Kingston Gardening Group

Monday, September 1, 2008

Garden Visits

Each month we visit a different garden in Kingston, to see what is happening and to get some ideas. A garden is always a work in progress, so each time we see a particular garden, it has changed. We exchange ideas, cuttings and seeds.

Below are a list of gardens. You are invited to join us and view the garden. Visitors to the area who are gardeners are most welcome. If you intend to visit Queenstown, why not include a trip to Kingston and call in to see our gardens. We meet on the first Wednesday of the month and enjoy afternoon tea or a glass of wine as part of the visit. Please contact Catherine Robinson (03-248-8870) for details or if you would like to visit us at any time.

If it's raining, please bring your umbrella and wear your gum boots.

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February 2012

Garden Brenda & Glen's Garden

When Wednesday 29 February 2012

Time 5.30pm

Phone 03-451-1046

Address Kingston Road, on bend, just before Lakeside Estate

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March 2012

Garden Dusty and Elizabeth's Garden
When Wednesday 28 March
Time 5.30pm
Phone 248-8988
Address 29 Churchill Street, Kingston

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Coming Events in Lakes District

Wakatipu Garden Club, Queenstown
Contact: Elain McDonald (Secretary) 441-4755
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The Kingston Soil

Kingston is 1.000 feet above sea level and the soil in the local area is generally poor. Kingston has a complex moraine and outwash landscape and is built on old lake gravels and terminal moraines which are unweathered and considered to be geographically young. The last advances of the Wakatipu Glacier reached Kingston 18,000 years ago. The glacial activity affected the weather as well as the landscape and this too impacted on the development of the soil. The natural land in the area is full of stones and boulders. Flax, tussocks, moss, lichens and many native shrubs grow slowly; the grass is sparse.The soil is still in the process of formation but this has been hampered by the removal of natural bush.

To grow vegetables and non-natives, we have to bring in topsoil or work with compost and organic matter. We are not on mains water so we use tank water or bores and frequent droughts can be a problem.

The soil must cope with extremes of weather and the rapid movement of temperature even in the summer. We experience strong northerly winds and icy southerly winds often on the same day. We have short days in the winter and very long days in the summer.

The issue for gardeners in Kingston is how to work with the climate, how to work with the soil and how to learn from our experiences.

Notice Board

Bokashi Bokashi is a generic Japanese term meaning 'fermented organic matter' and is the basis for NZ's Bokashi Compost-Zing System. It is an easy efficient way to recycle kitchen waste offering many advantages over alternative methods of organic recycling such as worm farms. The QLDC is currently subsidising the purchase of Bokashi Compost-Zing and you can get two systems for the price of one. Visit the Council offices in Gorge Road, pay $45 and pick up a voucher and collect two systems from Glenda Drive. For more information on Bokashi, go to: http://www.bokashi.co.nz/