One has to adjust their approach to gardening when you live on this Island. First it is because of the non-existent topsoil, just a heavy yellow clay that bakes and cracks in the summer and becomes a sticky yellow porridge in the winter. Then there are the wallabies who, though they prefer grass, like to try their taste buds on maybe something more exotic, so there is a need for fencing. Our reliance on rain-water means that water often is used twice over, once for the washing of whatever, second for the gardens.
And then there are the Wekas, a native bird about the size of a small hen that The Department of Conservation have released here to breed and later have some of their progeny released back to the Mainland. Those birds can make their way under fences to scratch a garden into oblivion in the early dawn before the dog is awake to chase them away. There are rats and opossums too. 
Various gardeners overcome these challenges to grow more than shrubs or trees in different ways. Some build big chicken-netting cages, like a bird aviary and plant inside. Some make timber walled gardens. Some put up chicken netting around their more precious plants, but most of us plant into big tubs that are high enough to keep their claws out. Tubs also mean that we have imported good soil/compost for them and watering is monitored with minimum wastage. 
I have given up hoping to harvest strawberries from either the garden or in tubs, because the Wekas smell them out. Instead they sit safe in their plastic bags, high on the terrace handrail. The potted lavender is to attract the bees their way..
.
.
“This time I insist
I really do, please resist
introducing any tree or plant
that needs anything more
than a hole and stake”
.
But gardeners are surprisingly deaf
to listening to their common sense
- each week hidden kilos of rich potting-mix
weigh down your back-packs
- and the tree stuffed, oh so casually
into the bottom of a Woolworth’s bag
is not a Pohutakawa or Callistimon,
it’s another tender green experiment
and under your breath you’re repeating
over and over, this is the very last time,
it won’t happen again.
Yes Gardening when a challenge really makes for an inventive mind. Seems to me hydropnics wuld be another method but personally not something I would do although one never knows till in a situation like yours.This is so nice to look at another's gardening adventures - I have gardened in many different climates and conditions but never faced what you have there but I would welcome all the challenges - just for the experience. Those wekas can be so cheeky - I love the way they run when you give chase. Nice post here Lois and love this poem too - I can sure relate it to the situation for gardeners on an Island such as yours.
ReplyDeleteWOW Lois, you do seem to have some critters to contend with over there. Must be a real challenge to get anything to grow!
ReplyDeleteI loved your delightful and also poignant post here Lois. Delightful poem and photos and also the means by which you maintain and manage your gardens on an island. Poignant because of the reminder of the lack of water at times and also the introduction of either different fauna and fauna to an area that is very much as it always was and the impact that this has on your island. Your post is very informative and an eye opener. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBTW there might be hardship however your photos show much love and care.
Cleaunz: I don't think I have ever had a place with what I would call good soil. But poor soil is typical to hills and I like hill-living with the sea within walking distance. After learning French double-digging I transformed most soils into something reasonable in a short time, but it didn't work here, and the old vegetable garden that came with the house had filled itself with a variety of bulbs and is so gorgeous in the spring I thought 'so be it.' Most of my gardens grew too large and took me away from my books/writing/social life, so I have tried to keep this one simple and get it to the stage, which is just starting to happen, of having the wallabies in nightly to keep the lawns and weeds under control.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a play with hydroponics - I thought I heard someone had worked out a method of doing it organically, but that was years ago - guess googling the subject may turn up something.
Mia: One thing we don't have are suburban cats using the vege garden as a toilet - though I found a really easy way to stop that. I mainly do a mixture of natives together with the plants that are known to cope here. I must try the old-fashioned Buddlea again because the bees and butterflies love them so much - it took me a couple of failures to realise they need lime and very firm stakingout here.
ReplyDeleteMillimusings: Thank you for the nice compliments in your comments. I love living here and have done so for nine years thinking any moment now someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me my holiday is over, though I know it is now time for me to return to set up home again on the Mainland. I will probably chose somewhere quite rural still, with rain from the roof for my water supply, but hopefully this time with better soil.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, and the experts have not quite figured out why, this island is the only place in New Zealand where both the comparatively newly introduced Wekas and the existing Kiwis can both co-exist and thrive. They think the part the wallaby plays in the scheme of things may have something to do with it. There would have been forests here at some time but over the past 150 years the island has adjusted and created itself out bare farmland into something quite different from any other part of New Zealand and is certainly unique in the world, which is one of the reasons why it is such a popular tourist destination.
This was a very interesting article, thanks for sharing. That looks like a very well fed Weka (hopefully not from your garden, lol.). The tubs sound like a good idea to outsmart those birds. Your garden is lovely. Keep up the good work.
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