One year on - part 3

One year on - part 2

March 2010:



Today:



And a closer view:



Yep, those tiny wisps of dichondra "silver falls" on the right of the first photo have gone crazy, as you can see. I'm going to have to get busy with the secateurs to stop it swamping the dwarf mondo grass...

Almost there!

Relaxing? Not quite....

How did I spend my weekend? Let's see.....

I removed FOUR wheelbarrow loads of weeds from the back yard. We may not have finalised our landscaping plans, but knee-high weeds is not quite the look we're aiming for. This is the final two barrow-loads:



The charcoal pavers down the end? Those had to be moved from the nature strip to the back yard. Heavy buggers. The other stuff is leftover materials from the front yard landscaping - that'll be put to good use:



I weeded and reorganised my various pot plants - some are awaiting a new home, others (like the herbs) just need a sunny spot to sit:







I also threw out a few dead relics and emptied potting mix from the other billion pots I've accumulated. These are going back to the nursery for recycling:



And the blue pots are being donated to my mother (the colour doesn't go with the new house...). The terra cotta pots are surplus to requirement too, so they're up for grabs if anyone wants them:



I also washed every window we have, apart from the five removable sliding panes (flyscreens were in the way, that's a job for another day). I swept out the garage and the al fresco room, the front porch and pulled a few small weeds out of the front garden.

And I had nothing whatsoever to do with this, but Bike Boy is very happy with his new sink in the garage. Plans are afoot for a new, more compact home brewery setup than he used to have; one that'll fit along the back wall of the garage. We have some tiling to do yet, but at least it's usable in the meantime:



It's good to get some stuff done! Shame about the inside of the house. No time for cleaning in there....

Growth!

Check out the comparison between March (or was it late Feb?) and September 2009:







It's great to see a bit of progress somewhere ....hopefully, some Spring growth will push things along a bit faster, but I'm pleased with the progress in just over six months. The only disappointments are the Strelizias (Bird of Paradise). I think the ones planted against the house don't get enough rain, and the one near the letterbox is a bit peeved at the frost and wind. I'll let them go over Summer and if they don't perform, they're gone.

I actually did a bit more planting in the front garden today. Moved a Magnolia "Little Gem" and added it to the row along the side boundary, planted a group of small groundcovers (forget the name and can't be bothered going out to check) in a blank spot and added some liriopes to another vacant spot.

Tomorrow we have a six-foot weeping mulberry tree to plant.

Fun!

A post about nothing

Not much happening on the blog at the moment, because there's not much happening around the house. It's been a busy time for one reason or another, so we haven't actually made any progress at all for a while. I did get my trees planted along the side boundary of the front yard, but still have to get a few more plants to finish off out there.

I really need to sit down and write myself a list of jobs to be done and then aim to do at least one each weekend. The thing is, weekends fly by so quickly.

Our maintenance work from the three-month inspection is STILL not finished. It's more than a little frustrating, given that in two week's time we'll hit the seven-month mark since handover. Time for another email or phone call....

I think I'll make it my goal to finish the front plantings by end of June, and do the strip of landscaping at the back by end of July. That's hardly asking a lot.