New mission: Playing jigsaw puzzles with Birdies Garden Beds.

[Mandy Onderwater]

Wowza, just the way the weather can just flip around aye?
Do you reckon any of the paint was dry enough, or is it too soon to tell?

 

[Grandmother Goose]

Wowza, just the way the weather can just flip around aye?
Do you reckon any of the paint was dry enough, or is it too soon to tell?

I'd painted from the top to the bottom of the posts, did all the on the ladder work first, and when I went to check the bottom of each half-painted post is covered in paint as well now. It would have done half my job for me except that it messed up the way the paint seals, so I have to paint it all again. Fortunately, I don't have to strip off the disaster and can just paint over it. Couldn't fix it today as the weather has been too cold, cloudy, and damp. Had more rain overnight and earlier today, so I need a sunny dry day over 10C to get everything dry enough and then a second day the same to paint again. It's not all terrible, I guess it's the universe telling me it's overdue time I cleaned up some of the mess that's been building up inside the house. That's how I function, work on one project and other things get neglected until the project is finished. Then catching up on all the neglected things becomes a project unto itself for a while. I don't multitask very well.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I love your attitude towards it. I'm the kind of person that just... gives up, hehe.
I'm glad it can at least be painted over. That saves you a little bit of the heartache.

 

[Grandmother Goose]

The best laid plans of mice and me... all garden related expenditure has been put on hold until after a new hot water system has been paid for. The only project in the garden I can currently do without spending some money is to move a pile of rocks. Not exactly the most joyful, interesting, nor stimulating task I must say.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Hmm, not unless you're using the rocks to create a pretty boundary or something like that. Quite a tedious task otherwise.
Admittedly, it can be a little satisfying to take frustrations out of them by throwing them.

 

[Grandmother Goose]

Hmm, not unless you're using the rocks to create a pretty boundary or something like that. Quite a tedious task otherwise.
Admittedly, it can be a little satisfying to take frustrations out of them by throwing them.

I'm using as many as I can to create a rock garden with native plants, but still, rock is heavy, and not fun to have to move it from the driveway to the garden.

 

[Grandmother Goose]

I'll update about my raised bed antics later, but for now I have finally got the native rock garden and reptile refuge section of my front garden complete.

The native rock garden started out as an idea to use up some of the natural local rock from my yard and doing something around the water meter that would keep it safe and not make it stand out as the awkward infrastructure necessity that it is. I'd created a large pile of rocks from every time I've had to dig a hole in the yard for any and every reason, from removing a tree stump to putting in fence posts, the whole yard is just rock, shale and sand, and anything I could do to make one of those rocks useful was ecological beneficial and one step closer to having to not pay someone to remove them all. The plan was to put in a post next to the yard tap, which is attached to the water meter, so I had a spot to put my Hoselink hose reel which I must say is one of the best garden things I've ever spoiled myself with, I love it. Anyway, as no one is paying me to say things like that, moving on...

I decided to go with a tall thick sleeper for a post, that way I could install the post, install the hose reel on the post at a comfortable for me height, and then cut the post to size. Positioning the sleeper in such a way that it would seclude the hose reel from line of sight of the street at least a little bit. It worked. I secured the tap to the side of the post, secured the hose reel to the post, I painted the post cottage green, and after many ideas and going back and forth over all of them many times, I ended up deciding to leave the post full size and put a metal art magpie on top of it, and decorate it with a few cute quirky metal garden ornaments on the front and some hooks and hanging plants on the side which will further help obscure the view of the hose reel from the street.

Then I decided to work on the little wildlife pond to go next to it. I used a black UV stable 30L storage box that I bought cheap on special from the local hardware store. I put 2 inches of washed sand in the bottom of it, covered that with an inch or so of black aquarium pebbles, popped a large rock in one corner to create a ramp so if any little critters fell in, they could easily climb back out. I built rocks up around it as it wasn't buried in the ground, but now it looks like it is. Then I went to a local plant shop and picked the tiniest little pot containing the last little sorry looking little water plant they had in stock as their previous supplier went bust and they were still looking for a new one. So, I arrived home and put the little plant into the pond next to the rock, and then looked up everything there was to learn about it. Nardoo, proper name Marsilea drummondii. It's a type of water fern that looks like clover and is an important native bush tucker plant but not one that should be harvested and eaten without knowing exactly what to do with it, because that's how the Burke and Wills expedition ended. Any more information about eating it I'm going to defer to JP 1983 as that's in his wheelhouse.

I thought it would be good to put a hollow log and a couple of small native plants to create a little reptile refuge for the little lizards that inhabit the yard next to the pond. In the same yard on the other side there's a pile of scrap metal which they've been living amongst and I plan to get rid of it, which will leave them homeless and vulnerable, so I decided to create a safe little sanctuary retreat for them to move into when that day comes. I posted on local social media asking if anyone had any small hollow logs or similar, explaining what I wanted it for. Among all the locals that love to poo-hoo everything and responded with warnings about all the deadly venomous snakes moving in, one woman was super keen on my idea and offered me several hollow logs for free. When I arrived to collect them I found out that is she Indigenous and really keen that I was interested in doing something good in the yard for the local wildlife, but also she remembered me from a few years ago when I gave her some huge yukka plants that were in my yard that I didn't want when she was looking for some for her garden, which would have cost her hundreds of dollars if she had to buy them. I was just happy to get them out of my yard.

Two perfect hollow logs and a pile of stone later, I expanded the native garden from the water meter to the ancient and was almost dead until I saved it silky oak aka Grevillea robusta tree in my front yard. I went to the plant shops again and got some bags of soil mix for natives, and started looking at plants that would work well in that spot. I returned home with a low growing kangaroo paw, a brachysome multifida (like a swan river daisy but a creeping ground cover species), a little dwarf correa, and two dianellas that are vastly different in appearance, and a desire to make space to plant a lot more natives. I planted the plants by creating rings with the rocks which I filled with the soil into which I planted the plants. Unfortunately for my garden budget, I had picked up the native plant version of the disease that causes us humans to have to buy more and more and collect them all.

I started researching native plants, making a list of what I wanted, how I'd set them all up so they would grow here, and the learning curve was steep and some questions I simply couldn't find answers to, so I resorted to asking questions of horticulturalists and specialist plant breeders and growers, and the next thing I know I've expanded my native rock garden. I built up the ground around the outside of it with bark chip to suppress weeds and make the built-up rock garden look like it's not built up at all. Except around the base of the tree, I carefully had to dig a bit and go much more shallow and slope the rock garden down a bit to avoid building up the ground around the tree as I don't want to cause the base of it to rot. I've got more hidden little caverns in the rocks for reptiles to hide out. I've got more plants. I've got epiphytic orchids growing in the tree and on the rocks. I've got a large fern growing at the foot of the tree with some hardenbergia vines one white one purple that will grow up the tree trunk. I've got a midyim berry in a pot at a height that's very easy for me to reach to pick the fruit. I've got a desert lime. And the star of my little natives show is the famous Wollami Pine. Yep, I have a dinosaur tree growing in the desert. And it is indeed growing. It has increased in height by almost 8 inches since I first got it and is currently budding with new growth.

Among it all I have decorated with garden ornamental whimsy. Little metal art bugs and birds, solar glow in the dark mushrooms, and fairy houses, and dragonfly lights. I've also added a plant pot dish as a second bird bath, and a glass flower on a stick type little bee waterer. And it's all working. I've increased the insect activity in my garden, I've got larger reptiles popping by for visits with smaller ones taking up residence in the garden. All the plants that are in are getting well established and growing, and I'm very happy with it.

I had 3 tons of garden loam delivered late on Monday and I've been spending most of my time since moving it into the largest of the garden beds that I've built, which won't be enough to fill them. But once they are filled and I can get some plants in there, I'll be back with more news and photos.

 

[Grandmother Goose]

Oh, and I managed to use up all the rock I'd collected, which cleared a space in the driveway that I have managed to avoid filling up with anything else so far.