I did it! I have finished mulching the whole garden, with three trailer loads of free mulch.
This is an annual task, which we value for the way the mulch protects the soil and plants from excessive heat, helps keep the precious moisture in, and adds biomass to the soil.
Mulch is also 'makeup for gardens' - and the garden in its spring finery is looking quite pretty.
I am pleased the mulching is done, because spring is busy on its own anyway. I have seeds and seedlings to attend to, I have feeding to do, and the occasional clumping annual to thin out. These lovely cannas are in flower now. I donated one clump to a neighbour.
The bottlebrush are in flower on our western boundary fence. This is a favourite tree for both birds and bees at the moment.
Apart from the wind and the rain, there is also the occasional hot day and that requires some extra watering. We are on water restrictions so we can't turn the reticulation on yet, but I have a water tank and a couple of watering cans, and can generally keep the water up to things so that they don't die.
Sap is rising everywhere: grapes, nectarines, mulberry, goji berries.
Blossom quickly follows. I am always worried about the strong winds which come at this time of the year, in case the blossom is blown away before the fruit is set, but so far we seem to be OK.
One casualty of the winds was the rather flimsy lid of one of the free compost bins we collected recently. It kept blowing away, and one night it did a proper job of it, and landed on the neighbour's driveway and got run over. Time for DH to get busy -making me a new one. I don't think this one is blowing away any time soon. It is made with some scraps of wood he had in his shed. He says it is very cool as "recycled chic" and I think it has a "junkadelic" kind of vibe.
DH has also been in his shed this afternoon, sharpening my knives. I do appreciate this very much. My hands now have some pretty painful joints, so the ease with which a sharp knife cuts things is a wonderful improvement. I find a sharp knife is actually safer than a blunt one.
The other bit of excitement was that on a recent op shop trip, DH and I came home with this lovely picture for our bedroom. It turns out it is by a local artist, and is of a beach near us. I had been looking for a beach scene for some time, as we both love our beaches, but for some reason had no beach scenes in the house at all. The lovely thing about this is that it picks up the colours of my new quilt quite nicely, too. One the Open House Day is out of the way, we have plans to move into a redecorating mode in the bedroom, and this will inspire us on. We want to paint and we want to do some maintenance on the furniture. I am also looking out for a new set of drawers for clothes storage, if we can find some within our budget.
So that is a lot done this week, and we are on track in our preparations for Sustainable House Open Day.
Thanks for visiting. Comments from readers are always appreciated.
4 comments:
I love the idea of open sustainable house day. If I lived closer I would come pay you a visit! Hope it goes well. Thank you for sharing pictures of your garden, I love to see what people grow in their gardens around the world. We are entering Autumn here in the North of England, and everything is slowing decaying and entering its dormant phase for the winter. It is far too cold here for much to grow over that period.
That's fantastic that you finished the mulching. I didn't do it as much in the front garden this year, and I really noticed the difference. The soil is so much healthier with a protective layer of straw, compost, or bark. I hope you find the chest of drawers. I have one from the Salvation Army that I love. It was only twenty dollars.
Oh wow, lovely garden. So beautiful, thanks so much for sharing.
Your garden is looking beautiful! I wish I could come see it too. I agree with you that sharp knives are safer. :)
Post a Comment