Well, it looks like no one is about to give me a free backyard make over any time soon…damn it, I’ll have to document my own damn good gardening project.
Winter has come (and almost gone according to the calendar) and much of my spare time has been on DIY indoors. We have the studio finished now (making music again after a short refrain); and we’ve been scraping paint from windows like there is no tomorrow.
Meanwhile the garden has suffered.
Oh boy. It has suffered.
One moment I was merrily letting my asparagus waywardly fern, then picking and preserving lemons. Then literally within a few dreary weeks my garden has overgrown into a ghost of its former self. I thought, in this utter state of soggy overgrowth, it was the perfect time to document my achievements – I say, curling my upper lip in the thought of what lies ahead.
For now, it is ‘the before photos’ and we all know how awkward they can be.
There, I told you they would be awkward.
The lawns were mowed in between the torrents of rainfall. At least we can now define our veggie patch, sort of. Can you believe there is spring onions and silverbeet still surviving under all this lot?
And somewhere under the self seeding borage and deadly nightshade, are peas!
The plan of attack is:
- weed the vege patch
- prune the fruit frees
- compost and re-energise the soil
- farm my worm farm
- plant spring seedlings by my birthday (1 September)
Woooah. I love it when I set myself challenges. Can I tick off my check list in a couple of weekends?
Let’s see! Wish me luck.
Update:
- 6 August: Good progress on weeding with garden beds (two down, two to go). Trimmed a rosemary bush and rediscovered a parsley plant engulfed by weeds. Got a bit side-tracked and undertook a dried herb project.
- 7 August: Between the raindrops, dug in some fresh, rich homemade compost into the newly weeded beds; removed the old spring bed frame from patch #1 (eclectic but had rusted beyond salvation); found the mowing edges to the veggie patch (bonus). Got a bit side-tracked and made an outdoor table on top of a dead stump.
- 13 August: Pruned and lopped branches of several fruit trees, arranged and filled a skip. Got a bit side-tracked in the rain and recorded another song with tongue firmly in cheek. Ooops. That was a bit of a segway (although it’s all about balance – right?!). Next weekend I need to continue my garden love.
- 1 September: I think I’ve done it (well, maybe enough to get a silver star)! Underneath all those weeds were a few surprises though: a large patch of borage which I will keep to help attract bees, and a very healthy patch of kale that had mysteriously self seeded. I must admit, I haven’t yet planted any seeds yet and there are a few weeds that to be conquered yet, but I do believe I’m back in business.
