Pumpkins Patch

12 Jul '07 4:48 pm

Looking over your flower pictures, like Faith, I can hardly believe it is winter there with all the flowers. (Of course those are very early bulbs - love the snow drops with the green spots!) Then seeing that duck on the bird house erases all doubts. Hold on Pumpkin, Spring will come!

12 Jul '07 8:23 pm

Pumkin, dear friend, I am SO sorry to hear about all this destruction!! That rootball.....depressing....Terrible...

But, I just can't help telling you how GORGEOUS your close-ups of your previous post are!! At least, this is the positive/bright side of your lovely Diary...

13 Jul '07 9:03 am

Oh Pumpkin, I too am so sorry to hear about this distructive storm. The story of the duck was so funny though and your photograph captured it perfectly. He looks a little confused like he's thinking "How did this happen?" We used to have a Muscovie duck who visited our farm and one of her favorite places was on top of the tallest peak of the barn. She would waddle around up there surveying the whole farm.

Hope your winter weather will settle down a bit.

22 Jul '07 7:30 am

Thank you all for your comments Very Happy

Luckily I had saved some seeds from that thoroughly flattened, island-hopping rogue nicotiana and have popped them into seed trays hopefully to get a head start on spring Wink

A week on from that awful wind and we have had some lovely settled days for the garden to straighten itself up again. The uprooting of the pine tree has left a very big hole which looks quite strange. Amazing how different your surroundings seem/feel/look with the loss of just one focal point.
The ducks have survived with all feathers intact (albeit slightly ruffled) and had even managed to give us a few giggles with their cartoonish landings. Watching them at times rolling from an attempted elegant landing, (not possible in 130 kmh winds) to the doorstep for bread was quite humorous. Wink

I have been working on the vegetable garden (what is left of it after the wind) pulling out all the destroyed vegetation and have taken the opportunity to do a bit of a re-build of the beds to something more permanent. At least something good has come out of the ruins...
Nearly everything else is leafless with the exception of the lavender (great stuff and now blooming madly) and the Leyland hedging. Finally something good to say about it!

A couple of pix... the first is my favorite angle of one of the willows on the pond, leafless, the calm after the storm. The other is a canna with a flower to show winter defiance Wink

25 Jul '07 8:23 am

I'm getting ready to complete a pond that may be just 8 feet in diameter. Yours is something else again ...what's the word I'm looking for... oh yeah, BIGGER. Boy have I got pond envy. Does your pond serve any utilitarian purposes like watering stock or irrigation, or is it just your play thing. I love seeing the reflection of the tree and sky in the pond and that is just what I want mine to do.

My Canna has a similar colored flower. Looking good.

25 Jul '07 5:29 pm

Hi, Pumpkin-

Sorry to hear about all the damage from the violent weather. But you still have so many lovely flowers blooming! My red Lobelia is yet to bloom; perhaps next month! Loved the giant Nicotiana and the spring bulbs!

We went from record-breaking high temps. to autumn weather and back again within a week, and my tomatoes are wondering what to do! The leaves look like they've been almost frosted, yet the first fruit is there and trying to grow!

I really liked all your pictures; it's been a while since I did the tour around all the forums and I'm having a great time tonight with it!

Cheers!

gordonf

27 Jul '07 12:54 pm

...The pond that is Wink

Mark, you sure won't begrudge the aching muscles from digging your pond when the wildlife arrives (unless you got bears and crocs Very Happy

).
The BEST thing about our paddock is the pond. I LOVE the pond!
Known affectionately in the early days as the 'Puddle', it started life as a cattle dam with a wire fence running through the middle of it servicing two paddocks. Not pretty. A few weeks with a tractor and a couple of willow trees and we can now call it a pond Very Happy

Every day it looks different depending on the weather. Every day we also enjoy the company of the bird-life it attracts which include ducks, pukekho, swallows, starlings, mynas, finches, sparrows and plovers. At least once a week we get to see blue herons, shags and terns. Always overhead are hawks cruising.
I have lots of ideas for planting around the pond but like most things in my garden, that will take time Wink

Enjoy building your pond. No matter how big or small, water in the garden will add a whole new dimension Smile

Howdy gordonf, thanks for visiting Smile

Things are looking much brighter here now, new growth has already started on broken or blacken twigs. Stirrings of Spring on the berry canes and seeds are sprouting! Mother Nature sure doesn't let a bit of poop weather slow her down Cool

Your tomatoes sound just like how mine go...

Every summer I grow giant sunflowers for the seeds in the winter. These get hung around the vege garden for the birds so hopefully they will stay around and continue munching on slugs and snails as they become real pests early spring.

Here are a couple more pix of my garden's happenings.

27 Jul '07 6:17 pm

Hi, Pumpkin!

Boy, do you ever get BIG sunflowers! I've never had much luck with them; they bloom but don't get very tall or large flowers, unlike those of one of my neighbours down the street. She gets 8 to 10-foot tall plants with huge seed heads, much like yours!

As for the toilet rolls, here's another use for them: I use them over the shoots of hyacinths that I'm forcing so that, as they grow toward the light, the buds are pulled up so they become taller than the leaves. That way you don't get dumpy, short flower stalks!

And I'm surprised that you start peas in the glasshouse where you live. Here we start them outside in January of February (mid-winter) as they like the cold ground for sprouting and getting roots down. They break ground at the regular time but since the roots are already down, they stand a better chance if the weather suddenly turns hot and dry. Isn't that possible where you live?

Cheers!

gordonf

7 Oct '07 10:00 am

Spring has the most wonderful smell about it to encourage an early morning walk Very Happy

It's just a shame the camera doesn't capture that also, fresh hay growing sure beats any perfume you could splash on Wink

Here are some pix of what is happening out my back door...

~ eek! gordon, sorry I wandered off and haven't visited this thread for a while Embarassed

, you are quite right about the peas. Those poor peas haven't done very well, and come to think of it I usually do plant them directly.
Love your other idea for the toilet rolls Wink

7 Oct '07 10:21 am

A few more...

Pumpkins Patch

Whoa! Now THAT is a storm.

I am SO SORRY!!

Stormy weather

Wow, now that is a pond.

Winter Storms - Yuck!!

It's a bird thing...

Uses for Toilet Rolls

Spring Update..