So the lawn:
We’ve started laying grass seed in the flat lawn-to-be area surrounding the house. It’s an arduous process. First flatten out the sandy soil bed by raking, scraping and spreading; then roughen the surface again with the rake; apply fertiliser; spread the seed with the little seed whizzing device; re-rake; scatter sugarcane mulch; water, erect (belatedly in the case of the first two sections of lawn) temporary fencing to keep the dogs and kids out!
We’ve divided the lawn into relatively manageable sections. Unfortunately the first two sections were almost washed away by a huge downpour of rain (which caused quite a lot of flash flooding in and around town)… so they are looking VVVVVEEEERRRRYYY patchy. Most of the topsoil and grass seed is presumably somewhere down the mountainside. I was just about ready to can our first effort and start again, but Benji persisted in watering. (much to my dismay because it pained me to think we were wasting water on what may not even be there!) Low and behold we do have a little green stubble forming, albeit a baldy, patchy, irregular growth. (Oh and that whole scenario speaks volumes about Benji’s and my nature.) Anyway… we shall wait for lawn… and hope the cold weather doesn’t hit too hard just yet so our little seeds can grow!!!
Trees… A couple of lilypillies are in (from Mt Ninderry Court!), as is an olive tree (out near the pool) a pomegranate, a cherry guava (the fruits of which Molly keeps eating before we get a chance to pick them!!! - I must build a fence around that tree), a handful of citrus (birthday pressies from mum and Gilsy last year) and two Brazilian cherry trees (grown from seeds, picked by Grammy and Sebastian around the corner from our old house in Mara Place!!!)
Flowers… So far most have come from mum’s and Faye’s place… a few from Mara Place… and even some from the side of the road (salvias I collected whilst out walking/running… and frangipani pruning mum collected from some guy she saw out in his garden whilst driving back from Brisbane!)
Veges… Well the poly tunnel is up. It was poorly planned and a bit dodgily executed and very ugly… but it’s fully enclosed and so serves its purpose in protecting our veggies. Benji and I put in star pickets and pushed the poly pipe over those to act as the ‘ribs’, then attached the netting… which was pretty fiddly so it was all just about done when we realised a shrub was in the way…
“Ah just leave it we’ll sort it out later.” says Benji.
“Later?!! What later?! It’ll never get done!!! I’ll just grab the mattock and do it now.” I say.
Swing-dig; swing-dig; swing-kkkrrrccchhhhewwwwkkkk. Pause. Stare at Benji’s horror struck face as he stares back at mine. Explosion of laughter. Nice work dickhead. Bloody big hole in the netting. Suture my disaster with dental floss.
(P.s. I already have plans for a large fenced area to increase our vege production area!)
And tomorrow... hopefully we are finally going to the nursery to buy plants! Hurrah!!!
--ooOoo--
Molly! Get away from those cherry guavas! (Yes we changed her name to Molly... Spotty just didn't suit her!!)
A line of citrus along the bank...
Driveway garden...
New driveway... only moments after it was laid a massive downpour hit Mount French... it's a wonder it didn't end up down the bottom of the mountain... but it held together perfectly! Nice work Jo!
Garden out near the back patio. That's the "poly tunnel" in the background.
Benji had to dig a trench into my garden to drain water away from one of the areas we are trying to get to grow lawn!
Benji - working hard out in the rain!
Poly tunnel
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