Child of the Planet

Something was eating the leaves and buds of the lemon trees. I purchased some Neem oil and coated the plants each Wednesday for the past fortnight. Also weeded out the grass that insists on sending out shoots to compete for space. I'm finally getting some sprouts appearing. I've also been throwing down liberal sprinkles of pot ash and some solid fertiliser balls in case the plants are lacking any minerals. I admire their drive to reproduce. The plants are already trying to grow flower buds and I've discovered a few tiny lemons developing. The first tomatoes have started to ripen. These were given to me by a local, and are known as  Hungarians. They were brought to the area by a Hungarian immigrant who has since passed on. First zucchini flower of the year has appeared in the raised garden. I'm still working out how much watering the garden requires. It's very easy to end up with water dripping out all over the concrete. The broccoli has been suffering a...

Just before Christmas I planted out the raised garden prototype. The house and garage are separated by a wide concrete apron. This area gets great sun so I worked up an idea to make the most of these areas during the summer. I dismantled two pallets for the materials. Planted out some spinach, purple broccoli, russian kale, and a few zucchini plants. After weeks of dry weather, we finally got a good soaking. One of the sides of the garden bed popped after the sun appeared and dried everything out. I screwed the plank back down and noticed a shallow bulge developing in the base timbers. Might have to make the next one out of stronger materials.

On the weekend, a group of us from Adventure Wellington visited the Human – Bushcraft & Wild Living center  which is perched on one of the cliffs that the Otaki river has cut into the landscape. For three hours we followed Steve and Jenny tramping through the property past chickens, ducks, composting toilets, and received instruction in wild food. We collected as we walked and used in the preparation of a meal. A fern was nurtured. All the hairy bits are scraped off and the tightly curled head is discarded. The flesh cut like cucumber, the taste was fresh, the mouth feel was soapy. Squatting at the 'nut cracking station'   Menu included Pesto, flash fried Weka Weka, and pine needle tea. Frying the fern fritters. Fire was 'friction lit' with a bow and bit.

The house is built on top of a sand dune. Walk out into the garden and dig down more then five centimetres and you'll hit the same grey fine grained sand that is washed up onto the beach. Lot's of soil improvement needs to be made before I can plant anything. I dug up a long strip of the front lawn a couple of months ago. Since then I have been laying down chipped wood, seaweed, crushed pumice, and grass clipping, all the while giving everything a regular tilling. Looks like there is a worm population in there. The six Yin Ben lemon trees that have been planted will eventually grow into a fragrant hedge. I've heard that lemons don't do well in Otaki Beach so I'm getting ready for a struggle to get the little plants established. Most people plant the Mayer variety but I have read that they have a lower acid content and which isn't is less then ideal for cooking with. I'm hoping the more acidic and spiky Yin Bens will have a better chance surviving. ...

This is the week I got all my major planting and re-potting done. Lemons and Blue berries sat in their pots for months while I prepared spots for them to spread their roots. The purple broccoli and russian kale were becoming root bound. I gave away as many as I could and planted the rest. Six banksia trees were re-potted until I can prep the north boundary. The last day of the year and the evening was utterly still. Kids walked the dark streets bottles clinking in their hands. The odd firework split the sky. After lots of planning and preparations, then next year is going to be a busy one.