March working bee Saturday 19th

We meet on the St James side of the bridge at 8.45am. Depending on how many turn up there are three areas to work on. There is a excellent stand of Carex secta (or the very un PC common name of Nigger Head) that needs the weeds clearing off. Nearby are two excellent mature examples of Pate trees that the black berry needs clipping back from. It is just touching the outer branches at the moment and also in the same area some branches of a willow tree have come down in a wind and need to be cut up so they do not start sprouting. If we had six people, two at each site, that would tidy things up.
Bring gumboots (we will not be working on wet ground but will be walking through it to get there)
Secateurs, hedge clippers and horticultural saw if you have any of these.
A drink and something to eat
N.B.The photo is of Carex secta taken at Lake Kainui.

Raising native trees for the Gully

On Sunday 6th March I went to Pukemokemoke reserve (down Whitikahu Road, Gordonton) with the Tamahere Nursery group to collect eco-sourced native seeds. This was a really good day lead by Wayne Bennett. The high light for both Wayne and me was to find that the Pokaka trees had had a really good seeding year and had a lot of fruit on the ground.
Just to fill you in on the Pokaka tree it is one of our target canopy trees for the wet gully floor along with the Kahikatea, Pukatea and Swamp Maire. The Pokaka is not common and very few have been planted. There are just three trees at Pukemokemoke. Click on this link to see the tree on Wayne’s website. http://tinyurl.com/4z7csv8
The other interesting find was Giant Sedge Gahnia xanthocarpa (see photo). This is also on our planting list.
If anyone would like to try their hand at raising native tree seed then please send me an email. I would be happy to supply you with enough seed to sow in an ice cream container of any or all of the following:
Pokaka, Giant Sedge, Kaikomako and cabbage tree

Lizards?

Have any of you that live on the gully top seen lizards in your garden. There are two basic types: the Skink, all shiny, slick and always brown; and the Gecko, mat finish, wrinkly and colours vary from brown to green. If you have a cat they will unfortunately sometimes bring them in. Could you send me an email or give me as ring if you have. Thanks.

Working bees for 2011

Our regular Wednesday working bees are starting again.
When:
This Wednesday 9th Feb
Were:
Meet at the St James end of the foot bridge
The foot bridge entrance is at either 2 Grenache Pl or 60 St James Dr.
Time:
8.45 am and finish at 12 noon
Bring:
A drink and something to eat
Gardening gloves
Gum boots
Secateurs and / or loppers
If you intend coming but could be late give Rob a ring 855-9966 and he can give you an idea where we will be working on the day.

The Saturday Working bee will be starting on March 19th (That is next month). Same time and meeting place as the Wednesday ones.

Flood Zone in the Gully

A visit to the gully after a very wet night and day (the region has a flood alert in place) gave a good indication of the flood level on the gully floor. Click on the page heading on the right of this page to view the photos.

Good results. Ivy seriously sick

The ivy was inspected today 22 days after cutting and painting the stumps. The ivy has showed complete die back of all the cut plants. We are confident now to get a team in to finish the job.
The top photo is before.
The bottom photo is after 22 days.














26th January a team finished off this job.

Some goals for 2011 (in no particular order)

1/ Weed control and under planting of the gully slope at the end of Sexton Road. There are already established canopy trees Kauri, Totara and Miro with existing understory plants of Mapou, Pate and several Coprosma varieties. The area is badly invested with ivy and aluminium weed.
2/ Get an all weather track up the gully from the foot bridge. This is going to be a necessity if we are going to run a trapping program for animal pests starting this winter as we are hoping.
3/ Form a trust and then apply for some funding.
4/ Keep the weeded area free of weeds and expand the weeded area.
5/ More planting
6/ Record the existing flora, assess the stream to determine it’s ecological health, set up a bird census program and do a survey to see if there are native bats in the gully (need a track for this as well).