I only wrote a week ago and it was winter then, but we seem to have turned a corner on Sunday at the Open day and suddenly the garden is feeling like Spring. The mounds of aquilegia foliage are all suddenly sending leaping flower heads upwards, the leaves on the roses are emerging in Spring “largeness” and I think we may finally be past the sub 5 deg nights, allowing warmth lovers to emerge from slumber.
We had great luck with the weather for the Open day, finally the wind dropped and early drizzle cleared to a lovely sunny day. We had lots of people out enjoying the weather and the gardens and even more buying up big! Our shelves were pretty much emptied so we’ve decided to skip the October day and stage the next on November 8th when the roses should be really gearing up and we have more cuttings and seedlings grown on for sale.
A Spring drought is quite unusual in the Waikato, but not unheard of. Our current rainfall for the first month must be about a quarter or less of the average. Small douses have encouraged grass and plant growth, but the ground in places is ridiculously dry. Alice and I have been exploring local plant suppliers and buying lots of things for gaps in gardens. Usually planting at this time of year doesn’t even require watering in, but so far the hose or bucket is a necessary post planting tool. I’ve heard we’re meant to be having a wet Spring, so fingers crossed it arrives in October…for the garden and the Hunua dam across the road which is Auckland’s main water supply.
On the plus side, being able to work in the garden without gumboots and drive around the farm in the car makes life more comfortable!
I’m off to the potting shed to continue potting up gazillion veg and flower seedlings, excess will be for sale at our November Open day…