Wednesday 15th October, 2014
Are we or aren't we?
Hi
Winners?
A while back we were nominated to enter into the
Westpac Waikato Business excellence awards organised by Waikato chamber of commerce. We chatted amongst our team who were all behind the entry and thought that it was a a good idea to enter. A copy of the brief was duly sent out to us with some quite thought provoking headings that required a submission by a due date. I can tell you that there were a few 4 am morns to get that brief in on time, Its the only time of day that I can write clearly and uninterruptedly.... a bit like this email which is a whole lot more light hearted.
Next step in the process was a two hour visit by two judges who grilled me on the performance and the in's and out's of our business. To cut to the chase last night we went to the
announcement of who were finalists and to our delight we are a finalist for the category of retail Business. See the latest on our Facebook page. We will wait with baited breath for the big night being the 7th of November when we find out the winners.Its a great exercise as it really makes you think about what you are doing and why.
On a note that makes our place the place that it is, I was told late in the evening to empty the full chook bucket..... there is always the chores!!! I was there washing the bucket out and became aware of a whole lot of chirping and cheeping. I suddenly realized that there were some little chick there making a whole lot of noise as they were separated from mum.
I went back to the house and said to Harry 'were you expecting chickens', well no we weren't and nobody had missed the hen that managed to hatch all these chicks. It was off to find the chick raising pen and to catch mum and all the babies who are now grazing the front lawn.
Lavender really comes into its own at this time of year. It really is a plant that will cope with that hot dry sunny and I mean really sunny spot (all day sun) in your garden. Lavandula is its proper name, and home is the Mediterranean were its hot and dry. Now Lavender is quite tolerant of cooler winter temps but just doesn't like being wet.
In my opinion Lavender is one of those really promiscuous plants as there are quite a few different species or cousins and even more cultivars of the same, though don't think that they don't all have merit. There are some pretty cool forms out there these days.
The Stoechus types... well these are the ones with what I call the rabbit ears out the top and generally flower on shorter stems. These types when they start to flower are almost always in flower blooming away all spring and summer. You do have to be brave and cut them back even when you think that you should leave them because they are in flower. Without wanting to sound sexist, in my experience girls wont cut a plant back because its in flower, but for the good of the plant sometimes you just have to. But rest assured it will probably come back even better. However there is a time when you shouldn't cut these back and that is late in the Autumn when they can't regenerate enough before winter and the Waikato winters are damp, well for a Lavender. The other tip I can share here is that these types don't like to be cut back into brown wood as they don't regenerate from here well.... so ensure that you leave some green each time...
In the rabbit type there are many newbies on the block with all different shades of flowers and forms of plants. LOl there has been a lot of Hanky panky going on with these albeit well manipulated by some clever people with some quite amazing lavender flowers in some quite cool shades.
English Lavender is one of my favourites and what I think of as classic. Its species name is Angustifolia, it is the variety that grows into quite a lowish grey mound and carries its flowers above its foliage on quite long stem. While I'm on about these there are two kinds or different sizes and
Angustifolia 70 to 90 cm which are the larger ones and Nana or
Munstead which stay smaller at around 30 to 40 cm
These types have one main flowering but they are the kind that you can harvest the flowers and dry them in bunches or use them for potpourri and the like. Essential oils come from these types of Lavender. When the flowers are finished you can remove the spent growth and that usually keeps the bush itself in form though you can prune some of the new growth to keep it in shape.
Your grape vine should be running, well not literally but there should be growth that is starting to just take off. I'm assuming here that you have an established framework and that these shoots should have two sets of flowers and thereafter should be kept pinched back. This will mean that your grapevine will put its energy into producing a great crop of fruit and not end up like a giant pot mitt.
Now if your vine is new then you will need to let the runners run and become the structure depending on where you are growing it. It may mean that for the first year you don't get any fruit or very little. Some make special frames to growth their vines on, a bit like the vineyards or just use the fence or spare wall or even a pergola. Grape vines that have a form do look very cool in winter bare of their leaves.
We have ours on a chain on the porch of our house and it has just one leader that runs up the corner of the house and the the same leader along a chain and just under the gutter. The chain means that we can lift it off to paint the house.
Put this one in your diary
The weekends roll around so quickly, there is so much on and all has to be done before Christmas LOL.
ST JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL PTFA GARDEN RAMBLE - SUNDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 10.00AM - 4.00PM Email the organisers at stjosgardenramble@vodafone.co.nz
Should you get caught short for a ticket at the last minute you can stop in and pick them up here or alternatively from Kim Scott, at the Garden Cafe Woodstock, 30 Anson Avenue, Fairfield.
Labour weekend has rolled around and its a long weekend for most and not only that its forecast to be a fine one. If you are going away have a great weekend and be careful out there on the roads. If you are at home enjoying having 3 days off and doing a bit of gardening, have fun
We are open all weekend including Monday 8.30 am to 5 pm as usual so if you have a hankering to come out then we will be here.
Have a great weekend!
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend where even
GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag.
