This is my third post in a series which covers English gardening idioms and metaphors. There are quite a few that I thought of so I have spread the material across a few separate posts. In this post I cover garden creatures. This is just what came to mind. I didn’t do any research and I’m sure there are expressions I didn’t think of.
Worms
Bees
Butterflies
Insects
Slugs and snails
Birds
Rodents
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This is my second post in a series which covers English idioms and metaphors that contain gardening vocabulary. There are quite a few that I thought of so I have spread the material across a few separate posts. Please note again that some of them are not very nice things to say. That stands in stark contrast to the beauty I find in gardening and the enjoyment I get from it. It is quite weird to me.
General
Stones
Earth/Dirt
Roots
Grass
Bush
Forests
Trees
Plants
Nuts
The elements
Gardening can be downright unpleasant. I don’t just mean that it’s hard work or you lose plants along the way. That’s nothing. I couldn’t help but notice that there are some very un-PC (not politically correct) plant names. Here are some examples.
While we were travelling home from Whangarei on Sunday after spending the weekend with family, some English expressions that refer to gardening came to mind so I jotted them down in my notebook. I haven’t explained what they mean as it is sometimes debatable but please feel free to research them for this. Bear in mind that some of these expressions are old and they might not be used much in every day conversation, either. Note also that a lot of them have very negative connotations and are even downright nasty. I thought it would be a good idea to warn you in advance as you might not want to read this post. I’m not sure why this is because for me, gardening is my passion and I absolutely love it. I created our garden from scratch and it is a little sanctuary where I can escape and where I feel so much peace. I find it strange that so much gardening vocabulary is so negative, whether it stands alone or is part of a phrase.
Most of my audience is overseas. I thought sharing these idioms might be interesting for people who have a different first language. I wonder if there is a similar expression in other languages or if there are other gardening-related metaphors with a different meaning. I’m sure there are many expressions that I have overlooked but this is what came to mind without conducting any research. Because there are so many that I thought of, I will cover this topic over a series of blog posts. In this post, I have focused on fruit, veggies and flowers. Apples
Cherries
Grapes
Other fruit
Veggies
Roses
Flowers
Mum and I returned home from our bach on Sunday after spending a lovely weekend with family in Whangarei. Here is a potted summary (no gardening pun intended of course!) of what I have been up to in the garden over the past couple of days. Ginger is still missing Our beloved cat is still missing from Anita’s Garden. She is dearly loved and missed. She was always so friendly towards others so if she has ditched us for them and found another home, I just hope she is fine and happy with the new owners! She is a really lovely cat. Harvest I couldn’t believe how many Kamo Kamo grew and matured while we were away. We were only there for a week, too. There were also quite a few butternuts that had died off the vines and were ready to be harvested. I also harvested feijoas. They were from our Kaiteri tree, which is an early variety. We have only eaten a couple of feijoas each for supper but so far it appears that the guava moth didn’t affect them which is a relief, especially since I didn’t bother setting traps in spring. We have been very lucky. In saying that, when we have used homemade traps in the past, they weren’t always effective and some or most of the fruit ended up being affected by the guava moth. Mum harvested these passionfruit. They are very yummy. Amaryllis belladonna I was delighted to see lots of amaryllis belladonna (naked ladies) in bloom upon our return. I picked them all, as you can see below. On a whim, I went into the city yesterday and gave them to a staff member at the law firm I used to work at, along with a kamo kamo and butternut. I tied the three bunches of flowers together to make a large bouquet. We caught up over a coffee in the café in the lobby. It was really lovely to see her again and I hope to catch up with someone else at the firm in the near future and do something similar for her too. Dahlias It was lovely to see some of my named dahlias in bloom upon our return home. Here are some pictures. I intend to keep my dahlias in the ground over winter rather than lifting and storing them as I have done in the past, because taking care of them in storage is very hard work and I still end up losing quite a few tubers. I will be interested to see if my tubers survive in the ground over winter when the ground is cooler and wetter. I think it’s a good idea for me to lift, divide and replant them in spring, though. That way, the tubers won’t be too large and become less productive. Yesterday afternoon mum and I did a stocktake of what I have in our dahlia garden as I didn’t keep a record of what I planted. Sometimes not everything survives anyway. My dahlias are all labelled with flagging tape which is tied around the base of the tuber. Tuber sales will probably start soon for this year and it’s a good idea for me to see what I have so I don’t double up when placing orders. I’m going to try and limit myself to just a small amount, given the terrible summer we had last year, complete with floods and cyclones. I lost many tubers in the ground to rot, which is why I am proceeding cautiously. I was also greeted by seedlings in my dahlia breeding programme which have flowered for the first time. Here are some photos. All of the dahlias in my breeding programme were planted in large containers and I am in the process of moving any that I feel have potential into the ground.
Website audience I like to keep an eye on the geographical spread of my website traffic out of curiosity. Don’t worry, I can’t see who you are! I wouldn’t want to find out either because people should feel free to browse my site freely without worrying that their privacy has been invaded. My audience is from the following 44 countries, from the highest to least: New Zealand, India, USA, Australia, UK, Canada, Ireland, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, Germany, Singapore, South Africa, Ukraine, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Croatia, Fiji, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Switzerland, UAE and Vietnam. Welcome to my website. I really hope you find the information interesting and helpful. I love sharing my passion for gardening with people both in New Zealand where I live and other countries all over the world. Perhaps some people may enjoy reading about gardening and what I am doing, but don’t enjoy gardening themselves. I completely understand and hope that my audience enjoys reading my blog posts and newsletters. Please be careful of sowing and planting times, as they may differ where you live. You might not be able to grow everything I have either, depending on your climate. On the same token, you may well be able to grow other plants which are native or suited to your conditions. I should probably point out that there are so many plants that we could have in our garden which we don’t, due to space constraints. Just incase anyone wonders why we don’t have X or Y growing in our garden! Planting veggies for autumn Today I was very busy clearing the kamo kamo and butternut vines which were dying and were ready to be removed. I went to Roger’s (a garden centre in a nearby suburb in Auckland) to purchase some veggie seedlings and will plant them in that area later in the week. In closing: Some international gardeners who I find really inspiring Sarah Raven (UK) Adene Nieuwoudt (South Africa) Erin Benzakein (USA) Antonio Valente (Canada) |
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