Spring at Last

 Kate Llewellyn is one of my favourite Australian authors who writes beautifully about her gardening experiences and thoughts. I remember her saying in one of her books how she would wake on a spring morning and feel like a horse champing at the bit wanting to be out in the garden. How that resonates for all gardeners, I'm sure. Spring has come to Nanne's Garden and every day brings new delights as something else shakes off its winter sleep. 

Cuttings in the garden shed that have just sat there all winter are suddenly leaping out of their pots, including my hydrangea cuttings that I am dying to plant NOW, but patience is needed just a little longer till the back of the house gets some more warmth. The sun has just started hitting there in the late afternoon.

 The orchid has been dragged out from behind the garden shed to just outside the kitchen window where I can admire it throughout the day.

The solar clothes dryer: cheapest on the market at $5 for the rope 

and a cup of coffee for the workman

 My lovely Wisteria: only 5 fronds last year. nearly 70 this year. 

 I know these plants can pull down sheds if left to run away, but I'll face that when I come to it.

 Done all my 'pruning wisteria' reading!!!

Nanne's gardening companion, Molly 

And finally, the rhododendron comes to life, brilliantly, as usual.

Lambs and Calves

It's nice when school holidays and baby animals arrive at the same time. The grandchildrens' hand reared ewes both produced healthy twin lambs, two boys and two girls, and are proving excellent mothers.

            

Playgroup

       It's also calving time and the juniors are aiming to raise ten heifer calves this year, four                        already in from the dairy farm next door. Little 'lovey' below.

       Young engineers re-routing the creek bed and adding a reservoir. Mostly just having fun                          getting covered in mud

Two weary girls, two exhausted puppies.

September 13th Bella and Tom.

We have visitors, very big ones. Bella and Tom, Clydesdales belonging to friends,  are staying for a few weeks in our paddocks while theirs regrow after a hard winter. The spring grass is already pushing up, so we have grass to spare. Bella and Tom's paddock mate, Gary the ram, also spent a few weeks here, for a different purpose, the product of which will be in next week's blog.

     The juniors have been hard at work erecting more recycled post and rail fence and laying old       sleepers around the garden. The results have been amazing.

                               Site of the old hay shed, now new shed and future vege garden 

     The ancient apricot, peach and nectarine trees, which I have been gradually reshaping each     year to restore something of a vase shape and lower the height. The apricot had a great year     last, but the peach and nectarine  need to pick up their act.

    And spring bloomers promising warm weather is on its way.  The 90 Tree with bluebells in                  bud below.

               The ancient plum, always beautiful and always bountiful, and which I photograph every year just for the pleasure it gives.

     The port wine magnolia, doing a little better this year after a light prune last year. (A light              prune for Mark means it still has limbs, for which we can thank Sharon!) 

      And finally, the very unimposing little Boronia, nuthin' to look at, but oh the scent!. To walk along the back path is to inhale continuously. I often leave the kitchen window open, even on cold days, just to enjoy it.

Some Winter Colour

The lovely Hardenbergia, or Happy Wanderer

One Daffodil

common old Statice, but I like it

One Terrier, two terrors. Molly and Lola, the new kid next door.

Aug 1st A Bit of Sun

3 rugs on fence: 3 happy horses

After more than a week of freezing wind and rain, the sun shone brightly on the farm for 2 lovely days. Three happy horses had their taken rugs off for a few hours to run and roll free. 

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And of course, sunshine means burning off, this time the old gum behind the house that came down in the last storm. I've always been worried it would land on my lovely garden shed, but it went the other way and landed in the creek. 

When we burnt the pile of rubbish beside the old trunk, the latter caught fire either by sparks or radiant heat, giving us a fine show for the rest of the day. These old girls have often had 2 or 3 lives, with original trees dying off and new trunks

 growing up alongside. In this case the original was dead and dry, burning quickly, while the live part is still holding the tree up. Getting rid of the massive trunks is always the hard part.

At first

At last

Three truck loads of mulch were delivered by the council men working along the roadside in our area.... just ask, they say, so we did. Now to spread it, first along the arena garden. Can't wait for a growth spurt in spring to kick it along

July 28 Change is Good

Like most gardeners, I'm sure, I am never quite happy with the way things are. I am always moving plants to better spots, building something, making improvements, extending this or designing that. Change is good.
Winter is a wonderful time to be making something better or new, as the weather is cool enough to dig and delve without getting hot and bothered and the rest of the garden is asleep anyway. 
My project this week has been the vege garden. It was recently enlarged with the addition of the recycled post and rail fence,
so that gave me the opportunity to both enlarge and improve.

The improvement was the structure holding up the boysenberry vine, previously 4 star posts with baggy wire inadequately supporting 3 bountiful berry plants. I asked Pa to install 2 heavy fence posts around which we wound 2 rows of plain wire, which sandwich the vines neatly in place without strings: a clever idea I saw in a gardening mag.

The enlargement was an extra bed for more veges: potatoes this year. It was meant to be a small vege plot initially, but producing one's own food is so addictive!
The winter veges are doing rather well. I am a fairly recent winter vegetable gardener and still get quite amazed that plants actually fruit in the cold.The little cabbages make excellent coleslaw for that winter favourite, baked potatoes with the lot.

July 20th Nanne's Girls

Allow me to introduce you to Nanne's girls, otherwise known as the chooks. No farm is complete without them, for they are as endearing as they are productive.

First there are my two Isa Browns, the remnant of the last lot bought from the Farmers Market. They were a miserable lot from the start, featherless from perpetual hen pecking and intermittent layers. Two previously went for the chop and these remaining two have been threatened times without count. SO why are they still here?


To explain, meet the other three. The 2 white girls belong to the grandchildren, who raised them from chicks: sweet tempered and good layers.

Finally, the magnificent and handsome rooster with the unfortunately unimpressive name of Chirpy, also raised by the kids. I never planned on having a rooster, but now I would never be without one. From the moment he arrived, peace has reigned in the henhouse, feathers have returned

 to bare bottoms and necks and

squabbles have ceased, even when combining the two flocks. The Browns are even laying better.
And now to my chook tale which explains all.

I have two lovely clean and cosy nests for the girls to lay in but they have made their own nest behind the feed bin and all four insist this is the best one to use. Everyday they line up to use it, waiting patiently and crossing their legs till it's their turn. However, someone got impatient today as a great kerfuffle came from the henhouse that sounded awfully like

"GET ORRFFFf!"...." I'M NOT FINISHED"..... "YOU ARE.  YOU'VE BEEN THERE FOR AGES"

It was loud enough to send Molly scurrying for the house and bring Chirpy flying in from the orchard where he rose to full height and gave his best Sargent major impersonation with "WHATS' GOIN' ON IN 'ERE?".

Nothing now! Feathers immediately deruffled and eyes widened with 'who me' expressions.
I went in to see what was happening 10 minutes later and here were two quiet chooks sitting double decker on the preferred nest. "Oh for pity's sake!" exclaimed Nanne.

Always the same nest!