The Holiday Writeup - Ellerslie Garden Show ..

This was the Kiwi/Japanese garden at the Ellerslie Flower Show ...I didn't like it when I was there but have warmed to it now ... 





























This garden was greated by the "incredible edibles" fruit plant company in NZ ... Strawberries on top of the pergola, fejoa trees, blue berry bushes grape vine , and so on ........  























Not sure who did this one ... But of interest was the fir trees ontop of the wall











They were planted in buckets that help a (car) wheel mechansim that allowed them to turn in the wind ...>Effectively making them weather vanes ...... Not sure then why they were in different directions :O)  











I liked this one ...Think I could have this in our garden ... especially the lielows :O) 





















The tidiest veggie gardens :O) Onions were a bit on the small side !! :O}

Holiday Write-up (1) The Ellerslie flower show

My nephew has been visiting NZ with his mate ... Their OE experience ... So we took the chance to be tourists ourselves in our home town and took a drive around town to show him the sights .... We made a point at stopping off at the Weta shop .. .Weta of course famous for it's special effects in peter Jackson films such as LOTR and much much more ...... They also have a screening of the work they are doing and the actual workshops ... Nephew loved it ....



 

































And then it was off to Christchurch on the south Island to start our tour across the island to the west coast . This is the last part of NZ I'd yet to see...The only things left now are Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands ... Only taken me 20 years to do it :O) 





Christchurch is a nice city dominated in the centre by large stone buildings and Cathedral square ... We took a walk around in the afternoon. Having lunch and dinner in restaurants ... It was noticable that the standard of food and service was very good ... Me thinks Wellington has some catching up to do ....



The activity that prompted us to make the trip was to see the Ellerslie flower show ...NZs premier flower show. As such we duely got up early and drove to Hagley park where it was being held .... We had VIP Tickets which allowed us to get in early before the show opened and be part of a guided walk around the place .... 



But not early enough as it happened as we discovered we should have been there 1/2 an hour before ...But no matter we caught up with them all in the VIP tent just getting ready to start the walk......  































This appears to be the punting along the river Avon that flows through Christchurch





This was inspired by the Wellington "Cake Tin" our sports arena for Rugby and the like 

















The perimeter of the show was lined with stalls ...McD bought a pair of secateurs with flowers on them!!   











Hagely park has a lot of artwork dotted about.. So not sure if this is a permanent fixture of part of the show ....





 

Sharks Fin Melon Soup

It's been a while ... But we've just returned from holidaying on the South Island of NZ .... so Pictures maybe to follow .... Now no yawning people !!!

 

 McD - My  girl has just received the results of her first IT exam .... The ITIL Certification .... And got a good solid Pass :O) I am so proud of her :O) Not only is she now a qualified Nerdy like me she now officially knows as much as I do on IT Service Management ! :O)

  

 

Ich bein ein Nerdy person :O)  The IT Crowd are sooo Funny ..... 



 Meanwhile We hit Autumn bang on calendar schedule..March 1 came and immediately we got cold nights , warm days and rain ...... Oh - and that of course means fungal attacks on the tomatoes, cucurbits and Dahlias... We have given up really and will plant out out the autumn  winter stuff like broccoli .... 



A small win all considering, was the harvest of one of the Spaghetti Melons or Sharks Fin Melons as it is also known. 















As you can see when opened up the flesh is soft and stringy...Apparently, as I've never had it nor want to, Sharks fin when cooked goes the same way ....









When raw it tastes pretty much like unripe melon ...... 









We found a recipe for Sharks fin melon soup in an old book of mine ...So we made it based on that... But we then decided to add chicken, extra chinese mushrooms and sweetcorn straight from the garden .......











All up it was very very nice ... But highly dependent on a good stock base for the flavour ....... Next time I'm going to try a variation of Tom Yum soups 









  

An Autumn Garden Design project

More woes in the Vegetable garden - More changeable weather .. .Stinking hot for a few days then wet and humid for a few days .. .then it'll probably be cold and wet ........ Tomatoes now under attack from moulds and mildews ..... Not much more I can do to protect them .... 





This is the next large project..... Turning this into a garden of interest ... It only gets some morning sun ... So thinking of an interesting green garden with the only flowers being whites or subdued reds ....and lots of NZ  natives .



   



As you can see it's in a bit of a mess - the last part of the garden we haven't touched ...Previous owners had dog kennels here as well as the front of the garden ... 











I think it could look quite good with little effort... There is quite a slope to it though ... I would like to get a level area at the back for a small table and chairs ...It's a nice cool spot in the summer ......















Just need the time, Money and inclination :O)

First Week Of February...Mid Summer

Another fine sunset happening...We don't get a lot of twighlight here but we do get some great sunsets.........I'm enjoying the cool of the evening sat here on the decking....









We picked another 2kg of Blackberries today - anyone got a good Blackberry Nip recipe? Especially a Whiskey one ??







Just watered the tomatoes and the rest of tubs on the front yard....And then dealt to the mildew thats started to show on the cucumber plants. ..We ate the first of the sweetcorn tonight..despite the fact they could have gone another week to ripen more they were pretty damned edible....First time we've ever grown them so - success!







The Pumpkin plants are bolting across neighbours lawn!...Neighbour hasn't hacked it back but I will. All that work I'm doing and they reward me with doing that!! ..







The Toms are flowering wildly and much tickling going on to ensure as many set as possible ...Some healthy looking trusses already there.......Summers still with us...The thought of lunch on the balcony with a glass of wine very tempting .......

Bits and Bobs and the Garden

----Pepsi Dog Fast asleep with tounge hanging out









Pepsi and George Cat sharing the Bean bag....Not I had to sacrifice my winter Poo bear Blankie !!





I'm sat out side watching the last of the sunset...A wind change is bringing in a much welcome cool breeze.... Up to now we've had a cloudless hot sunny day. Much work has been done weeding and tending to tomatoes.. The large green fruit holding much promise for a couple of weeks time.... The lights are switching on across the valleys below us ....Jill has poured a cold wine ...Life is relaxed today ....



Dinner straight from the garden





















Did you get to watch the film Grow Your Own?? It's an English film set on an Garden allotment..Anyway one dude was growing a Sharks Fin Melon or Spagetti Melon ...We'e now got one fruiting !! :O) It's all very exciting as it's visibly growing day by day...it's now the size of a small football...I'd better find a good recipe for it now :O)









That said we’ve also had some ‘composted’ seeds grow in various places …. Can’t say for sure what they are but may well let them grow on …Be they pumpkin or marrow etc …. Tomato seeds have also sprouted and from great depths for a tomato seed. We have had clumps of tomato seedlings dotted about the borders….Whilst preferring some sense of order in my borders, I’ve still left one from each clump to grow on. It’s a sad indictment on our gardening skills that these rogue plants are like weeds, growing healthier and stronger than the seedlings we’ve cared for and mollycoddled these past few months protecting them from cold and wind and rain…. Next year I will throw half the seeds direct into the outside soil and let them get on with it.

 

We are also growing a bed of onions and leeks. Last year was a pretty poor effort with the onions not growing to any size. Well maybe pickling onion sort of size … We still ate them thrown into stews etc …. Same for the leeks that really didn’t grow much bigger than when I had dropped them into their holes ….. This year they are looking much better… and I’m hoping for a good crop from both …. If the weather improves.

 

Having the extra borders has meant we can grow more of a particular vegetable at the same time …. And so carrots have been planted  in succession in 3 different borders …The first panting was well used and mostly eaten raw as first McD, then McDs daughter S, then my Son B all enjoyed pulling them out of the ground and with a quick wash munching away at them raw…… I might have had a few as well I suppose :O) I particularly like the purple variety ..We grow a whole mix from whites to reds to oranges to purples ….. We grate them for a multi-cloured addition to salads. With our purple lettuce and spring onions and feta and a honey mustard dressing...yum....Yesterday we pan fried scallops with diced elephant garlic (home grown), a little butter and some ginger...Yum...Lunch was good yesterday