In the Garden

The last few days have been glorious in Melbourne, so feeling thoroughly sick of dusty boxes I decided to tackle the disaster that is the front garden.

 before

There was much pruning, chopping, yanking and even a small amount of swearing - but by the end of the morning I had cleared one whole bed!

Out came the old Rosemary bushes that were really too woody to stay and luckily the iceberg roses had survived quite well and are even sprouting lovely new greenery after a drastic pruning a couple of weeks ago.  I am still mourning my gorgeous lush grass but with a bit of luck it will regenerate slowly.  It has given me a chance to even out the front lawn which is a good thing so one day we'll level the front and the driveway so we have a nice even surface.

It's not much in the scheme of things but it gave me a lot of satisfaction to neaten up at least one area of the garden.

My Poor Front Garden

On Saturday Surfer Boy moved the caravan out of the front yard and we were able to assess the damage done to my poor front garden.  The lush grass is now mud and every single plant that hasn't died has gone feral.  We got stuck straight in and shaved back two thirds of the bush rose on the fence to add a little more light to the rest of the garden, then I went nuts with the secateurs and pruned like a maniac.

 

I wanted to put these photos on here so that down the track I can be thrilled with how much progress we have made.  I will look back at these photos and instead of tearing up like I feel like doing now, I will be astonished that this mudpit is now a gorgeous flourishing oasis! 

 

I found some pots that have survived and I was thrilled to discover that my snowdrops are still thriving - now to get that lawn mowed.

I can't wait to really get stuck in and return it to it's former glory.

Herbs

 

I am not a huge fan of cooking but I do love the idea of fresh herbs in the kitchen.  This is due to a love of gardening as opposed to a love of the culinary arts.

With our love of a timber and white colour scheme the addition of greenery is always welcome.  It turns out there are lots of ways to incorporate herbs, from the weird to the wonderful.

Has anyone else heard of sky planters, and if so would you recommend them?

 

Sky Planters

Hydrangea

Hydrangeas mean summer and Christmas and running under the sprinkler.  My Grandmother's house was framed in blue hydrangeas and although they went out of fashion for a while, they have never gone out of my heart. 

Every Christmas My Grandma would arrive with a huge basket full of blooms which Mum would then soak in the laundry over night.  The house would be full of vases of them until we left for our holidays at the coast.

My home will hopefully never be without a Hydrangea.

Timbaaaaaaa

I was going to show you my mulching - very boring - but I realised this was much more interesting. I have the kind of husband who actually does stuff as soon as I've asked. I happened to mention that nothing would grow in one of the beds because the tree was blocking the sun so five minutes later he had the chainsaw out and half the tree was down!! I'm sure he thinks I don't appreciate him but one day, if he ever reads this blog, he'll see that I do - very much.

Now to abuse his kindness and think of some more things I want done...

4 Days Till Spring!!!

I was so proud of myself for growing this - until I saw these....

Oh Well!

Green Thumb

The last month or so I have been looking out the windows of my house and feeling a sense of defeat. The garden which has seen no love throughout winter (because I am an absolute wuss when it comes to the cold) is in such dire straights that I don't know where to start. This last week of glorious sunshine has seen me finally tackling the problem and I have been weeding, edging, mowing my arse off and slowly beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I had come to the depressing conclusion that this might be as good as it gets..(crappy soil, no rain, needs mulching, etc) when my next door neighbour emailed me some photos he took of my garden last summer.....


I am now full of enthusiasm and excitement and can't wait to get stuck back into it again. How could you not when there are flowers like these just waiting to to be loved into bloom.

(I now have a totally inflated view of myself as a gardener and think I am pretty shit-hot as a horticulturalist!)