Know your limits

This is a new concrete path which was laid by workers at our place today, out the back.

Yeah, I know -environmentally unfriendly concrete. 

The thing is, we have been using mulch to cover the dirt on the way to this outdoor clothes line for years and years.  In the picture above the clothes line is folded back against the fence, with its 'roof' of shade cloth showing.

It takes a lot of work to spread the mulch every six months. After the winter the path is full of weeds and during wet days we tread dirt everywhere. We don't have any lawn at all -haven't had for a long time. We don't have lawn because we would rather spend our time and money on flowers and fruit and vegetables, than on grass, which needs mowing and weeding and fertilizing.

This week we allowed ourselves to know the limit of our time and energy. The mulch path had done its job, but it was time to deal with this. As brick paving would have to be weeded regularly, and the path is not in the most visible part of the garden so looks are not a priority, we just got the (concreter) man in! They came with three guys and a huge truck!

The back garden is not large, and this path has made it feel even smaller! We now have clearly defined edges for the beds. On the left is a passionfruit trellis. On the right is a selection of citrus trees fronted by two wicking beds.

I hope to improve the look of this area now the path is laid. We can grow extra ground covers between the path and the wicking beds. We can tidy the place up, and keep on working towards a mature garden which can provide outlets for our creativity, our need for fresh air and exercise, and bring in fruits and flowers and other foods.

There was one much prettier addition to the garden -this time out the front in a shady area.

Our grand daughter visited, and helped us plant some shade loving plants in her own garden (complete with sign made by Pa). She took great pride in watering in the plants and spreading the mulch around. She also planted some garlic in a raised bed, and 'watered all the things!" . 
We learned about roots and different kinds of leaves. She was very excited to have her own garden, and was sure that one of the plants had grown taller overnight!

I am hoping that a local Freecycler will turn up this week and take some of our many pot plants off our hands. We have quite a lot since my brother gave us some from the garden at his own place. It is time to concentrate on some productive and pretty ones, and let duplicates of plants go to another garden. We have quite a few frangipani  which we have struck and established, for example, but have no room for now that we have had some success at last with pink and white ones. There are also the usual sort of volunteers and cuttings that any gardener can't resist, which would be great to pass on to another person who is starting out at a new place- daisies, lavenders, herbs.

So that is it for us this week, enjoying knowing our limits and enjoying passing on the love of gardening to others.
I hope your week has been good too.