GARDEN GLIMPSES 6

This is the corner between the laurel tree and compost bin up the side of the garden. I spent ten minutes tidying it up - by removing a roll of chicken wire. My dad must have made some sort of makeshift wire fence - for some unknown reason. Attached to it were green wire tying it to three poles and a piece of short plastic fencing. This is all piled up ready for the next tip trip. 

The pond is doing well. Although there still appears to be a lot of algae on the surface, it is a lot better than it was previously. You can see the water through the algae now. I re-piled rocks around the edge at the far end, as the lining was coming away a bit. You can also see where i yanked out some pond irises and replanted just a few - the clump was massive previously and quite took over the corner.

Moving along to my veg plot - as you can see, along with the weeds, 6 potatoes are doing well and a few mooli. The leeks and marigolds did not surface. My next job is just as disheartening as the pink n white room is indoors. I want to tidy and clear the patio so that I can take a stool outside and sit out there with a coffee sometimes. Chairs for sale - 4 green plastic garden chairs anyone?

FALL CLEANSINGS 20

Fall has now descended upon us, yet the fairly-mild weather has allowed much to happen in the yard and house. Or at least it would have done had I not fallen into a spot of being unwell with infections and flu.

My friend gave me a lift to the tip, clearing the junk from the side of the house in mid-September and I have felt full of energy for several days. Having lived so many years in Australia, it feels like spring cleaning season to me - so that is why my energy became actions indoors. The tip-trip also removed a few items from the pink n white room, allowing me to 'begin' to clear and clean. From the following rather poor lighted video, I think you will see that I have quite a job on my hands, though. 

 

I began by sweeping all uninhabited cobwebs from the ceiling. Alas, many still had spiders dwelling in them and had to be left for now. Next, I wiped over the socket, tubing, heater, and part of the door. This made a slight difference in appearance and a great difference in smell to the room. Then, I shook out the two linoleum mats - alas this had little effect, as they had stains and dried mud stuck on them. Finally, I swept the floor...

It doesn't look that much better. The next day, I carried part-pots and unused pots of paint to the shed, shook out the rug, and re-swept - but it still does not look much better.

One area I have tidied up for fall is the entryway near the front door. This has been painted and cleaned before and now I have added a tee-light burner to the sill. It is really a Christmas decoration, so will be replaced eventually - possibly by an aromatheraphy oil burner.

 

I was hoping to buy a pasta-dish to add to my collection of kitchenware. Today, at the store, I spotted one. Right shape, color, size... but alas, 'made in China' adorned the base - so it went back onto the shelf.

GARDEN GLIMPSES 5

In the front yard, I have had a weekly snipping of brambles. Additionally, I have recently - during the second half of August - started to prune the hedges.

Among the small treasures that I have discovered I now own due to inheritance, are this small begonia. It shines out brightly among the now-dead weeds that I gradually clear.

I may take it down to the graveyard to deposit upon my parents grave in due course - or may not. I have the idea to empty out the fuchsia plant and hyacinth bulb from pot into the container tray itself, and add a plant or two - then leave and ignore it. This may sound rough, but I personally do not care to attend to 'bones n stones' - once a being dies, they move on to a new life - no longer inhabiting the bones or ash of the previous body - so, for me at least, I prefer to ignore the 'left behind' bits and get on with it - possibly tracing their new lives, if I choose to. My parents were both Christian, not Buddhist - so I suppose I ought at least to leave some permanent plants on site, in recognition of their own faith before ignoring their historical remains.

Onto less morbid matters - in the front yard, one plant that has done wonders this year is the passionfruit. As you can see, it has outgrown itself! Covering the cotoneaster, it produced multiple flowers - more than it has done in any year since I have returned to the residence. I have yet to see any fruit this year, but have hopes! (Since originally writing this post a week or two ago, there have now appeared 6 fruits)

Since taking the photos, I have since fixed a second veg plot up ready for a second-season growth and planted the two patches combined with 5 orla spuds, half a packet of leek seeds, half a packet of calendula seeds, and half a packet of mooli seeds.

GARDEN GLIMPSES 4

In the garden things are progressing far more rapidly than indoors with renovations/decorating/reorganizing. From this next photo, you will see that I have begun to weed, crop, dig over, and replant my veg plots. I cropped a half dozen spuds and 2 broad beans from this area alone. The next area to work on during August was the pond - seriously in need of a major overhaul. 

From my mud-stained t-shirt and filthy trackpants, you would have assumed  that 'some attention' was paid to the pond. My father had probably not attended to it at all within the past decade...

I cleared out 2 dozen buckets smelly muddy water, half the main pond plant, and 9/10th the pond-side lily plant. I then tossed in 2 dozen buckets fresh water. This has resulted in a more-water, less-plant pond ratio, enabling clearer water to be within the pond...but...the algae is yet to be removed. 

It has also allowed more visibility of the pond, with less green stuff obliterating the view. I figure that in time, if I continue my 6-10 buckets of clearage/refill per week, and sweeping the pond surface, the algae should eventually be under control, allowing for a decent habitat for our frogs.

As I post this, the pond has indeed lost much of the algae and contains a minimum of 4 frogs. I have been sweeping the algae clear every 3-4 days and dumping some scoops along with pond mud/leaves onto my newly growing potatoes...

 

SUMMER SLOSHING 9

Completing the summer months of June - August, I began to feel inclined toward more internal activity. The Pink n White room called out for attention - my only reason for not donating such was laziness PLUS the fact that I could not go much further until selling both the recliner chair and boxes of books anyway...

I did reorder the geraniums in my bedroom, however. In the 'spare room' a little progress was obtained, by my sorting out several boxes/drawers of 'stuff' that I had inherited from my junk-hoarding parents. I had finally cleared ONE corner of the room, where I stashed the two tubs of unwanted paint I had been given by my friend Liz, which would be ideal for this room due to being of suitable match to the curtains which I planned to retain. I also still have Liz's wallpaper-stripping-machine - and saw/scraper!

However this is about as far as I got. I was informed by 2-3 sources, that sales at Ebay/Gumtree/Craigslist/etc would be slow or non-existent until school resumed in September. I have cancelled my Ebay account - due to their having rather high fees and somewhat troublesome customers. The loss of gain and the difficulty with selling coupled to make it unworthwhile. I am pursuing Gumtree and Facebook as hopeful sales points, with Craigslist an outsider option. 

As soon as I can shift both the recliner chair and boxes of books, I will have sufficient space to clean/tidy the Pink n White room, therefore removing the lino and TV table from the spare room. This will mean that both rooms will be able to progress to their next stage. I will be able to clean/tidy/rearrange the P'N'W room, and shove the remainder of the spare room int the center, so as to paper-strip, paint this room. Until such time as i can shift the chair/books, I am stuck...

 

SUMMER SLOSHING 8

August was also fairly eventful indoors. My gooseberry & ginger wine is still frothing but not bubbliing away under the kitchen table. I have now amassed 4 empty wine bottles in preparation for its end product. I am uncertain as to how long it will take, but hopefully enough time for me to purchase a clean siphon and change from one wine-making jar to the other, empty and rinse the first and begin a second wine - ready to transfer to the other wine jar when the first batch is bottled.

I also tackled 2 boxes, 2 drawers and a suitcase filled with magazines, letters, papers, etc. I was assisted by a coffee and open front door... As you can see from this next picture, most of that bag was garbage - with a lot of very old stampos going to charity and a few papers worth scanning and donating to my son - or a museum!

I am gradually getting through the enormous task of clearing the spare room - but I cannot go much further until somebody purchases the recliner chair and 11 boxes of books. THEN I can tackle the pink and white room, removing the tv table and linoleum from the spare room. Once that is done, everything left can be shoved into the room center, the sofa can be hacked to bits and taken to the dump, and I can begin to strip wallpaper and paint!

GARDEN GLIMPSES 3

This was my veggie patch - with a now invisible path running down the center. I have begun to tidy it a little in preparation for cropping and a final seasonal plant. I have beans and potatoes growing under the bindweed and other weeds. Some of the weeds are good for compost and will end up in the tub, but the rest will be hacked out and thrown to dry and die in a corner. I will harvest the crops, dig the area over and hopefully plant some radish or over-winter crops within the upcoming week. I did plot to do this today, but it began to rain. Here you can see how far I got. I have begun to clear the area around my strawberries and mint. Next step is to go further along...

...which I did a few days later. Only 2 days ago (from time of writing), I dug over the second area of veg plot as well, meaning that two thirds of my veg plots are now weeded, dug over, cropped, and replanted! I currently have calendula, Japanese radish, potatoes, and leek planted.

As you can see in the above picture, the miniature cyclamen have popped out along with a late showing of baby violets.

As shown in this picture, the bramley tree still produces much fruit. I managed to crop almost 2 dozen apples with the help of the long handled pruner prior to their becoming windfalls. Half of these were given to a friend and the rest stewed and frozen. Apples are not my fruit of favor, and I tend to only eat a little at a time.