How to make things less crap

Well it’s happened, this time of year has broken me- the recent rains have brought up all Summer’s worth of weeds, the leaves are everywhere, everything needs pruning and the other day, while sweeping a ‘nothing out of place’ quality garden, a gust of wind blew 4 new leaves onto my literal body.

I keep reminding myself that we have all Winter to address what I consider a backlog of tasks, but I also keep reminding staff that Winter is only 4 gardening visits for many of our gardens, so I am going to go ahead and refer to the rest of this season as “manky time” and try to chill out (ha! We are all pretty Chilled Out at the moment eh!)

What I’m obsessing over this week

Chelsea Flower Show is over so there is a lot to digest, you can check out some of the gardens here. I was especially keen to find out what the plan is with garden edging, because trends have gone from ‘everything should have a hedge’ to ‘everything should be wildflower, messy and all over the place,’ and this year the trend seems to be ‘let’s avoid any especially tall/floppy plants.’ I appreciate that! There is a lot of sand or rust coloured hard landscaping, which is cool because 2 clients have already asked for it directly without seeing anything from Chelsea, a good indicator that we will all be using it much more. I found this website and am now off to measure edges and curves- it looks a bit too expensive to get wrong!

The National Autistic Society’s garden at Chelsea Flower Show this year.

What staff learnt about this week

Our weekly focus was raising standards while leaves fall onto us.

Highlights: We are bagging up heaps of leaves, which will turn to leaf mould and go onto gardens in a years’ time; we also have been putting leaf mould back on gardens this week so they have been looking especially lush.

Lowlights: All of the hydrangeas are looking a bit rubbish and some are insisting that they should still be flowering, so there’s an awkward ‘when should I cut it back’ scenario at a few gardens. Some of them have had bad years for two years in a row so we’ve ripped them out and put new ones in, which is going to be nice next year.

Last year Hamish from Green Valley Gardening told me that pruning season is pruning season, so all should be pruned at the right time. But last week Gerri from Donald St told me how happy her still-flowering hydrangeas make her, soooo…

An interview with a gardening legend

I’ve started interviewing one Famous To Me person a week, someone who either informs my gardening practice directly, or parasocially! If you know someone who you would like to see interviewed, get in touch by popping a comment in this post, or email wellington.gardener@gmail.com.

This week: Laura from Vonuts! Less of a gardening legend and more of a personal hero. Vonuts are a treat for me and now that they deliver again, they will be a monthly treat for staff <3 (it turns out that when it’s cold and rainy, there are less clients ambling about their gardens waiting to be bothered about doing a blog interview)

What are you known for?

Vegan Donuts, handmade fresh every morning in Pōneke, you can find us at Press Hall (80 Willis Street) and order online for pick up and delivery at vonuts.co.nz. our Instagram handle is @vonuts_official

What are you working on?

At the moment we are working on a few little projects at the time, trying to fine-tune our delivery system, as well as creating new flavours. We are also trying to make our shop more inclusive by adding a step stool and some better signage. Our biggest project at the moment is the Koha donut, a charity donut project we are working on.

After some pressing it turns out that Laura is not working on a Free Donuts Project, but a donut which includes a koha for a charity of the month. Damn. But also yay!

Every time I come, I have to get a donut for my partner and kid, so I inevitably end up wolfing mine down and staring at theirs…

What is occupying your mind at the moment?

The ongoing Genocide in Gaza is occupying a lot of my brain at the moment and all the feelings this is bringing up. Also the current costs of living and how it's effecting my business, whānau and friends and what I can do as a small business owner to help with this in sone small way.

What are you waiting for?

For the right couch to pop up on Facebook marketplace to make my store even cozier for everyone:-)