HIGH COUNTRY GARDENING
Late Spring 2011 and the Lavendar Is Thriving
When we purchased the land in 1995 it was just a sub division, fifty two hectares of slightly neglected farmland. The area we selected to erect the house upon was a weed infested paddock near the road, with gorse and grand daddy broom flourishing in all directions.There was so much to do - find and buy horses, build the garage, build the house, put in a well, obtain electricity and telephone, do a mass of fencing. As each building was completed I was already making plans for what I could put where. Being a very keen gardener in the Uk, in fact earning my living as a gardener in the last few years, I was fairly certain that with gorse and broom doing so well the soil would probably take happily to more cultivated species.
My two big problems were lack of time, we were so busy from dawn to dusk, and a distinct lack of funds. There had been no cash coming in for all the months of packing up and travelling and now it was obvious that plants of any kind were going to be very low on the list of priorities. Fortunately New Zealand has a very friendly population and everyone new I met was keen to give me cuttings and seedlings and advice . Our beloved nor westers were problematic. We badly needed wind breaks to allow the new small plants some respite. Early on we had a really bad drought and a gardening expert on television advised people to tie a wet blanket round the trunk of a tree to help save its life. I remarked that to soak a large hanky and tie it round my "tree" would be enough to topple it over!
My two big problems were lack of time, we were so busy from dawn to dusk, and a distinct lack of funds. There had been no cash coming in for all the months of packing up and travelling and now it was obvious that plants of any kind were going to be very low on the list of priorities. Fortunately New Zealand has a very friendly population and everyone new I met was keen to give me cuttings and seedlings and advice . Our beloved nor westers were problematic. We badly needed wind breaks to allow the new small plants some respite. Early on we had a really bad drought and a gardening expert on television advised people to tie a wet blanket round the trunk of a tree to help save its life. I remarked that to soak a large hanky and tie it round my "tree" would be enough to topple it over!
Getting Started
The picture on the left shows a bank which had been covered in gorse which we had burnt off, towed out the huge dead branches and were preparing to turn into a nice garden area. The other picture shows the plateau above this bank which was heading to be lawn. The cameraman is standing with his back to the new house. This is looking east, one of the two directions we get major winds from and with no shelter at all.
The picture on the left shows the newly built house, looking towards the hill, and some of the many rock walls I have constructed to make shelter for wee plants desperately trying to grow and survive.The other photo is of my first vege patch and the vast number of trees planted to break up the nor wester. The tallest tree wasn't even one metre tall!
The First Border From House To Garage
Vege Patch and Rock Wind Breaks The Builders Tip Border
Shelter For The Plants Now Weary Gardener In The Bushes
These last two photos were taken in 2007. Native hebes are now growing strongly on the Western side of the border and plants within the shelter belt are thriving. Even on days when nor west gales howl it is relatively sheltered in here. The cats aslo thrive in here using the big shrubs to nest under away from the very noisy dogs.
The Azalea Border View From The West End Deck
NOTHING would grow here without the rocks and the azalea border near the front door survives well hidden from the wind. We had an extra room added in 2001 and a deck round three sides of the house. This is a lovely sheltered liitle deck with view of the Buiders Tip border and the steps up to the garage
