Gardening with Gael - The little red hen

 

Sometimes opportunities present themselves that are just too good to miss.

“Kevin Wood is coming to do a sewerage connection,” said Box. My brain did a quick calculation. A small digger on the property, right by five camellias that require digging out and transplanting to The Block.

These camellias have been struggling under the magnolia grandiflora for close to 20 years. If any plants deserve a break these did and they would be a perfect entrance to The Tea Plantation. Same family and exactly the number I need. They are one of the few scented camellias Camellia japonica scentsation. I planted them for their scent and their loose peony flower form.

I had been looking at the entrance to The Tea Plantation and thinking how scrubby it looked. A hedge of camellias around the first corner would lift the entire area. I had built a retaining wall of rocks on the right hand side of the path and had transplanted abelias across the top. These are doing well.

On the left hand side the ground falls away quite sharply from the path becoming a steep bank of long grass. Before the camellias could be planted I would need a retaining wall to hold them and the soil in position. All around the property are abandoned fence posts, some lying on the ground, some still insitu.

“Can I use them for a retaining wall?” I asked Box. He frowned. He was in the middle of pruning the grapes.

“Get George to help you,” he replied. George took over as general handyman at the cottages when Mike died. Now that the cottages have all been sold he still comes for a couple of hours from time to time. I organised George for the next Tuesday.

The retaining wall needed to be done before the digger arrived to lift the camellias. In the meantime I dug a trench as deep as I could ready for the posts – very tricky on a steep slope, piling the soil on the left side to shore up the bank a little.

Early Tuesday morning Box gave me a tool for packing the dirt around the posts and headed off back to the grapes. I took the truck and gathered up all the posts lying around. George, I reasoned could pull the others out of the ground. Box had assured me it was quite easy.

Right on 10am George texted to say he was ill. I looked at the trench, I looked at the pile of posts, I looked at the tamping tool and I thought of the impending digger. Channelling The Little Red Hen I thought ‘I’ll do it myself’. And I did.

Pulling out the posts wasn’t easy. I’m not built for it. I virtually had to dig them out. Wrapping my plump elderly body around each one as I heaved, it took a great deal of effort before the soil would release them.

By the time Box got back at lunchtime I was busy tamping the small amount of dirt available around the base of the posts. Most of the dirt had slid down the hill.

“You really didn’t think this through,” said Box. “I’ll chainsaw the posts in half which will make the next half easier. It did. Dealing with half-sized posts was easier but it didn’t solve the problem of the soil.

To fill the the rest of the holes I decided I would, using my trusty electric barrow, bring down the small rocks that break up between the large ones in our pile of rocks. Success. Piling the rocks up against posts also closed any gaps and made back filing with compost more efficient. It

was really hard work and my poor body suffered for several days after but I was ready for the digger.

Kevin arrived and lifted the camellias on to the back of the truck. My grandchildren Theo and Lizzie helped me gather pine needles for the bottom of the holes, transport them down in the wheelbarrow and position them in their new home on the side of the hill. We retained them with rocks. Theo is old enough to manoeuvre the barrow and heave around bags of compost. Now mulched with pohutukawa leaves and receiving a daily watering, I hope they thrive.

GARDEN BUDDIES: Grandchildren Theo and Lizzie help transplant the camelias.