Home > Archives > October 21st 2013 Labour Weekend > Gardening with Gael - What is eating my geraniums?
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MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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Gardening with Gael - What is eating my geraniums?.jpg "MEMORIES: The art work on rafters for the new house was inspired by drawings by the grandkids.") With the sale of half the cottages I have developed a very cavalier attitude to the rest of them. I glance at the reservations, check the phone and decide if nothing is imminent I will flee to The Block, the green car laden with mulch and plants dug from the nursery.A quick sign in the reception ‘Maybe back by 5pm’, a contact cellphone number and the green car heads west. The time to plant has really passed but by mulching heavily with some very rotted down grass clippings I hope there will be enough rain in the next couple of months to establish my late plantings. The rock gardens along the side of ‘Lombard St’ are now finished. To my horror something ate the geraniums already established in the first part of it and I was forced to visit every garden centre I have seen over the last month to replace the decimated ones and buy some more for the new gardens. I blame possums for everything but Box thinks it may have been rabbits. I have never experienced something eating geraniums before. These problems will be over once Barney ceases to be the happy animated teddy bear of a dog he still is and becomes the merciless possum, rabbit and rodent killer he was bred to be. Box says he has seen him catch a rabbit but fears he was looking more for a play companion because when it squealed he let it go. We both live in hope. My roses are certainly suffering. In the past the traps and poison dealt to the possums but now we do not use either for Barney’s safety. Occasionally when I get very narrow eyed and very crinkly mouthed Barney is tied up for the night and the traps set. Instead I am back to relying on gorse. I stamp around the paddocks for miles selecting only gorse branches with the most savage thorns as deterrents. Fresh new gorse goes limp too quickly. Not the best look but once the roses are flourishing again I can ignore the gorse. Several weeks ago I mentioned painting rafters for our house on the Block and I have had a number of enquiries about them. They are now in the house and we are very happy with them. I tried to take a photo of them in situ but my camera skills don’t show them well. Instead I sent some photos of them to my son Nick and he has made a collage out of them for the article. The first 10 rafters I used the garden and bush for ideas and then the centre panel I used drawings I have collected over the years from all the grandkids. Box had prepainted all the rafters karaka green which made a great background for all the colours. Dozens of Resene test pots ensured I had a wide variety of colours to choose from. There are still some grandkids too small to have participated and another rafter has been designated for when they are old enough. |
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