Screen, trellis & vegie gardens

The two screens I purchased from Stratco have been welded to a steel frame & concreted in about 3 feet down.  A cyclone wouldnt blow it over!!  Doesnt look that great at the moment but with some greenery around should blend nicely.

This little trellis which has also been well & truly concreted in, I will grow a creeper on to semi hide the man cave, thinking a mandevilla, I dont want anything too large or aggressive at the trellis only measures 2m x 2m.  The shade cloth structure belongs to our neighbour & covers his aquaponics vegie garden.

Two beautiful home built raised vegie gardens have been installed along with a small movable trellis for growing peas or beans.

We were going to buy them from stratco but they were about $250each, these were built out of left overs from the man cave at no cost. Its nice to have a win!

I am waiting to go and get some sheep poo from my mother inlaw's farm to fill them up further, but my wonderful husband has done a marvellous job along with the help of No 2 son. Well done guys!

Rain, Rain, glorious rain!

My planting progress has come to a halt, but thats fine as we have had in excess of 50 beautiful mls of precipitation, this June.

I am most excited to see the water pooling on top as this indicates my Gin Gin loam has some clay content, yay!  We also had a small amount of hail too!

The Good Dirt!

Beautiful Gin Gin Loam mixed with peat & compost, what a contrast to my beach sand!

The muscle men mapped out the rocks for me & started to cart the dirt.

Thats gorgeous dirt & it should stay moist when it rains, hallelujah!!

two more good looking piles of dirt for the front yard!

Lawn Gone!!

The muscle men dug out the rest of the front lawn

and the back lawn as well!

and put it all in here!

now we shouldn't need to get too much fill.

I pulled, cleaned & stacked all these pavers, big job & I was wrecked afterwards, still more to go!

and Bella did nothing but watch & offer advice!

Decision Made!!!!

Well after an in depth discussion one family night tea, involving all four boys & their father it was decided a pool was no longer warranted! The pool was cement based with a liner, the liner was leaking & the pool was just too close to the shed, We toyed with the idea of reconstructing it into a smaller rectangle & a more contemporary look, but that would involve great expense as new pool fence would be need as well.  The boys are all grown up & will most likely move away so the use was questionable as well.
SOOOO it was decided, out with the pool. Decision process took way longer than the action required to get rid of it. Sons recruited, tools located & in place, pump brought in from work, all done in about 5 hours.

You can see all the tree roots that had found where the leaks were.  The rocks on the side are concreted in, not sure what to do here, but could perhaps just leave them & incorporate into garden somehow?

These roots are from a very large cocos palm we had removed last month.

What a mess, but the boys had fun!

Now let the designing & planning begin!

Good things come to those who wait (and wait, and wait)

This cactus was bought 25 years ago as one of those fun novelties, the ones with eyes & glasses.

it never flowered, just grew & grew.  I shoved it outside and out of the way as I felt quite disgusted with it,

 

so it grew a few more friends to keep it company.  I could never quite bring myself to leave it behind when shifting house.  Anyway whether conditions were perfect or it just needed to grow up, it has decided to honour my patience with my favourite coloured flower and a few more to come as well!

 

stormy weather threatening, but thats all it was, weak effort in the end

 

Lazy photo's taken from my chair, well it was wine oclock!

Bella the clever talking dog, but only if she has something in her mouth.

 

beautiful agaves, sad lawn, perfect evening for some good cheer!

"Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. Its our goal in life to find it and keep it lit."

 

(Mary Lou Retton)

 

Christmas Lillies or whatever!  These little buggers are very hard to get rid of, two bulbs were planted about 5 years ago & although they are pretty I planted them in the wrong spot.  Every year since I have pulled them out, only to have them come back in full force the next year.  They are very drought hardy & so am considering pulling some up again to take with me to new garden.  Note to self:  think long & hard about the planting position, too late once in ground to change mind - be patient when in planning stage, dont rush into the best bit too soon!

 

Am so excited about my new garden, my fire is burning me to death!

"An optimist is the human personification of spring"

(Susan J. Bissonette)

 

 

Bella enjoying a lazy spring afternoon on lovely newly mown, clean lawn.  Which wont stay clean for long as this dog poo's more than any other dog I have ever come across, I swear more comes out than goes in, and she even manages to poop a couple more times on her evening walk!  She also kills the lawn wherever she wee's too, we are trying those doggy rocks in her water from city farmers at present, which they promise me work, but I'm yet to see the evidence.  Apart from that she is a loving faithful creature, I just wish she could dig a hole somewhere, (not in my garden) & ablute into it, covering it up nicely when finished!

Another dry winter finished

My little Kalanchoe Barharensis making friends with the birds nest fern

Well we are just coming off the back of another dry winter for the farmers, with well below average rainfall, meaning a scant lot of work for us.  Hopefully all the hard yakka I put into my garden last autumn will pay off - lots of composting & mulching.
I have been quite busy getting my heavy rigid truck licence too, was quite proud of myself to pass first time. Tomorrow Im off to drive the truck & load the chief's plane, my first time on my own!
And also putting our house on the market for round 2 of  punishing home opens ( yuk) again!



 Chrysocephalum Apiculatum sunburst

This little native everlasting is so tough, doesnt need much water & flowers consistantly.

Ptilotus joey
love this native, this is its second year, they really only look good for the first season, should be treated as an annual.

& of course good old aeonium schwartzkop.

March ing on

End of March already, beginning of April, my garden finally planted out, although it was planted out at the beginning of March, but the bore pump broke & then the retic, so the front was all dug up again looking for the elusive solenoid.  Not found, bypassed & we're away again!

the little garden by the pool had lomandra's planted in it a few years ago, but they were severely neglected & looked shabby, so cut them back hard & have planted some mulla mulla (Ptilotus exultus) a native to northern WA.

Back fence pool garden starting to perk up, purple fountain grass grew back extremely fast & will flower again before winter.

Newly planted out. lots of greys & purples with a few lime greens, hoping to create good contrast & interest.  It has now rained & they are all looking a lot happier.

Back pool garden starting to recover from the hot summer, rain forecast for next week so fingers crossed.Agave attentuata in front of a new red cordyline & a native peppermint behind.

Burnt & Battered

End of Feb & my backyard is a little worse for wear, birds nest fern, cordyline & even the dianella are burnt. So today I have trimmed all the burnt bits off & spread some magic poo & mulch & hopefully they will all spark up.

My little agave attentuata fared better than most, but still has a few burnt spots, the heat has not bothered Lomandra tanika in the slightest.

My magnificent Dracaena Draco in command position, next to it is a ficus in a pot, which is also a little burnt.  Have cut down the purple fountain grass, should get another flowering before winter, ponytail palms both from Dad when they shifted, doing well.

And just as Im finishing up S4 comes in after walking his dog saying that its just started sprinkling with rain, he also said "Mum as I walked up the street into our yard it smells like a pig pen"  Hahahaha, I think he means sheep yards!!

Couldnt possibly be the 20 bags of poo I have distributed around the garden, poor neighbours!

backyard Feb.

The purple fountain grass is going crazy & blocking out all other plants near it, think I will have to chop it back before its due.  Usually do it in August ready for spring growth, but maybe it could cope with two chops a year. I will try the one plant hiding my native hibiscus & see how it goes.  Am exhausted after laying sugar can mulch on the office garden & cleaning up after S2 - he has been digging & pulling out all the unwanted plants, mainly hundreds of agapanthus.  Im very pleased with him, he has done a good job & earnt some brownie points.

Heaven scent

Spring is nearly over, but these shrubs are just begining.

This hot pink carpet rose was a gift to my mum for mothers day many years ago, she had it in a hanging basket on her front patio & it rewarded her with a continuous display.  Mum & Dad have since moved to a "Lifestyle village" where only native plants are allowed.  I score the carpet rose & a gardenia, which I have repotted & I think they are all very happy.  I just love hot pink flowers!

These 3 gardenias are so happy this year & I know why!  WATER!

Im very very stingy with my watering, liking mostly drought tolerant plants, which these are definitely not.  They have always struggled, wilting, dropping their buds, and one year they lost all their leaves, I thought they had died, but no, it rained & little green shoots pushed through.  so end of spring 2010 I repotted all three into self watering pots & have made a (very) concerted effort to keep the water up and although its paid off I cannot believe how much they guzzle. They only get the morning sun, but already Im watering them every second day, wondering if its worth it, then I go out the back door & am knocked over by their intoxicating scent.  Some people arent that keen on the smell, but I sure am, so will keep with the spoiling & hope all my other plants arent feeling too neglected when the gardenia decides to showoff & force its scent upon us! 

Going, going.....

Finally we have an offer on our house, yippee! Pending finance (of course!) on the 24th November & settlement on the 6th January.

 This is the front garden, shaded fully in winter & full sun in summer, not too bad considering.

Cactus in pot, agapanthus, gerbera, lirope, scabiosa, azalea, tibouchina, bracteantha onthe very edge (yellow flower)

Electric pink cordyline, asparagus fern, thrift, vinca, trunks of cotton palm & date palm

4 sale sign on front verge along with gazanias.

CP is putting an offer on the paddock in the country that we want tomorrow!

How scary!

Spring 2011

My garden in spring, as I write this Im feeling rather down, we felt sure we had a buyer for our house, after 3 viewings, which leaves me exhausted as I have cleaned my self silly (or rather the house) and I absolutely hate, hate, hate housework I am dejected so thought Id take some photo's of my flowers.  I have been looking at so many wonderful gardening blogs & the spring flowers are amazing & even the "fall" ones on the other side of the world look marvellous too, so this is me in the spring of 2011, not a whole lot flowering just yet, whether WA is behind or its just my garden (too shady perhaps) Im not sure.

Convolvulus cneorum (bush morning glory), this hardy little shrub gets by on minimal water.

Well that was weird, was half way through my post last night when the internet went down, so thought I would finish this morning, didnt even realise it had been published until I read Jackie's comment on my email (thanks Jackie).  I do have a few more flowers other than the above, which I will now put   below!

Russelia equisetiformis (coral plant)

I have a love/hate relationship with this plant, I hate it for most of the year & then it flowers & I love it.  It is extremely hardy, but it tends to spread & self seed & then is extremely hard to get rid of, but the flowers on mass are gorgeous, must remind myself I do not want to plant this in my new garden!

Erigeron (seaside daisy)

This one also self seeds everywhere, but is easy to pull out & is a real little stalwart in the garden.

Genista (broom)

These plants have struggled on Perths sandy soils, they are hardy, but seem to need quite a bit to drink in the summer.

This one I call my Meckering geranium as my Dad originally struck it back in 1979 when we lived in Meckering, its a trailing geranium & I just love the hot pink blooms, hopefully I can get a piece to strike as its planted on my limestone wall & I would like to take it with me.

City back yard

These photos are of my city suburban back yard, west facing wall, very sandy soil. Growing plants here has been a continual struggle as the water will not stay in the soil, just leaches as soon as you put it there, we are only allowed 2 watering days a week in summer, 3 if you have a bore & total ban over winter.  Although I like the look of the garden at the moment, I know by the middle of summer I will not be enjoying it at all as it will take all me efforts just to keep it alive Had I started this garden from scratch I would have planted only indigenous species as I think they are the only ones to survive without a mammoth effort.  The asparagas fern and ponytail palms always do well, but the cordyline electric pink is no longer there, sorching sun & lack of water killed it off.