Where does time go??
One moment I'm thinking of doing a start-of-spring garden update, the next it's the end of September.
So, spring arrived right on schedule. The daffodils had already finished, but plenty of other things have been opening up to replace them. I'm very happy with how the front yard is coming along, I have a nice view from my office window. Difficult to photograph though.
As usual, the ornamental apple tree looks amazing covered with blossoms, and when standing under it on a sunny day you are surrounded by the hum of bees (who've just showed up, after being quite absent the first few weeks of spring). The cherry got pruned back severely so it is much less impressive.
This last week the ranunculus bulbs have begun to flower, adding more bright orange to the garden, and the bush that keeps falling over is a mass of purple flowers. The first roses are appearing, driveway camelias are in full bloom. The front yard is smelling very good right now.
Out the back, my snowpeas have finally flowered and begun producing peas. I seem to have more lettuce than I know what to do with, and some of the cabbages are still alive, which is unprecedented.
There's an inspect spray based on garlic and chilli that seems to be very effective at stopping things from being eaten. It even works on the camelia that keeps being eaten, but I have to respray it regularly so I need to further scale up my application system if I want a leafy camelia.
I've been letting the chooks forage outside the back fence. They can't do much damage there, and I figure it's good if they keep the grass down. There is still a lot of long grass, but they are gradually making an impact and the area immediately outside our gate and under the rosebush is well maintained now.
Ducks are frequent visitors to the creek outside our back gate. There is a pair of Pacific Black ducks who were happily flirting with each other one sunny morning when I was out there. More recently they were bathing, and seemed to be really enjoying life and having fun.
There is also a Chestnut Teal family, two adults and 5 fluffy chicks who are quite dark in colour so you'll have to look closely at the photo to see them against the water.
The ravens have apparently nested somewhere out there as well. Recently I walked up the path a bit and met their fledgling, who was on the ground and apparently having trouble getting up again, not least because it was being attacked my noisy miners and magpies. The parents were doing a good job of fighting them off, but every now and then they would be overwhelmed and someone would get through.
I didn't want to interfere, but the ravens are family now. When a magpie sent the poor little one rolling along the ground I moved to stand near it as a deterrent. The fledgling eventually hopped into a more sheltered position, the other birds moved away, and the parents sat in nearby trees keeping watch, so I left them to it.
I'm assuming it eventually managed to fly back to the nest, there being no further sign of it on the ground.
The ravens are still regular visitors to the chookhouse cafe. They've been arguing with the currawongs about who owns that patch, but seem to have mostly agreed on a time share arrangement so we usually have just one pair or the other at a time.
So, spring arrived right on schedule. The daffodils had already finished, but plenty of other things have been opening up to replace them. I'm very happy with how the front yard is coming along, I have a nice view from my office window. Difficult to photograph though.
As usual, the ornamental apple tree looks amazing covered with blossoms, and when standing under it on a sunny day you are surrounded by the hum of bees (who've just showed up, after being quite absent the first few weeks of spring). The cherry got pruned back severely so it is much less impressive.
This last week the ranunculus bulbs have begun to flower, adding more bright orange to the garden, and the bush that keeps falling over is a mass of purple flowers. The first roses are appearing, driveway camelias are in full bloom. The front yard is smelling very good right now.
Out the back, my snowpeas have finally flowered and begun producing peas. I seem to have more lettuce than I know what to do with, and some of the cabbages are still alive, which is unprecedented.
There's an inspect spray based on garlic and chilli that seems to be very effective at stopping things from being eaten. It even works on the camelia that keeps being eaten, but I have to respray it regularly so I need to further scale up my application system if I want a leafy camelia.
I've been letting the chooks forage outside the back fence. They can't do much damage there, and I figure it's good if they keep the grass down. There is still a lot of long grass, but they are gradually making an impact and the area immediately outside our gate and under the rosebush is well maintained now.
Ducks are frequent visitors to the creek outside our back gate. There is a pair of Pacific Black ducks who were happily flirting with each other one sunny morning when I was out there. More recently they were bathing, and seemed to be really enjoying life and having fun.
There is also a Chestnut Teal family, two adults and 5 fluffy chicks who are quite dark in colour so you'll have to look closely at the photo to see them against the water.
The ravens have apparently nested somewhere out there as well. Recently I walked up the path a bit and met their fledgling, who was on the ground and apparently having trouble getting up again, not least because it was being attacked my noisy miners and magpies. The parents were doing a good job of fighting them off, but every now and then they would be overwhelmed and someone would get through.
I didn't want to interfere, but the ravens are family now. When a magpie sent the poor little one rolling along the ground I moved to stand near it as a deterrent. The fledgling eventually hopped into a more sheltered position, the other birds moved away, and the parents sat in nearby trees keeping watch, so I left them to it.
I'm assuming it eventually managed to fly back to the nest, there being no further sign of it on the ground.
The ravens are still regular visitors to the chookhouse cafe. They've been arguing with the currawongs about who owns that patch, but seem to have mostly agreed on a time share arrangement so we usually have just one pair or the other at a time.