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!

Another warm day in the garden

It was another beautiful day in Brisbane today, we took advantage of the weather and got cracking again in the garden.

I have been putting off doing the edging, mainly because it is not great fun digging the channel for the edging pavers. Mixing the concrete and laying the pavers, although not great on the back is far easier than digging the channel in bone dry, rock hard ground. We have finished the top garden bed, and half completed the bottom bed, which should be finished tomorrow.

In the right centre is a small Golden cane palm we transplanted.

You can see the palms and other plants that have been planted or transplanted. Once the edging is complete we will put down some sort of weed mat, fix the water system then mulch.

Some Agave and Bromeliads planted.

You can quite clearly see just how dry the garden is, the grass is all but dead, the weeds of course are thriving. We haven't had enough rain to fill the tank and water the garden, I need to remember form now on that all the rain up here falls in the summer, not winter.

Edging channel almost complete.

Front garden edge finished.

The Pencil Pines are going. Bottom front edge almost finished.

The largest of the Cane Palms is still to be dug up and moved.

Edging laid and complete. 

A good days work.

We are still investigating plants to add to the garden, currently we have three type of Bromeliads in and Karren plans to plant the big ones we have in pots by the front door. There are three or four types of Cordyline planted, Karren has identified a few more that she wants, we plan on hitting Rocklea Markets and a few local farmers markets looking for cheap plants.

Large Red Necked Wallaby (quite at home with me)

Charlie took great interest in this big fella, thankfully the hidden fence stopped the dog getting too close and being carved up by him. The Wallaby was completely unfazed by Charlie the wonder dog, he got himself a quick feed, and kept one eye on the curly black fool while we were splashing about in the pool. The white peg in the background marks our northern boundary corner.

He is a retriever after all.

The pool is now getting plenty of use, nothing better than a swim after a long hot day at work. I read somewhere that dogs should not be in pools because of the huge load they demand keeping the pool properly chlorinated. A dog is the equivalent of having 30 people swim in your pool, but trying to keep him out requires too much effort to worry. So far we are not having any issues keeping the chemical levels in check.

The girls are no longer the lily white southerners, however keeping them covered in sunscreen is almost a full time job, thankfully they are very good at putting it on themselves. The wearing of rashies is compulsory in the hours between 10 and 4.

Tomorrow we will hopefully finish the edging, leaving the public holiday on Monday for us to get out and explore somewhere.