2017  

My New Garden

Starting a new garden is exciting. 

But it is also hard and difficult work. Difficult, because decisions have to be made and often good ideas do not work out as hoped. Hard, because it can be quite exhausting to dig deep holes for new trees to be planted and turn the soil to put flowers into the ground and to make veggie beds. But all is so rewarding, even if not always successful.

The little house had been finished and turned out very beautiful and so comfortable. A joy to live there.

The land around looked like a building site. The ground was covered with some discarded building stuff, the grass was ruined with lots of bare patches and full of weeds.

So the first job was to tidy up around the place. And whilst doing that new ideas come to mind what to do here and what would be best there. 

                                    

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First our Wollemi Pine had to be planted.

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Next came a visit to the nursery. And there was a big problem: so many beautiful plants, very hard to decide what to get.

A trip to the nursery and to the plant market became now favourite excursions for my daughter and me.

Bought 2 birch trees, 4 eucalyptus, 3 different wattles, 5 casuarinas, a flame tree and a ginkgo tree. I also transplanted some jacarandas.

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Putting all the trees around the little house shaped the garden right from the beginning. I planted the trees in clusters, so that there will be still open spaces letting the sun in.

It all evolved, I had no fixed plan at the start. But I always thought how it all would look and feel once the trees have grown. 

All the trees but the Wollemi, the 2 Silver Birches and the Ginkgo were just tube stock. They all grew so fast except for the Ginkgo tree. 

The first eucalyptus planted near the drive was taller than me within 6 months. 

The casuarinas grew also very well. Maybe it helped that I put in some sunflowers close by, thinking lets see what grows faster. 

The ground there had lots of gravelling it, so the sunflowers did not grow to their normal height and the casuarinas could keep up with them.

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Before we moved into our new little house, I had done already some gardening in front of the old shed. 

I had to work hard clearing a bit of land and put in some small beds for flowers and veggies. 

  

The progress was enormous. Since we did not live there all the time, each time we came the plants has had grown so much. 

Lots of beautiful surprises.

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Often visitors came along and that is always interesting, 

  nicer though the friendly shy ones, 

and especially nice when they could sing,  

best of all when cuddly ones came. 

  

But that did not happen so often, they preferred to hide and rest in the trees

And there were quiet onlookers too. 

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A year after we moved in the little cottage and I had started my new garden it all looked very different.

The wollemi pine had survived, although it was a bit under stress during the unusually dry weather in the middle of the year. I put a shade cloth around 3 sides and it got watered every day till the rain came.






Only one of the gumtrees and one of the three wattle trees did die. 

The ginko tree 


















                           and the two silver birches survived well. 

The tall eucalyptus grew to over 3 meters within 12 months.

The patchy grass had turned into a beautiful lawn, thanks to a new lawn mover. 

I never thought it all would turn out so well and look so good within a year. 

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Mid 2018, 

two years after I stared my new garden a lot has changed. 

It was very sad to watch the Wollomi Pine die. 

January 2018                                                           April 2018

But the Ginko tree  and the 2 Silver Birches survived so far.

The eucalyptus and the casuarinas grew a lot.

I planted a Pacific Rainbow Eucalyptus and it grows so far very well. 

I cleared away the last bits of old left over building stuff, put a little old recycled pond in, planted 4 grevilleas and trying to revitalise the grass there, I made the back behind the house also nice.

With 2 grape wines, red and white, around the patio, some roses and bloomers all looks now perfect - almost. 

And there will be aways more to do in my garden - luckily. 

 Hopefully the long dry period will come to an end soon.