The gardens are lush and vibrant.

Recently I showed you some scenes from our village of flowers and such, but this week, I want to switch your attention to our vegetable gardens.  Jeanne has worked extremely hard on them. She is one of the core now of the gardening enthusiasts.  One of about a dozen ( or maybe more) people who work the gardens daily.  

There are two main vegetable gardens here. The one I'll show you today, that Jeanne spends all of her time in, and the one behind the Vines, where other dedicated gardeners have done wonders.  

I'm writing this on January 27th and I took the pictures just a couple of days ago. I've got lots of pictures, so let's get started. 

This is a vertical succulent mini-garden that hangs  next to the path to the gardens along the Opanuku Stream.

On the right is the new 3,000 liter water tank that is used to collect rainfall used for watering.  Farther along the path are apple trees.  

This is Jeanne's personal garden.  Right now, it's pouring out green and yellow beans. We still have several tomatoes that she harvested last week.  

The erb garden. It curves up and around to the right. If I spell it with an -h-, people here pronounce it, Herb, like the man's name, so I spell it phonetically.  

 

This is Jeanne's pride and joy. Her large asparagus patch. It is in its second year now and harvests will start next year. The plants are doing very well and will be much appreciated when little bundles of spears begin appearing in the Atrium veggie carts.  

An interplanting of kumara (similar to sweet potatoes) and cabbages. 

The butternut squash patch. They are beginning to ripen.  The leaves are starting to wilt and that makes it hard to see the squash, but Jeanne estimates there to be around 40 of them. There is another lower level behind the fence on the right, and there are a bunch of fruits hanging down there as well. 

Also notice, the little orange tree in the left foreground.  Oranges next to squash who'd have thought.  

Another shot of them.  Jeanne and Margaret got boards from Dave and placed each squash  on one so they didn't rot from long contact with wet soil.

Our hydroponics operation is in transition. Dave, who has been taking care of it for years, has to give it up due to health concerns. He is looking for a replacement.  

Peppers

I love that we have bananas in our garden.

The larger of two glasshouses in the garden. For starting plants out the right way. 

A fierce, metal protector watches over the grapes.   

I can't show you any fruit on these choko vines because they haven't appeared yet, but this leafy wall will produce many, many dozens of them later this year. They are the size and shape of a large pear, and are an edible gourd. Very mild tasting. A very nice vegetable. 

Finally, here we are in front of an orange tree.  All told, they produced a couple of hundred pounds of oranges last year, a real treat for all of us here.      

I hope that you enjoyed the tour of this garden.  More to come...         -djf

Exploring a foxglove

I have a very short and simple post for today.  Despite the brown Christmas that many of you experienced this year, I thought perhaps a bit of color will be welcome during your white January.  Then, I realized that i was starting with a white flower.  Oh well.  

I'm afraid that this post is so short, it shouldn't really count as a post at all. I'll try to do better in the future.     -djf

   

January 11, 2024 at Waitakere Gardens

Today's weather conditions are just about perfect. It's the kind of day that makes up for the annoying ones.  It's maybe a smidgin hotter than it needs to be, but what is summer without a little solar excess?  No complaints from me.  

My post today is basic. I simply wandered around and took pictures between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. I hope that you enjoy the views.  

An interesting bit of sky and cloud, I thought.  

Jeanne and the gardening crew helped the professional Bark gardeners plant these flowers about five weeks ago.  

A view of some Millbrook flowers and a reflection.  

Overlooking the southeast corner of the gardens. The ramp goes up to the potting shed area. The asparagus bed that Jeanne suggested and had built is showing good growth in the center of the picture.  The Opanuku Stream runs next to the garden. 

The fountains to the left of the main Atrium entrance. On such a day, the five-year old part of my brain wants to sit and splash my feet in the water.  

The right side of the entrance. Johanna worked very hard several weeks ago, weeding this area and Margaret was watering it one evening recently.   

Looking up in the Fernery.

The stone sheep have chosen well, it's a cool, shady spot.  

People are being moved out of the Palms and into other apartments around the village. It will shortly disappear under a layer of white plastic as it undergoes renovation.  I hear it will look significantly different when it re-emerges. I'll show it to you when it does. This is an early-morning view, with the shadows of palms upon The Palms. 

I do have one regret about this transformation.  The far corner of the top floor is the location I refer to as Arthur's Corner.  It is from here that I've taken some excellent photos of the Moon, Mercury, Aldebaran, The Pleiades and the Sky Tower.  I am told that that area will all be enclosed and my view compromised.  Progress....                              

I started today's post with a view of sky and cloud, and will end with one as well.  I caught this skyscape last night shortly after 9 p.m. The final stragglers of sunshine were barely visible, nudging the very highest of clouds.  The wind was picking up.  Note the fluttering fronds.  The clouds you see disappeared just seconds after I snapped this photo and the winds, taking liberties in the darkness, set the fronds to whirling or even whipping.    -djf

Christmas Day, 2023, at Kaiterakihi Beach

 

Our Christmas Day forecast was for rain. Possibly heavy rain; as in, pouring, bucketing, or cats-and-dogs-ing. Fortunately, the outlook turned out to be exaggerated (I think the interns were left in charge of the weather service again that holiday) and what we experienced instead was an overcast day. 

Well, true, we did get some rain, but later, and of a misty, moisty, or a pitter-pattering sort of sprinkle instead. 

The bottom line is that we did make it out to our traditional Christmas Day beach, thanks to Allie. Its name is Kaiterakihi Beach. Kai means food in Maori and terakihi is a species of fish. (I may have told you that before.) It's located just about a kilometer this side of the Huia Beach overlook. 

Allie originally discovered this smallish, secluded beach when she was on an outing with Amiri and Arram. It is shallow for a long ways out and has gentle surf, both perfect for frolicking in by very little boys.  

Since then, we've been back most years. Once we brought Dianne, during her third visit to NZ.  

Today's post will have a somewhat drabber look than it deserves due to the aforementioned weather, but our spirits were high.  We were missing Amiri of course, who is off on his traditional Kiwi OE, or overseas experience, and living in Chicago with his other grandparents while he tries out an American high school.  We had spent quite some time on Christmas morning skyping with him as we opened presents and he was with us in spirit as we strolled along the sand.  

At 14, Arram is already taller than his Mom. 

Jeanne is heading down the beach. The tide is going out and you can see how sparsely populated it is today.  

Now, you tell me, do those look like downpour clouds? 

Another thing about this beach is that it's quiet.  Surf makes a surprising amount of sound and as you can see, this has very little of that.  Very peaceful.  

We're looking toward the opening to the Tasman Sea. There is a lighthouse on top of the headland on the left of the harbor channel.  Rather hard to see because it's 6 km away.  

Before we came home, we took a quick look from the Huia Overlook along the length of the harbor. 

In the interest of fairness, I must conclude this post by including a picture of this Christmas rose. You'll notice that it is wet.  The precipitation that was forecast (by those interns) did finally arrive, although it did so like fog reportedly does, on little cat feet.  - C. Sandburg           -djf