Hi from New Zealand

Trish Stretton

Deeply Rooted
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Hi, I live in the South Waikato, New Zealand.
I restarted my gardening a number of years ago with a Permaculture garden a la Linda woodrow with a dome chicken tractor which made me round beds to plant into.
That went well for the first 18 months but I started running into problems with it. In hindsight, i should have made the dome smaller. that would have made it more manageable.

After struggling with it, I locked the hens up in their own foraging section....or tried to, they always managed to get out, much to the amusement of my elderly neighbours, who delighted in watching them fly onto the top of my fence, walk along it and hop down the other side, where they hid all their eggs.

When I became aware of the need to also provide habitat and forage for native species, I started cycling out plants that were not herb, vege, fruit or beneficial insect plants, in favour of native plants/trees.

I also started concentrating on permanent plants and fruit trees and have almost run out of places to put these and still have room to grow vegetables.

Three years ago, I decided to add honey bees to the mix and have managed to keep these alive, sometimes by the skin of their teeth. So far this year they are looking good going into winter.....

This year, I decided to let go some of my work commitments and have been trying to get things back under control, starting from the front yard to keep my neat and tidy neighbours placated and working my way up the back.

I'm currently paving a sloped path from my courtyard up to the back lawn so I no longer have to haul the lawn mower up round 5 curved steps. Just got the last 5 meters of the flat section to go.

I have always thought of it as a work in progress and every little change makes it that much enjoyable.
 

flowerbug

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welcome to TEG, glad you decided to join in. :)

it's great to have some people from the southern hemisphere so we can talk gardens all winter too (not that we won't anyways :) ).
 

so lucky

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Oh, New Zealand! That sounds like such an exotic land. I would love to visit sometime, but probably will just have to visit by pictures and books. Do you have a wide temperature change between summer and winter?
I have been thinking about getting bees, too. But my DH is not really in favor of it, and I do have to acquiesce to his preferences occasionally, I guess.
I see you joined back in July. Don't be a stranger; please let us know how it is, living down under.
 

Trish Stretton

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Thank you all.
...never thought of here as exotic!! lol.

Our temperatures dont seem to be as extreme as yours are. Where I am, a really cold night is -15c but not common. I have recorded 55c in my back yard during mid summer, but that is not the norm either.
To be honest, I havent really taken much notice of exactly what it gets to, but certainly nothing like we read the northern hemisphere get.

The fruit trees I currently have and a wide assortment of Plums, An unknown Christmas plum that my nana gave me 23 years ago grows down by my letterbox, the others are the Luisa, Italian prune, Hawera which is a seedling of the Black Doris and a greengage.

I have three apples- one a seedling also from my nana and also in my front garden. The other two are columnular types- Polka and and...forgotten the name. I dont particularly like these two, so they may not be staying. Not my fav fruit but I'm munching on them now.

A number of Avocadoes- the oldest is also a gift from my nana, the rest I no longer remember their names either. I got the others thinking with global warming, I'd be getting fruit. It only happened once after a very warm winter.

A mulberry that feeds the birds, I never get any.
Two Feijoas- Wiki tu and Pouanamu, both produce amazingly fat fruit. There are two older trees that dont seem to produce fruit any more, possibly because their pollinator/s were next door and now gone.
A sweet persimmon, which is just about ready to eat and I just got an Astringent one this year..

Two peaches, Blackboy and Golden Queen.
Two Olives- Manzanilla and I think a Leccino, so far they havent fruited but both me and mum enjoy a tea made from the leaves.
There were two nectarines, but one blew over in a storm and doesnt look like it will regrow. It was old when I moved in and has to be at least 30 years old.

Satsuma Orange, Meyer Lemon, Lemonade lemon, A baby Rangpur lemon that is supposed to taste more like a lime.
A two year old banana, probably a lady's finger plus the three Banana seedlings I finally managed to get to grow.

Then there are two Oak leaf papaya. Unfortunately, they have lots of flowers but no fruit so I suspect they are clones from the same mother plant.

Grapes- Black Hamburg, Green and a Red Thompsons seedless.

Just added a Shagbark Hickory and a Korean Cedar pinenut- still babies.
The Chestnut is going to have to come out before my neighbour complains, its planted in just the Wrong spot. I'm going to see if I can get cuttings to take root next spring when it will have to come out.

Whew! I'm pretty sure thats all of them, no Two espaliered Pear- Seckel and Garden Belle and an Almond that I a not happy with because the graft dwarfs the rootstock.
 
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