Two more weeks slip by without a blog. I just get so tied up in being outside in this great weather, processing stamps to my stamp collection and chatting and making plant contacts on Facebook where does the time go.
Weather is great. A few showers at night, a stiff tradewind breeze and plenty of cloud and sunshine. Not too hot yet. Forest trails are drying out, no longer muddy.
The End Garden is the focus of most activity. I try and get one to two hours out there daily. Its about 1/2 acre of almost virgin forest. Rough paths were cleared to put up the fence but now I am formally making garden paths with surveyors tape. Intersecting paths will divide the space up into garden areas. As a forest most of the area was covered with Uluhe which is a climbing fern. It usually covers the ground to a depth of 4 feet and climbs trees at every opportunity. It is scratchy and dusty. The trees consist of clumps of Waiwi, a very vertical guava tree. The clump usually has a beautiful parent tree at the center surrounded by saplings growing from the fallen fruit over the years. The ferns climb up into these clumps creating a vertical mass maybe 50ft tall. So when I get to one of these clumps the first job it to pull down the fern. Its like pulling bell ropes in a church tower except these ropes and thin woody strings. When you tug on them, if you are lucky a mass of fern comes out of the tree preceded by dust and leaves. Sometime the string breaks and you have to leave the fern in the trees to die and get weathered away. After removing the ferns I cut away the saplings to reveal the parent tree which can be a beautiful feature with an 8 inch trunk and short branches.
So now I have a heap of dusty fern and 50ft tall saplings laying on the ground. What do I do with them. No choice but to haul them to the nearest perimeter fence and toss them over. The open areas covered in fern usual hide really nice hapuu tree ferns and the ground can be soft and loamy.
So from this blank canvas I am outlining paths about 4 ft wide with bright green or yellow surveyors tape. I hope to have the paths determined by the end of May.
I design a garden like contractors build skyscrapers. While the forest is still being cleared and marked at the head of the trail, I am putting small tree trunks and bamboo canes on the ground to mark the paths and removing the tape. During rests from chainsaw work I will rake cleared areas and prepare for planting and same plants are already being put into the ground. Just like the skyscraper - the top floors are scaffolding and concrete beams, lower down windows are going in and at ground level rooms are being decorated.
It takes 8 minutes to walk out to The End garden from the house. So my wheelbarrow is loaded up with rake, spade, loppers, shears, chainsaw etc. Any spare space is loaded with pots of plants ready to plant. I have moved some of the pots of Rainbow Bark Trees out to the garden. Three are in the ground. The wheelbarrow must be full when I go out. The path is well used so some areas have developed muddy patches. Sometimes I fill the barrow with gravel and put the tools on top. Patch paths as I go. Besides the tools the only items in the wheelbarrow on the way seems to be empty pots.
The old rain shelter in the forest is now accessible so I will be renovating that to become a nice shelter/retreat.(see pic below)
I try and walk out new dog, Max, out to The End garden twice a day for exercise. Some days I travel out there as many as six times. Good exercise.
The running bamboo is starting to put up new shoots. So far I have kicked over 23. I have a few new shoots coming on the clumping bamboos but its early yet.
Still making a few plant sales. $25 for a pink and a red torch ginger last week.
Had some trees fall down last week. Combination of shallow roots and soft soil. Good chainsaw session yesterday catching up with tree trimming around the "nearer to the house" area rather than the forest.
My latest obsession is collection Succulents (see pics below). I had cacti and succulents as a kid but needed something for our sunny front porch. Our (sorry your) regal president sent a nice check to us recently and in order to stimulate the economy come of it has to be spent. I have done my part.
Also collecting more Begonias.(see pics below) Hoping to make leaf cuttings and keep the parent plant alive for more that just a few months.
Orchid cactus are in full bloom giving me some really nice blooms of all colors (see pics below)
A couple of chickens have been kind enough to lay as some eggs in a regular spot. So I pick those up each evening. checking for eggs the morning did not work as the rats were beating me to it.
Regular jobs include weedwacking the grass, skimming the ponds and trimming back overgrown pathways and weeds. Fuchsias are enjoying the longer days and warmer temps. Starting to bloom nicely. The Peruvian fuchsias are large enough to put in the ground in The End garden. I hope they will thrive. Some plants seen to only be happy in pots.
Our parakeet babies are now out of the box and looking good. Color is always a surprise as you don't know the genetics of the parents .And of course all of the other animals are a good excuse why there is no time for blogging (see pics below)
The local Zoo is still closed but, starting next Monday, volunteers will be allow in again to provide "animal enrichment". So landscape volunteers will also be allowed back. Thats me and my friend Alan. We are the only two volunteers with access to the entire zoo. Because Covid19 can spread to animals the animal volunteers are restricted to a small area around the petting zoo. Imagine having a whole zoo to ourselves. Just the zoo staff. No visitors. We are blessed.
Do links work https://www.facebook.com/profi...
If it works its a link to my facebook page with garden videos and pics.
Here is what I'm raking up under the bamboo
Will post more pics if the link does not work
Link seems to work. Please let me know if you were able to look at facebook pics and videos. Thanks
Weather is finally showing some promise. Longer days, warmer temps and the amount of rain is diminishing
The last piece of fencing was put up two days ago. I will spend time looking for places where the fence is stretched over a low spot and plug those gaps with tree trimmings. What I have now is 1/2 acre of virgin forest with plenty of Hapuu Ferns and good size Waiwi trees. So now I will be clearing the understory, taking out the small trees and laying out pathways to make the journey around the garden area interesting. No straight paths, lots of turns.
As some of the area was landscaped many years ago there is one large bamboo clump established and some Fishtail Palms that need some TLC. There is also a small fish pond, 5ft diameter by about 8 inches deep. It still has swordtails and guppies swimming around. There is also a wooden hut that was used for shelter. A couple of years ago I covered the metal roof with a camo coloured tarp so it is dry inside.
The garden is called "The End" Garden. Basically because it is at the end of the forest trail and is the end of my effort to clear forest and create new gardens. I thought of "One from The End" Garden but that was just creating temptation.
To day I started doing trail maintenance. Going back and forth thru the forest to the fencing site created some mud spots on the trail so I'm wheeling barrow loads of gravel and patching "pot holes" as I go. Did three loads this morning and will probably need a dozen loads to finish.
Yesterday I sold a large number of dried bamboo canes. These were large ones and a young lady wanted to try her hand at making tiered pots and other crafty items. So I got $30 and a couple of boxes of misc cuttings.
This afternoon I took a barrow load of plants out to The End garden and started landscaping around the pond.
The other chore I started today (you can tell the weather has improved) was raking up bamboo leaves from around the large clumping bamboos ready to see the new canes appear in a couple of months. Kicked over #2 of the running bamboo for this year. Last year I kicked over 900+. Found a large branch had fallen off our tall African Tulip tree so will have to take the chainsaw out and clean that up before I can haul off the bamboo leaves.
Giganteus giant bamboo has 3 new canes showing and an Oldhamii bamboo has one new can.
Orchid Cactus are now opening their buds. Must take pics. (Sorry no pics with this blog will do some next time)
Lilies have just about finished blooming. One more amaryllis has opened. That will come in on the dining table today. One more coming.
More activity showing on the Amorphophallus. Won't see much growth until beginning of June.
Nice show of Hibiscus now that the sun is out more but the bushes are getting too tall and should really be cut back (more cuttings) but as soon as I go to trim them more buds appear so I leave them alone.
Grass is growing again so mowing the driveway is becoming a regular chore again. Robin has set up here lovebirds for another nest so I trim palm fronds for nesting. We also have three babies in a box from a pair of parakeets. Free range forest/yard chickens are setting up nests. Trick is to find the location and grab the eggs as they are laid. Picked up 10 during the last couple of weeks. Nice dark orange yolks. Found a hen sitting on 14 eggs of undetermined age the other day so I had to terminate them. Just don't need 14 more chicks around. Cute while they are chicks but a pest when they become hens or roosters.
Weather is forecast to be great for at least another weeks so smile and carry on.
Corvid 19 situation is unchanged.
After that last blog about three weeks ago we had at least two more weeks of mostly grey skies and rain.
During the past week I have finally restarted the fencing project. A bit muddy but I have two lengths of fencing stretched and attached to posts. All the other fencing is in place but I am short about 10 posts. Wont dwell on the fencing project too much. Its just hard core forest wrestling.
The Lilies I purchased from Walmart are blooming, some are almost black and some are white. Pics to follow. Amorphophallus are waking up. A couple have bloomed with many showing new growth.
Peruvian Fuschias are growing like crazy and producing seed pods which I am harvesting and giving to the friend that gave them to me so he can do some seed swaps for more rare plants.
Not much activity with the bamboos yet. The leaves are flushing out which indicates energy going into the new canes that should appear in the next few weeks.
The running bamboo has not started to cause me stress yet but I'm expecting it to start soon.
Lots of frogs and frog spawn on the ponds.
I was contacted by my friend who is having her garden completely relandscaped to say there were some bamboo roots available if I was interested. Of course I was. Problem is she did not tell me that they were excavated by a backhoe and the root balls were too big to lift. So had to go back with a chainsaw and pick ax and break them up. Ended up with six good size mature plants that should do well later this years. Also discarded where lots of Red Ti (Cordaline) and some dendrobium orchids.
There is no doubt I really need this new 1/2 acre of garden that I am fencing.
Amaryllis are starting to bloom. Had a nice red one in doors for about a week and there are more bloom heads starting to appear.
The Epiphyllums (orchid cactus) are showing plenty of buds regardless of my neglect.
Not a very inspiring blog but things are getting behind while I get the forest fenced in.
Stay-at-home rule has not affected us at all. We stayed at home anyway after we retired. Shopping not a pleasant experience but my wife prefers to do that on her own. Most stores are only letting one person in per cart. I still go out to take garbage to the transfer station, do banking and buy animal feed. Not much plant exchange going on.
So far we do not have road blocks to check whether we are on a legitimate errand (some islands do) and on our island we have only 23 cases of the virus.
Hawaii has cut itself off from the outside world. We were getting 30,000 visitors a day and now its down to about 150. Anyone arriving has to quarantine for 14 days in their hotel room. What a vacation.
Hopefully the next report will be more inspiring with some real garden activity.
Stay safe everyone.
Weather has been miserable. Have not seen the sun for over two weeks, raining most of the time although we missed the flooding rains that the western end of the chain experienced.
During the drier intervals I have been able to do walk-a-bouts and got a few Heliconias in the ground. Fencing is still on hold.
The friend who visits from Seattle each winter and helps with the fence suddenly took off home yesterday to avoid airline shut down. Effective next Thursday anyone flying and boating to the islands will be put in immediate 14 day isolation at home or in their hotel rooms at their expense so most people will cancel their trips.
On our island we have three virus victims. All who had returned from trips to the US Mainland. No community spread on the Big Island so far.
Gardening is the best therapy. I can still get to the potting greenhouse and move seedlings around. Spring is in the air, longer and warmer days so plants are showing signs of more growth. Bamboos are starting to flush out new leaves in preparation for new canes in a month or so.
One of the white gingers I planted as seed a year ago has a bloom that is about to open.
Amorphophallus are blooming. Fushcias are starting to show new growth and blooms.
Orchid cactus have buds. One opened up the other day and counted 12 more.
Biggest problem is waiting for the weather to improve so that trimming and weeding can begin. The garden and forest trails look like they have been abandoned while the tropical plants continue to grow bigger and bigger.
A few weeks ago I cut down a Giganteus Bamboo cane. (It is gigantic but that is its name). I cut the cane into pieces and laid it down on damp forest soil and a couple of nodes are showing signs of new growth. Now I have to hope they will root.
Goldfish, Koi and Tilapia are all becoming more active in the ponds with the longer, warmer days. The 2 inch Goldfish purchased from Petco a couple of years ago are now 6 inches long and looking good. Frogs are plentiful. Counted 10 huge bullfrogs on 2 pond this week. Lots of mating noises at night and patches of frog spawn are evident. Last years tadpoles have heads like golf balls.
New Begonias are growing well and the two new pitcher plants are thriving.
Dining table is adorned with a large Amaryllis and an Orchid, Both new blooms from older plants.
No complaints, just frustrated with the "not so Hawaiian" weather
