 |
| Cherry Blossom Winter Leaves |
|
After weeks of frost, very cold nights but lovely sunny days the
weather became very changeable and has been followed by lot's and lot's of
rain. Today it is raining the proverbially "Cats & Dogs" and
although I realise we can expect some rain in Winter, enough is enough! The
rain is accompanied by extremely strong Easterly winds which also are most
unwelcome and owing to the heavy deluge we received a couple of weeks ago, the
soil just cannot take anymore, so we
have surface flooding in all the paddocks. Laying out extra hay for the
animals, soon becomes an exercise in futility as they are so intent on getting
"their share" they barge one another out of the way and drive the hay
into the mud and it is wasted.
 |
| The Flood |
|
I fear that our Apricot trees are not going to survive this frequent
flooding and if they do, it will be a small miracle. I am thankful that I
managed to get our new berry garden planted before the onset of heavy rain and
I guess the bananas will appreciate the water. The banana leaves look rather
tattered and torn after our 1 1/2 weeks of frost and of course the Tamarillos
and other tropical type plants such as Hibiscus, roses and fuchsias are also
looking a bit frost burnt. I tried to water the leaves before the sun rose each
day (apparently this makes the damage less severe) but they look pretty brown.
It was interesting watching the birds trying to have a bath in the frozen water
and we had a laugh as we imagined our friendly "Mrs. Thrush" flying
in at speed and skating off the top into the bushes! Any buckets that had water
were also froze solid and the glasshouse roof was sparkling in the sunshine,
looking as if we had sprinkled diamond dust over the structure.
 |
| Wooly Heifers |
|
Our heifers of course have nice wooly coats, but the paddocks are
turning into a real muddy mess reminiscent of photos of the Western Front in
World War 1!
(One of our
Advertising clients who grows Bromeliads was telling us today how nice it was
living in a volcanic area of Whangarei and she was grateful that the water
didn't hang around, maybe we should shift to Maunu)
The river has invaded our dam again and the water is extremely
muddy, so we are careful to check all the filters for the intakes as they soon
clog up. Fortunately we don't need to use the irrigation systems on the
gardens, but our remaining Capsicums in the Polyhouse need water as they are
still under cover.
 |
| Berry Garden Beginnings 2012 |
|
I have just planted out some Raspberries, Blueberries, Black
Currants and Blackberries (all thornless) and I am using scrap timber to make a
"berry good garden" that I can make bird proof. We had a large crop
of Boysenberries last year, but these are very thorny and I have to make sure
they are covered each year as the birds just
LOVE
them! We froze a number of ice cream containers and we use them on ice cream,
muffins and other Winter delights such as sponge puddings. Possums are invading
the Mandarin trees and we may have a rat running around in the house roof. I
have laid bait and set a trap, but I am not brave enough to climb up and
investigate any closer …
I
HATE THEM! They love making nests in our hay bales in the pack-house and
I have to buy large amounts of expensive baits to leave out, nailed to wood so
they don't store them. The wild rabbits seem to have disappeared, but our
resident pukekos are still trying to pull out my new plantings of shallots. The
vege garden is suffering with a Winter snail and slug invasion and cleaning the
brussell sprouts and caulis is always a careful chore.
 |
| Winter Pin Oak |
One aspect of the frosty weather was being able to photograph some
of our deciduous trees in all their naked glory. Our pin oak in particular has
a beautiful shape and looks quite stark in the Winter sunshine, whereas in
Spring it is laden with beautiful green leaves that drape right to the ground
as I have not pruned it since it was planted 20 years ago. Likewise the Tulip
tree and the Oak trees that are of a similar age. The leaves of course are a
problem as they blow into our garages, but a bit of raking and sweeping usually
lasts for a couple of days before the process starts again. Good mulch though!
 |
| A Frosty Rose |
The last rose petals have fallen and it will be pruning time soon
and the list of other pruning jobs is quite large with grapes, berry canes and
willows all needing a trim. Oh well, I guess that is the fun of living on a
lifestyle block, you never get bored!
Finally a lovely Quote:
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time
for home.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please add a comment :-)