Well up in the North Waikato we’ve managed to avoid the terrible earth shaking many of the folk around NZ have had to endure, but we haven’t exactly had a pleasant month. The wind has been almost remorseless, blowing from all directions, often several at once…Almost no hours, let alone days suitable for donning a backpack and having a go at local weeds or diseases. Luckily the windy weather also seems to keep the funguses and pests at bay, so things will look good enough in the garden when the roses can produce some flowers that haven’t been ragged by the wind. Of course the weeds don’t mind the wind at all…in fact “all the better to spread my seeds my dear” ! so with round up not an option it’s hands or nothing.
Watering is also a time consuming past time Whilst the temperatures have hardly been warm enough to bake things, the wind does an equally good job, and we have definitely not received our fair share of the rain that’s been about. So, with it being spring we’ve been flat out planting seedlings that were rather tardy at hatching and growing on which leads up to a lot of dragging of hoses around the garden keeping the poor little blighters alive! All the travail will be paid back when they start to flower…
Dead heading the roses is a job I really enjoy, whether it’s just dancing around snapping off stems with fingers and strewing them around the bush, or setting off with bucket, wheelbarrow and secateurs and doing the job properly. However as I judge it to be quite a low priority task I haven’t been fitting in as much of it as a I would like. My top priority at this time of year has to picking roses when the weather permits, and even if it doesn’t, really. I think enjoying the flowers, especially with the once flowerers, is most important of all, so I like to pick bunches most mornings to take to anywhere I’m going that day or give to visitors. And that doubles as dead heading as well, 2 birds with one stone!