Three Elms Garden

16/08/2026

☀️. 🦍. 💨. . ☀️ 🦍. 💨. . ☀️ 🦍. 💨. . ☀️🦍. 💨

There’s an old saying about getting a Monkey off your back…..well it feels like a big Gorilla has just left our place.

The first section of retaining that Shane and Mark did has now had its drainage, geo-cloth, stones and drainage coil done and the back fill topped up. Another 25 heavy bags of stones lugged up the section by Shane, in a wheelbarrow this time. But how lucky were we to be able to make the most of yesterday’s stunning sunshine. Unfortunately today was cold and miserable and we limited the time outside as it seems a pesky cold is arriving, and neither of us need that!

Dirt piles are cleared off the gardens, hostas have been found, shrubs moved, and all previously trampled gardens loosened a little and top dressed with sheep pellets and blood n bone. Yahoo it feels like a garden again. Rest this afternoon, light the fire and finish the washing which has had plenty of wind through it today.

This section of wall was first started a few days after Xmas last year and got delayed by injury, life and weather, it was built in April. The boys carried on with constructing the second longer wall before coming back to fill. There a few bits to tidy but it’s pretty much done.

Hope you found time to spend some time in your garden too?

10/08/2026

Just a few snaps around the garden tonight.

10/08/2026

It’s NEARLY finished! Close enough to celebrate a little, far enough away to know there is still work to be done.

We were a bit spoilt that Mark, our magic carpentry fairy, had some spare time and snuck in mid-week to continue with getting boards up (thank you 🙌🙏👏🏻). The rest of the construction got finished on Saturday……phew!

With the boards finally off the deck, we could access the deck. Trust me, after 6 months plus of clambering over retaining wall timber, this was a big deal. We had a fun Sunday morning carrying armfuls of old retaining timber down the front for a skip, bin in a few weeks’ time. We are pros at slowly plodding away moving stuff🤣.

In the afternoon, I got the first deck clean done. It’s still looking a bit shabby, but we’ll get it looking pretty good and serviceable again once we stop walking muddy boots over it. At a later stage, we’ll most likely replace the top of it……but no need to do that just now.

Next step is drainage materials behind the smaller wall, fill in any gaps, then sort that garden.

The end is in sight.

02/08/2026

Yay for a sunny weekend and the opportunity to get another stage done on the retaining wall.

The bottom levels of the left wall were done on Saturday. Thanks to the trusty extra hand for helping Shane though this messy stage.

Today was laying drainage chip, laying the covered drainage coil which is protected from the dirt wall by geotech cloth, back filled with more stone then closed over the top with the remaining geotech cloth. It’s one of the stages that we are very happy to have out of the way. It’s heavy, wet and slippery and the smallest of working areas.

Next steps… finish the boards on the wall and finish the small amount of backfill. Then finish the drainage on the right side wall and backfill.

It will be so good when both sides are complete and we can tidy up. 😊

18/07/2026

The big driveway day

The driveway is now tidy. All of the wood from the elms is split and stacked.

We both had to dig deep for this job. The rings were heavy and big and every step is uphill or down. The first aim was to get enough moved and split to make pathways to be able to work in and by swapping over splitting duties with moving and stacking, we finally got there. One very welcome visitor arrived late in the afternoon and relieved me from the last 15 min of stacking duty which I was very grateful for.

Chilling tonight for the rugby. Go the AB’s

12/07/2026

This weekend Shane did some massive Mahi and bought the last 50 big rings of Elm down from the top. That’s 50 rounds of walking top to bottom of the section with a ring of Elm on a sack barrow and back up. It is a really dense wood so is even heavier than it looks, There is still a pile of smaller bits to come down, thankfully I can help with that size. Next weekend we will hire a wood splitter and get busy cutting next winters firewood.

Then…….we can find what’s left of the top garden and bring the hydrangeas back that are heeled in somewhere in another garden. Hopefully we can find the hostas and give them some pre spring love and go from there.

There is lots to do and although we no longer have any Elms they will forever be part of our garden journey and we shall remain “Three Elms”❤️

12/07/2026

Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival programme is out this Wednesday15 July, unfortunately this year we aren’t in😳

It’s a rest year for us…..that’s code for “we have too many other things on the go”. But we will be back feeling fresh in 2027 for the Festivals 40th birthday.

We need a little time and space to tidy up from the removal of our three Chinese Elms. There is also the retaining wall still in progress and some house maintenance getting done.

It’s a bit like playing Tetris and juggling space atm.

See you back in Festival in 2027 but we’ll still be here sharing some garden life until then🌺

27/05/2026

We will need to need to find a new focal point at the end of the top walk as these beautiful trunks will soon be gone 🥲

27/05/2026

27/05/2026

In the next “tree day” the highlight was watching the highest top come down off the rear Elm tree. It’s so good to see the care that has been taken in slowly reducing them down.

Next week (if it’s fine) the last of the branches over our side of the trees will come down😳😬

Todays mulch has gone to another friend nearby😊