ROLLERCOASTER ROADS
Same old same old - the end of the financial year will show again where and how all of our rate’s money is spent. To areas that need little or no attention at all. Most of the roading west or north of the ‘‘Holiday Highway’’ around Warkworth, then again travelling east to Mangawhai, is absolutely falling apart. Dangerous dips and cracks in the road, unattended to for months - after months of calling the council - still no signage or road markings. Disobeying the speed restricting signs, if there are any, by a few kilometres over uneven surfaces you may get a free Rainbow’s End ride which nearly throws you off the road. New LED warning signs have been installed on SH 16 travelling to Wellsford signalling to drive in an appropriate manner to stay alive. Don’t know what should come first. A safe road or signage signalling a roller coaster highway ride? serious car crash on January 27 on the Northern Motorway near Silverdale. I wish to thank all those people who stopped to offer assistance: The nurse and doctor who attended to my wife while she was still in the wrecked car; the gentleman who parked his vehicle on the road with the hazard lights flashing to warn oncoming traffic; the gentleman who directed traffic around the wreckage; to all the other people who offered their services as witnesses - you are all strangers and in my dazed condition I did not think to ask any names - but our thanks to you all. I must not forget those professional people whose job it is to help those in distress: To the police, the ambulance officers and the firemen who arrived on the scene within minutes - our thanks to you also. Gardens - and I got three plants. But disappointingly no courgettes so far. Plenty of flowers - which I believe are female flowers - there is only a slim stalk, no fat stalk which grows into a courgette. Would you tell me, why? There seem to be plenty of bees and bumble bees. I have never been able to grow heaps of courgettes as many people do, but always a small crop, but this is the worst
- The flowers with slim stalks are males. Female flowers have a plump swelling at the base which is the immature embryo fruit that develops into a courgette once it’s been pollinated. Plants often produce male flowers before there is any sign of female ones. You don’t say how long your plants have been planted out in the garden. If they’ve only been in the garden for a couple of weeks, or if the growth was checked in any way (kept too long in the pot or water stress) they may still be settling down before going into full production mode. Try giving your plants a fortnightly dose of tomato fertiliser to encourage more flowers and hopefully courgettes. It may be that your garden soil is nitrogenrich so the plants are producing leaves at the expense of flowers. A balanced tomato food has the right ratio of phosphorus and potassium to support flowering and fruit growth. Hang in there! With any luck, in a few weeks time you’ll be worrying how to deal with an abundant glut of courgettes. Barbara.