Camera/computer problems

       I took some pictures today, or thought I did, but there doesn't seem to be any new pictures on the disk. There is something wrong with my camera; a little green light that doesn't usually blink (except when using the flash) is blinking, and the lens takes its time about closing. Also computer problems, but not major, only with this site. I have lost my toolbar so must go in another way. I've posted this picture from February instead, just so you don't think I've forgotten you all.

Rest day - well, sort of.

Felt a little tired today, and I have to work tomorrow, so I didn't do too much in the garden today. I planted some spinach, transplanted a nectarine from a path in the newly- laid out vegetable garden into a large pot, (hope it survives) and planted ranunculus into the vegetable area to provide some colour there in spring. The photos here are of the crabapples ("Jelly King") and some lovely softly- coloured dahlias. I don't know the name of the pale pink one, but the pale orange one is "Shoreward Peach". Finally this is blooming! Twice before I have bought this one, only for it to turn out to be mislabelled. The first time I got a dark red dahlia, the second time a greeny-yellowy one that I didn't like at all - a very harsh colour and difficult to place in a border as it goes with nothing else. This is pretty though, worth waiting for.

Black spot

    This is one of the "black spots" in my garden. I use this name for areas that have become overgrown and are now lacking in interest. It's an area by my driveway that used to be quite attractive but has now become boring. There is a magnolia and hydrangea on the left and a rhododendron on the right, with a quite vigorous line of elephant's ears along the edging. The soil is poor here; a previous gardener stuck bark over the soil and this has removed much of the nitrogen as it has rotted down. The area is in strong shade except for right at the height of summer.
     I've tried to open up the canopy of magnolia and rhodo to get more light to the soil. A large ivy plant has come over from next door and this needs to be removed too, (on another day!). The area is also prone to convulvulus, threading its pale roots for yards. There is a very pretty single pink rose here too, which has been drowned out by the shrubs.
     I hope to underplant the existing shrubs with some "hard doers" - japanese anemones at the back, foxgloves, forget-me-not, Ajuga and aquilegia. These are all really hardy in this garden and will grow in strong shade, and will self seed or spread from stolons. A few more choice highlights - hosta, Barnhaven primroses, maybe some hakonechloa and a low-growing Camellia "Quintessence" can also go in here if I can get the soil right; lots of compost, some blood and bone and blood meal.
     For such a small garden (under 400sqm) I manage to keep busy!

Last roses of summer

These are probably the last roses of the year. This is "Summer Sweet", a very nice floribunda with a delicate fragrance.
   I'm continuing with the bulb planting and sales-plant planting; every day I do a few more. The first apples are now ripe on the trees and there's a few grapes too. Crab-apples can stay on the tree for now. Apparently they are so sour in their natural state that the birds don't eat them. I have to pick the cranberries and dry them, and make pesto with the basil. So much to do, so little energy to do it!
        Several of my friends have now retired from work. I envy them so! If only I could be paid to stay at home! There is always something to do at home. If it weren't for the money I wouldn't work, unless it was charitable stuff or voluntary work. I keep hoping that this Basic Income idea will come to fruit, where people get paid an amount of money to keep body and soul together, irrespective of whether they work or not. Fat chance of that with the neo-liberal government we have now. 
        We're all waiting to hear our PM implicated in the Panama Papers fall-out. So far he has been lucky, nothing has been specifically revealed about him yet, but as he used to work as a money-manager/broker in London, odds are that he does have something stashed away in the Cayman Islands, far from the taxman's eye. These people really are the scum of the earth. If they paid their taxes we wouldn't have long waiting lists for surgery or be closing down schools and "outsourcing" prison management and hospital food to profit-taking companies, who don't pay taxes either. Grrrrr!

Morning at Taylor's Mistake

Today was one of those autumn days when the weather is perfect - warm but not too hot, with no wind. I decided to go out to Taylor's Mistake, a local beach. I'd made an attempt to get there before, but was foiled by a road closure and too much traffic because of school holidays. I haven't been there since the earthquakes of 2011, as much of the area was closed for a while and I was nervous about seeing how much damage had been done, but it was fine, very much as I've always loved it.

The beach settlement is home to what NZer's in this part of NZ call "baches". (Further south in Otago they are called "cribs", one of those regional oddities with language). It's believed that the word "bach" comes from the word bachelor, and people living here were described as "baching it", living a basic and easy lifestyle, with little housekeeping. Now these are mostly holiday places. Some are lived in full-time or used often for weekend getaways. Others seem all but deserted. Most of the structures are on leasehold land, and have been the subject of some controversy, as ecological purists and land developers (very odd bedfellows) have tried to get them demolished. I love them. To me they are so nostalgic, and are virtually heritage structures. They remind us of a time when people could just build a rumpty place for family holidays, before a load of laws and by-laws dictated that only up-market holiday homes could be built. Most of the baches were built by ordinary people, not the wealthy, back in the days when we had a lot less social inequality.

All sorts of odds and ends found their way to the bach

Home design and maintenance was often quite imaginative and improvised.

This bach has a state-of-the-art barbeque which seems a bit out of place

Escaped garden plants make little wild gardens in the marram grass

Don't know what this it; we just called it bunny-tails when we were kids.

I love the way things are made with found items washed up. This is the gate for...

..a very solid art deco bach

There are caves all along this headland. Local Maori used them as shelters when fishing or gathering shellfish. Later, during the 19th and early 20th century, some caves were converted to houses. Apparently one even had an upright piano in it. (Good luck with keeping it in tune!)

Selfie in surf-club window.

Sometimes the sea washes up a convenient log for seating.

Remember the days before the Internet, when people had to make their own fun? This outdoor dartboard recalls them well.

"Kia Ora" is lived in permanently. The occupant grows herbs in pots and vegetables in fish crates.

He also makes these seashell mobiles

 Imagine sitting in this room during a storm. It would be exhilarating or terrifying, depending on how much faith you had in the structure of the house!

And why was it called Taylor's Mistake? Christchurch City Libraries website has the answer:

http://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/taylors-mistake/

Garden pics

I was intending to take photos in the garden today, but my camera batteries were low so I could only take a few. I found this katydid on my "Splendour" apple. He kept moving away from me, so I had to tweak him a little with a leaf. He (or she) is very photogenic, but katydids are a bit of a nuisance in the garden as they like to eat leaves and flower petals, particularly dahlias. They are related to crickets, grasshoppers and locusts, but thankfully not as all-consuming as the latter.

They have a very discreet mating call, a quiet "Tzip-tzippit" which is (to human ears anyway) non-directional, like a cellphone ring, so they can be quite hard to find.

 

I also had an experiment with light, photographing these chrysanthemums in three different lights

                Gives quite a different idea of the flower colour, doesn't it? I think I like the first one best, with the dappled sun.

my lady hunsdon's puffe

I just love this soooo much! it's my theme tune now!

More gardening

Spent five hours in the garden today! I had a couple of days off with a sore throat and general achiness, but today felt well enough to get back on track with the vegetable garden reorganisation.

I've made a bigger central bed that can be accessed from all round, and gives me better access to the fence for harvesting and tending to beans, raspberries and the grapevines. The previous arrangement was not good, I had to step over and through other things to get to the fence. So although I might have lost a bit of room with more pathway, hopefully I will make this up with better use of the available space. I've finished planting this central bed, with Wong bok cabbage, romanesco broccoli, leeks and purple cauliflower. The cauliflower is called Violet Sicilian. I don't know how this and the romanesco broccoli will do, they were the only kind left!

I've had to shape the path to avoid some rosebushes, nice roses that I don't want to take out.

Hakonechloa lights up in the afternoon sun in the shady garden

These are "Paper White" narcissi at the bottom of the pear tree. I only planted these about two weeks ago, and they are up already

Time for making pesto. Got to get the basil in before the first real frost

I also shifted the lemon tree to a warmer winter spot. Now I'm older and much weaker I have to do these kind of jobs slowly; move the pot a little, go and do something else, move it a little more, go and do something else...frustrating but better than ricking my back and being out of action entirely.

It's supposed to be raining tomorrow. Probably just as well!