September 10, 2016

Earlier this week, I finished weeding and fertilizing the Himalayan cypress trees that Terry and I planted in 2014 along the northern boundary of the property.  Most are growing well, but many are struggling. They are slow growers and the tallest ones have reached about 24 inches.  They were 8-10 inches when we planted them.  

But the pine trees planted in 2014 along the east and south boundaries are really amazing.  From 8-10 inches when planted, some have grown to 4 or 5 feet.  Here is a picture of Heather standing between two of the taller trees.

And here is Heather with one of the cypresses - still only about 2 feet tall.



 

Today was a good day to be outside, but the rest of the week was just miserable.  We had a HUGE storm coming up from the south, right off Antarctica.  We had winds 30 to 40 km per hour but the east, west, and south coasts were getting winds in excess of 75 km per hour.  Many areas lost power, but not us, thank goodness.  The storm went on for 48 hours, peppered with hail storms every 30 or 40 minutes.  We can see snow on the mountains and we heard reports that there was quite a bit of snow on the north island.

The poor chickens and turkeys ran for cover every time it hailed.  Fortunately, the hail was small and didn't do any damage.  Heather checked the fruit trees which had begun to blossom and found that most of the blossoms were gone.  Don't know if they will be bearing much fruit this year.

Today was spent fertilizing all the fruit trees in the garden and filling some of the holes the chickens have dug around the base of the trees.  They just love to dig for bugs!

Tomorrow we plan on planting some of the small trees (6-8 inches high) that Mike and Heather brought home in tiny containers from one of their trips two years ago.  The trees have survived in those little pots and are ready to be transplanted. 

The yard is now divided into paddocks, the orchard/chicken yard, the garden area, and the 'yard' which includes the house, the Wee Mansion, the pump shed, the wood shed, and the driveway.  We are going to be "landscaping" the yard with foundation plants and flowers.  But I think we have to set up the garden first.  We are looking at building the raised beds using pallets. This could be very interesting!!  I'll take lots of pictures as the new garden develops.