Introduction to Bromileads

Back in 2015, I met a guy called Andreas who’s a keen gardener like me and we quickly became good friends. Shortly after I met him I found out he was planning to shift house and he was doing it all on his own so Marie and I took pity on him and offered to give him a hand, which he greatly appreciated.

We quickly found out just how much he loved his garden when we saw his amazing collection of plants, many of which he was storing in an empty in-ground swimming pool. He had all kinds of palms, cycads, not to mention a huge variety of other rare tropical plants including a huge collection of Bromileads. When he started rattling off all their botanical names we soon realised the depth of his obsession. He’s a collector at heart and he has an impressive ability to retain information about the things he collects.

It turns out he had way too many plants to take with him so out of appreciation for our help he kindly gave us a whole bunch of plants, including a few palms and a number of bromileads. I’d never ventured into the world of Bromileads until then, but I have always liked the effect they create in tropical gardens.

  

One thing I’ve discovered about them is that they multiply over time, occasionally 'throwing pups' as Andreas calls it, before the parent (or host plant) dies off. So in the few short years since he first gave us some, we now have quite a number of them dotted around our property, wherever there’s space.

I recently established a new garden by our front gate and decided that that would be a good place to put some of them. As it happens, all the ones I selected for this garden all love the full sun which is exactly what they get in this particular spot (pictured below). But not all of them like full sun. Some prefer the shade, like the 2 pictured above named “Grace’s Avalanche” & “Dark Knight” — don't ask me to repeat the botannical name he told us as I’ve completely forgotten that. The green one on the right in the pic below will apparently grow to a massive size, so I’ve left a bit of space around it in anticipation.

Some of them have a serrated edge on the leaves and are quite sharp and prickly, others are quite smooth and safe to handle. The one pictured below is my favourite. It has a red tip on the end of each leaf and before the host dies off it sends up an impressive red snake-like flower stem that adds a interesting focal point to this part of the garden.

This particular plant will need attention soon as there are about four host plants in the one pot that are all about to die and each one will have thrown a few pups which will need to be split up and re-potted.

As I’ve discovered, there are so many different kinds of Bromileads each with their own characteristics and habits. I’ll discuss more about bromeliads in another post later including the ones I’ve earmarked for the tropical shade garden next to the sleepout.

Fantail Cottage – Bathroom Facilities DIY

Despite the fact that this is supposed to be a blog that’s all about Gardening, there have been quite a few DIY projects that have been dominating my time lately. But it’s DIY in the garden I've been busy with, so I’m sure my gardening readers will forgive me. Most avid gardeners will know and acknowledge that there is always a need for a certain amount of DIY, whether it’s making up tomato stakes out of a few bits of old decking or building a garden shed... basically, doing whatever’s needed.

Following on from my last post about “Fantail Cottage” and our plans to make it available to paying guests, we realised for it to work properly I had to do something about the bathroom facilities.

I built an emergency bathroom quite a few years ago with toilet and shower that has been barely adequate – a typical gardeners bathroom that has seen many of my muddy boots over the years so not really suitable for paying guests to use. The bathroom is located about 10 metres (up a few steps) from the sleepout as shown in the above picture. The bathroom is through that door on the right. So the plan is to extend it making it bigger and more comfortable to use.

However, nothing is quite as simple as it sounds.

Before I can do anything about enlarging it, there are a couple of quite big jobs to do first. Like getting rid of that big pile of clay (on the left in the above picture). All that clay got piled there years ago when I excavated the basement of the house. There was nowhere else on the property to put it so it just sat there eventually becoming part of the back lawn, so now getting rid of it was going to be a tricky, time consuming and heavy job.

I made a start months ago and using a wheelbarrow took it down the steps, over the bridge past the sleepout and up the other side of the gully to the very back of the property and then disposing it somewhere out of view — a  total of some 50 odd metres up and down steep slopes, and Auckland clay isn't light. I could only do a half dozen trips before I was completely exhausted, so it was going to be a long, slow job doing it that way. Surprisingly, what I’d done in the above pic represents about 30 odd barrows full as it expands considerably when you break it up. The picture above shows how far I got before I realised I had to come up with a better plan.

As it happens, there’s an access ramp I built years ago that enabled me to get up and down into the gully with wheelbarrows and lawnmowers, etc.

I’d built it out of landscaping grade Macrocarpa and it was beginning to rot so it would need replacing at some stage. So I decided to demolish the ramp and build a retaining wall in its place, then I could fill the cavity created with all the clay.

I hasten to point out that this was Marie’s idea and a rather good one as it turns out.

So thankfully the job of shifting the clay became so much easier, and now I’m already starting to sense a feeling of space having now created a large flat area to work with.

There are still a few jobs to do before I can start on the bathroom. I need to rebuild a keystone retaining wall to hold the remaining bank up plus I need to remove those 2 punga ferns next to the bathroom.

The current problem is the weather as it’s been raining for the last week or so and there’s still several days of rain forecast, meaning I can’t do much more until it stops. So it's going to take another month or more yet before anything resembling a new bathroom will start to emerge.

In the mean time, I've been getting a few supplies together including a second hand steel bath (a really nice one) and a bunch of second hand glass bricks. I want one wall of the bathroom to be all glass so as to catch more natural light. The existing bathroom, which is little more than an outhouse currently, is quite dark and gloomy.

Watch this space.

Fantail Cottage

Rolling out the Welcome Mat...

Many visitors to my garden who discover the sleepout nestled in the midst of a thicket of bush and fruit trees, comment on the lovely setting. They imagine it as a beautifully quiet place to retreat to which it is. There are relatively few houses in the immediate vicinity as it backs onto a reserve on 2 sides. Hence there's a lot of birdsong from native Tuis and Fantails, not to mention the odd Rosella, Wood Pigeon or Pukeko. It really is a lovely place to hang out especially from spring to autumn.

Many express surprise that such a place can be found so close to Auckland city. It’s only a couple of minutes drive from the Auckland harbour bridge and is close to public transport, shops and cafes. You could cycle to the bridge in about 5-10 minutes which will be great when the Skypath (a cycleway across the harbour bridge) finally opens in a couple of years time.

Coupled with my experience over many years of hosting homestay students from all over the world, it seems only natural that we would think about making the sleepout available to paying guests, especially with the growing popularity of AirB&B these days. So that is what we’ve decided to do and we’re calling it “Fantail Cottage Retreat”.

The sleepout itself is only small so it will probably only suit a single person, perhaps an artist, photographer or a writer seeking some solitude for a few days, or simply someone travelling on their own. There is still a bit of work needed to get it ready for guests and when the time comes I’ll add a link to a website where it can be properly viewed and where bookings can be made — watch this space.

In the mean time if you’re planning a visit to Auckland in the near future this may well be an accommodation option for you to think about. If you need an excuse, why not come and watch some of the America’s Cup yacht racing which is due to start next year. We’re only a 5-10 minute bus ride from all the action.

I welcome any expressions of interest, feedback or questions you may have in the comments section below.

Growing Avocados

One thing I’ve always wanted to do is to try growing Avocados. I love avocados and they seem to be getting more and more expensive to buy in NZ. The price of avocados has been going up steadily over the years to the point where they're now so expensive there's a black market in Avocados. They can cost anywhere from $1- $4 each! – even when they’re in season.

The problem with growing them myself was I never seemed to have enough space, with so much of my garden devoted to growing vegetables, etc. Over the years I’ve had several Avocado trees pop up all by themselves from an avocado stone that was thrown in the compost. Some have even grown to a reasonable size but then never fruited. Aside from the fact they were always in the wrong place, they generally don’t do well unless they're a proper grafted tree.

So, I finally decided to have a proper go at growing them, but first I had to commit to sacrificing some of my vegetable garden. The position I chose is against a plywood fence at the very back of my property. I would need enough space not for one, but for two trees side by side — 2 different varieties — the Haas and the Fuerte varieties which are complimentary to each other from a pollination point of view.

The first thing I had to do once deciding on the best place for them was to make sure the soil was right. Regular readers of this blog who’ve read my posts about my other fruiting trees will know that I have a lot of solid clay underneath my topsoil. So I had to get rid of it by digging 2 huge holes where I would plant my 2 avocado trees.

Avocados have very sensitive roots, so the soil needs to be very light and able to drain away freely. They also have a tap root that goes down quite deep. So after digging quite a deep hole I also dug a drain that went even deeper then filled the bottom of it with scoria. I also buried a perforated Nova Coil pipe to ensure that any excess water could escape freely.

I mixed some of the existing topsoil with a mixture of compost and fine gravel (gap7) and gradually refilled the hole.

 Avocados are also gross feeders so I also added whatever slow release fertilisers I had including half a bag of sheep pellets and half a bag of Osmocote – the blue granules.

Any and all clay from the hole was discarded which was about 80% of what came out of the hole. The best time to plant is when the soil temperature is warm so I planted them in late spring after a few warm days. They get a bit of morning shade, but over the warmer months they’ll get a good amount of sun in the afternoons.

So, now all I can do is wait and hope that I’ve given these 2 trees the best possible start in life. It’ll be a few years before they’re ready to bear fruit.

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April 2019

After being in the ground over a good long hot summer the 2 trees are looking quite good. Thanks to some faithful watering by my wife Marie, topped off with a huge feed of home-made compost and a pile of lawn clippings as mulch, the 2 trees are settling nicely into their new location, especially the Haas (on the left), which is showing signs of fresh growth.

(Update, May 6th) 

Avocado prices hit record high prices in NZ at $10.00 each

Read NZ Herald article here

DIY Outdoor Kitchen

One of the things I had in mind to do when I built the decking around the sleepout was to provide some kind of sheltered kitchen facility, that would save the occupant from having to come all the way up to the main house if all they wanted was a quick snack or cup of tea. So I decided to build a kitchen bench starting with whatever timber I had lying around which included a few lengths of 4x2.

 

Knowing what the dimensions should be was a critical first step.
So my starting point was with a laminated bench top I saw at Bunnings for under $100.

The first thing I did was build a frame slightly smaller than the bench top itself which would become the top of the carcass. I made it smaller to allow for a small overhang.

I glued and screwed everything together making sure everything was properly straight and square. Then, using more 4x2 timber lengths I made a few more legs for the frame of the carcass.

I ripped a bit of old decking in half on the table saw, length ways to create a couple of rails which I would use to attach the legs. Also, the plywood base of each cupboard would attach to these rails.

     I positioned 2 of the legs to accommodate a couple of drawers which I had salvaged from an old cabinet we no longer needed. At this point because the cabinet was starting to get rather heavy I moved it into a position nearer to where it would finally reside and continued attaching plywood to create the individual cupboard compartments.

I hasten to point out at this stage that I have very little if any cabinet-making experience, other than a few wood working projects from school nearly a life-time ago. So I was basically making this up as I went along, although I had a very clear idea of what I was aiming to produce.

 

The next thing that was needed were some cupboard doors which I made out of plywood attached to a light timber frame for each door. This was the most challenging part of the job in view of my limited cabinet making skills, but I was very pleased with how it was all coming together at this point. In the mean time I added a couple of shelves and continued to cover the entire cabinet with plywood to finish everything off nicely.

Getting it to this stage I needed a few bits of hardware including hinges and door/draw handles so I decided to replace the existing handles on the drawers to make sure everything matched. In trying to match everything I also had to sand the drawers back to their original lighter colour, although I knew it wouldn't match perfectly, but I told myself: close enough would be good enough.The plywood I used was untreated so I was aware I would need to cover it with a protective layer of stain or varnish. At first I thought of using the same dark stain as I used on that planter box (on the right hand side in the picture above). I thought by doing that, I could hide the fact that there were different coloured timbers showing, but because it's such a light airy space I felt a lighter colour would be better despite the variation in timber colours. 

  

Because I used a stain, that only accentuated the different coloured timbers rather than hid the fact, but I'm not too worried about that. Finally, using the power I'd hooked up for the space, I repurposed a spare fridge, toaster and kettle from the house. I also ran power to a set of down lights which I installed over the bench. Then to finish off I added a splash back on the wall above the bench, which I recycled from the old bathroom.

So now it's a semi-functional al Fresco Kitchen where simple snacks and light meals can be prepared. At this stage there are no proper cooking facilities but I reckon a microwave, electric frying pan and maybe a portable gas cooker might do for basic cooking.

More on the Black Doris Plum

Several years ago I did a post about my disappointment with a Black Doris plum tree I'd put in (read here). It had been in this spot for about 7 or 8 years, but had done absolutely nothing, barely growing a few inches in the whole time it was there and never fruiting at all. It was obviously in the wrong place, so I eventually dug it out and replaced it with an Apple tree.

At the time, I decided to give it one last chance to redeem itself by planting it somewhere else in the garden. My options were limited and the only place I could find was a more shady position towards the bottom of the gully, a short distance from the other plum which is its pollenator. Even so, I didn't hold out much hope for it ever doing anything spectacular.

So I planted it in this garden and basically forgot about it.

To my surprise it started showing signs of growth within a season or 2, however I was still sceptical about it doing much else.

 

So, you can imagine my joy over the last couple of seasons seeing it blossom and finally beginning to bear fruit.

It seems my perseverance has paid off. In total it's taken about 12 years to get it to this point. I'm rather glad I didn't give up on it like I was very tempted to do when it didn't grow very well in its first location.

Clivias

If I could recommend any flowering plant for a shady garden like mine it would be the Clivia. They’re incredibly easy to grow and provide a great splash of colour in the garden at spring time.

I have 3 varieties or colours in my garden  – a strong orange, a pale orange and a pale yellow one. They have long leathery dark green foliage, make a good space filler all year round and contribute to the lush tropical theme I'm creating in my garden. The plant itself needs very little attention, however they do multiply like mad so may need to be divided up every now and then. One plant will soon fill a large space.

 

I feel a little bit silly having originally bought my first one from a garden centre, as they're so common where I live. The pale orange one was given to me by a friend who had too many in her garden and was thinning hers out. The biggest threat to the Clivias in my garden are snails who can make a bit of a mess of things sometimes although I haven't put much effort into controlling them so it's not a big deal.

The only down side for me is that they kinda resemble Agapanthus which I don't particularly like. Thankfully, they're nowhere near as invasive or weed-like. 

The pale yellow one's my favourite...

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October 2019

This picture illustrates how well the Clivias seem to thrive in shady conditions. These are growing under a dense canopy of Punga ferns and Kanuka trees. They get plenty of water here in the gully which is a natural water course, and turns into a little stream after a downpour of rain.

Another plant that also grows well in these conditions is the ornamental Taro.

Update on the Chooks

Chooks are funny creatures! And smart too.
They each have their own personality. One of the chooks is quite placid. The others are more adventurous and one in particular is quite naughty – a kind of ringleader – and is leading the others astray. We’re currently engaged in a battle of wits.

Over the months since we’ve had them I’ve had to modify their enclosure countless times, because they keep getting out. Not that I don’t appreciate the whole Free-range concept but when they get out, they leave their droppings everywhere and get into the neighbours veggie patch which I’m sure they don’t appreciate.

Each time I've managed to find the slight opening through which they’ve managed to squeeze out, but after checking all around the perimeter of their enclosure for the umpteenth time I’m totally baffled as to how they keep getting out. I thought they might be flying over the fence, so we clipped their wings. Next thing they’re out again! They even come looking for us in the house as if they’ve come asking to be fed. And yet they’re not that hungry. It seems they just like the attention... or the challenge.

Each time I walk them back to their yard they come scurrying after me like little puppy dogs trying to trip me up on the steps. They’d be quite entertaining if they weren’t so annoying!

Anyway, they're keeping us well stocked in eggs, laying about 4 eggs a day, and they’re good sized eggs too. Once one of them layed a freakishly huge egg that had 2 yokes!

   

They’re great entertainment for the grandkids when they come around. But if they don't wear enclosed footwear the chickens go after their toes, pecking them like they’re a tasty treat of deliciously fat huhu grubs.

Now that spring’s arrived I’ll probably spend a bit more time up in the garden near the chooks. Perhaps then I’ll figure out how they keep getting out and put a stop to it, before I get the garden cranked up again.

Read more about the chooks here

Caring for Chooks

I’ve thought about getting chooks many times over the years but it was Marie who finally convinced me we should do it. After trimming the big pine tree up the back we now had a nice clear space to accomodate them. So the first job to do before we even got the chooks was to build them a little house or chicken coop.

 

I decided to start with a single tanalised post in the ground and then built a frame for the floor out of 100x50mm rough sawn timber and bolted it to the post. Then I attached a sheet of plywood. When I tried standing on it, it wasn’t taking my weight as it was pivoting on the bolts, so I attached some legs to help support it.

I built each of the 4 sides on a flat surface from a plan I’d drawn, using 50x50mm battens in the corners to enable screwing the four sides together. I used the same battens to attach a couple of plywood shelves which finally resulted in a multi-level dwelling for them. I attached a few perches fanned out in a circle around the post so that they could easily make their way up and down as well as a simple ladder. I added a few little hinged doors in positions where I hoped the chooks would lay their eggs.

In one side of the coop I put a large door, hinged at the bottom to enable easy access for cleaning. The roof is also hinged at the apex on one side and is a handy way of taking a quick look inside. All that was needed then was some dried out grass clippings for them to make a nest out of and to make it more comfortable and homely.

When we first got the chooks they were still quite small and we were a bit worried about letting them roam freely in the yard until they got a bit bigger in case a cat decided to have one for dinner. So we started them off in an old ginea pig run. Then we made a little connecting tunnel with some plastic mesh to join the two together.

It was an exciting moment when we finally introduced the chooks to their new home. Amazingly, they made their way straight to the top floor to check out the view, which also brought them up to eye level for a face to face meeting.

They were still quite young at this point so it would be a while before any eggs would be laid.

Read more about the chooks here

Treework

Maintaining trees on my property is an ongoing job. If it’s pruning fruit trees or trimming off the odd limb that gets snapped off in a storm, I can usually handle those jobs. But from time to time bigger jobs arise that I simply can’t do on my own, as was the case earlier this year.

Following a rather severe storm a couple of years ago a huge pine tree up the back of my place had a large limb, high up in the tree, snap off. It had been dangling precariously for a couple of years, which was becoming a bit of a safety concern whenever I was walking underneath it in that part of the garden.

I had hoped a future storm would dislodge it fully, half hoping it would come crashing down by itself so I wouldn’t have to pay to get it dealt to, but that didn’t happen.

So I decided to get an arborist friend of mine to come and trim off the broken branch and at the same time remove a few of the lower lateral branches which I hoped would also let more light in the garden.

 

So, after clearing a safe area to work at the base of the tree, he slung a piece of rope up over a high branch then abseiled up the tree with a chainsaw and started cutting. Here was a man impressively skilled in what he does! Within a very short time he was dropping each cut limb perfectly on the ground just where he wanted it.

Before long there was a huge pile of wood gathering below which I (as ground assistant) was clearing away so he could continue working safely. I was amazed at how quickly he got the job done, so while I had him there, I had another job in mind for him to do.

On my property I also have some very tall Ti trees (Kanuka) that have started dying off. When that happens the branches become very brittle and easily snap off in high winds. Neil made it look easy but you can tell by the expression on his face, it was anything but. You need to be very physically strong and agile to do what he’s doing. I was super impressed with his accuracy, as immediately below I had many plants and shrubs that I feared would get damaged with falling branches and debris. But he managed to carefully lower each and every branch onto a clear area of ground only 2 or 3 square metres in size and nothing got damaged.

Inevitably, there was a huge pile of branches to clean up, which required me to expand my firewood storage, so I knocked together a drying rack out of waste timber I had lying around.

This should keep us stocked up for a while.

But better still, all this work has created a nice clear well lit area in the garden where we’re now thinking of putting a few chickens.

That’ll be next.