Weeds and First Plantings

This is a garden diary of sorts, of my new house and garden (otherwise I'll never remember what I planted, when I should prune it and where I put it). I also found the few New Zealand gardening blogs very helpful when trying to decide what plants to buy, as most advice is US based. At some point, I'll dig up all the links I came across and add them to the blog.

As you can probably tell from the blog title, I'm most excited about planting a dozen tiny fruit trees into my "manageably sized" garden.

I moved into my new home in February, autumn in New Zealand. As I am in warm-temperate Auckland, this meant that I could plant a) almost anything I wanted and b) that it was the best time to be transplanting trees and seedlings. I've discovered an entire pent up rush of gardening interest, frustrated by years of crappy rental gardening. I have been extremely lucky in my timing, and have been planting fairly steadily for a full couple of weeks, so I'm starting to have an actual garden.

The garden is small, and fairly empty. "Bare" is a good term, though the soil appears to be quite good. There's a whopping great Norfolk Pine out the front, shading the lawn and sucking the life out of it (the line at which the branches stopped is marked by a sudden burst of healthy grass), and one random little camellia bush that is covered in buds and sending out suckers into the lawn.

The cat approves of the dusty soil out the front.

The back is a long strip of grass, with some creeping Tradescantia (Wandering Jew) and a Moth Vine from the neighbours, as well as one random tree that I don't recognise. There are small areas of grass each side of the house, which I will have to be careful about, because they're the access ways and washing line areas.

Pictures from before moving in:

The front of the house. Note the tiny Camellia and the massive amount of shade from the tree

The side of the house. The healthiest bit of garden, but sadly needed for clothes drying and access to the compost bin

The back of the house. Wide enough to plant trees down one side and still have a slight pathway. Also, all the bedroom windows can then look out at fruit and flowers, instead of the neighbours. Important not to get trees so large that they blocked the light to the windows. Also, random annoying tree that casts shade and blocks the gutter.

I spend today gleefully pulling the seedpods off the moth vine (an extremely invasive and nasty weed) and chopping all the invading strands with kitchen scissors (I have an extreme shortage of garden tools at the moment). It leaks an incredibly runny white sap, dripping like blood or milk from every injury. It's supposed to be toxic, and I did seem to get a temporary itchy/sore red patch on my cheek, where I got the largest splash. Unfortunately, it's rooted in the next garden, so I'm not sure what more I can do to it. I've put all the pods in a black plastic bag, and will see if they rot down. If not, I'll have to stick them in a bucket and drown them.

I've been steadily hunting out the little Tradescantia tendrils, all along under the fence and in the grass, to clear safe spaces for planting and to place the compost bin. It's a horrible, horrible plant, and nothing will kill it (it's immune to most herbicides), and it regrows from the tiniest tendrils. I'm having to collect all the scraps and bits in a large plastic bag as I don't dare introduce it to the compost. It has been steadily filling up for over a week and the plants in there are still alive. Apparently they're finally introducing a beetle that will eat it, which I look forward to (hurrah for effective biocontrol methods!). My experience with Wandering Jew is why I avoided the otherwise intriguing Orangeberry plant when picking new plants, as apparently it acts similarly. I'm going to have to patrol that border regularly - but it's a nice quiet activity for when I need a quick break, and it's only one end of the garden. I really, really, don't want it to reach the state of other infestations, with the fence, ground and nearby objects swathed in a green mass of indestructable and rapacious plants.

For planting, I've been trying to create sturdy, low maintenance mixture of useful, delicious, nice smelling and native species (in that order). Due to space constraints, I was forced to choose dwarf varieties from the start, but this has turned out quite well. There are some very miniature trees out there! (I hope that they stay as small as advertised, but I'm probably planting them too closely for them to grow much larger).

So I spent a few days browsing all the nurseries in the area online, and had a look around the local Palmers garden centre (lots of nice herbs, not much in the way of trees). My parents gave me some nice fruit tree seedlings to get me started (a feijoa sellowiana - original feijoa sp., a feijoa bambina - dwarf variety, a tropical (red) guava, and a dwarf Tahitian lime). Also a flowering hibiscus, which I'm not really sure what to do with, as it fails on the practical, edible and nice smelling front. SHH. I LIKE PRACTICAL (my parents are now rolling their eyes, going "we knew you'd be like that about the NICE FLOWER PLANT". It has a regular series of flowers, so will look nice, but I'm worried about how big it might get. So it's being ignored in its pot for now. I may plant it along the side of the deck, where the soil isn't good enough to plant a fruit tree.

From a couple of days ago: the feijoa sellowiana in the foreground, the quince behind it, and the camellia on the left.

CHOP IT TO PIECES.
You can just see the quince tree on the right, in it's patch of mulch (grass clippings and pine "needles"). Also the camellia. It has grown since the last photo.

Norfolk Pines aren't actually true  pines. They're one of those old, primeval-ish species without a proper leaf-branch distinction. The branches just turn into spike needle-leaves which SHOULD NOT BE HANDLED WITHOUT GLOVES OUCH. DAMMIT.

There is also a random feijoa out the front which I am not yet sure whether to leave on its own or to plant round. It will get fairly big. It's needed, to help cross pollinate the dwarf one around the back, but as long as the birds can find it, I'm not too worried. Plus of course a completely random camellia bush that I think I'm going to take out because it's annoying and taking over the lawn.

I've just finished planting my latest batch of plants (I was doing it at night, so that the more delicate ones didn't dry out. I will take a picture in daylight). I now have a sort of native corner next to the pine tree, as they are pretty tough. we managed to take a bunch of branches of the Norfolk Pine yesterday, so the plants in the front garden actually get sunlight now. Currently the native plant corner has three flowering shrubs (climbing rata, red kakabeak, Angelica), two ferns (maidenhair and hen and chickens), and two ground cover plants species. In front of them are a small Chilean guava, and a quince tree with marigold and alyssum around it.

Round the back, I have a row of little fruit trees with herbs and flowers around: dwarf lime, small tropical guava, dwarf feijoa, and another Chilean guava bush. I should have a dwarf lemon and a dwarf apple (60cm tall!) arriving tomorrow which will join them, and the tiny dwarf Manuka and not so tiny dwarf almond which I'm not quite sure where to put yet (I just HAD to have it: Garden Prince variety, self fertile and a dwarf!) I was also given a random comfrey plant for free at East West organics today, which has gone to the corner of the garden to become an immortal fertiliser plant, (they are practically unkillable, but the leaves make fantastic fertiliser/mulch/compost).

I scattered some mustard seed around the grass, to hopefully generate some green manure. I don't really know if it will grow, but every bit helps. Now I want lots of Roman Chamomile to turn into a lawn, and borage to grow around the fruit trees. And I'm getting some tiny dwarf peach trees around midwinter (when they can be moved). There's also an extra quince in a pot that needs a bigger pot (they were both sticks when they arrived, and the one in the garden and now has twice as many leaves). 

The Very Sad Quince Stick and the Shunned Hibiscus

I also need rosemary and lemonbalm! I have catnip growing behind the washing line, and my pathetic old cat now knows to stop there after I drag her outside for her daily walk.

Look at that catnip. So pathetic. Soon it will be bushy and intoxicating and I can drug the cats constantly. Muahaha. I've planted it in between the concrete and the fence (beyond which is more concrete), so it can't go completely wild.

Cat getting high on catnip.

My greatest sorrow right now is that there are no dwarf varieties of the amazing Flatto / Yoyo / Doughnut Peach, which I've actually found in Wairere nursery. I recently discovered them in the supermarket, and they're just fantastic. My main gripe with peaches is the mess, but these are small, manageable and delicious. They're known as the Donut Peach Tree or Bagel Peach Tree overseas.

I have quite a lot of deck and patio space, so I'm planning on container planting some more dwarf trees in future, once I've got a handle on the actual garden. Container plants will be inherently size limited, but will be more work. I've got my eye on some adorably tiny peaches and apple trees, and citrus always tends to do fine in pots. Anyway, I've ordered some small Smart Pots, as they have amazingly good reviews for container growing. If they work out well, I'll strongly consider buying some big ones for trees and veges.

I'm also drooling over some columnar ("Ballerina") apple trees, but I need to wait and see if I have room for them. They won't be pot plants!

I'll have to take some more photos once I've got everything in the ground (so hopefully by the weekend). I want to be able to look back at everything in a year or three and see how it all started.

Plant List (everything that I'm adding).

Natives:

I bought my native plants from The Native Plant Centre. They arrived in a big cardboard box, and are all very healthy and green.

From left. Back: Maidenhair fern, Hen & Chickens fern, Climbing/Red Rata, Native Angelica
Front: Scleranthus biflorus, Red Kaka Beak

Currently I have:

• Climbing Rata (Metrosideros carminea) - nice flowers, small, tuis should like it
• Red Kaka Beak (Clianthus puniceus) - lovely flowers, tuis love it
• Native Angelica, koheriki (Scandia rosifolia) - endangered, lovely flowers, bees should like it
• Hen & Chickens fern (Asplenium bulbiferum) - good mid level shade ground cover
• Maidenhair fern (Adiantum cunninghamii) - pretty ground cover on the sunny edge
• Coprosma something (silver variety, bought from Palmers) - tough groundcover on the shaded side
• Scleranthus biflorus- fascinating, tough groundcover on the sunny side. Found a larger one in Palmers and fell in love with the prickly bright green cushion.
• (pending) A dwarf manuka! 

Fruit Trees

Bought from various places, or given, but several came from Wairere Online (where I have my tiny little dwarf peaches on back order, for when they are actually sold in winter).

My tropical guava with two guardian alyssum plants and a dill around the back.

• I have two quince trees, one potted, one planted - variety unknown. These will get a bit bigger than I would like, but they were free and quince is unusual and tasty.
• Two feijoa: Sellowiana and dwarf. I will be swimming in feijoas. Nom nom.
• One Apple Blush Babe (apparently grows to a mere 60cm)
• One dwarf Yen Ben lemon (the more delicate variety than the commoner, rugged, Meyer)
• One red cherry/tropical guava (small and delicious)
• Two Chilean guava/ NZ Cranberry bushes (already ate all the berries off them! Very tough bush and very tasty fruit, grows in the shade)
• One Tahitian lime. The most edible variety, and a steady year round fruiter, apparently.
• One Almond, dwarf Garden Prince variety. Still going to be a bit large, but I really want it, and I think I can fit it in.

Companion Plants:

Alyssum!

I bought a batch of herbs and flowers for companion planting, mostly from Palmers. I want to fill in the bare patches, reduce competition from weeds (and therefore the amount of work I have to do), and create a nice ecosystem of diversity, bee friendly flowers, and bonus beneficial side effects. Sneaking in herbs that I may actually use is also a bonus. I'm planning on adding vegetables between the fruit trees at some point, if everything looks healthy enough.

• Marigold (French Vanilla) (to help protect against diseases/nasty bugs)
• Alyssum (to attract bees)
• Tarrgon, parsley, dill, marjoram (general helpful plants)
• I also have some chives waiting for the apple tree to arrive (scent helps protect the fruit).
• Comfrey - one plant, sequestered on the far side of the pine tree dead zone. Free.
• Catnip. Transplanted out of pots, and very grateful to be free.