Another Storm Hits Auckland

We’ve been expecting a few days of rain which came as forecast. However one thing forecasters didn’t mention was the Gale force winds that arrived last night which almost turned our place upside down and were the strongest winds I’ve ever experienced in my 50 years living on the north shore.

It wasn’t until I awoke after a sleepless night that I saw the extent of the damage.

Here are a few pictures...

A tall Acmena tree on the front of our neighbours property got blown over onto our driveway which took out telephone lines on the way down.

We lost a piece of plastic roofing after it came loose and was flapping around in the wind. It kept me awake most of the night as it’s right outside by bedroom window. It finally shattered into dozens of pieces that were strewn around the property along with many other bits of vegetation including  branches off trees.

Part of our trellis fence got completely blown apart.

The door on our emergency bathroom out the back got it’s door completely blown off its hinges...

Literally!

This tall willow tree on our neighbours property got blown over. Thankfully it didn't blow over in the direction of my sleepout otherwise it would have crushed it. It came to rest on another large tree. It’s going to take a bit of work to untangle that, I reckon.

Besides this there was a bit of damage done to a few other trees around my garden. It’ll probably see us right for firewood for the next 12 months or so.

The 2 bed bases I had my broad beans growing on fell over ruining the crop. Power was cut to half the north shore until around midday.

So there’s going to be a bit of work to do tidying this all up.

Dealing with Aphids

Aphids are a real problem in my garden, as you can see by this infestation on my Kaffir Lime bush.

There are a number of different plants around my garden that seem to get infested every year with Aphids, especially when they’re putting forth tender new growth. It seems to get worse when the weather’s damp. The problem is compounded by the fact that we also seem to have many ants around our place, which is not uncommon in Auckland’s volcanic soil. Apparently the ants 'farm' the Aphids, using them the suck nutrition from the plants, which the ants then harvest.

It’s quite hard staying on top of this, especially as I don’t like using chemical sprays. I spoke to a garden advisor about this who recommended spraying soapy water on the plants. In particular he recommended Sunlight soap which is a common brand used in the typical New Zealand home laundry — so it's not a bathroom soap. It’s very SOAPY soap! You don't need much of this stuff to get a lather going.

So I thought I’d try it. All I needed was a spray bottle. I just filled the bottom of the laundry tub with warm water and washed my hands with the soap, just enough to make the water soapy then filled up my bottle with the soapy water.

I gave everything a good spray with it, then repeated the process again 2 or 3 days later. It seemed to do the trick. I’ll be sure to do it again next time if I see the aphids come back.