G3 Tauranga

17 November 2013

Sallys Garden

Devonport Road

Tauranga

31 October 2013

Wow, what a garden. Infact what a property! I think most of us stood in the front white garden laced with white wisteria, with our jaws dropped.

This 2226m2 garden is a Mark Cashmore design of no more than 5 years old. Nine thousand bricks were sourced from all over the north island to create an old English look in the courtyard and paths. The wrought iron gates were specially designed to look old. The metal urns also added to the established look.

The front garden was amazing – a blend of all things white. White hydrangeas, helaboras, lirope, camellia, star jasmine, grandiflora magnolia, daphne, xmas lily, anenome, iceberg roses, wisteria and impatients create a relaxing and restful place. Ficus, moptops and a Japanese hedge creates formality and structure.

We make our way round to the main garden to find an extensive green space with water views. This large space is filled with an established copper beech tree and a meilia (bead tree). It has several ‘rooms’ - a ficus covered outdoor fireplace, a potager garden and a cottage garden. The hard stuctures in the garden were done with concrete block and plastered, once again adding to the aged look of the property. Toparied buxus balls are strategically planted around the garden. Privacy is gained by a line of grandiflora magnolia trees on a side boundary, which is underplanted with hydrangeas.

The front bank which leads down to the boat shed and water was filled with ‘junk’ when Sally first bought the property – this was cleared after hours of hard work by Sally. The bank was then planted with hot colours, hydrangeas, natives and grasses.

What an amazing heritage property, a one of a kind. Sadly the property is on the market. If only we could buy it.

Michelle

21 October 2013

Matahui Road

“Try anything. If it works, it’s meant to be.
Otherwise move it somewhere else!”

Our visit today found us at the very end of Matahui Road. With a gorgeous perspective out to the estuary, Heather Young’s garden also borders an orchard, and farmland. Starting in 2000 with a garden comprising paddocks, Heather and her husband Ian have slowly turned the property into an incredible site full of many varieties of plants, sculptures, ponds, and native wildlife. Working on organic principles, we were lucky to have one of the last viewings as they had just sold the property!

With the large site divided into different zones we started our garden at the back / entrance where Heather explained that when they purchased the property a number of the large specimen trees were already there. For her then this area became about softening the edges, underplanting (ie Clivia) and introducing variation and colour.

The 1^st tree to encounter on the driveway looks like a jacaranda, however is called a Paulownia. It was in flower and held an elegant form, however Heather explained that because of the light coloured bark it would disappear into the skyline on a sunny day – something to consider when planting, how to background your plants (ie with a green hedge).

As we walked round it became obvious that Heather’s garden really ‘mixes it up’. A Westerland rose entwines a tree, Dogwoods coming into flower, a large Fig tree with Daylilies and Clivia planted beneath, a type of evergreen Hydrangea border to absorb sprays from the orchard next-door…

Heather shows us a North American Sassafras specimen tree with a mitten shaped leaf. Growing to a height of 18m Heather explains its medical properties ie a tea of the leaves can assist with liver damage.

We round the corner of the house to discover an amazing vista out to the estuary. Behind us the house with expansive decking for the view, is strung with flowering Wisteria. In front a felled tree trunk has been laid with some dried grasses and become a next for some of Heather’s bird sculptures.

“Exciting things happen

when you don’t weed a

garden to death”

We enter into Heather’s (enormous) potager garden. It’s called Potager Pa for the pa-like fencing she has created around the perimeter.

With avenues leading like spokes of a wheel towards the centre, it is filled with a variety of flowers, herbs spilling over, comfrey, large flowering Artichokes, and fruit trees. Originally a paddock, Heather tells us the story of Freddy Manure(not his real name), a local guy who came back again and again with truck loads of manure that enabled them to start the garden. We learn that all types of mint have a square stem. In the centre is The Watcher – a sculpture that Heather exchanged her PC for. A latticed Willow fence borders part of the potager. Heather places the prunings in water and after some time uses the liquid for rooting and transplanting. Chaste trees are planted and are used by naturopaths to regulate hormones.

We exit the potager and head towards the estuary. Ponds are revealed, Heather describes them as wet patches that they discovered and developed. They introduced mosquito fish, which whilst pretty are eating the tadpoles. At the edge of the property we encounter an unusual plant whose stems are buried and flowers burst from the ground.

A raised mound in the rushes has been created to moon-watch. We start to head back to the beginning and encounter espaliered fruit trees and a nursery where we are gifted plants. A hit of the Garden and Art Festival – we are fortunate to undertake one of the last rambles, before it passes into new hands.

Sonya

31 August 2013

G3 Worm Farming

August 29, 2013

We gathered at Katie C’s place in Te Puna this morning for the much-anticipated worm talk.

Bruce Trask and Kim Edwards from Tauranga-based Waste Education NZ brought along our vermihuts and laid them along the driveway.
Each pack contained:
1000 worms
Some lovely compost
Lime
The multi-tiered hut
An instruction booklet

Bruce has been a zero-waste educator since 1993. He’s pretty-much retired now; Kim and other colleagues have taken on the job of educating kids in schools, and running large community seminars as well as wee workshops like ours. They take zero-waste education into about 500 schools (years 1-8) in 19 jurisdictions nationwide. Tauranga City Council subsidises the local programme, so our vermihuts and instruction only cost $30 each.

Why farm worms?

In April of this year, Tauranga City Council did a particularly gross survey: for one week, they sifted through 1000 rubbish bags collected from the curb to assess what waste is heading to landfill.

It broke down like this:
2% metal
4% glass
2% plastic
11% paper
30% kitchen scraps
16% green waste
7% nappies and other sanitary items
28% other

The point of worm farming is to reduce that 30% of kitchen scraps which, if sent to landfill, contributes to greenhouse gas.

Kim said the Ministry for the Environment calculated that, in one month, New Zealand households accumulated enough rubbish to fill a rugby field - and rise 30 stories high. That’s three times the height of Mt Maunganui’s twin beachfront apartment blocks.

Worms

There are 1800 different types of worms. The worm farms use tiger worms because they are the most efficient at processing waste. They won’t survive in your garden – but they’ll do a great job of producing valuable vermicast which you can dig in to your soil!

The tiger worms live for around eight years. They will each breed about 30 babies every six weeks. The saddle is where the eggs are made (the lump closer to their heads). They get oxygen and water through their skin, use hairs like little hooks to wade through the soil, and have up to 10 hearts. The worm, a non-arthropod invertebrate animal, is a hermaphrodite.

It’s important worms don’t get too hot, or too cold (although it’s frozen soil they dislike so the Tauranga winter should be fine). For this reason, it may be a good idea to keep your worm hut in at least partial shade. If the conditions aren’t right, the worms won’t breed.

Feeding your animals

The optimum diet for a worm farm is 60 percent nitrogen and 40 percent carbon.
Nitrogen foods are wet. Examples include fruit and veg peelings and leafy vegetables.
Carbon foods are dry and examples include paper, cardboard, dead leaves, teabags, coffee grinds.

If you accidentally put in a sticker on your banana peel, the worms will eat around it. They are very adept at spotting non-plant material and avoiding it.

Go easy on the oranges and lemons, and avoid all animal products such as eggs, butter and meat, all oils and onion peels, and cooked foods such as bread.

Setting up your farm

Now for the exciting bit! The bottom tray needs to be assembled. You’ll know which one it is because it has the hole for the tap (the lid is the same shape but sans hole).

On top of your bottom tray, fold out the white cloth. This will stop wormies dropping down into the ‘liquid’ (aka worm urine). Then put your first tray on top and put down a layer of newspaper. I didn’t get why – just do it! Then put in your layers of compost, spread it around and pour your worms on top. Try not to gag – there are lots of them!! But they very quickly burrow away.

Then get your kitchen scraps and lightly cover a corner of your tray (about ¼ of the tray surface). Sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of lime. Come back every week and add another wee pile of waste next to the last pile. Katie C and Katie H reckoned it could be three months – or longer – before that first lot of waste disappeared.

For this reason, you may want to get your other layers going simultaneously. Bruce said you should get compost and buy more worms for each layer but Katie C just adds the next layer on and fills it with waste and the wormies burrow up and locate the food as it disintegrates.

Once you’ve got a layer sussed, lay some wet newspaper or a wet tea towel or cotton t-shirt over top. This will keep the ants out. If your farm gets too dry, wet the paper.
Put one empty tray and your lid on the top.

Maintenance

If your vermihut starts to stink, it’s too dry. Give it a sprinkle with a hose or move it out into the open where it will get some rain.
If the food isn’t disintegrating, it’s too wet. So move it under an eave for a bit.
If you get fruit flies, use lime.
A worm farm of the size we’ve got should take about 1 small bag (3 litre size) of waste every 2-3 weeks. So you’re likely going to need a compost pile as well to get rid of all your household scraps.
You may end up feeding your worms once a week or so.
Utensils to have near your worm hut might include a sock for digging around in the compost, the container of lime and something for scooping it out, and an ice cream container for collecting the liquid.

Harvest

To get your compost out, put the tray in the sun. All the wormies will burrow in deep and you can scrape the rich compost off the top. Alternatively feed them in one corner and as they all head for the food, dig up the vermicast compost in other parts of the tray.
Remember: the compost worms won’t survive in your garden so it’s worth the effort to extract them from the compost before you harvest it.

Once a month, open up the tap and drain off the liquid. Mix this, at a ratio of 1 part worm wee to 10 parts water, and apply to your garden as a super-effective fertiliser.

Other compost

This whole process may get you and your garden slave - I mean, partner - excited about a compost pit. Remember to use treated timber, turn it regularly with a pitchfork, and don’t forget to layer the green and brown waste.

Keri

28 July 2013

Valley Gardens

27 June 2013

Valley Gardens

Lund Road
Katikati

http://www.valleygardenslodge.co.nz/gardens.htm

Standing in my driveway I contemplated the ominous grey clouds and worried about the prospect of rain. Would this be our first g3 visit in a down pour? I hunted for my umbrella and rain coat.

Parking the car at Valley Gardens we assembled and made our introductions to James our host. He explained that he had moved from the UK to New Zealand four years ago and purchased this 12 acre property. The basic structure and hard landscaping of the garden were in place but James had plenty of work to do.

We expressed our interest and amazement at how James had known where to start in this large garden on the other side of the world with such a different climate and so many new plants, trees and pests to contend with. Throughout our garden tour we were astounded by his knowledge and passion for the local flora and fauna, which he had mostly gained through independent study and research.

After spending several minutes quizzing James about his impressive composting methods we headed up the bank past specimen planting. We discussed encouraging vigour in trees by pruning back extra limbs. James was contemplating a brave chop on a Liquid Amber with duplicate trunks. We looked at the shelter belt of the garden where possums had been stripping and eating the bark with such determination that he feared for their survival. Not a challenge he had faced in the UK. Other large specimens of note were a Banksia and Greselinas.

We stopped to admire some impressive tropical plantings on a pebble covered section complete with ponds, which was planted cleverly to flow down the hill as if it was a dried river bed or lava flow. An Agave flowered with a 2m spike and other bright orange aloes thrived, attracting birds and providing exciting colour bursts.

A work in progress was the plantation of 260 Kauri trees on a sidling of the property. Instead of fighting the gorse on the bank he nestled the plants amongst it. Once they are tall enough they will shade out the gorse causing it to die away. We paused to look at a new garden bed with native Kaka Beaks and a Cherimoya tree (native of the Andes) which James grew from seed after discovering the fruit to be delicious.

We made our way to the native bush walk section of the property. This is a labour of love for James who discovered after purchasing the property that the bush was under covenant. He cannot chop down trees or alter the bush without permission and has to work towards weed control. Lately he has been planting seedlings that will become taller trees as this bush is lacking in canopy trees but very abundant in tree ferns, particularly Mamaku, Wheki and the Silver Fern.

We crossed a custom built bridge and looped around the impressive bush. James has developed the path to show case this area for his guests and family. On the loop we looked at some of his favourite specimens and also at the types of weeds he has to keep control of.

We stopped only briefly at the vegetable garden and chook house after realising time had flown by and Monique and Megs needed to say goodbye. After munching red guavas in the orchard, the remaining g3ers were treated to coffee and homemade muffins looking out on the vast lawn (6 hours to mow) and amazing view. Thanks very much to James for agreeing to see us at late notice. We are very impressed by your efforts, knowledge and commitment to your large and diverse gardens.

And although my toes did get a little cold and damp it never did rain, so our weather luck continues.

Paula

19 June 2013

G3 member visits Chateau De Versailles

1 June 2013

Chateau De Versailles
Paris

What do you do if your a King? I know build an over the top garden, full of waterfalls, small cascades, decorative ponds, loads of fountains, grottos and nymphaeums, spouts and sprays, mirrors, sheets of water and games! Oh and dont forget the odd grand canal and portable orange grove. The garden is divided into lots of separate secret gardens, separated by huge hedges and linked by avenues. For those members who like clipped and formal, you would be in clipping heaven, I feel for the people in charge of hedges! I have to say it is very over the top and Louis XIV sure new how to spend money....