Covering Old Ground

So there I was, standing in the unfinished small garden . . maybe I should start officially calling it the Unfinished Garden . . and I realised I was saying the same old things . . I don't even remember what, was it that level ground should look actually, you know, level, or that ag drains should actually, you know, drain somewhere . . and I realised I was done. 

I said I was done and I went around to the big garden and I lay on the lawn in the shade and listened to the rustling of the leaves and the chirping of the birds, and I remembered why I like being in the garden. 

After a while I went back around and retrieved all the plants that obviously would not get planted in the Unfinished Garden that day because there was too much prep work to do over and I found alternative places for them and I dug and planted and transplanted and mulched, and I remembered why I like working in the garden.

At 9.30pm I marched inside, marveling at how adrenaline can make one unaware of the stiffness and soreness of an old gardener's body. And I've barely looked at the garden since. I just need to put it aside. I need to nag about argue about concentrate on the inside. And if and when I go back to being a gardener I need to love it again, like I did before it became an extension of the stupidity of the inside.

Feeling Frustrated

Hubby headed out to mow the lawn. As usual I was stuck inside. I really don't spend enough time in the garden any more. I got rid of my old gardening clothes and shoes and I haven't worked out quite how to arrange a new gardening routine that won't result in muddy boots and mulchy clothes constantly spread around our rather petite entrance hall. I wish I had a mudroom, what a great concept they are. A walk-in linen cupboard would be nice too, it was on the list for our dream house and somehow got overlooked. We didn't even manage to include a long cupboard along the corridor, which is something we had in every house we've lived in including the little cheapy we rented while building. Add to that a backlog of problems that Hubby optimistically thought weren't there or would go away by themselves, and so I find myself preoccupied with the house rather than enjoying the physical and mental benefits of the garden. But late in the afternoon the lure of the sunshine got too great and I dashed out to take some photos and do some supervising. 

I love the ferny foliage of the silk trees 

(also known as mimosas in other parts of the world).

Hubby dug out the Pittosporum Golfball I mentioned earlier.

I think we'll plant something different but I'm not sure what.

I made him prune some of the large pittosporums. 

More regular pruning would make them denser.

I pointed out the diosma was starting to crowd the nandina.

He really is the most reluctant pruner.

The crepe myrtles are getting ready to flower. 

I don't know why I've seen others around already in full bloom.

There are shoots coming up where we had planted a green manure crop last winter.

I think it has self-seeded.

Yep, that looks like one of the plants from last year.

I wonder how it will do this year with a much earlier start?

I Know I Said No More Impulse Buys...

... but somehow a couple of plants came home with us today.

And there I was thinking that we'd done a good job yesterday whittling down the number of plants sitting around waiting for a permanent home.

I took some photos of our progress yesterday.

Hubby dug out the correa which apparently had succumbed to poor drainage and built up the garden bed even more with good soil mixed with soil improver.

The nandina came forward where it will have more space, replaced at the back by a dianella we had in a pot. Beside it is a variegated euonymus which had looked good in a pot for a few years but had started to  struggle. 

Uh oh, I noticed something was eating a young bottlebrush.

Found the culprits, there were a few of these, easily disposed of. I believe they are sawfly larvae.

Much nicer, a leaf curling spider. I've never seen so many around the garden.

And there was this little beauty hanging between two conifers. Hubby put his gloved hand up so it would show up better in the photograph. Research revealed it's a silver orb weaving spider.

Hubby pruned the myoporum parvifolium, common name Creeping Boobialla, because it was creeping across the old veggie patch.

In a couple of places it had established new roots so those pieces were replanted higher up to fill in bare spots.

A few things will probably stay in pots. This succulent seems to be happy in a pot. The cuttings in old plastic pots and the unhappy rootbound plants need to be planted out but I have a few nice decorative pots which are now empty. Hmm, might have to go the the nursery again.

Tired and Grumpy

Well, this is what's left of the correa that featured in my original header photo. The drainage still isn't good enough I think.

Time to find this conifer another spot... again. It wasn't the right choice for the first location and is now way too crowded here and I have plans for that space so hubby moved it... and then moved it again. Fourth time lucky?

I would have taken more photos but I reached for the secateurs... just a quick trim here... and there... and next thing I knew we were having a very late takeaway dinner. And not really that much to show for the effort, though hubby did some nice realigning of paths. And I'm not going to check but I have a feeling my To Do List got longer not shorter.

Why can't I have a garden like this one? Oh wait, that IS our garden.