Saturday 1 December 2018

My poor neglected garden

As the past few weeks have been quite hectic with the renovations being carried out and a family member moving out, my garden has had to take a back seat apart from being watered. Before the renos began the CEO removed the kikuyu from the front garden which was quite high and, as he didn't want to use Roundup it proved to be quite a big job. Of course it is an ongoing procedure as it is such an invasive pest in the garden. At the same time he dug up some of the hundreds of dahlia bulbs he has planted over the years and replanted some of them and now they are starting to flower so hopefully we will have a few showers in the coming week to help them along. Firstly though starting tomorrow we have two hot days in the mid thirties before it cools down mid week. Our northern friends have been doing it tough with 40C days on the coast as well as inland plus there are currently 120 fires burning and to top it off it looks like a cyclone might be forming off the Queensland coast.




So far we have been spared from the extreme heat and the bushfires here in the south east of the state. I took a walk around the garden this morning to see how everything was going as we lost a few plants when the restumping, painting and other outside work was being done. I did move what I could that was growing in pots but some of those plants got quite a lot of dust on them as well as the odd bit of paint.




 I asked the builders when they were putting up the new stairs to try and save the hydrangea which was growing beside that area and although the bush is now a little smaller it has survived and is starting to flower. It did need a good prune anyway. LOL!



 This is what is left of my herb garden. That is rosemary under the wood in case you are wondering. I had hoped that one day the house would be painted so had most of the herbs growing in pots which I removed a number of times to get them away from the workers. Most have survived and eventually when all the work is done I will put them back in the same area as they get the shade in the afternoon in that section. I just put shade cloth over some of my plants and moved all the pots into the shade in preparation for the heatwave of the coming days.



 Instead of trying to sort out all the 'stuff' I have put in the pantry I had some down time today taking photos of bits and pieces. My friend Sally painted this magnet for me years ago and it fits in really well with the colours in the new kitchen.



I planted a number of roses this year that I bought at BigW around Mother's Day and this one really didn't like the wet days we had one week and the leaves were covered in black spot etc. the flowers looked terrible and I thought I would just pull it out and buy another one to replace it. I gave it a good talking to and said I would give it a second chance after cutting off the damaged leaves and now it is looking beautiful. That's what happens when renovations are being done....you start talking to your roses. LOL!



I am not the only one though as I noticed on Instagram that Meg from A House in the Hills who by the way grows the most beautiful roses, is also having difficulty coping with her kitchen renovations. I think it is because we are used to living the quiet life and it feels like an invasion when strange people are wandering through the house and the powertools are going and so on. I am finding that I can't cope with noise as I get older as well.  Of course we are privileged to be able to afford to get renovations done in the first place and, as everyone has said to me, it's a case of short term pain for long term gain. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel but now I believe the laundry is going to get a revamp, more painting needs to be done and the floorcoverings are in dire need of replacing before I trip and fall. Good grief!

Have a great weekend everyone and please pray for our northern neighbours in the firezones. 




 


13 comments:

  1. lovely colours there in the flowers, shame about the rosemary but it should spring back once all the wood is moved off
    heat wave for a week, it's been scorchers here the last few days, high 30s & i had 41 in my kitchen the other day too!
    not long now & you'll have your sanity back as well as a lovely kitchen to work in!
    thanx for sharing

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  2. Glad you are keeping safe there despite the heat, Selina. It should cool down soon...I hope.

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  3. Gardens and builders don’t go together very well. I sometimes think with nostalgia of how things were before the destruction but the new building is usually enough compensation.

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    1. I think I will rework my herb garden anyway and this time put the herbs in the ground once I know all the work has been finished and they are not likely to get trampled on again.

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  4. I love the comment about talking to the roses. I have a rose that I give a good talking to on a regular basis. It is called 'gift of grace" and I complain that it is a bit stingy with the gift -only 3 flowers this spring! Your first picture of the red flowers against the green splashback is so good! It is true that once you have done one renovation job, everything else that needs doing seems to be screaming: what about me? DH will have quite a few ongoing projects once the builders have gone from here.

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    1. Actually I took the photo of that rose one night before the renos started. I just put an old green covered book behind it and took a photo and it turned out really well. I was amazed. The splashback is more an apple green and lighter. I hope you are surviving your renos.

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  5. Hehee sometimes I too talk to my plants.

    I hope your Rosemary plant will grow back. I've heard that they are very resilient.

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    1. Yes Nil, I don't think the rosemary will be a problem. Currently I am having to keep moving the other herbs into the shade during this heatwave as I don't want to lose them and they are growing in pots and need a lot of water as we have had a hot wind as well.

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  6. Yes, the wind and heat is particularly brutal on our gardens as well. At least we don't have the renovations to contend with though. I'm grateful every day, that despite the heat and wind, we're fortunate not to also have to contend with fires. The smoke haze has moved into our area, but again, I can't complain. Because there are those closer to it, who have their lives disrupted in more profound ways.

    You have such beautiful flowers in your home. Here's hoping things return to normal in your garden soon. :)

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    1. Yes the fires were dreadful, Chris. They had unbelievable heat up north so no wonder there were so many fires. Thankfully it has cooled down now and there has been rain in some of the firezones. Stay safe down there and I hope we both get some rain this coming week.

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  7. I'm catching up with your life Chel. Love how your house is looking in your last post, and the colours and tiles you've chosen are wonderful. I like colour around the place. I had to giggle at your CEO's grumbles, and thanked my lucky stars I only have myself to please when it comes to what gets done and how. I'm just starting having my laundry tiled and painted, it all got put on the back burner after the flood, I couldn't face all that disruption. But ready now, so I've already had your problems of noise and dust everywhere. Hope your garden is surviving and picking up after the heat and wind.

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    1. Yes it should all be finished in the next couple of weeks, Nanette. The noise and dust is something else, isn't it? Some days I just had to get away from the noise as I am used to it being so quiet around here. We will have some respite for a few months and then the laundry will get a bit of work done on it and then much needed floor coverings will go down. Probably tiles in the toilet and laundry as there have been some left over.

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    2. My builder was apologetic and worried, he'd promised a friend to paint his new house, but didn't want to let me down......go, go I said, it's fine.....enjoying the quiet and not having anyone else in the house for a week or so lol We're funny old things :)

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