and this year we have been caught on the hop with Summer arriving a few weeks early.
Our last rain fall(only 3 ml) was on 6th November and the long range forecast isn't looking too promising so I have been busy watering & mulching the vegetable garden beds.
We are also trying to complete all our fire prevention work, paddocks and grass areas slashed, water tanks filled, all rubbish & firewood etc moved away from the house, testing generators and water pumps.....the list goes on.
One of the positive outcomes with the early warm weather has been the Garlic Harvest, so far I've pulled up over 100 plants most of them drying in bunches in the shed but some plaited and already given away to friends.
Some of the smaller bulbs of New Zealand purple.
This weekend I netted our Cherry tree and Mulberry tree both of which are full of fruit, next on the list to net are the plums,peaches and apple trees.
I also took a few photos around the gardens.................
Climbing rose "Wedding Day"is a real beauty and covers the entire wall of the bathroom.
Bob's latest artistic creation, reclyled barb wire.
Some of my favorite plants in the garden are ones grown and given by friends, I just love the bright red flowers of Altissimo against the iron tank and stone wall.
Who would think a snapdragon would grow between all this stone ?
The last photo I'd like to share with you was taken by one of our guests staying at our cottage, this little wren and his family have been keeping many people entertained over the last few weeks as they go about their daily tasks.
The picket fence is one of his favorite spots.
Isn't he beautiful !
Thanks for dropping by and hope you all have a great week........
Ooooh I do like the barbed wire creation.
ReplyDeleteI haven't pulled my garlic up yet - I haven't had much luck in the past so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Hi VG, the wire ball has been much admired by friends that Bob now has a list to make up before Xmas !!! His not going to tell them but leave them in their yards Xmas eve.....
DeleteGood luck with the garlic.
Lovely wren! My garlic has been pretty pathetic this year, not so yours! The dry is a bit worrying isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI have grown 3 batches of garlic this year,one from brought cloves which didn't grow very big, 2nd my own cloves in bed that had previously grown tomatoes in ok soil, these grew much better and mostly of medium/large in size.
Delete3rd batch my own cloves in a new raised bed dug over with lots of added gravel and compost in full sun and no wind/frost protection at all. Best of all with large bulbs. Keeping fingers crossed the humid weather doesn't rot them !
So hard to get a picture of those zippy wrens, he's gorgeous. Pulling up garlic at our house too. It's such a satisfying crop! that Altissimo is divine. We need to net, I can hear cockies outside right now. Thank goodness for a little rain this week, it's getting so dry.
ReplyDeleteThought you would like the pic of the wren,I think I might visit office works and make him into this years Xmas card!!
DeleteWe had a lovely drop of rain yesterday too.
Hope you got a little rain over the weekend Andrea, the watering certainly has started early hasn't it. Your garlic looks fabulous. My bulbs so far have been tiny, but I've only pulled the plants that didn't look too good anyway. The rest is just starting to yellow and droop now, so I might pull it up during the week.
ReplyDeleteI have plenty of your seeds growing in the garden at the moment, sunflowers, zinnias and pumpkins. I also gave lots of friends the sunflower seeds from the ones I grew last year so there are plenty of gardens in the northern suburbs with your sunflowers growing in them. Just spreading the love around a bit further.
Oh great to hear the seeds are growing well for you and the sunflowers are spreading their cheer!!
DeleteAndrea you have a beautiful garden and that wire sculpture is really cool. I do hope that you get some more rain soon it was very dry here for a while but we were lucky to get a few really good storms that help to green things over which was nice. Summer is such a hard time of year to grow things at the end of the day my vegies look very sad and I'm finding things are going to seed really quickly too but I'll keep trying. I love that photo of the wren it such a good one they're quick little things and they are my favourite birds too. xx
ReplyDelete