I'm assuming most people relaxed and had a good time over the NZ Labour holiday this long weekend. While we may have had a good time (in certain respects), we certainly didn't relax here at Struan Farm. We laboured, big time!
This week we have four lots of farmstay guests booked (kiwis and a visitor from Germany), plus a bus arriving with 40 ladies from the Waitara Garden Circle for a visit to our Homestead gardens. They're bringing their cut lunches to eat on the Homestead deck; I'm serving coffee, tea and rosemary shortbread to the group, just because we like visitors who enjoy the place.
As you will know the spring weather gods weren't terribly kind of us. There haven't been many days to crack into the annual big spring clean up of the gardens, so it just hadn't been done. I managed to get the new and older gardens up at our house cleaned out a week or so ago, so it was onto the Homestead's established gardens over Labour weekend with John's help given the short time frame required. The weather forecast was so-so.
Friday was beautiful. John mowed the lawns and pruned the magnolia, Mike painted the garden shed, and I cracked into the walk and garden edges (messy edges drive me nuts) and started the weeding. I cleaned up the wee raised veggie garden we have down there and planted out granddaughter Livvy's "Little Garden" seedling plants I've been looking after in the glasshouse for her. I dug out the old woody rhubarb that had gone to seed and planted new plants. At the end of the day I was feeling both my posterior region and my hands, but things were starting to look better.
Saturday the parsley hedge in the rose garden got a major haircut and the rose garden weeded and dug. We cut out the dead wisteria that died mysteriously last summer; while we'd hoped it might recover from whatever caused the problem, it turns out it was well and truly dead. There's still one healthy wisteria over the pergola, along with our Souvenir de Madame Leonie rose, probably more than enough over the long term.
I then tackled weeding two more garden beds and associated edges while John did the same. By the end of the day we decided that we'd done a sufficient amount of work that the gardens look acceptable, in fact, quite beautiful. So we wouldn't be embarrassed if the weather packed in and this was all we were able to get done before the visitors landed. Phew!
Good thing too, since it rained Sunday! Which gave me time to make up beds, catch up on my housecleaning, and do the baking. Holiday weekends?
And the Waitara Garden Circle descended on you on Wednesday and had a wonderful time. Thank you so much and we will highly recommend your homestay to anyone and everyone. Super garden and just a lovely tranquil place to stay.
Posted by: Nancy Brown | 10/26/2017 at 05:09 AM