ducklings to swim in.  The four khaki campbell ducklings were getting far too big for their pen and they needed more room to wander around in.  Because of Monty John also put some wire on top which is a bit of a pain for him because we need to move the pen ever 2-3 days so it means unclipping the wire from the plastic fencing type material, moving the whole thing and then putting the wire back.  I just know Monty would leap into the pen in a flash otherwise.

Speaking of Monty he is pacing the house at the moment because I've shut him in.  Bertie and the girls (rooster and his two hens) practically begged me to let them out of their run this morning for a free range.  I daren't let M out at the same time because he chases my chooks and Bertie can't stand the stress.  I'll leave them out for a couple of hours at least and then put them back in so M can go out again.  I wish I didn't have to do this and hope when M is older he will settle down a bit and not chase them (fingers crossed).  He does tend to stop in his tracks when I yell ''NO'' at the top of my lungs but I just can't risk my rooster being more stressed.

Chester is asking for his walk and I need to get into the garden to weed rather desperately.  We had a couple of impromptu visitors yesterday pm too which was lovely but it did mean I didn't get the weeding done in the main garden that I needed to.  Ah well, today is another day.    Lots of smiles.. happy gardening ones!

A Thank You!

Hi, today I want to thank a very special friend, Mary, for posting comments here on my blog.  You are so lovely and I really enjoy getting them.  Sometimes I feel as though I'm just writing into the ether, not that that would be a bad thing either, giggle!

Yesterday I planted 5 tomato plants and 1 courgette plant in the most sheltered areas of my kitchen garden.  I also put a couple of pieces of the climbing hydrangea in and then two punnets of foxgloves too.  I adore foxgloves and they were one of my Dad's favourites too, along with poppies.  I rigged up some wind protection around the tomato stakes because the kitchen garden is a bit more exposed than other areas.  On a brighter note it gets all day sun too. 

Today I am going to plant three more tomatoes on the west side of the garden shed.  It doesn't get early morning sun but it will get sun from late morning right into the evening.  I will have to rig up quite significant wind protection though.  I'll take a photo when I'm done.

Here are two photos of hybrid clematis that have just started flowering.  I love these creatures so much and am so lucky that they thrive here.  I've forgotten the names of them though, ugh!  The first photo is in the woodland garden and I love the contrast between the green of the foliage, the clematis flower and the acer (maple) foliage too.  The second one is a gorgeous colour and I love the way the bud is unfurling!

I'm off into the garden.. have to carry on weeding the perennial garden too this pm.   My very happy place!!!!  Did I mention I'm completely and utterly besotted with plants!  Crikey.. smiles..

 

A Few Photos!

Hi, I've been out and about in the garden with my camera over the past couple of days so wanted to share some photos.  The first one is especially for my dear friend Mary who wanted to see Hydrangea petiolaris (climbing hydrangea).  There was a ray of sunshine in the way, apologies!

It can be tricky to establish so I am thrilled with how well it is growing in a raised bed, south facing, against our garage.  I planted it around three years ago I think and I am still waiting for it to flower.  It has beautiful! lacy white flowers so I am being patient because I know when it does flower it will be stunning!  The next photo is of Monty - he's growing!
I tried to get him to look at me for the photograph, but no go!  Here is another part of the woodland garden.  I can't believe how tall the Geranium phaeum plant is on the right.. gorgeous!!
We are off grocery shopping this afternoon and I'm hoping to be able to plant a couple of tomato plants today too.  It was only 2.6 degrees C this morning with a slight frost but the night temps are meant to be around 9 or 10 degrees C from now on which is just about okay for tomatoes.  I really have to get them into the ground!  More tomorrow with a couple more photos.  Smiles..

A Productive Day!

Hi, it's Tuesday morning which is weird because it feels like a Monday - public holidays tend to do that to a person.  I had a really productive day yesterday.  Two customers from the market on Saturday came and looked round the garden and then bought some plants.  Then I had a very special visitor, the ex-editor of the monthly New Zealand Gardener magazine.  She was in Nelson for the weekend and on Friday she emailed me re writing someting for the ''Regional Chat'' section of their new electronic magazine called Get Growing.  I said yes straight away and then re-emailed her to ask if she would like to pop in to see the garden and nursery.  It was lovely to meet Lynda, her husband and lovely toddler, Lucas.

In the afternoon John and I were in the kitchen garden.  I was sowing carrot seed and also replacing the sick pak choi, giant red mustard and broccoli raab seedlings with seed to see if they will actually GROW instead of sitting their looking so grumpy.  Time will tell.  John, bless his heart, was rotary hoeing one of my most difficult beds.  I hadn't finished weeding it but it was just so hard so it is now rotary hoed.  I felt really guilty about the worms though because I know some of them will have been chopped in half or worse!!  Another bed is really cloddy but it is a worm factory so I refuse to chop them up.  I will have to get down on my hands and knees and de-clod it I think.  Ugh!

Today I am back out there and I'm going to plant a couple of pieces of Hydrangea petiolaris (climbing one) on the southern side of the garden shed.  It is self-clinging and will look fabulous!  I also made room for a few flowering plants on that side too, but I'm not sure what yet as it is mainly shady except late pm in Summer.  I love creating new beds!  Smiles..

Spring Weather??!!

Hi, it's Labour Day Monday here (public holiday) and the weather is throwing us another curveball in the form of a cold front (snow in some areas down to 400m (not sure what that is in feet) which is quite low for this time of year.  Needless to say I will not be planting my tomato plants today as planned because frosts are predicted for the next couple of nights.  My tomato plants are looking so big and healthy and I am just itching to get them into the soil before their roots get stressed! 

Today I'm sowing some short rows of carrots - one variety called Scarlet Nantes which is a beautiful rich orange carrot and the other is Solar Yellow.  I love growing yellow carrots, they add so much colour to the plate and are just as delicious as the orange types.  I've also just put in a few more kohl rabi seeds directly into the soil because my seedlings have been eaten by something, dang and blast it!

I want to put my colour labels out in the nursery but if they get wet they may end up being ruined because the edges aren't sealed.  I laminated them on a4 sheets but then I had to cut each label out. 

Weee and yippee I just had two customers in my nursery.  I met them on Saturday at the market and I'm so happy they came to see me and buy some plants.  I have put my labels out but the weather is looking fairly yukky. 

I'm off to sow my carrot seed.  Smiles..