Wellington, New Zealand is known as the windy city in these parts. And usually the winds are ferocious. But yesterday was another stunning mild wind free day.
So, of course, we were in the garden of this old stucco house clinging to the side of hill in Miramar in Wellington battling the wildness. This has always been a wild garden.
Senior Son has recently come into possession of a chipper. So using the chipper, the weed-eater, willing little hands and a huge compost pile (for an hour a day) he almost keeps a modicum of control in this sprawling property. Though we all love the wildness and I tell him it is an inner city carbon sink! There are terraces and lots of steps; just getting up to the house is actually a serious workout. But this is Wellington – you expect a lot of exercise when visiting in the hills of Wellington.
Above is my fern garden. This has been my garden for years and went through a number of renditions until I settled on the ferns. When I get back from the beach I am going to relocate the gardenias that have been overgrown in there. That ponga is such a delight and spreading! When it is tall I hope it will be a canopy to walk under.
Here is the compost heap.
Awesome right? This will sit quietly for a couple of weeks then he will turn it by hand ( I might go in search of a farmers fork for him – that might be a good pressie). This is Pile Number One.
Buggy here (cat) is on the new TKG site too. Though Duane has not been able to sort out why no one is getting notifications of the posts from there. And why I cannot see who has subscribed. But I am getting way past this now. It will happen or it won’t. I just keep writing and recording.
And we are not moving until it is sorted out.
However until then I am having fun making tiny practice posts.
Today we roll out to the beach. Himitangi Beach.
We will arrive after dark but I will be walking on the beach tomorrow morning. What a joy that will be.
I get picked up soon so I had better get a wriggle on! Fourth Son and his family are taking me out to the beach and have the first week staying there with me.
Til then!
Take care. Talk soon.
Celi
Here is the Sustainable Sunday with Celi podcast interview with Amber Williams that I made in California. Another work in progress! (the first ever interview too!).
Listen HERE.
The Kitchen's Garden 
15 responses to “Composting in The City”
I love Buggy on a tree stump, just like an owl!
I assume the Subscription Form is a WP plugin on the new site – so if it’s not working, there are lots of other free ones out there …or contact the developer who wrote it – they are normally quite helpful 😉
Once I know for sure Duane cannot help me I will call customer service. I have made myself step back for the two weeks I have children with me at the beach. I will just blog and not worry about it for a while. I have powered through to get to here and I just don’t feel like letting it interfere with my little holidays –
Good idea!
Good morning, c! What is the vine clambering up the side of the house? And what the temperature over there. We hardly cracked the 20°c mark, but we did have 2cm rain overnight. Hurray for that!!
It is around 11c – 16 or so – not too bad.
I am not sure what the vine is but it has amber leaves in the summer.
Perfect for a walk on the beach.
What a beautiful place. I love the whole feel of it
Right? And this family is very into sitting in the garden just enjoying it.. unlike me who cannot sit in a garden without weeding in it.!
I would weed with you. But I LOVE seeing it just like it is.
Oh I love wild gardens just slightly more than immaculate gardens make me uneasy. And the neatest never seem to have compost heaps…
This is a beautiful compost heap. Almost a work of art!
I think this must be a child’s paradise to explore- actually even an adults paradise. So many things to discover and uncover in the wilds!
And those lovely surprise blooms that pop up after the long grass is cleared. It will be interesting to see!
If you want to give that beautiful monster a kick start, I’ve always found that red water weed (azolla?) is excellent for that, and it’s full of nitrogen. Don’t know if it grows in NZ, but it’s everywhere here.
Himi-Vegas!
I will not be there, though you are so close.
Enjoy the wild black sand beach . It’s where we spent so many hours as a family. We were the talk of the neighbourhood – we went to the beach when others went to church.
So very different from Mahia. Mahia was for summer holidays.