microb's blog: As the world turns

Hawaii is the most remote place on the planet! But we still have COVID, Old folks are dying in our care homes just like everywhere else. We wear masks when outside of our gate and we all seem scared of each other, so don't get too close. Impact on gardening is the lack of potting soil. Forced to buy Miracle Grow potting soil a couple of weeks ago and yesterday Ace Hardware had Supersoil in stock. About $4 a bag cheaper. $11 for 2 cu ft. Got three bags.

Six weeks since last posting. Just don't find the time to sit in front of the computer (sadly find time for Solitaire, email and facebook - just can't break the habit)

We are in a drought. No real rain for weeks. I have to water outdoor pots which is rare for us. Not much rain forecast for the next couple of weeks. Its been a quiet hurricane season but its not over until end of November so must still keep fingers crossed.

So whats been going on. PIGS have been coming under the back fence almost daily for the past 4 weeks. I go out and do a fence check and there is the oval shaped hole under the fence. Been patching the holes with tree stakes, bamboo stakes, metal posts, whatever it takes. Check the next morning and there is another hole a few feet away. After 4 weeks my back fence is like a fortress. No pigs for the past few nights. Not sure whether it is my effort or the fact that the ground is so dry and there are no food sources for them. Two days ago I was in my potting greenhouse and heard rustling and snorting. Looked at the forest fence line about 8 ft away and there it was, an almost fully grown pig poking its face in my direction to say "Aloha". A quick shout and it went crashing off into the forest. In places the forest outside the fence line looks like Hippos have been wallowing. The understory gets destroyed by the pigs.
When the small pigs do come in (as they have been almost daily) they dig up the mulch piles, plough the marshy areas and rarely do plant damage. I've lost about 5 valued new bamboo canes from varieties I was hoping for new growth. Oh well, have to wait for next year.

In the last blog I was just putting new bamboos in the ground that had been dug out in a friends garden who had lots of rocky soil. Ended up with 12 root balls and all are in the ground. Every one has produced new growth to indicate they survived the move. Moving from dry rocky soil to loamy rainforest soil should produce good new canes next year.

Almost finished the new fence line in the Woodpile Garden, which is an extension of the End Garden. Stretched out two lengths of fence this week. One more stretch to complete to seal the area from pigs. The last piece goes through dense forest so yesterday my friend stood at the terminal point of the fence, I went out to where the new fence line ended. We shouted at each other to get direction and I barreled through the forest with my chainsaw, not being able to see him until the last 20 ft. Then the chain came off the saw so I elbowed my way through the last few feet. Next step is go out and clear the trail down to the forest floor and move aside the debris so that the fence can be put in place.

I have a collection of Red Ti roots, pink torch ginger roots and various potted plants all grouped together in the End Garden waiting to be put in the ground, but its just too dry, and I have not water source out in the forest. Must wait for rain.

Volunteer work at the zoo is still moving forward. I seem to keep putting my foot in my mouth. As part of the zoo improvements the County bulldozed acres of surrounding forest . The cleared area must stretch half a mile in some directions. Not a tree to be seen in the cleared area. It was said that neighbors in a new subdivision were complaining about trees falling in their yards. The County's solution is to clear cut rather than trim. So now there is a large expanse of open land that will be grassed and mowed. Very rocky soil so some areas will be used for zoo parking. So due to construction this cleared area had not been visible until I asked if I could take a "Walk about" Sure said the zoo manager. Well i sent her an email expressing my depressed state of mind over the loss of so many trees and then added that due to the loss of trees in the zoo we should change name from rainforest zoo due to the Panaewa Savanah Zoo and add some giraffes and zebra out on the grassy plains. Zoo manager has no sense of humor and hinted that maybe I should not work at the zoo. But I'm still there. They need me and my friend as the zoo has no budget from landscaping staff and yet they are a zoo and garden.

Hoping to get some time today to pot up some seedlings. i got Hornbill Gingers and other white ginger seedling that need to be moved to bigger pots. Also some Brownia tree seedlings that I have raised from seed.

Otherwise its gardening as usual. Not too much flowering in the tropical gardens at the moment. There is always something but not so much the Heliconias and Gingers.

I have a nice collection of named Bromeliads that were sent to me from a virtual friend in Florida in a plant swap. They love our environment.

More later (hopefully not weeks)

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