It was the preschool fund-raiser open garden even last weekend, so we wandered through five of the six open gardens and judged other people's choices / found inspiration as the mood struck us.
Mill Pond Farm was interesting, especially the restored old mill. The gardens had a nice mix of recent plantings and very old, half dead pines, which we could relate to.
Longsight was a lovely old house with wraparound verandahs. I love wraparound verandahs - and broad gravel paths - and am thinking how we would get the same vibe in our not-so-posh cottage. It should be possible?
Everyone's dahlias were amazing. Such variety! One guy had converted an old chook shed into a dahlia planting bed supported by the wire and they were absolutely incredible.
We also went out to Mona Farm which operates primarily as a very expensive wedding venue with guest accommodation, although they do have kitchen gardens for catering, pigs, and some super cute furry cows with horns. I love furry cows with horns. The property was very gorgeous but not inspirational because you could tell they had an absolute army of gardeners and were happy using all the water in the world on the lawns. They had a ten year old stone bridge, which probably tells you all you need to know about the gardening ethos.
In our garden, the last of the big dead pine tree finally came down. Like all trees, it was truly astonishing how enormous the branches were when we finally saw them on the ground. God only knows how we are going to split it for firewood, it will take some professional help, or at least professional equipment. I'm sure they'll let us hire a hydraulic log splitter!!! Surely!!!
They managed not to squash the shed but did put a hole through the fibro. Could have been worse. The strawberries got well and truly flattened though. I saw a TikTok about how to build your own cold frames out of recycled materials and I'm tempted to give it a go, and maybe put them there, backing onto the odd concrete wall....
