First Day of Summer

The first day of summer was as usual spent working in the garden. It was a pleasant enough day in the high 20s, but a little muggy after the rain we had on Saturday and early this morning, we had a very healthy 48mm and the water tank is now full and the weeds are thriving!

Last week we had some work done on the Body Corporate common property, the common property is the bushland around the estate and as a Body Corporate we have to maintain it. Lantana had gone wild and vast tracks of the common property were over run by it. The BCC had given very specific instructions as to how the Lantana was to be removed. A special rubber tracked Bobcat with a large grinder mounted on the front was secured to carry out the Lantana reduction.

Lantana everywhere

Our house is up there somewhere

More Lantana

Jungle like.

A full day was required to do all that was allowed, no Lantana was to be removed by machinery where the slope was greater than 1 in 4 and all basal roots needed to remain intact. At the moment it looks a bit barren, but the Lantana will regrow and we will have to control it further with a frog friendly Glyphosate. I am thinking of contacting LandCare to see if we can get some more trees planted.

Lantana gone - for now.

Hopefully the trees will grow now.

Big difference, dead trees choked by Lantana.

Today we focused on the area under and around the trampoline, I finished off the garden edging, thankfully it is now all completed, all 55 metres of it. Once the edging was complete we hit the weeds with Glyphosate and then mulched the whole lot. We used Hoop Pine mulch, it is ideal for sloping garden beds because it resists being washed away due to its curly bark. The down side is that it is near enough to impossible to shovel. So 5.5 cubic metres of mulch were moved by picking up handfuls and chucking it in the wheel barrow. I can tell you now the skin on your fingers is not tough enough to handle 5.5 cubic metres of mulch! I am currently typing this with my toes so please excuse any spelling mistakes.

Biggest Trampoline ever?

Charlie is happy with the job!

Fountain Grass is thriving.

In the New Year after the weeds have been poisoned a few more times we will start to plant throughout this garden area, more grasses are the favourite to get the nod at this moment in time.

We managed to get a thriving self seeded tomato plant growing in the garden on the west side of the pool, it was producing plenty of fruit, however, we were not able to get any ripened. It was apparent they were being eaten by something, up until this afternoon we did not know what.

Beautiful male King Parrot getting a belly full of Tomato

Not fussed by us at all!

We have a Tomato loving male King Parrot that has taken an obvious liking to our plant. I can only imagine that there will be plenty more self seeded Tomatoes popping up around the area due to this bloke!

Our neighbours saw an Echidna last week so we are keeping our eyes wide open in anticipation of seeing him, here's hoping we have some photos for the next blog update. I am pretty sure he is responsible for a fair percentage of the holes in the lower part of our garden, the Bandicoots did the rest.

We have had some solar panels installed to help reduce our electricity bill and cover the running costs of the pool and the A/C when it infrequently runs. We have  changed the timing of the filter pump and we will be doing all our clothes and dish washing during the day now to get the most out of the power we produce during daylight hours. Our first full quarter bill with the pool was $850 so we look forward to seeing how much smaller the next one will be!

So Christmas is less than four weeks away and we can't wait to catch up with our Families, the girls are super excited about seeing Nan, Pa, Grandma, the cousins, aunt and uncle visiting! They are not at all excited about the Chrissy presents.

Mixed Bag

It has been quite a while since I lasted posted an update, and quite a bit has happened in the meantime.

We had Ant, Jack and her sister Maria visit us almost a month ago now, it was great to catch up! We had a great meal at the Rosa Mexicano Mexican restaurant in Kenmore, then a visit to Australia zoo and before we knew it the weekend was over and they were on a plane back to Ballarat.

At Australia Zoo the girls had their photo taken with a Burmese Python which they thought was pretty cool, but very heavy! Jack had his photo taken with a large Iguana, which he thought was way cooler than a python!

We saw the main show at the Crocoseum, the sheer size of the crocs in the show is scary. They are BIG! The show was largely un changed since our last visit but entertaining and well worth the time to have a look none the less. The zoo itself is excellent.

The Rhinos were a hit in the African Plains area, the Giraffes were spectacular as well. I probably should have had the girls in focus rather than the Rhinos hey??

We then had our first Halloween in Pullenvale Rise Estate and it is a big event, there were hundreds of kids going up and down the street chasing free lollies, there was a wide variety of costumes, some went to a great deal of effort, others not so much! Emily dressed as a Zombie and Rosie as a Cave girl, Karren wore her Cow onesie and looked, well like a Cow, a pizza eating Cow too! Our first Halloween was heaps of fun and next year we might ramp it up a little and the kids might find they have far more to be scared of than a rambunctious Curly Coated Retriever!

Mooooo. You idiot!

Our First Jack o Lantern 

Cave Girl

Zombie Brain Eater!

Last Sunday morning I was up and about just after 5am as you do in Queensland, enjoying the view from our balcony across the valley, when I spotted this cheeky bugger feeding in our front garden.

We have finally had some storms and rain after a pretty dry Winter and Spring, things green up very quickly, especially the weeds. The storms have been plentiful and spectacular, I got a little video of some lightning and a quick panorama of a storm approaching Kenmore.

Here is a short video of some lightning in the area to the North of our place.

We have subscribed to a storm warning alert provided by the Brisbane City Council, alas given the number of alerts we have received that have amounted to nought, I fear the alerts may end up a little like the boy who cried wolf. So far we have had nine warnings and only two storms have hit us directly. I think the key is not to become complacent.

The other morning before work I was setting up the pool robot when I saw some fungi had sprouted overnight in the grass by the pool. It was gone by the afternoon it had dried up and returned whence it came.

It is only 38 days until Christmas, Karren, the girls and I are really looking forward to catching up with our family over the Christmas period. Can't wait!

150 Planted and More to Come

Yesterday and today were again spent in the garden, I really enjoy the time Karren and I spend together in the garden but my muscle and joint aches and pains are really pushing my patience with it. We are close to having the front garden done so I will need to push on...

I counted late yesterday afternoon how many plants we have moved, replanted or bought and planted and the tally came to more than 150. That is a lot of holes to be dug and when you dig that many holes you are bound to put some holes in the irrigation system and I did, hence I have more repair work and moving of existing sprinklers and new irrigation work for new garden beds to be done! The killer yesterday, however was the second last Golden Cane Palm, it was a biggun, over three metres high and  despite digging around as much of the root ball as possible we were only able to move it with the aid of mechanical advantage.

I'm stuffed already!

The root ball measured 900mm in diameter and was over 600mm deep, unfortunately this meant a hole slightly bigger was required.

Ooh that's a big root ball!

Opening up the gaps between the Palms means that a lot more morning sunlight will reach the Cycads, so hopefully they may grow a bit quicker.

Hopeless without the winch!

It was a massive root ball, I would never have moved it without applying 8000lbs of pulling force thanks to Mr Warn. The Hilux was then used to drag it into position adjacent to the orifice for insertion. When it came to digging the hole it was lucky for me we had some rain Friday night and the ground was marginally softer and just that little bit easier to dig. You can see some Agave Attenuata, Song of India and Bromeliads above the hole in the photo below.

Ground still very hard.

You see how far Karren got before she ran out of puff and the hardness of the ground overcame her ability to penetrate with the spade, from here on it was all Mattock and Crowbar. More than an hour later the big Palm was in the ground

Last two Cane Palms planted

Then it was just a case of planting more of the plants we had bought that morning at the Moggill Markets. We have been getting heaps of cheap plants at both Moggill and Rocklea markets, however I am beginning to think it is a false economy, especially when we end up spending mega bucks on breakfast and brunch at the markets, Omelettes, Gozleme, Dumplings, Bratwurst, Bockwurst, Bacon Rolls, Orange juice, Sushi, we have spent nearly as much on lovely food as we have on cheap plants!

Looking West

Planting a Dracaena in this shot, Rhoeo and more Cordyline Rubra and Red Star to follow. I would never have realised just how easy a purpose made hole shovel could make digging holes when planting. It has been one of the best tools I have bought - ever!

View from down the street.

We planted an Asparagaceae called Snake Plant or Mother-in-Laws tongue this afternoon, apparently named thusly because of the leaf sharpness! It was once used to make bow strings...

Mother-in-Laws Tongue

We also planted a Mauritian Hemp plant Urcracea foetida, which was once grown as a commercial fibre crop, is another member of the Agave family. Pretty soon we will be twisting our own rope!

A sad looking Dracaena - Song of India

In the photo below which is looking west north west you can see the Mauritus Hemp in between the hedge and the Cane Palm, hopefully it will grow to fill this gap nicely. From here on we will be planting heaps of ground cover. There is another Mauritius Hemp behind the Palm, they should look great once the fence is removed, it is ugly and superfluous.

Looking down the hill.

This photo is a little disappointing, I am not sure you can even see all the plants in the garden, the weeds stick out like the proverbial dogs though.

Does it look any different?

Looking better?

Now we need a good rainy season to get all the plants established and growing.

One of Karren's favourites a Strelitzia or Bird of Paradise.

Next weekend we will get a welcome reprieve from the garden when we have some guests visit us. Looking forward to catching up with them and giving the aches and pains a chance to abate.

Same, Same but Different?

After the last post I mentioned we would be back in the garden the next day, unfortunately I got my abilities mixed up with my ambitions... after spending Saturday in the garden I couldn't move Sunday, aches and pains were every where!

Instead of gardening Sunday we went to the Rocklea markets and got some more plants in the morning, then went for a drive in the afternoon to explore the Wivenhoe and Somerset dam areas. It was a lovely drive up to Somerset, shared with heaps of Bike riders out enjoying the weather and the roads.

Somerset is one of a few freshwater lakes available for water sports, the number of boats and PWCs on the water was simply staggering, they numbered in many hundreds. Hectic does not really describe it, we took a few photos from a high vantage point but they don't really show the sheer number of people on the water.

Somerset Dam

Somerset Dam

Yep Somerset Dam

More of Somerset

Final shot of Somerset!

I was told of a park near Wivenhoe that was home to a reasonable Koala population, so we thought it appropriate to see if the girls could find any in the "wild". I said to the girls that the first person to find a Koala when we entered the park would be named the best Koala spotter in the world.

Entrance to Wivenhoe Park Area.

No sooner had I turned off the highway and gone around a right hand bend in the road and Rosie yelled from the back seat she had spotted a Koala, sure enough she had seen on, not 200 metres into the park. She was thusly crowned best Koala spotter in the world. We got some ice creams and had a wander around the picnic grounds but were unable to see any more Koalas. Rosie was truly a most excellent Koala spotter!

As it looked from the road.

The winning Koala.

Lazy Bugger Too!

This weekend we got back into the garden again, the aches and pains tell me we did, that's for sure! I finished off the garden edging and we planted heaps more plants. We got a few more plants and weed matting from Bunnings and today we laid the weed matting in the back garden. Unfortunately the weeds had overtaken our first garden bed construction next to the pool and it needed urgent attention. Then we planted the new plants in the front garden as well.

Plants laid out for planting

Top notch garden edging

Not a straight line in sight... 

Lots more to be done.

Replanted Golden Cane Palms doing really well!

Along with the gardening Karren has decided to do a little crafty, handy work as well. Not content unless she is insanely busy it seems! Anywho we got this dodgy old coffee table off the eBays from a dodgy dude in Tarragindi. It was as expected and the perfect base for Karren's Ottoman/coffee table project.

Started like this!

A little bit of white paint on the legs, a bit of high density foam from Clarke rubber, bit of groovy material - in orange - of course and hey presto the finished item...

Who's a clever girl then?

I'm impressed, it looks great!

More gardening to come, I hope we get it done soon it's getting bloody warm!

You may also remember from a previous post we had some issues with the Crimsafe warranty, well Karren has learnt a lot from her current role, particularly how to get things done with unco-operartive contractors. Karren contacted Crimsafe directly, not the installers who work as authorised installers of Crimsafe products (who wouldn't fix the door originally). A couple of calls from the Crimsafe rep, a few emails and photos exchanged and we have some action. Crimsafe have instructed the manufacturer / installer of the Crimsafe product, that it was made incorrectly and needs to be repaired under warranty. In fact all four doors need to be removed and fitted with the Crimsafe mesh properly. Needless to say we are not popular with the manufacturer / installer. Well all I can say is stuff em, it is now going to cost them a motza to fix all four doors instead of just repairing one - suffer in your jocks you pricks!

I have to say the the people from Crimsafe have been excellent, they really do care about their product and their quality, a big thumbs up to them!