Guacamole

A good parcel arrived at our front door unexpectedly this week. Plant logo on the box, and almost as tall as me. A really nice spade? Gardening stilts for trimming treetops? No, even better: a Christmas tree! A Hass avocado from Plantfolk in Gisbourne is our festive addition to the garden.

True to form, Wellington is currently welcoming the new tree with a 40km/h northwesterly. We also have clay soil, limited sun and winter frosts, so the new arrival will have a harder time than its siblings on the East Cape. Determined to give it a good start, we sprinkled gypsum everywhere to break the clay, gave the roots a seaweed tonic bath the day before, and awarded it the sunniest and best-draining spot we could find. It’s also the only tree in the garden to get its very own shadecloth tardis.

Go, little avo, go.