Showing our Back Space....

We are at a new home and keeping it planted in the way it is intended - greenery over as much a portion as possible while allowing for a quite hostile climate at times.  My placement of items evolves over time and I enjoy the therapeutic value it has.  Yesterday I spent time weeding pots
and re-potting larger plants.  Here is a picture of the Back.

 

And here we have a favourite plant holder - a olde galvanised cauldron with a lovely plant mix....

 

My Café style setting in black... so long-lived wearing wise..

 

Our timber table setting look through the Wind Chimes to the Bird Bath

 

 

And the inviting Bird Bath....

 

 

 

 

 

Middle Summer for the end part of our "Grove"

This is the final piece of our Grove which has been filled in.  Tomato bushes are in the foreground. In the middle we have a walkway with pine posts and a shadecloth covering the "roof". In the background in front of the pale blue shadcloth is our Map of Australia rockery.  It is filled with succulents including my much loved Aloe Vera.  We use this diligently on any skin spots and to nourish the skin.  When working at our previous local hospital I happen to read an article in the magazines we sold.  It talked of using Aloe Vera as a sunscreen if needed. In the foreground the garden bed on the right will be turned into a "sunken garden". This is to conserve moisture in the "hot" weather and allow a lower temperature.  It will also protect plant roots. Berms will be on the sides firm enough to catch any rain water.  A Berm can be made from clay and is a narrow ledge either on an up or down slope. We will also place a sunken garden on the far fence pictured.  I'm planning to put in a lime or lemon tree and also a pomengranate tree as well.

Coming up to Spring - Growth and A Changing Landscape

Here a Picture I've taken of the same section of our backyard - shows more transformation.  Working steadily towards copying a Grove set-out.  Will slowly be doing things with the greenery as it comes together.  I don't like to see metal at all if possible in a backyard and work towards covering it. Love clay, timber and rock. Look foward to my cousin flying over from the West to stay with us in a month's time.  Will enjoy immensely comparing ideas and sharing "garden experience". So love the Garden.... 

Some of the Vegetables and Herbs at their Spring-time best.  I estimate it takes a few years to bring soil up to it's maximum potential.  Each season is a further learning experience.  Not only can climates, soil, aspect, seeds and rainfall all be different - I bet your mood affects the garden too!...(Smiling here). I wasn't totally happy with the Rainbow Chard - bought from a lady who raised the seed for the markets. The leaf turned under a little.  I watch for things like that - can be a sign of certain deficiencies in the plant.   I will send away for more Heirloom varieties but have my "ear to the ground" to use seed handed down through families. Since this photo was taken in September I have put in some seedlings from "Diggers".  I have an old 1996 catalogue of theirs - that I have hung on to for the interesting information along with seed details.   I have been given and purchased seedlings that noone else would want - purely to work with them in my "Plant Hospital" and watch their growth whether facing north/south or east/west and other factors to see how I can bring out their best.

 Here is the start of the set-out for my Australian Rockery.  My darling yesterday dug up the abstract shape of Australia for me.  This week he had put in the posts at the end of the path-way for a Gateway. My bro-in-law has nicknamed through the gateway as the "Garden of Eden". 

Small part of the Backyard Tidy-up

Here is showing the backyard with a basic tidy up.  We have lifted poles and pieces of wood, bricks and pavers, as well as those "3 Corner Jacks" or Spiny Emex. So far we have resorted to digging them out but come summer collecting the burrs on thongs and rubbing them onto a bucket's rim to collect sounds like part of a good "organic" idea.  Apparently they can stay dormant in the soil for 7 years before seeding again. Well - some good hard constant battle against our unneeded foe are in order.  It seems it was first introduced from South Africa in the 1830s to W.A. as a vegetable called "Cape Spinach".  It originated from the Cape of Good Hope. The young leaves of Cape Spinach were eaten - I wonder how many people have tried that here in Australia? In W.A. where it was introuduced it is known as Double Gee which comes from an African word meaning Devil's Thorn.  Nasty getting it in one's foot or fingers I can say.  Bindii is another name that has come across to me in the past and even Bindii eye.  It even has a few other names .  In the front - left hand side of the picture you can see we have put a small raised garden plot - our first.  I have it raised purely to control the soil medium...I'm hoping great things from a small start! Around the garden plot I have put mulched tree branches that we cut from trees around the block.  My poor mulcher after half a day of work gave Tez a "blank" noise and lots of "no go" and he wasn't able to start it.  Well sometimes machinery can be short-lived in our modern age - but if anyone can get it going again my husband can.  So we have our first month's start of our new backyard's conversion into something of beauty and order.

Hmmm... New Home needing Tender Loving Care

Part of the backyard we find ourselves with in our New Home.  Fixing other people's homes seems to be a hobby with us...  Here shows the dryness even in May and there were 3 corner Jacks taking over everywhere... even out on the front lawn at the other end of our block.  Quiet a bit of digging later we have downed the first marching of the Army of this weed!  But we will keep at it - for no doubt where they came from are more seeds awaiting conditions to get growing again.  On the left side is a Melaleuca which is nearly the only green thing.

The Front Gate

The Entrance to our previous Home..saying Goodbye.... Flowers to greet us and greenery growing profusely over-head.  Nature is a graceful and wonderful thing.

Wagon Wheel

A lone wheel sits in our garden alongside a gum tree and the lavender that there are lots of bushes around smelling sweetly. So often we would work around the garden and forget to just enjoy the sights and smells.  I'm liking the idea of changing that.

Lots of Bloom

Love the amount of blooms on the Red Bottle Brush (How Australian!) and the sweet smelling Lavendar pictured here. Tez is here picking up a few small weeds showing their faces.  He is careful since he has a bad leg which gives him considerable pain.  It's great though how he tries never to complain too much about what he suffers.  My Strong man. He does little jobs here and there to take his mind off his troubles - I like to think of his example if I ever think of complaining. Bravo!

Sunset - a call to rest

Sunsets have always reminded me of peacefulness.  This one was over our front fence - golden and open... a treat to enjoy and remind us about having a sense of quietness. I am learning to be content wherever I am and whatever time of day.  So many things I'm learning to appreciate.

One of my Fave things to create

I've put together here quite a few Artist Trading Cards I've created in the last week. Just a hoppity, skippity to do them. It's linking themes together and putting shapes and colours in an attractive fashion I find.

2 Cards - Put Together & Serendipity

The card on the left is just a "put together" piece - even some thin leather strap which I happen to have.

Below is a Birthday Card "Serendipity" - a technique where lots of colours you like are torn off and put on one sheet. Then I have stamped them and cut them into squares and stuck them on a black background on a card. Easy Done. The tearing of papers to put on the sheet would be the longest amount of time.

Compost Activator

Here is comfrey we have easily grown in the past and used as a compost activater.  I've not only put it within the compost heap but soaked it for three weeks in buckets to use as a fertiliser.  It's roots grow a long way down (try and dig it out and you find this).  It gains it's nutrients apparently by this deep rooting of the plant. It is said to be a very basic need of growing an organic garden.  The plant is said to be a weed barrier since it is very invasive. Here we put it on the other side of logs we had framing our herb and vegetable garden. The sub-tropical area we were at - means it grew very hardy.

Well worn Kitchen Cabinet & spruced up Chair

Another Unit to be given a thorough renovation and set in place in the dining room. Lines will have to be painted on the window panes. New door knobs will be needed. Maybe a pale shade of pink, cream, white or lilac..what about a sage green? Never can tell what my husband presents before me in the colour range I am to choose from.

Here is the cupboard spruced up... Tez has the uncanny knack of making items look extra tidy.  Blue was 

the colour of the day - so it was put to good affect! 

The timber look chair is now repaired and shows a heavy shade of Lilac. Sweet! It's nice collecting sad forgotten chairs. Lovely to give them a new lease of life.

Another Timber Chair for a Make over

Another wooden chair that needs some bits and pieces extra to make it whole and sturdy.

New life for an old Chair

After some keen work at stripping a few layers of old paint, it's out with the paint brush and both of us have a go at the"spiffy" new look. We chose a soft pink look ready to add around our table. All chairs will give our table setting an individual look.

Creating Hand-crafted cards

Two cards of a few cards I completed this week. And yes - I have started my Christmas card stock already! My cards are always different -
one is not ever a replica of another. I like to think that what I make
has more the hand-made touch full of the personal approach. With the cards I make I see them as an expression to encourage or warm someone's heart. I have others I am doing which are vintage - styled, more art-inspired and breaking of any set guidelines. Now I wonder how they will turn out when I publish them?

Tez "pink pig" painted Door bell

When I last looked at the Door bell it was faded and in need of a touch of paint. Tez complied - and it was done - a bright pink pig to greet our visitors to the front door. Oh, the one thing I forgot - I didn't get a "before" picture!

Sunbeam Mixer

Old cake mixer like Grandma used to have!
Well worn - but it still works and I've made
a few cakes with it - oh and pikelets too.

Later I will put a few of my recipes here ....

Flowers on a wet spring Day

Beautiful Blue in flowers - one of my fave Colours.
This bush shows it with extra-ordinary Beauty.

CARD: Heron - "Have a Great Day"

A simple card I made used a scunching of paper
and brayering (a roller) in blue. I embossed
the image in blue. Simple & nice.