Garden Update

I've taken various photos of our garden over the last couple of months, so these are rather random.

THE FRONT

Out the front things are slowly progressing.  All gardens need a fountain, don't they, so Mick installed one......

OK, this may not be your usual garden fountain, but he found it at the charity shop at the tip and brought it home.  You can't have too much rust can you?  It has a big crack down the back of it and no base, so good for nothing else.

Notice also the tree root at the back of the garden.  This has lived in Mum's garden since the late 70s.  It is nice that it has found a new home.  Also, that pointy rock was in her garden.

Mick announced that he didn't want roses in the garden, but I had different ideas.  A compromise was easily achieved.  We would plant one standard rose in the little front garden.  I would have a rose and Mick would not rub up against any thorns when mowing.  Win, win.  So, what variety to choose?  Eventually we settled on "Peace".  It is a beautiful rose and we had one in our first garden.

It hasn't been very prolific this season, but that is to be expected, being a new plant and we have had some horrid hot westerly winds, but in the last couple of weeks it has started to really take off.

I'm pleased we chose this variety.

THE VEGES

Our raised garden beds have gone well, but not quite as well as expected.  We think the soil we got wasn't as good as what we received when we put in our last lot of raised bed.  The soil has now settled quite a bit, so in winter we will add some mushroom compost, which should be good for next year.

We didn't get to harvest any tomatoes for Christmas, but picked our first a week or so later.  They are coming on thick and fast now.

Our one zucchini plant has done well.  We've had to come up with all sorts of ways to use them.  They are just starting to come to the end of their run.

THE SIDE GARDEN

The garden we planted beside the shed is doing well.  Being mainly small plants there aren't that many flowers this year, but the plants are generally doing well and growing, despite the hot weather.  They are well mulched and we are keeping the water up to them.

The tiger lily actually comes from the garden outside Mum's retirement unit.  In spring heaps of them came up, so we transplanted one.  It is lovely.  

I don't know what this is.  You can see the plant behind the tiger lily.  They are bulbs and the flower is really pretty.  It came from Mum's old front garden.

And Tweedia.  I saw this in a little pot at a market stall and it took me back to my childhood.  Mum used to grow them.  I haven't seen them in years.  They have the pretty blue flowers, but the bit that I remember most and used to fascinate me is the seed pods.  I'll have to show some when they appear.  They are kind of like a bean, but if your break them open they have this sticky, milky fluid in them.  If you leave them alone they end up opening and having fine fluffy seeds.

The other day, when I was watering I notice a few tiny, delicate mushrooms.  There have been a few more since.  Not what you expect in this weather.