We reap what we sow

Okay, I'll be honest. I don't have a green thumb, I tend to either kill plants from kindness, or from neglect. I don't seem to find that perfect balance in between. I dream of being surrounded by the gorgeous sights and smells of a rich country garden, just so long as someone else knows what they're doing!

 So you can imagine my delight this winter as I've watched my little vegie patch grow and flourish. We've had a few hiccups along the way with some pesky aphids and hungry caterpillars, but I'm pleased as punch to be finally picking delicious, vibrantly coloured vegies from my garden.

Today's harvest was some yummy broccolini, cabbage and beetroot.  Yum!

Beating the heat, one tub of water at a time

Despite the seasons telling us its autumn, this extended summer has been relentless. I can't remember the last time we had a day well below 30 degrees. All I can recall for months on end is being hot, sweaty and uncomfortable. My skin is shrivelled and dry, my hair parched and dull.


I'm dreaming of wet wintery days spent snuggled in front of the fire. Layers of beautiful wool fabrics and pretty beanies with flower clips. Steaming mugs of hot chocolate, rich lentil soup and slow cooked chicken casseroles. I cannot wait for the nights I can cuddle under my doona, rather then swelter in front of the fan.
.
Oh how I love winter!
.
In the meantime, we are beating the oppressive heat, one tub of water at a time. Thank goodness someone is enjoying themselves!

And in very good news, my camellia plants survived their repotting, and have just started to bloom.

And after an initial hiccup (whoops, too much sheep manure!), our grevillea plants are reshooting and looking really pretty.

Do you share my love of wintery weather? Which season is your favourite?

Backyard blitz

 Despite the atrocious weather over the weekend, we resolved to start and finish a gardening blitz on our backyard. This time last year I must have considered myself a much better gardener than I really am. Despite being notoriously hard to grow, I thought it a wonderful idea to fill my newly dug bed with some beautiful mature camellia's. Three dead and two very sick plants later I've decided that cottage gardening really isn't my forte, and it's time I turned to the much more realistic genre of native gardening.

Time for a trip back to the nursery, where we chose some beautiful grevillea and diosma plants to resurrect our country garden. The surviving camellia's have made their way into wine barrels and I hope for my dignities sake they don't also join their friends in plant heaven!

Did I mention that even my potted daisies succumbed to my 

dismal gardening skills ? We decided strawberries might  
be a little simpler to keep alive..... at least I hope! 


Another task for the weekend was painting our rather unattractive sunshine yellow shed a nice deep grey to match the roofing of our newly erected patio. Our patio is the pride and joy of my husband, and deserved of a blog post all on its own! 

Our shed with its new lease on life, and our newly planted grevilleas 

 Yes, there are some diosma hiding in there somewhere!

Lastly, with our golden retrievers no longer as agile as they used to be, we decided to paint and lower our side fence. How nice it is to now be able to see beyond our backyard and down to where all the hustle and bustle of our farm takes place. Lets just hope Oscar's legs don't grow long enough for him to scale the fence anytime soon! I have enough trouble keeping an eye on him as it is!



There's such a feeling of satisfaction that comes from finishing a big job. We couldn't possibly have done it all without our little helper though, whose job was to quality control every single sprinkler his dada installed and keep the water up on our newly established plants. Bless his little blue boots!