Today

Today I need to spend some more time in the garden. Those weeds are not going to go away on their own. Here's another one of my roses to remind me that it's worth the effort.

I don't know the name of this one. The flower is relatively small, but the variegated petals are so much fun.

Growing Things

I've mentioned my weeding efforts several times recently. One thing I know is that nature hates a vacuum. Unless I want another crop of weeds growing in my newly cleared soil, I'd better get something else in there to take their place. To that end I've taken some cuttings of "pigface" from a local garden. They've been in little pots on my window sill for several weeks now. I'm really not much of a gardener, but I'm hoping these will take off soon. I'm also planning to use layers of newspaper and bark chip for mulch. 

Meanwhile, I've been knitting away at the "easy and blue" shawl and it too is growing. I started with three stitches and have been increasing one stitch in every row. Now there are 126 stitches so things are slowing down. I'm hoping to finish it in the next few days and put it to immediate use.

Reward

This grevillea is growing outside my front window.The bushes have been there for many years. I originally inherited them from a friend who was moving overseas. They were in small pots. I didn't know how they would cope with being planted out, since many Australian natives don't like having their roots disturbed. They coped fine. Since then I've done very little for them, and they've survived and flowered a little. They received some more attention just over a month ago when I started the great garden clean up. I thoroughly weeded their garden bed and then covered it with mulch--free mulch from the Council depot. I've had my reward many times over: they are flowering abundantly and putting out new shoots! I'm enjoying their progress every time I glance out the window and the native birds are visiting often.

Life

My friend L sent me this pic last night:It's the nectarine which we vigorously dug from my back garden last week end. I told you she'd gone home to soak it in a reviving concoction of seasol and compost. It looks like that was very effective. We were hoping the flower buds wouldn't drop off. Not only have they hung on, they're literally blooming.

Meanwhile there has been much more digging activity in my back garden. Nothing as cute as the nectarine this week: mainly clumps of dietes. I have decided that if I every need to build an air-raid shelter, I will plant dietes over the top of it. They are among the toughest things I have met. There were eight clumps in my tiny back garden. Five have been dug up and shipped out. One is lying in pieces waiting for a trip to its new home and two are tenaciously holding on. My mission for today is to make them let go. I wish I knew some enthusiastic basket weavers. Failing that I'll have to do a couple of trips to the green dump.

Garden to Go

My friend L came over to shift my little fruit trees yesterday. They were planted some ten years ago right at the back of my garden where my new shed-textile studio is going to be built. So it's a case or do or die. They have to go.

It's not the ideal time to shift fruit trees. They're just waking up from their winter hibernation. After trimming back the --budding--branches of the nectarine, it was a case of digging out the root in as compact a bundle as possible. That proved to be a tougher project than either of us had anticipated. An hour and a half after this pic was taken, the tree finally agreed to let go of it's hold on my soil. There was a long tap root. It seemed to go on for ever as we dug around it with increasing determination. It eventually disappeared into the next door neighbours yard. Now that little tree is at L's house soaking in a soothing concoction of seasol and compost and waiting to be replanted. I don't know what L decided to soak herself in after her huge effort. She's coming back for the two little apple trees today. They are still relatively dormant--we hope. Though it's quite possible that they will prove just as tenacious as the little nectrine tree.

I also have a small army coming to dig out the lovely veggie patch soil which would otherwise be lost under the shed and another couple of people coming to take away some of my landscaping plants. It's going to be a crazy kind of day. Tomorrow I'll shift my attention back to the sewing room where I have boxes of files ready to be shredded and patterns to sort.

Sanity

I flew up to visit good friends for Christmas. Due to an inevitable combination of circumstances I could only be there for three days: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. That could be recipe for a crazy few days. However, my friend Dee had the wisdom to schedule a few hours at a country garden cafe, Storeybrook Cottage. So on Christmas Eve, while the world went mad with shopping and preparations, we sat and sipped and nibbled and stitched and chatted.

The setting was beautiful, with lots of green gardens--they had rain recently--and quirky little touches like this:It was quiet and peaceful--just the thing for Christmas!

Looking Forward

It's mid-October. It should be well and truly Springtime weather by now. But instead we've had several weeks of showers and cold--even a couple of hail storms. My garden is suffering from chronic neglect. I got discouraged after the heatwaves last summer, when several of my favourite plants got cooked. Then there was winter, and now with all the rain, things in the garden are pretty much out of control.

I'm looking forward to the possiblity of a couple of warmer days early next week. I'm going to have to do some serious weeding before I can do anything else in the garden.

One thing which has survived is this parsley plant. It's in a pot near the front door and it's sending up seed heads like this one: This is one plant that's determined to survive. I'll need to replant most of my herb pots, but this one has earned it's right to go forth and multiply. Plus the colours are tempting me to pull out my dye-pots. We still have a couple of days of cold and wet to get through, so there's no reason not to take advantage of the opportunity to play with colour while I'm stuck indoors.