"Gardening at night is never where." - R.E.M.
Take a gander at my garden slideshow, s'il vous plait.
As I've mentioned in a previous post, I am the master of my home doman now that I am the proud owner of a Fischer-Price - er, electric - lawnmower. I've also been weeding in the garden, pruning the rosebushes, and mucking out the occasional cat poo that ends up in random locations in my yard.
But what I don't know, what I haven't yet mastered, is the art of properly maintaining a garden. "Garden" including but not limited to: potted plants, flowerbeds, trees, rosebushes and basically anything else that's not the grass itself.
Gardens are a source of pride down here, and even though people back in the States overall seem to do a very lovely job of making their gardens grow, it seems there is an even deeper sense of pride relating to the garden here in New Zealand. Once again, I blame this on British tradition!
I think it's nice to take such exquisite care of one's lawn and all the trimmings, but aside from pushing a mower around or taking a weed whacker to the fences and borders, I've got no work experience in this area. And before long, the green behind my ears is going to be far more obvious than any green on my thumb. Because there isn't any.
So please, a little help here. Take a look at the pictures of those things in my yard. Got any advice for me? What should I plant in the flowerbeds? Think of the climate down here as similar to the Pacific Northwest: never scorchingly hot but rather humid and windy. What about those planters on my deck? What sort of plant would you put in there? And those trees - I think I can improve on the mulching and put stones down to help keep the weeds at bay, but should I be doing anything else?? And even though I've managed to 'prune' the rosebushes a bit, I shamefully submit that I used a pair of kitchen scissors to do the job. I lack even a proper pair of pruning shears. Boo-hoo. So what's the proper way to trim a rosebush, anyway? It just seems to want to grow wildly in random directions and, if left alone, I fear it would probably engulf not only me and my flat and everything within, but also the neighboring flat and soon after that the entirety of Totara Park. I've got a guldang botanical crisis on my hands here, people!
Lyndsay, I know you've got massive gardening experience so I'd particularly like to hear what you have to say on the matter. And don't worry, I'm not trying to grow any carrots here! *snicker*
Before I earn some icy stares from the neighbors or a negative review in the neighborhood newsletter or - worse yet - an eviction notice, please let me know what you, in all of your gardening wisdom, would have me do with these deceptively simple garden items!
And let me just say this now: I am quite open to the idea of replacing all of the mulch with large stones and having the entire yard paved.
As I've mentioned in a previous post, I am the master of my home doman now that I am the proud owner of a Fischer-Price - er, electric - lawnmower. I've also been weeding in the garden, pruning the rosebushes, and mucking out the occasional cat poo that ends up in random locations in my yard.
But what I don't know, what I haven't yet mastered, is the art of properly maintaining a garden. "Garden" including but not limited to: potted plants, flowerbeds, trees, rosebushes and basically anything else that's not the grass itself.
Gardens are a source of pride down here, and even though people back in the States overall seem to do a very lovely job of making their gardens grow, it seems there is an even deeper sense of pride relating to the garden here in New Zealand. Once again, I blame this on British tradition!
I think it's nice to take such exquisite care of one's lawn and all the trimmings, but aside from pushing a mower around or taking a weed whacker to the fences and borders, I've got no work experience in this area. And before long, the green behind my ears is going to be far more obvious than any green on my thumb. Because there isn't any.
So please, a little help here. Take a look at the pictures of those things in my yard. Got any advice for me? What should I plant in the flowerbeds? Think of the climate down here as similar to the Pacific Northwest: never scorchingly hot but rather humid and windy. What about those planters on my deck? What sort of plant would you put in there? And those trees - I think I can improve on the mulching and put stones down to help keep the weeds at bay, but should I be doing anything else?? And even though I've managed to 'prune' the rosebushes a bit, I shamefully submit that I used a pair of kitchen scissors to do the job. I lack even a proper pair of pruning shears. Boo-hoo. So what's the proper way to trim a rosebush, anyway? It just seems to want to grow wildly in random directions and, if left alone, I fear it would probably engulf not only me and my flat and everything within, but also the neighboring flat and soon after that the entirety of Totara Park. I've got a guldang botanical crisis on my hands here, people!
Lyndsay, I know you've got massive gardening experience so I'd particularly like to hear what you have to say on the matter. And don't worry, I'm not trying to grow any carrots here! *snicker*
Before I earn some icy stares from the neighbors or a negative review in the neighborhood newsletter or - worse yet - an eviction notice, please let me know what you, in all of your gardening wisdom, would have me do with these deceptively simple garden items!
And let me just say this now: I am quite open to the idea of replacing all of the mulch with large stones and having the entire yard paved.
Comments
And as I said before, I quit that gardening crapola - its just too hard for me and too much work to take care of my stupid deformed carrots.. Booohooohoooo :( haha