June - part 2

Mulch mulch mulch  mulch ....to the tune of the Mickey Mouse club entertained me while I moved the remaining pile of mulch.

14^th June – I woke up early and for a change it wasn’t raining.  Yesterday had been a total frustration as it was either raining or misty rain all day.  So I was determined to make the most of every dry moment.  So out to the pile of mulch at 8am and by noon I had it moved.  The back garden was covered as was the fern garden at the off side of the house, a new layer of mulch in the shade house and a large bin filled to the brim.  One back corner needs a bit of a makeover and so the reserved mulch will be handy for that.  Just as I was tidying my tools away down came a heavy shower.  Timing is everything.

After lunch the weather fined up and so I headed for the shade house.  Despite the cold most things are doing well, but the carnivorous plants are struggling with the cold.  I moved a few things around so they are a bit more protected and decided to bring the little ones back inside where they were before we started our renovations. 

15^th June -  Another bleak day so in a break in the weather I darted out to the shade house The pleione orchids were having a struggle as they were too moist for this time of year and so I re-potted them in a bowl together.  I used packing foam as a base and then a very open mix for them to enjoy – fingers crossed.  I planted another ‘D0donaea’, a correa named ‘Canberra Bells’ and a ‘Dazzler’ acacia I bought from the adoption area of the plant nursery for $5.  Not a bad reduction from $12.95 and it looks like it will make a good recovery and so worth taking the chance.

The next 2 weeks were taken up with catching up on house things and another trip to see our daughter and her family. The weather has been really cold - the other day the top temperature was 8 degrees.  I poked my head outside, gave the compost bin a flip and rushed back inside.

A day of 15 degrees (it felt quite balmy) and I was outside fiddling about in the shade house and was really excited to find my Masdevallia (orchid) in flower.  I didn’t even know it had a bud!!!  It is gorgeous –hot pink shot with orange – a bit like Thai silk.  It is so pleasing to know that it is happy and doing well.  Nothing much else has changed in the shade house except when I look back to the photos of last June I realise how much things have grown.

Not much happening in the vege garden.  I planted some Asian Greens and they look like they wish they were in Asia and the red beet seem to have gone on strike since I thinned out some of the colleagues.  Oh well maybe I shall do as my Sis suggested and plant some peas.  Good for the soil if nothing else. 

My sweet peas - planted at the start of June - still haven’t appeared (don’t blame them) but I’m still hopeful that I will have a lovely display like last year.

One success has been my compost.  It was due to be ready till mid July but ever curious I had a look and decided it was done and have spread it around a rhodo and a camellia and the rest went into the vacant vege patch.  So I’ll start another batch hopefully by the end of next week, and it should be ready mid August.

The shade house a year later

I was thrilled to find a Masdevallia in flower

It is growing in an old pot I've had for about 30 years made from a mulga root

My first batch of compost - a bit lumpy but I don't mind.

It has been rather chilly and gloomy

The off-sideway is my fuchsia and fern garden - some extra pavers, a few more plants and mulched

One of my favorite fuchsias

I love this little bundle of pots but have never had anything survive well in it. I decided to try with this succulent.  It should do well and I think will look great when it gets growing....worth a try anyway.

June - Finishing off the front garden

Hibernating did I say?  Inside projects???  I must have been tired....those things will happen but they will have to wait till the front garden is finished.

Pop is now back to normal but still needs to take things easy.  So he helped as much as was possible. 

1^st June – I cleaned out my garden shed and re-organised it – the main reason this was necessary was to sweep up all of my last year’s sweet pea seeds.  I stored the seed pods there nicely protected from the wet weather but didn’t take into account that I would be off to hospital and so of course in the heat of January the pods ripened and sweet peas hid themselves in many locations all around the shed.  So now they are recovered and the shed is in order. 

I also planted  another six grevilleas in the front area near the letterbox.

2^nd  June – YAY the sweet peas are planted.  Now hopefully they will appear in a week or so.

3^rd June - I decided to have a go at moving the block retaining wall from in front of the side fence and re-positioning it to join around to the new section of the driveway.  I was quite pleased with the result and got to work preparing the soil for some plants.  I chose 2 camellias ‘C M Wilson’ and ‘Elgans Splendour’.  These should go really well with the established camellia.  I don’t know its name but I am pleased it will finally have some nice soil to wiggle its roots in .  Some more azaleas, and a lophomyrtus Rainbows End (yes another one) and another lophomyrtus ‘Black Stallion’.

6^th June - Pop and I got some packing base and topping stones delivered to do the paths.  We put down wet newspaper, then the base and then the stones.  We also had some ‘veggie mix’ delivered .  I used this to fill up my new garden bed. 

7^th June - Eight meters of mulch were delivered and Pop and I set about spreading it.  Wet paper down first then the bark on top.  I placed some pea straw around  some of the plants to help them along.  The soil is a mix of heavy sticky clay, white beach sand and every here and there some really nice soil.

8^th June - Our son arrived bright and early and together the three of us got heaps (literally heaps) done.  We all had commitments for the afternoon and so had to call it quits for the day at lunch time.

9^th June – More paper laying and mulch moving.  Our son arrived after lunch and by 2.30 we had spread  the whole lot – there was still a few areas not covered  but it would have to wait till some more mulch could be delivered on Tuesday.

10^th June – the last untamed area was between the driveway and the retaining wall.  I dug over this area and got it ready for planting.  I went off to the nursery and chose ten azaleas.  I also got some more topping stones and spruced up the stones at the end of this section.

11^th June – I had ordered three meters but the driver recognised the address and so gave us extra mulch – about 2 meters extra!!!  Oh well I wasn’t planning on mulching the backyard just now but that is what I’ll be doing.  Our son arrived after work and in about an hour we had the last areas completed.  He also moved a large sandstone rock that had just been sitting up in the garden with no purpose in life and so I asked him to move it to the end of the new garden bed to stop the stones and the mulch mixing.  It was the perfect size and is finally useful.

12^th June – The existing garden bed of camellias and azaleas was the last to been covered with mulch, and so this morning I dashed out between showers and mulched away.  I didn’t bother to wet down the paper as the soil was so wet from our heavy showers overnight that the paper was soon sopping wet.

this is a very sweet Correa

 

 

 

 

more ground covers

Grammy and Pop lay wet paper and then the base down to form the paths

then the topping stones are added

the finished steps

our huge pile of mulch

The garden is partly covered.  I placed pots over some of the plants to protect them as we worked

                                                                                 

our son gave a helping hand

                                                                                    

site of the new garden bed

                                                                                       

block retaining wall I moved from here ....

                                                                                      

to here...moved a few of the azaleas

                                        

and then planted the rest of the plants and of course some mulch

                                                                                       

                                                                                   

from this to.....

this

the left over mulch...and so the never ending story of mulch continues....