Friday 15 January 2016

Our Garden in Summer

When I was growing up my father owned a wholesale nursery, which he operated on a part time basis from our backyard. My mother was and still is, at the age of 95, an active and avid gardener. So I suppose gardening is in my genes.


Most of the things I show you are sewing related, but when I'm not sewing or blogging, more often than not, I can be found out in the garden. Today I thought I'd show you around our backyard.


Both Mr TMW and I enjoy walking around our rather large block (¾ acre), but Mr TMW doesn't count gardening as one of his hobbies. For me, it's a passion!!! He'll happily do heavy work  - constructing paths or moving things, but he dislikes re-doing things. The upside of this, is that I pretty much get to design the gardens however I want.


When we first moved here, there was no garden. Our block was a mass of weeds - lots of lantana, cobblers pegs, madeira vine and nut grass. Over the years, most of this has been removed, but there's still a small area that is yet to be tackled.


Our garden is a mix of plants and styles. It is continually changing and evolving depending on my mood at the time. I don’t think it will ever be finished, as there is always something I want to change or move, and that's part of the fun.


The black plastic is a bit of an experiment. In theory, it will remain for six months and when removed (and stored for future use), the ground will be devoid of weeds. We'll see if this works better than my usual method of chipping weeds out and mulching heavily. The plan is to extend a path and plant either side with deciduous trees, which will one day form an archway. 


As you can imagine, with our hot Summer weather (41ºC ~ 106ºF yesterday), managing water is a priority. Everything is heavily mulched and we supplement the town water with rain water and treated wastewater. 


As I wander around the garden, I derive much satisfaction and pleasure seeing plants that have been given to me by friends and family. My Mum has a much better success rate with getting cuttings to strike than I do and she will happily propagate plants for me. She's also great at raising plants from seed, something I am rarely able to do. Self seeding plants on the other hand I have a lot of luck with. The plants do all the hard work.


We are fortunate to live in a semi rural district, with our neighbours to the front and the back providing us with spectacular views of their farmland. 


Over the years, other interests have come and gone, but gardening has always played an important role in my life and I imagine, always will. Each morning I wake up and decide how I'll spend the day... will it be gardening and sewing, or sewing followed by gardening. How lucky am I!!!


Back to sewing next post...

... Pam

21 comments:

  1. Wow your garden is amazing. I garden too but on such a smaller scale than this!! Looking very lush for Australia

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  2. What a gorgeous garden Pam! Thanks for sharing it with us!!!

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  3. Thanks for sharing your lovely garden. In the dead of winter here, I am longing to see my garden and flowers.

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    1. Thanks, Thelma. I can't imagine not being able to see my garden all year round.

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  4. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful garden with us. It's no wonder you are such a sewing whiz, with all that invigorating yet relaxing greenery to gaze at out every window. Nature's inspiration is amazing!

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  5. Your garden is really lovely, Pam, thank you for sharing it!! :)

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  6. That's not a garden, it's park land! Wow, I am so impressed. I have a really small yard. If I can keep the grass growing, I think I'm golden. Just beautiful, Pam. I particularly love the little water-filled bowl with grass. A little piece that packs a big decorating punch.

    Your black plastic should surely do the trick. It's a much easier way if you have the patience to wait.

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  7. Your yard and gardens are beautiful, Pam, and how very blessed you are to have your mother at 95 still able to get out and do some gardening! Amazing. I so very much enjoyed your lovely post with the blooms and greenery since it has been quite damp, cold and windy here in South Carolina. Can you imagine, there is even a hurricane brewing in the Atlantic right now? A very unusual occurence for January here!

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  8. I am amazed at the beauty you show us, do you also grow some herbs or fruit in your garden ? mirjam

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  9. You have a very big garden space!! I have tried many times from seeds and somehow got good results as well considering that I am an amateurish gardener. I have only potted plants and over the years seeing beautiful gardens on blogland, I increased mine too. Now, I am not able to manage at all:(

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  10. So glad I got to see another beautiful part of your world. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I love your garden! It looks like a lovely place to wander or to sit in reading a book or spending time with friends/family. One day, I hope to have a space like that.

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  12. Wow Pam what a gorgeous garden! I especially love that plumeria in the last photo. I love the scent of plumeria and the pretty flowers in yellow or pink. I only have seen them growing in Hawaii. You live in beautiful spot.

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  13. Your garden is beautiful, I love that you have so many trees, and I'm guessing that must be good for shade with you in those temperatures. I've done the black plastic and found it's worked well, so fingers crossed for you. You must have worked so hard over the years to create what you have from nothing. Do you grow any vegetables or is it more flowers generally? And definitely throw us in a garden post every now and then, I need a bit of a gardening fix regularly during our Winter!

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  14. What a coincidence - the colour of the flower in your last picture, is the colour of our yard ... and driveway ... and porch steps!!! I suspect our white is a lot colder than yours, though, lol! Hard decision - gardening and sewing, or sewing and gardening - you poor thing! ;)

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  15. Thank you for sharing your beautiful property with us , it looks like a park and would be a wonderful place to spend the day . Just gorgeous !

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  16. Oh it is so beautiful :) I can not wait to see flowers again ..

    Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays

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  17. Your garden is beautiful! And your mother sounds amazing...wow 95 and gardening? How wonderful that you share the same interest with your mother. Love the plumeria photo!

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  18. Lovely garden. I live in Queensland and we are suffering now from lack of water, even though we have a water bore on the property that we use on our large garden. Mu husband is very much into the 'vegetable' thing, so that garden receives a lot of attention.

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