☼ajtgirl☼:

☼ajtgirl☼:  hairs, a half dozen or so  :)

Gr☺uch☺: Oh no our storm is starting up.Well my compost should be good and rich by the time it melts.

38degC here and too hot to grow anything
do have a few apple cucumbers coming up but dont expect them to live for long it is just too hot....have 2very small bunches of grapes on but dont expect them to survive either, they will cook on the vine....other than that,,,wayyyyyyyyy too hot LOLOL

BerniceC: Oh your kidding.We got a bad storm coming in and it's cold.I'd love to see my grape vine growing,instead of snow.

Foxy Lady: Well I've got the best of both worlds not to hot and my grapes are ripening nicely. Just have to cover them so the birds don't eat the lot. LOL

skipinnz: Oh wow what state you in?

New Zealand, we jokingly call it the seventh state of Australia but it's a country. LOL

skipinnz: New Zealand is a country? And I thought it was just sheep land lol!
Actually New Zealand is a beautiful country from what I have seen on tv.

Mousetrap: Not any more there are less and less sheep every year. More profit in butter. LOL

skipinnz: Lol well I must admit I prefer New Zealand Best butter myself woolly jumpers make me scratch!

Mousetrap:Understand it gets used on a lot of mousetraps. LOL

skipinnz: LOL!

where abouts in NZ Skip.....I was born on the Nth Shore - Auckland....place called Takapuna LOL
Lived in Wellington - Lower Hutt and Christchurch - Addington :)

BerniceC:I'm in Hamilton, and yesterday picked our first peach. Just hope the birds leave some for us. LOL

i worked in Hamilton about/more than 40 years ago LOLOL....worked at the Hamilton Hotel which was THE BEST back then and I actually met Vera Lynn and her husband? when they stayed there...

*wonders what happened to the Garden board that I used to enjoy.

NOT a floosie: well as Foxy says....it is chat when there isnt any weather to help with growing....

BerniceC:Hamilton hotel has gone, and our weather is great for growing at the moment, half way thru botteling our beetroot. Getting the garden ready for the winter vegies

skipinnz: I should be able to start getting my garden ready for vegies etc late March/early April...living in the tropics really spoils for growing vegies, so we plant our lettuce/summer vegies and also small amount of winter vegies all at the same time...I have had sweet potatoes in since last July....havent got a darn thing off them....just been far too hot

The grand old Hotel has gone? OMgoodness...really? did they build another in its place?...havent been to Hamilton in over 25-30 years :)

NOT a floosie: Most of us are in our Winter and can't grow a thing.Nobody was posting about Gardens or etc.We would love to hear from anyone with a growing season,that would of put us back On Topic.I'm trying to please everybody.
When ppl get into Spring were back ON TOPIC and NO CHAT.

skipinnz: You got a peach tree fruiting ? Nothing like going out and picking fresh fruit from your own trees.Anything else growing?

BerniceC: Awwwwwwwww sorry it's so hot for you and i'm jealous.

we have had so much rain it has made it just terribly unpleasant....I havent been able to get into the spa because the rain made it overflo and of course the chlorine washed away and the water started to go cloudy....so had to empty it half way and refill with extra chlorine... living in the tropics certainly has its downfalls, but it would be better than being snowed in I reckon, but still......

BerniceC: Were snowed in for sure,we got 2ft and some places got more.
Do you always get alot of rain?

Foxy Lady:only in the wet season and this is the first one for about 5 years :(

the humidity is what kills us....98% isnt uncommon at all and the perspiration just runs down your arms/legs/back etc...it is really uncomfortable and AirCons are going day and night....can be expensive, but probably the same as paying for heating all the time :(

BerniceC: So when is it cool enough for your garden.Its interesting to hear from ppl in other countrys that don't have winter.
We start our gardens around the end of May and have about 4 months of a growing season.Our Summer is very short where i live.

Foxy Lady: i will start late march early april....and can plant everything then....we dont have a winter, well not what you would call winter....we dont get much below about 60degF, so it is mild all year until about November till March when it is our wet season and very hot.

BerniceC: So you have a short growing season due to the heat?

Foxy Lady: yes about 6-8 months.....rest is to hot/wet

We are lucky if we get 3 months here for growing tomatoes or anything in the garden lol!
Its ok if you have a greenhouse then you get longer but I do not have one as I think someone would have a go at breaking in.
I did not even have a garden at the last place so I hit lucky when I moved here.

I am very lucky to be working in a greenhouse
Here in NY, USA we just planted our crop of Geraniums and New Guinea Impatiens in 4 inch pots and hanging baskets
It's so nice to walk in and see the little cuttings in the soil and smell the air.
Even though the ground is covered in snow and ice, you can tell that spring is not that far away. 

☼ajtgirl☼: Oh the snow we got,and your not far from me.

Foxy Lady:

You all upstaters got a lot more snow than we did here
It's mostly just ice here now, but we are above freezing finally for the second day in a row!

☼ajtgirl☼: Oh we sure did but i'm in CNY Utica.We got more last nite.

BerniceC:They didn't build a new hotel, but the place certainly has changed. You might miss out on some vegetable growing in the tropics but you can grow lots more fruit, now thats go to be a plus.

Foxy Lady:We're just about at the end of our season, just put in brassicas for winter and picking the last of the summer vegies, but lots of fruit still to ripen, peaches, grapes, tamarillos,feijoas and persimmons.

skipinnz: Oh i'm jealous we got about 3 ft of Snow,and it's cold out.

Foxy Lady:I only like to look at snow and then from a distance, I'm shivering just thinking about it. Thank goodness we don't get it here.

skipinnz: Feijoas.....now that is a yummy LOLOL....actually I found a small nursery here that propogates and growns foreighn tropical fruit....I bought a Feijoa tree last year and am waiting for it to do something special LOL....cost me nearly $40 for a tree/plant about 12 inches high, but if it works here it will be a bonus :)

BerniceC:I've got mine planted as a windbreak for the orchard, so with 29 trees we get plenty of fruit. Friend has a reciepe for feijoa chutney, we supply the fruit she rewards us with chutney

skipinnz: never even heard of chutney, but do adore the jam....gosh I miss feijoa's, and banana passionfruit...would kill for a banana passionfruit......would love someone to send me some seeds but I worry about the customs lOLOL

skipinnz: I wait and go crazy for my Lilac trees to bud,than we know it's Spring.

BerniceC:Banana Passionfruit are a no-no over here noxious weed.

Foxy Lady:We've got a Lilac but it's pretty small. I suppose it's not old enough to have to many flowers.

skipinnz: You have to cut the flowers off and feed it.Once they open i cut them for the house.We feed ours every fall.

skipinnz: really....OMG they are the best tasting I actually did a search (google) aussie and you can buy the plants....there are none in stock at the moment but have left a message to contact me when they have some....love them narnie pasho's LOLOL

Foxy Lady:Is that just a general fertilizer?

skipinnz: We use compost mostly sometimes Miracle Grow.

Foxy Lady: My mam has some beautiful Lilac trees! I have some photos in a cardboard box of them. But there are lots of other photos in the cardboard box too lol! I threw loads of photos away when I was moving, I had bags and bags and I just spent a day going through them all that were not in albums and deciding if I would ever want to look at them again and if not I scrapped them. A shame but I just had too many. And I scrapped all that I though were bad photos too, either out of focus or something wrong with them.
Maybe I will look up me mam,s garden ones sometime and post them.