More projects

 Unsurprisingly, one of the projects is to build new compost bins. In a way it was a good thing I destroyed them - they weren't big enough and were in the wrong spot - so now my husband is happily engaged on some Very Serious Compost Bins made out of metal roofing sheets. Again, from our wonderful friend who is moving to Western Australia and can't take much of anything, and was a bit of a collector of "might be useful one day" items. 

This is not compost bins, this is much more exciting - the floor of my art studio!!!!! Can you believe it, despite having a quite large house and a dedicated room I am building a shed in the garden to do my arts and crafts in. I can't quite believe it, but there is proof, a steel subfloor concreted in. 

There is still a long way to go and we are doing the painting etc ourselves (aaaaargh) but that's the first thing done. I made them angle it to exactly due north :) It is going to be tucked in quite nicely behind the pines to the west of the house.

I had some dye leftover from the quilters' dyeing session so one of the ladies came over and we splashed some dye about under the last of the oak leaves. It was lots of fun and only rained a little bit.

Number two came home for a visit last weekend to break up two weeks work in Sydney! Paid work too - as a notetaker in the writer's room for a new TV series. It's a great opportunity, hard work concentrating all day (and definitely not there to give any input, that was a bit of a struggle) and an eye-opening way to see how TV operates. Quite different to the theatre world.

I drove up to Goulburn for the train pick up - it has the cutest little train station. With an open fire! The photo doesn't show the flames but there were definitely flames. Needed too, it's been very cold and frosty.

My broad beans are looking remarkably healthy. I didn't plan for any sort of crop; they are really just there because they are hardy and will grow in winter. But I may get some broad beans!

And this has to be the last of the roses. This yellow rose is unstoppable, I love it.

Pottering at home

It's been lovely this week to potter gently about at home. A bit of gardening, although the wind chill has knocked the fun out of it a bit. I don't mind cold weather but having a gale rip through you is not very pleasant. I went out for about an hour yesterday before retreating indoors. 

I did manage to take some baja sage cuttings - we have a very pretty and healthy plant and I wanted to get some more, but it's not common and I couldn't buy either seeds or seedlings. So I have ventured into (another) unknown world and I'm propagating by cuttings! No idea if it will work but I followed all the instructions and found nodes and dipped in hormones and the rest ... I've done six that I will coddle through winter and see if they live to be planted in the spring.

In even more exciting gardening events ... our veggie cage is being built!!!! It is too hard to protect edible plants from rabbits, parrots, kangaroos and wombats individually, so we are building a big netted enclosure and putting everything in there. Vege beds, fruit trees, maybe some herbs? 

It is 9 metres by 12 metres which seemed perfectly reasonable when we made a little map out of paper but looks absolutely enormous now it's a steel structure in the western paddock. But given that we keep saying things like 'how about a permanent bed for asparagus? how about espaliered fruit trees? how about thornless blackberries? how about cold frames?' it might not be big enough...

Bonus bulbs

We got a bit excited with one of the primary school fundraisers and ordered a large number of bulbs that arrived last week. Such a box of fun - carefully picked from the catalogue and chosen for a particular place in the garden.

This post is not about those bulbs, it is about the line of random pots full of grass and weeds that were here when we moved in ... and we don't think the tenants had them so they would have been there for at least three years. I thought they might be salvageable to plant things in so emptied them out - and they were FULL of bulbs. This is about half of them, there were more.

No idea what sort - my husband thinks daffodils but all bulbs look the same to me - so I took the little tub full to plant underneath the pines at the road end of the front lawn, where no grass will grow. I am not terrifically optimistic but daffodils are tough, and these were free.

It turns out my little pot contained 157 bulbs, which took me three hours to plant, and now my legs hurt. But the odds are good for some of them to come up? I will report back in spring.

The cat watched me from the kitchen window. That is my reflection in my awesome orange overalls, which I still love.

In other gardening events, one of my broad beans is up.

I pruned the banksia roses and we took a ute-load of the clippings down to the community garden and added them to the dead hedge. It is quite a cool concept, but a bit untidy for us at the moment, we are not quite as feral in practice as we think we are.

Last of the dahlias

We have the first frost predicted for next week - no guarantees it will happen but the tomatoes and dahlias are looking nervous. The dahlias in particular are glorious at the moment, but there are many vases in town looking like this as people bring them inside to enjoy them. And the last roses too.

Garden club yesterday was delightful as ever - three gardens in town including the big retirement community just on the outskirts. It is quite nicely set up and we can see the attraction of new build, low maintenance, insulation ... not just yet though.

And there go the maples too. Autumn is definitely here! I went into Canberra on Wednesday to have lunch with friends and do some grocery shopping and it was a perfect, warm, autumn's day. It didn't make me want to move back but Canberra can be lovely sometimes, despite what they say.

Feeding the fire

We had a lovely quiet Easter, mostly at home. For the first time in many years I didn't go to the Folk Festival - I had a pang of missing out when I saw it on the news though, so maybe next year. I just didn't feel like people and travel, despite all the wonderful music. So my Easter travel was riding my bike into town twice and that was it.

The cat has been very happy because the nights have been cool enough to put the fire on ... although our threshold is low, because we just love having a fire. And we do really have mountains of wood. Most of  yesterday was spent in wood management. I am happy to use the little battery chainsaw, and my husband uses the slightly bigger electric chainsaw, but he says we need a proper petrol one to get through the big stuff.

We are both happy to wield the splitter for about ten minutes ... then we're puffed. Or, in my case, my sciatica flares up, because I grew two actual babies and my ligaments are stuffed. But splitting wood is a very satisfying business, so I still do it.

In less successful gardening stories, my seeds were not germinating very well and then I realised that the you beaut seed trays have liners that you're meant to use to hold the soil... I had put it all straight into the plastic trays with NO DRAINAGE and then religiously watered them for weeks until it was just a potting mix soup.

I am not sure if this adequately captures the morass these poor seeds were left in. Anyway I transplanted the ones that had germinated - despite them being way too small - into other pots, and some into newspaper pots so I didn't have to transplant them yet again. 

I am not sure about newspaper pots, I think they will disintegrate, but I saw some youtube videos that seemed fine. Sigh. I really don't know what I'm doing. At least the Manuchurian pears are starting to get their beautiful autumn colour. 

Dad, rest easy, I'm not going to have a vegie bed under the trees. I just wanted to put broad beans in there to see if they'd come up - long term it will be shade loving perennials. Possibly hellebores, or we might even go native grasses. And yes, it is a full electric car, we don't see the point of hybrids. Also, you were right about autumn sowing for the lawn, none of the spring stuff did very well but I'm having way more luck with the patching that I've done in the last few weeks. Other than that, the cat would like me to stop taking photos and let her get back to her nap.

Other people's gardens

 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....

No-dig bed

After being inspired by the community garden, I set up a no-dig bed - after the very-much-dig-several-times bed with the horse poo I thought it might be an easier method. We have had mostly unsuccessful experiments with this before (potatoes in the front lawn, not great) but now we have more time, no expectation of results, plenty of space and way more patience. So I've gone with another patch in the western paddock, under some maples.

The grass was not happy there, as you can see. I did a layer of cardboard, then a layer of compost, then a layer of horse poo and then gave it a good soaking. 

I will chuck some broad bean seeds on it this week (low expectations, it's quite shady) and then put some dry mulch on it (or wait for the leaves to fall) and see what grows. Spring will probably be planting potatoes in the traditional ground-breaking way, but I'll see how it's travelling. 

It was a damn sight easier than the mattocking, digging, digging again, mulching and weeding of the other bed ... but not as easy as it would have been if the garden hose would reach that far! I seasol'd the compost layer by carrying a watering can fifty metres each time to the tap ... telling myself that I do it for exercise and fresh air so the more carrying of watering cans the better. Hmmmm.

To contrast with someone who actually knows what he is doing, garden guy is building us a new bridge over the creek. It was thirty years old so had lasted quite well. 

I don't think I mentioned but my husband rang the couple who originally laid out the garden about 25 years ago - they retired into it and she was a very keen gardener - they planted so much, set out most of the beds, worked with the old trees and existing beds, planted all the roses ... he was on the phone for about an hour and a half wandering around the garden while she asked questions about where everything was at!!!! Amazing, because they are quite elderly now, but she seemed to remember all the details about plants and trees. Anyway they said that the bridge was done by the people before them, so that was in the 1990s. The uprights are still OK but we're having to replace the joists and treads so it's strong enough to drive the ride-on mower over!!! Nothing could POSSIBLY go wrong...

Wagon o' poo

Next step on the new bed was to dig in this wonderful load of horse manure, from the neighbours over the back, who have two miniature horses. Nothing miniature about these turds, let me tell you. We also had the neighbours over for a drink - it seemed a bit rude just to use them for their poo - which was very lovely; they are great company.

I think I will keep the seeds in pots over winter, our frosts can be quite brutal. But then I need a greenhouse! What to do? We got the guy who builds the veggie cages around and we are now planning how big we want it (probably 12 m by 9 m, for six beds plus fruit trees) so we can get a quote and get it built! Very exciting.

We've had a bit of rain so everything's green again, and the roses are getting another flush, which is affirming. I am not sure that I did anything right with the roses but they seem unstoppable. 

Here's a photo from July last year when I was worried I'd pruned a bit too close to the sun with the front beds ... and then one from a couple of days ago. Turns out, no need for concern! In fact it could probably do with a bit more of a tidy up this winter....

Random gardening

It's still a bit hot and humid to do much gardening ... but humid is good for growing. We had some proper rain finally and the plants are relishing it. And I am doing something I have never done before - growing from seed!!!! I cannot imagine this will work but seeds are cheap. 

These are very hardy perennials for the new bed that I haven't finished yet. I'm not sure if I'll plant them in the bed this year or leave them in pots in a sheltered spot until spring. We were planning an overseas holiday in spring but now we're reluctant to fly anywhere ... most flights from Australia go through the Middle East or you can go the other way through the US and who wants to do that? They don't do transit and I will never be in the mood for US immigration. First world problems, that are making me second guess my seed planting and propagation schedule. Did the various regimes think of that? They did not.

This is the tomato bush that mysteriously popped up in the middle of the rose and hellebore bed off the verandah. We have harvested five very delicious tomatoes and there may be more. 

This canna lily is looking lovely in the big blue pot. I like pots in garden beds, and cannas are tough enough for anything. 

And this little fellow came to quilters this week! It is a brush tailed possum joey - about 90 days since gestation so eyes not open yet, and would normally still be in the pouch but his mum was killed. So now he sleeps in a little fleece bag and gets carried around to events in a calico shopping bag and drop fed ten times a day. Super cute, although in NZ possums are a feral pest and we kill them, so I have had to do some mental adjustments.

Big gardening and little gardening

It's been hot and dry here for the past few weeks - this afternoon yet another set of storms managed to sweep to the north and the south with just a few showers for us. A few showers are good, but a day of rain would be better. The little gardening is a new garden bed over in the west paddock where it's rocky and dry, with lots of wind and western sun. At the moment it's mostly grass - struggling - so we're going to create more beds around the rocks and put tough things in them. 

This is the one that we're doing first as proof of concept. It looks tiny but by the time I mattocked and spaded the edges, then killed the grass (with round-up) and spent an hour this morning mattocking/spading/forking over about one quarter of it ... I think it's good we just started with one bed. I'll keep turning it over and put some compost in it, then put in some perennials in March and fingers crossed they survive the winter and take off in the spring. I do not know what I am doing but that is what the internet is for.

And this is the big gardening - for an eyewatering sum we are slowly getting the big dead pine down. A massive branch (about eighteen inches in diameter) had broken off and was just dangling there, which gave us the push we needed to finally get someone in.

They have taken down the broken one, and some of the others, but to get the remainder they need to go away and get other equipment. Or something, I don't get close enough to understand. They are trying to avoid squashing the garden shed which is good - I would be VERY CROSS after spending all that time painting the inside. 

At least there's plenty of firewood! But the strawberry bed was a bit of a casualty.

Getting more summery ... slowly

We are happily noticing every part of the changing of the seasons. It's a very immediate experience when you're out in it every day. It's definitely getting warmer but not quite full summer - we had the fire on the night before last, it was freezing - but I'm in shorts today. 

We haven't had much rain so the grass is getting a bit crunchy and I've had the hose on the roses. There's no watering system here and it's something we might consider ... we have a bore so there's not the guilt that would come with using town water (or the panic of relying on tank water). One of our many longer term plans.

The roses are in full glory. If only it wasn't so windy! It has been a really unusual amount of wind and even our sheltered hollow isn't enough to stop rose branches snapping off. I've staked up a few of them but you can't do every branch on 104 bushes; every time I do a walk around there's another bit of damage. 

This aren't our roses but a garden we visited with the gardening club last week. We went to four gardens in the new subdivision in town which was really fascinating. They are all about five years old and it was interesting to see what they'd done with a blank slate. All keen gardeners of course and happy to share their knowledge. We got some good tips (and in fact Brad swapped phone numbers, went back on Saturday and got a bucket of cuttings, along with more good advice).

A friend came out on Monday and took this photo of us - woolly jumpers! That was a very cold day. Yesterday was much nicer when three friends took the day off work and came for lunch. It was lovely. This afternoon we got hot and sweaty cleaning down the quilt stands in the shed at the back of the hall (where they had been since last year, the shed is not weather tight and is filthy). 

Yes Dad, I am entering some quilts, for what it's worth. They are not really "show" quilts but I think it's good for visitors to see quilting can be done by anybody, regardless of skills and/or patience. We spent Saturday pinning on labels and matching them to the entry list, and yesterday pinning on little sandbags for the ones that are going to be hung outside off the buildings. I hope it doesn't rain...

And in even better news we have finally exchanged contracts on our house with settlement next month. After nearly a year! We had to drop the price a lot, which is a bit sad because I had already mentally spent the extra money several times over, but there's nothing you can do about it, and clearly it wasn't worth what we hoped. We have done some scrubbing already and a bit more to do but it will be SO GOOD to have that chapter over.