Greening

I spent an exhausting but satisfying day yesterday planting about 35 plants that I got through the Waitakere City Council. They'll give you plants just for the asking if you're restoring an area of bush, and I wanted to thicken up the bush down the side of our place. Most of them turn into trees eventually.

Much as I'd like to say that I don't take any crap from my mother, it's not true. She gave me a sack of goat manure to use in planting the trees. Hopefully it will bring them away like the young rainforest she has in her front yard, which was a barren piece of lawn five years ago.

Of the nine kinds of plants I planted, five of them attract native pigeons and/or tuis, so we, the birds and everyone nearby will hopefully be benefiting from my hard work for years to come.

Below: I've unloaded the trees and assembled my tools (and the big sack of manure). In the background you can see some of the existing trees, including the puriri I planted last year partially visible on the extreme right of the photo. The trees are, approximately from front to back: kahikatea; coprosma/kanono; hangehange; puka (Griselinia lucida, not the large-leaved puka which is a different species entirely); pigeonwood; lacebark; kawakawa; whiteywood; and titoki.