October 2, 2012

The Never Ending Garden.

We have been having more gardening adventures on The Farm.  The Farmhouse has a very large garden that was neglected for several years.  Prior to that it was apparently beautiful and very well-loved.  Anyway- the result is that we moved in and inherited what I like to think of as a project.

I have blogged before about what I like to call the "deconstruction phase".  This consisted of taking away 2 skip loads of dead stuff and several large bonfires.  The exciting news is that we are now in the "construction phase".  We have sourced some good water and piped it to The Farmhouse.  Then we got the reticulation system completely replaced which was super exciting.  And now, finally, after over a year of living here I get to plant stuff. I know, excitement!  I have been approaching the planting slowly and breaking the garden into little sections in my head.  If I try to imagine doing the whole thing at once   I have a mini-melt down and go inside to have a coffee or glass of wine depending on the time of day.

The first proper planting session we had was on the weekend.  Look - roses!

Roses and Mulch.

There are now lots of pale pink David Austen roses surrounding our verandah with a pale pink Pierre De Ronsard which should climb up the verandah post. At least that's the plan....  Everything is mulched to within an inch of its life.  Mulching makes everything looks so tidy and covers a multitude of sins in the weed department.  Hopefully the roses will do OK.  I know these varieties already grow well in other gardens around our district and we had a chat with the rose nursery man too.  Here's hoping.

Farmgirl has also been getting in on the gardening action.  She and I made a fairy garden on the weekend.  Several bags of pebbles from Bunnings and numerous dodgy (but much-loved by Farmgirl) garden ornaments produced this.

Fairy Garden. No Fairies Yet. Watch This Space Though.

Sissinghurst eat your heart out.

OK - so it is not super attractive but it is providing hours of entertainment for Farmgirl.

I am hoping that if I just do little bits of the garden at a time that eventually it will be restored to something like its former glory.  Fairy Garden not withstanding. ( I promise I will post photos of the roses when they look all pretty and rose-like as opposed to twigs sticking out of straw.)

The only other Farm news is that we have had our first snake encounter for the season.  I know - scary. Our builder and his offsider had far too close an encounter with a 6 foot tiger snake near the shearers' quarters.  The offsider was an Irish backpacker and the snake was close enough that he was caught in a bit of a corner. (A bad place to be.)  Fortunately our builder proved to be very handy with a piece of wood....  Our Irish backpacker was left with a good story to tell at the pub anyway.

Hope everyone had a good Tuesday.





11 comments:

Romy said...

Ah pale pink David Austin & Pierre de Ronsard.....what could be more gorgeous! I too am training PdR up veranda posts and they didn't take long at all so take heart! Mercifully, no snakes in my garden.....phew....have had a rabbit & possums though.....Rx

Beautiful House said...

Your stone walls are fabulous, I am still admiring them. I have many David Austin roses, they are stunning, this is their third season, and I am a big fan of mulching. Happy gardening.x

Mimsie said...

Found your blog on my daughters' blog so hope you don't mind me popping in. I was delighted about your story of the deconstruction and reconstruction of the garden which I think will be amazing when finished. I will look forward to pictures of roses in full bloom. :)

**Anne** said...

Fantastic to get a garden going once more with things in it that you like. I hate, hate, hate snakes, the joy of living country Western Australia.
Anne xx

Faux Fuchsia said...

Pierre will make you happy, LOVE the mulch!!!! Go in hard with the nitrogen and phosphogens x ps pls plant a zepherin drouphin for me x

A Farmer's Wife said...

Romy - I have high hopes for the Pierre De Ronsard.

Samantha - I really love the stone walls too. They were here when we came.

Mimsie - I am delighted to have you visit. Come back soon.

Anne - I am a snake hater too. Having precious small children and much loved pets I am so vigilant come summer. And surprisingly handy with a long piece of poly pipe if push comes to shove.

FF - Big mulch fan. Things die in WA summer without layers of it.

Unknown said...

It will be lovely! Sometimes it is hard to wait though! We are doing a lot of planting and then seeing what lives and planting more of that! I love roses too!

A Farmer's Wife said...

Annaleis - I hate waiting. I agree with your planting plan of wait and see what lives!

River said...

Your garden is going to be amazing a couple of years from now. for the fairy garden perhaps plant a few perrenials that have feathery soft foliage and blossoms that wave in the breeze on long stems? Gaura comes to mins, also love-in-a-mist.

Pauline said...

You and your daughter have so much to look forward to! I'm sure the fairies will come to both your gardens. And hope the snakes stay away.

Miss Nell said...

Even after growing up on a dairy farm, I still loathe snakes!! EWWW Good luck with the gardening we are about to move to an acre and I am stressing about the garden already!! lol