Kabouter in Rhodo-project

Morning: mowing in and around Rhodo-project (western entrance):

I often feel like a little boskabouter. Miniature scale landscaping. Kabouter tracks. Sometimes I feel more like a motorized kabouter. With the Husqvarna. When I can make really wide tracks I would be glad to have a small mower. Like the one at the Jachthuis at De Laan Estate. Or the one at Eastwoodhill.
When I’m using the Shindaiwo I feel like a mowing machine. Could use the Bücher mower here.
But we’re still going on.
I did:
1 hr. mowing with Husqv. outside the project.
1.5 hr. inside
1 hr. mowing with Shind. outside the project, rushes along the lake, to the west, around Alders and Liquidambar formosana var. monticola 1954 008 # 1535 (another kneeling tree; make good photo’s!)
0.5 hr. mowing with Husqv. around that spot.

Still need to mowe the front within the fence.
- – - -
In the afternoon I started mowing some thistles along the track in the paddock called Swamp, between the two “bridges”.
I took a full load on the trailer of old rushes, sedges, etc. from the Rhodo-project and outside it at the western entrance.

I brought this to the compost and garden rubbish station behind the homestead.

Mowing on the Red Track

Morning: mowing of thistles around Quercus alba and around Pinus devoniana and Pinus montezumae. So first track down from the Ridge (at the Eucalyptus alpina etc.). I’ll call this the Red Track.

Pinus montezumae loses many branches (especially the ends of the branches, with needles on it). It feels like this tree needs something.

Discussed removal of rushes with Steven. I think they are all (or at least: the most common is) Soft rush Juncus effusus. There’s not yet much on the ecology of this species on Wikipedia. Only the statement that it can be invasive. But nothing really on distribution. Check NZ. The Dutch wikipedia on “Pitrus” says nothing. But Juncus says:
- “pioniervegetatie” = Pioneer species.
- I thought it was characteristic for “betreding”.
Check!
Further reading:
-
etc.

In the afternoon I carried 1 trailer with thistles etc. from the Red track to the compost and the garden rubbish dump = 5 wheelbarrows.

Compost on Auckland Anniversary

I worked on the compost all day.

Morning:

1 wheelbarrow of “suspected material” to (garden-)rubbish tip.

5 wheelbarrow of earth from garden-rubbish tip to compost.

Sorted out the different stacks of branches around the compost.

Did some cutting on the shrubs around the compost (especially Chimonanthes praecox 1950 014 #724 (needs to get labelled btw!.

Afternoon:

5 more wheelbarrows from garden-rubbish to compost.

Visit to Ann and Bob in town

Thursday 24 and Friday 25 I worked in Eastwoodhill (cleaning parts of Cedar garden again).

Saturday 26 I was in town (Gisborne). And I visited Bob and Ann in Orange Grove, along … Road.

Bob presented me a new printed version of the catalogue. More condensed. Specially designed to help me find trees in the field.

Mowing along the Entrance Road

Monday Jan 21st, Tuesday Jan 22nd and Wednesday(-morning) 23rd I have been mowing (and raking) along the Entrance Road (Berry Road it’s called on the maps). Wednesday afternoon Mr. Brian Crankshaw (check his name) from EWH was at Hackfalls.

We’ve been working on the Entrance Road before. There grow lots of thistles, and rushes, and some Digitalis. Large parts are more or less clean already. But it’s rather a long road (check how long exactly!). I worked on different parts from the middle cattle-grid, close to the beginning of Lake Kaikiore, up to the entrance of the station.

Monday:

I heard the harriers all morning. Repeated high call. One was (or two were) sitting in the Weeping Willow at the point of Lake Kaikiore.

4 hrs. mowing of thistles with the Husqvarna. Couldn’t start the Shindaiwo (again)!

{2 Pictures of beginning of Lake Kaikiore}

For the future: it will be nice to cut the alder <i>Alnus glutinosa</i> in this corner of the lake, to get a better view on the lake from the Entrance Road! But careful. There might breed a harrier.

In the afternoon I heard the yellowhammer a bit further up on the road.

Tuesday:

Been raking for 3 hrs. And removed the waste (two loads on the trailer) to one dump. On top of a dead and already heavily rotting lamb, close to the entrance of the station. This would be a nice place to ask Bob and Ann to plant a memorial tree. And there could be an information panel here as well! Welcome to visitors, etc.

For the future: clean up the wood-dump here; remove the temporary thistle- and rushes-waste dump, Mowe blackberries and prune overhanging trees.

{Picture of trailer loaded with thistles.}

Cleaned up the temporary waste-dump near the middle cattle-grid, that Wilma and I made there a few weeks ago. The lower layers were in a far state of rotting already. Brought one wheelbarrow of the best stuff to the compost-station behind the homestead. Dropped two wheelbarrows at the foot of ….. tree.

Although it was very windy (even stormy), the sun was shining. And the calves found shadow under tree nr. 6.

{Picture}

It was really frustrating to see that someone had dropped a lot of burning-rubbish on the compost-station.

Eucalypts at Kiteroa

This morning I continued my inventory of trees that are not (properly) labeled.

I worked around the western entrance of the Rhodo-project. Marked the trees without labels with a blue piece of rope. Also marked a number of trees with old and worn out labels.

It rained all morning and most of the afternoon.

In the afternoon I paid a visit to Kiteroa. See my pages Kiteroa and Around the homestead of Kiteroa. They have some nice gumtrees over there. Next time I’ll try to find out which species it is.

Calf

I started making some pictures of Digitalis sceptrum (formerly known as: Isoplexis sceptrum in the Homestead garden.
After that I planned to go checking for unlabeled trees in the paddock behind the Homestead, which is called “Reserve”, I believe.
But a calf interrupted my work. Diane came into trouble with calf nr. 4391, that got stuck on the other side of Lake Kaikiore. It was in the water. One leg between the roots of Alnus glutinosa – ….
It took us much time to get the calf out of the water.
Later in the afternoon I continued my “labeling” job.
I marked all unlabeled trees with blue rope.

Mowing on the Ridge

Early in the morning I went mowing on the Ridge, halfway at the large open space.
I mowed 1 hr. with the Shindaiwa. To the south: there is a little swampy valley. I mowed the outer circle of rushes around that swamp. Further south you climb to the Pinus devoniana and Pinus montezumae.
And east: along the Ridge up to the first track down from Eucalyptus alpina etc.
To the north: the open space up to the track that leads back to the Reserve (with the very very big Betula.
In the shadow the grass is still a bit wet, but after one hour of working (partly in the shade, partly in the sun) I get very warm!
Next I do one hour of raking, around the little swamp.
In the centre of the swamp: 1 seedling ??? and 1 protection ???
todo: clean up the old burning spot in the open space to the north, close to the big Radiata Pine.
south: mowe again after 2 wks.

I made some pictures:
of the Eucalyptus-group halfway the Ridge.
of the Picea brachytyla – 1991 089 and another Eucalypt in the background.
of the Pseudolarix amabilis – 1990 104

Next I mowe 1 hr. further on the Ridge, with the Shindaiwo again. From WV’s Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’ F 3 (F2 according to the label) – 1990 195, to Celtis biondii – 1980 035.
Part of the Ridge I now mowe for the 2nd time. Around Celtis some rushes for the 1st time.
Still have to rake this!

In the afternoon I take the first track at Eucalyptus alpina down to Quercus aliena – 1968 041, and Quercus pagoda – 1973 011 (extremely large tree!).
I mowe about 1 hr. with the Husqvarna around Q. pagoda and follow the track to the east. I also rake about 1 hr.
I take some pictures of Mallotus japonicus – 1980 024, on the Ridge. It flowers.

It was a very hot day again, although it seemed a little bit less hot than yesterday.

Missing labels

The last three days I was busy finding trees with no labels on it.
Today (Monday 14th) Bob Berry was here, to identify trees with no labels on it. I did some preparations for that Saturday and Sunday.
We found … trees without labels.
It depends a bit on your opinion. Uncle Bob thinks that common trees, like Eucalyptus viminalis etc. don’t need to be labeled. They are quite common (in NZ). In front of Kevin’s Bush a whole group of them is planted. But how will a visitor (from Europe, for instance) know that?
Visitors from abroad often don’t know the common trees of NZ.
Well, apart from this we found a good number of trees that needed labeling.
I hope to make a complete list of them soon.

Saturday I mowed one hour at the end of the Ridge.
This afternoon I mowed one hour at the beginning of the Ridge (and found some trees without labels again!).

It was a very warm day today – Diane reported temp of 33.4 degrees.

Next Monday Bob will be back to continue the listing of unlabeled trees.

Two (half) days in the Rhodo-project

Monday 2008, Jan 7 and Tuesday Jan 8 I worked again in the Rhodo-project.

Monday:
1/2 hr. with Shindaiwo weedeater. About 30 m2 in the rhodo-project.
1 hr. with Husqvarna weedeater. About 100 m2 outside the rhodo-project.
1/2 hr. with Shindaiwo weedeater: Blackberries and sedges in the front.

Saw a stoat again. And a kingfisher diving in the water, while I was drinking my tea.

Forgot my rake.

Sunny with some clouds.

Made an entry at wiki-en on Jasminum polyanthum, the pink jasmin.

Tuesday:
Took my rake now! First I did 1 hour raking in front of the Rhodo-project and 1 hr in the Rhodo-part itself. Then 1/2 hr. Blackberry with the Shindaiwo scrub cutter in the front part. All the blackberries are mown now!
There came two kingfishers sitting on the fence to celebrate this.
Now just maintain it. And find out how much time that takes!
Then 1 hr light mowing with the Husqvarna in the Rhodo-project. Mowed again what Wilma had started last week (beside the willows) and widened the mowed stretch along the Rhodo’s in the direction of the east fence with about 1 mtr.
Here too, most of the (first) mowing is done now. This needs to be maintained too, of course.

Took some photo’s of a plant, that might be a kind of broomrape.

It was a cloudy day. It started raining at about 02:00pm and it did not stop before dark.

Made a quickie at wiki-en on Gunnera tinctoria, the Chilean rhubarb.