A busy few weeks but lots of rain. Almost everyday since mid September we have had rain.
Our water tank got fixed on schedule. The driveway suffered from contractors vehicles and a 6000 gallon water tanker to get us started
Gravelling the paths continued one barrow at a time until the rain got too bad and I stopped at number 100. The Shady Glen garden got renamed to the Sunken garden after my wife too a look and realized how high above the cleared forest area the path was. As I could not get the wheelbarrow down to the Sunken Garden paths I chain sawed a pathway through the trees behind the bottom round pond (about 60ft along from the upper path) as that was at a lower level with the Sunken Garden path. So the idea was to push through the forest with this new path, turn left at the bottom and then link up with the path in the garden. It is going to work and will be a great feature and makes everything accessible by wheelbarrow. I will be laying 24 inch logs in the mud across the path width and then covering them with gravel to get some firm base. All things came to a stop with the rain and a sore midriff muscle. Doctor said go on light duty so no gravel has been moved for a couple of weeks.
Plant life goes on. I've sinned a couple of times at our local plant stores buying Calatheas, ferns, philodrendron, a couple of pothos vines. The friend we visited during our water outage invited me back to pick up more plants she was removing so I have more Coleus among others to many to list.
Between showers last month I was able to clear and weedwack some of the garden paths in areas that are becoming overgrown. I put too much focus on the Sunken garden and other areas are out of control.
I fear that I'm slowly losing the battle of keeping the entire 3 acres trimmed and tidy. With the continuous rain and shorter days I'm not putting in the time I did years ago. This could be all in my mind because I did a garden tour with a couple of friends a few weeks ago and they were in awe of the plants and the whole fantasy environment. So maybe its not so bad.
This friend who visited wants to get started with bamboo so he will be coming back to cut down canes that he can use to propagate his own clumps. Waiting for the rain to stop for that project. He will repay me with labor.
In years gone buy I had hundreds of pots of orchid cactus that for one reason or another has been reduced in numbers so I have excess of 8 inch hanging pots. Started selling those on Craigslist this week $15 for 20. One buyer came to pick up today. Turns out she is an avid gardener who was in the business of selling Pitcher plants. She has a group of friends who are gardening fanatics down near where the eruption took place a couple of years ago so I invited them for a garden tour when the weather improves with the condition that they all bring cuttings or plants for my garden instead of paying a fee. Ha Ha, another innocent source of plants.
Last Monday we had 6 inches of rain within a few hours and the weight of water on the plastic potting greenhouse roof collapsed a third of the structure. When the rain stops I will be taking about half of the building down and rebuilding what I can. I might reduce the size by half, forcing myself to have less bench space to maintain. We shall see.
Forecast if sun and drier conditions by mid week so we shall see. Long range forecast is for a wetter than normal winter starting mid December. More photos next time. Enjoy reading all the blogs.
Where do I start after 6 weeks.
The Shady Glen garden is almost finished. A bit more chainsaw work and then haul the trimmings to the nearby wood pile. The fun part is putting in new plants. Mendinillas, gingers, bromeliads, heliconias and bamboos. Everything looks so fresh and new it will take six months, at least to fill in.
The Giant White Butterfly Gingers that I planted as seed three years ago have finally turned mature and bloomedThey are huge. Bloom spikes are 8 to 15 inches long on 6 foot stalks. Am I in trouble or not. They are reaching out across pathways. I'm really feeling worried about whether they will take over next year.
I thought I would make a killing with these so I raised about 70 plants and stuck them in around the garden two years ago. Put them on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago and sold one for $15. Will keep trying. They go almost dormant during the winter and just when you think they have pooped out up come the new growth. Very tropical.
A few weeks ago we had a long spell of rainy weather and walking the dog in the forest twice a day resulting in some muddy stretches of pathway. Really made walking unpleasant. So on August 5th (its marked on the calender) I decided that if life was going to be pleasant I needed to do major trail maintenance. I had a small heap of gravel left from previous projects so made a promise to push one or two wheelbarrow loads each day and repair the forest trails. I started with the muddiest spots, replacing rotten path markers where needed. A week after I started I had three ton of 3/4 inch base course delivered and pressed on. All gravel has go over the bridge. Some goes on paths a short distance away, say a 2 minute push and then there is the 6 minute push out to the path extremities. After 5 weeks I could now walk the dog without slipping and sliding over mud. Of course beyond the end of the paths there are paths that have never been gravelled so now the long pushes go further. September 14th saw barrow load number 75 and the delivery of another 3 ton of gravel and so it goes on. I figure I will be doing this for about six months. A couple of loads a day so I don't bust a gut!
I must admit the result looks good and I do get help from Max
Today I started clearing and putting gravel on paths behind one of the big round ponds. The path connects the pond area to the Shady Glen garden and I don't have to go over the bridge to get there.
Last troubles, last Friday morning we woke up to find that our 12,000 gallon catchment tank had sprung a leak in it based. All the water gushed out over night, washing through our bird room. Of course our pump had no water source and the taps were dry and we could not flush or shower. So this past week has been a nightmare. Luckily, six years ago, we filled our 8 person jacuzzi tub with clean water in preparation for an approaching hurricane. The lid was closed the lid tight and did not need the water. So we have been using that for showers. Luckily we have large fish ponds and that water is used for flushing. I think we flushed one poor guppy. For more healthy water we go down to the local county tap and fill up bottles and one gallon milk bottles etc. Like living on the edge of the Amazon rain forest with no facilities.
But to make lemonade from lemons (who came up with that one) I have to thank my amazing wife for a great plant swap outing. Robin needs to use a shower wash her long hair and help came in the form of an offer from a friend who is a plant fanatic. So this past Wednesday we made a visit to the persons amazing garden. I took some Ginger plants I know she did not have and while hair washing took place I had an amazing plant collecting tour, coming home with some really nice collectibles.
Tomorrow we should get our catchment tank repaired and life will get back to normal.
Otherwise its gardening as usual. Weeding, trimming, raking bamboo leaves etc. The plants I traded with a collector in Florida last year are maturing nicely. New clumping bamboo canes are still appearing and causing excitement. I cut down two bamboo canes recently to use as path markers and they measured 68 feet when down on the ground. Some of the lengths have been laid along side the paths in really wet areas and are already showing signs of growth at the nodes. In a year or two I will have young plants to sell.
Her are some of my recent bromeliad purchases
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And some other blooms from around the garden and of course this years giant bamboo shoots
The rainy spell has finally come to an end and grey skies have turned blue. Yesterday was the first day of yardwork.
The day before I said "To heck with this" or words to that effect, went out in the warm rain and cut back some leafy bamboo canes that had fallen down and blocked access to some areas where I tip out bird seed and water after cleaning our aviaries. I still have to haul it out to the waste pile on the other side of the back fence. Over the years the pile of bamboo canes that have been cut down have reached heights of 8 feet or more, but also over the years mother nature, humidity, tropical rains and wild pigs have rotted the heap down to almost nothing. Its amazing how the heap disappears and allows me new room for more rubbish. Same with the heaps of bamboo leaves that I rake up year after year. They rot away just as fast as I heap them up.
Yesterday I started clearing an overgrown garden area near the driveway. There is about an 8ft high slope off the side of the driveway, thats about 30 ft long. There is garden path at the bottom. the slope was all weedy ground cover, invasive ferns, overhanging trumpet trees and vines of blue morning glory. I ripped everything out and will now have a blank canvas to create a bromeliad garden (pics to follow when finished).
A bit of bird room work to do today. Yesterday I took a pair of parakeets round to a neighbor. They had been unproductive and all the other parakeets we have are related. So I traded these two a new pair of female birds. Today we will set these two females up with two males we have and hope for the best.
Should have more gardening notes in a few days.
This is our second week of almost continuous rain. No sun. Heavier rain currently due to remnants of a tropical storm passing by. More moisture forecast through Wednesday and into next weekend.
Seriously, not getting anything done. Did rush out in the light rain and check Giant Brandisii bamboo. Seven new shoots have appeared. This is giant clumper with 8 inch diameter canes.
Ants started to occupy the passion vine trained along the front deck rail so I removed that today. Started finding little black ants in the house.
So thats it for now.
More when the rain stops.
Damn! Started a great blog, did a couple of paragraphs and then realized I had not let one of our dogs out for midday potty break and when I got back the blog had gone.
Its been raining lightly since last Saturday afternoon. Had a couple of 1/2 hour breaks here and there but mostly rain. Thick high cloud is coming up from the tropics blocking our the sun. But it is warm between mid 70s and 80s. With heat and rain everything is growing, even the weeds. The trails in the forest are getting difficult to walk on with the mud so instead of taking the Max for two walks a day we hardly get out there once a day, Nothing worse than a muddy wet dog and disgruntled owner so we stay dry and close to home. Max has a nice 50 x 50 ft chain link run and his "kennel" is a concrete floor room under the house so he is ok.
The three evergreen trees are now in the ground is a new forest clearing. They look good with new growth. The two evergreens that were in small seedling plugs and now in pots and about twice the size they were.
The bromeliad project at the zoo was a big success. The zoo reopened this past Monday with the Parks and Recreation boss from the County taking full credit for everything and not once mentioning the volunteer organisation. Friends of the Zoo raised $200,000 to build the new aviary for the Hawaiian Crow and then donated the aviary to the County. Not one mention of that. Local politics.
I did find a nice clump of low growing Heliconia at the zoo that needed downsizing a little so a took a small root off the back and I hope it will thrive in my new Shady Glen garden.
I got to know the young lady at the Bromeliad Nursery and she gave me a really good deal on 20 bromeliad plants for my yard. They are still in pots but once the rain stops they will be nice additions in various locations.
The Nipanthes are doing really well this year. I think thats the fancy name for pitcher plants
I must try and find some new varieties. I have one large one growing in the forest and will try to get a cutting going. I have a couple of the marsh varieties that grow the upright pitchers and that one bloomed for me this year.
Bamboos are doing well. New canes coming many of the clumpers. The running bamboo is slowing down. So far I have knocked over more than 900 new shoots this year.
Forest trail maintenance if foremost on my to do list at the moment. I should get 3 tons of gravel delivered next week. Then it go hard at it with loppers for the overhanging branches, weedwacker for the the grass and weeds alongside the trails and then its a wheelbarrow to patch up the muddy areas. Its a long push over the bridge and faraway but its patching not regravelling the whole trail so one or two barrows a day for a few weeks should see it done.
No more pigs in the garden so far. Oh they are around along the outside of the fence pigging out on new bamboo shoots but not nearly the numbers as in past years.
Water lilies are doing well. Blooms on three plants. Still waiting for the night blooming lilies to make a show. I think they usually come on later in the year.
Purchased potting soil last week for the job of repotting the Amaryllis bulbs and the Amorphophallus bulbs. Probably 140 pots to be weeded and repotted. A couple of the Amorphophallus are blooming including the one with thorns on the stem that I rescued from the local botanical gardens about three years ago.
Just waiting for the rain to stop so I have an excuse not to wash windows.
