24 Mar '04 6:15 pm Well.....I fibbed about the sunny bit
I have had this site bookmarked for a while now and thoroughly enjoy popping in from time to time. Thanks for sharing your garden and giving me a giggle and some inspiration.
Great to see the addition of a forum, good luck with it.
Cheers:)
chooky
valued contributor
New Zealand
hi from sunny auckland
25 Mar '04 9:54 am Hi there Pumpkin and welcome to the forums.We are obviously a very select few at this point in time.
Tell us about your garden
pumpkin
compost executive
Auckland
25 Mar '04 6:46 pm Hi Chooky:)
My garden is very much a long range happening thing We have a few acres and at this stage I am just putting in the big trees and paths etc....lots of work and not enough time!
I dream of wandering around on crisp mornings, lazily picking a few flowers and revelling in all the green goodness, so far my days consist of digging, digging and more digging .......but, one day.......
What about you? What is your garden like? What are you growing? Is it established or like mine still in the early stages?
chooky
valued contributor
New Zealand
sunny auckland
26 Mar '04 7:12 am Hi again Pumpkin-like you we have a few acres and have lived on it for 5 years.When we moved here there were alot of big trees and an orchard but no dug gardens at all.As the property is on very heavy clay the digging was difficult to say the least but the results have been very rewarding.
This morning we have a nice crisp morning like you imagine so after taking my horse for a walk I will be in the garden most of the day.
In my garden I have cottage garden style areas,grasses and natives,shade areas,native bush and the usual rural thing of agapanthas up the driveway!!
I love roses and find they grow well here in the clay.
Our area has taking a hammering with floods and wind but luckily for us personally we came off lightly.
Are you planning on vege gardening as well(we have 1)and what sort of animals are you into.
chooky
valued contributor
New Zealand
sunny auckland
26 Mar '04 7:14 am Hi again Pumpkin-like you we have a few acres and have lived on it for 5 years.When we moved here there were alot of big trees and an orchard but no dug gardens at all.As the property is on very heavy clay the digging was difficult to say the least but the results have been very rewarding.
This morning we have a nice crisp morning like you imagine so after taking my horse for a walk I will be in the garden most of the day.
In my garden I have cottage garden style areas,grasses and natives,shade areas,native bush and the usual rural thing of agapanthas up the driveway!!
I love roses and find they grow well here in the clay.
Our area has taking a hammering with floods and wind but luckily for us personally we came off lightly.
Are you planning on vege gardening as well(we have 1)and what sort of animals are you into.
pumpkin
compost executive
Auckland
26 Mar '04 7:37 pm We had a lovely crispy morning here too .....unfortunately I had to go to work , tho, thats not all bad. I work in a garden centre
We are not living on our paddock yet but are there every weekend.
ooh I envy you being able to start your day like that
The vege garden was the first thing I started.....gotta keep those caterpillars fat and happy!
It is about 20x16 meters so I am hoping to keep us fed year round. However, planning is my big downfall (I tend to get easily distracted and things don't always get done according to plan) and from what I can tell, to have the garden productive year round takes some dedication!
As far as animals go we are not planning on any stock. We have had a menagerie before and it was more time consuming than bringing up kids
I have 2 cats (they found us) and last count 58 ducks in the pond! It started with 3 and they were just so cute they had to be encouraged....they repaid our kindness with procreation At least they earn their keep now by hoovering around for slugs....
I love roses too and have some big dreams for them. Hope they do as well as the ducks!
Glad to hear you were not to badly affected by the storms of late. There were some very sad stories from people who lost everything. I can only imagine what it would be like to actually have been there
What sort of climate do you have where you are? Do you have problem frosts, winds etc?
chooky
valued contributor
New Zealand
sunny auckland
27 Mar '04 8:37 am Hi again Pumpkin.
I did have a great day in the garden-after taking my horse for a walk for about an hour.We are lucky to live on quiet roads.
We also have ducks-10 pekins(the white ones) and about 10 mallardsI also have chooks(hence the name!!)and 1 pheasant and 3 horses and 2 dogs.Oh and sheep as well.
Our climate here is frosts sometimes severe ones and always(well so it seems!!)windy.Not long after the floods we had storm force winds and we lost alot of trees-my husband is a chainsaw maniac so that kept him busy for a while.We now have enough firewood to last for about 5 years.
Lucky you working in a garden centre-do you get to inherit all the reject plants.I work(fortunately not full time)at a university so no cheap plants there.
Hopefully today we are having a bonfire-if the wind drops
pumpkin
compost executive
Auckland
27 Mar '04 6:39 pm LOL......I make the reject plants! .....just kidding
Working in a garden centre is great except I tend not to bring much of a wage home at the end of the week
I know what you mean about the wind, we get a pretty constant one where we are which makes the still days so much nicer Luckily there are very few bad frosts so most things can be grown successfully.
I have one of those husbands also....he who goes into hunting mode when he gets a chainsaw in his hand!.I have to try and disguise my wisteria trees and bodily protect anything that looks remotely brown lest he figures it's dead, especially if it was planted in the 'wrong' place
Shame you lost trees, I hope they weren't special ones. We lost one, an old pittosporum, the poor thing was growing in about 6 inches of soil so it was hardly surprizing when it fell over.
Do you tutor at university?
chooky
valued contributor
New Zealand
sunny Auckland.
29 Mar '04 8:47 am Hi Pumpkin-
I would be the same if I worked in a garden centre-very little money would make it to the bank account.
No-I don't teach at Massey-But I have heaps of contact with students at exam,enrolment and graduation time which is great.I start work tomorrow for a week or so doing preparation work for graduation in May.Then Exam time in June is a real busy time for me.
Husband had a real go with the chainsaw yesterday.He loves it.Wears all the safety gear after having a good attempt to cut of his leg at the knee.Yuk
have a good week
Chooky
We have a few acres and at this stage I am just putting in the big trees and paths etc....lots of work and not enough time! 
and things don't always get done according to plan) and from what I can tell, to have the garden productive year round takes some dedication!
It started with 3 and they were just so cute they had to be encouraged....they repaid our kindness with procreation 
At least they earn their keep now by hoovering around for slugs....
so that kept him busy for a while.We now have enough firewood to last for about 5 years.