New Zealands Earthly Delights

 A sculpture made from rustic barbed wire.

 In the shape of a sheep, of course!

 A place for the birds.

A Simple yet elegant cast iron urn draws in the eye.

I love the rustic vegy patch to the right and the stark white gazebo in the background looks divine.

 The contrast of neatly pruned box hedge and romantic cottage plants is perfection.

 Old fashion dahlias and sedems in the forefront add colour to the greenery.

 An espaliered beurre bosc pear tree is a great use of space. Dwarf Tahitian lime trees are planted below making it a mini garden of Eden.

 Standard Olive trees with silvery grey foliage compliment the green box topiary.

 Another espaliered tree. This one is an apple tree. Not only does it look good its produces lots of yummy fruit. Dad brought this idea
 back home with him.

 An espaliered Fig tree is a magnificent idea.

I love the use of this gorgeous teak garden bench. It becomes a practical focal point in the garden.

I was amazed by Marian and Rodney's ( Mum and Dad's) photographs that they took on a recent holiday to New Zealand. A few of you have asked me to post some of their garden tour snaps on our blog.. so here they are. I hope you get inspired and excited as much as I did when I saw these lovely  garden pics. Enjoy...

What to do with excess lemons

 

Tip: Place a lemon cut in half  in the top draw of your dishwaher just befor you set it to wash. Your dishes with come out sparkling clean and the entire machine will smell better.

Lemon curd tartletts with candied lemon rind from Good Taste Magazine. Recipe can be found at Taste.com.au

Another idea is

Growing Healthy Citrus Trees

Top Tips for Growing Citrus Trees

1. Prepare- Choose a sunny spot with well drained soil. Dig in some Plants Plus Groganic soil improver. Dig gypsum into clay soils and create a raised bed.

Dwarf citrus are ideal planted into pots.

2. Feed- Citrus are hungry plants and require feeding twice a year, in early spring and late summer. Well fed citrus aren't often troubled by pest and diseases.

3. Harvest- Taste test citrus to check and see if they are ready to eat. thinning excess fruit when they re small will encourage larger fruit to develop.

Pests that may occur:

Citrus Leaf Miner

Citrus Leaf Miner is the larvae of a silvery white moth. The moths lay their eggs of the leaf surface. Once hatched the larvae tunnel into the leaf leaving a silver trail.

Symptoms: Curling and distortion of mainly new growth, plus silvery trails on the leaf surface.

How to prevent: Use Yates PestOil as a low toxic protection against citrus leaf miner. Once a citrus has leaf miner it is difficult to control however using Pest Oil and removing infected branches will help.