January, 2014

Happy New Year.  2014, How time flies.

 Everything is bubbling along.
We still have a couple of rooms to paint.  Perhaps these holidays.
Our office/junkroom is well over due for a clean up and tidy up.  I know there are papers I've had stored for the past 5 years that need to be dumped and we have enough "stuff" in the garage for a big tip trip in the next few weeks when G has some holidays. 
  As usual the garden still needs lots of work.  G spends a lot of time whippersnipping to keep the weed grasses down over the leech drains.

We've begun some more planting over the leech drains. a bit of a mixture including boronia, somegrevilleas, kangaroo paws as well as canna's ( Including one of the ones we received from  my MIL). These all seem to have settled in well.  I had a bit of excitement as I dug into the sand to plant some cannas I'd bought at a local market.   Managed to dig up a tiny frog who was very startled.


















We've also had our fencing man in to complete the last of our colorbond good neighbour fencing and to install some pool fencing as we decided it was time to finally purchase a spa.   It's looking a little bare around the spa A.T.M.  hopefully some (currently) small golden cane palms we've bought will  green it up a bit.















As you can see, without the fencing we'd be very exposed. There is a new house going up directly across from our back yard which is the reason we've finally  gone ahead with the extra fencing.

We've also started our next hedging/privacy planting along  ground above the leech drains so that eventually we'll have privacy in the alfresco area.  A row of leucadendrons which should grow to around 2m. Right now they are very small but leuc's seems to grow well here.   I've another 5 in put in yet.  Digging in the rocky ground isn't easy so I've enlisted the help of youngest son and he's  going to dig the holes for me.  He's already  dug one hole large enough for me to plant a fairy magnolia and that's gone in already.
This poor dwarf granny smith apple tree is struggling under the weight of the apples.  I've already removed over 10 apples and teh dog has removed a few more. The 2nd pic is of the Pink lady apple tree.  The bugs and parrots seem to prefer these apples. I don't think we are going to get any from it at all.  Will need to considered some nets for next year

We have a large frog who seems determined to be part of the family. We think it's a motorbike frog.  He/She comes around most evenings.  The other night he obviously wanted to get closer to the spa. Perhaps he wanted a dip./  G discovered him hiding in the toe of his shoe  when he went to put them on after being in the spa.  ewww.

We've also discovered the spa is very nice early in the morning.  If we wake up early enough ( pref before 6)  the sun is below the fence line and it makes for a comfy, relaxed start to the day.  This was us a little later on Christmas morning enjoying a cuppa.

We have no intention of covering the spa with permanent shade as lying out, looking at the stars is one of the best bonuses about being out of suburbia.  We might invest in an umbrella at some stage however. Investigations still  to be completed.

Update, so late

I hadn't realised how long it had been since my last update until I went to update some garden info elsewhere so here goes.
 I'm going to steal some updates from Homeone.


Sun May 26th- Was having a wander after planting a few more things today and discovered our pincushion hakeas are starting to flower.

Part of the hakea line. plants range in height from approx 60 cms to 2.5 m with most around the 1.6 m.

Little row of dwarf nandina's in front of the new fence.

 

Ground covers in.  Spare bricks removed. Sugar cane mulch down.

  

August:

   I went  to the Nannup Tulip Festival and had a quick look around after performing with our local Choir in one of the tents.

There was a lovely display set up in the hall.

 

and a wonderful town entry display.

 

Wed Oct 9th

My posts on this thread have been few. I'm still unable to do a significant amount of work in the garden due to my back surgery in January. The weeds have/had taken over most of the front yard. I did manage to shift 4 of the roses and they are now beginning to bloom. I heard today about using banana skins to deter aphids so I'm going to give it a go. The roses have a bit of black spot as well so I'll be looking at treating that if the weather decides to play nice for a few more days and stay dry. we've had a very wet start to Spring here. Great for plant establishment but unfortunately also great for the weeds and blackspot on roses.

The lawn is overwhelmed with weeds. It hasn't had a good weeding for nearly a year. DH has vowed to spray it as it's so bad but it's been too wet.

Last week noting my despair he attacked the weeds in the smaller of the 2 side beds in the front and whippersnippered and weeded it. He then spread mulch over the bed.
It's looking far better at the moment.

Out the back we've planted a new lemon, "Eureka." Lots of thorns but delicious lemons.
A sublime lime. Both have been planted in the damp area below the leech drains. Hopefully they can soak up some of the moisture.

We've also planted a variety of wet/damp loving roo paws, and other plants in and around the leech drains including some damp loving boronias to try and help manage the bog that was the result of our extremely damp last couple of months. there are lots of weedy grass patches and DH has decided to keep them, hopefully tamed but still growing as the dog loves romping in them and it's better than having to chop them every week and putting up with a leech drain smelling dog from boggy bare earth.

The sole roo paw in our back garden has again flowered.
The mulberry "tree" ok stick is fruiting.
Both apple trees have survived 9 we think) though they are only just getting leaves back.
The native orchard spikes are beginning to appear and we continue to plant little tube stock natives under the trees. ( another 4 or so recently) though sometimes, missing my azaleas I'm tempted to drop in a couple of them. ( haven't succumbed yet)

Pets are happy.

 

Pet's are happy.

 Except when they think they will get to enjoy some sunshine and it starts to rain.

Fog 2 weeks ago. looking back towards the house.

And it goes on

Well the new fencing looks fantastic. G has recently completed ( bar cuts) a small path along the front of the house. We went to  the Small Farm Field Day in Balingup  last weekend and bought some ground covers to protect the soil as it drops down from the rose garden to the path.  Now we just need to move the additional soil elsewhere ( hmm  side garden??? and we can plant the ground covers  out). There's quite a bit more soil against the bricks than shown in the pic below now that hubby has finished the paving path.  We need to get a new wheel for the barrow before the soil can be shifted.

The bricks will be used for a new wicking bed around the side of the house as I plan to remove what's left of the veggie garden out the front.
Once the soil is moved I can order some blue metal for against the house and for the wicking beds.

See here for some wicking bed ideas.
This post is from Homeone.com.au

I've been researching this topic recently as I'm planning to move my veggie beds from the front garden into a dedicated area out the back. I have been wanting to do some wicking beds but was put off by the cost of the water cubes used. I've found a few more ways to do this. Here are some links in case anyone else is interested.

Original inspiration from Costa.

http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/costa/listings/detail/i/1/article/6172/wicking-garden-beds

Using ag pipe, stormwater pipe and even plastic storage crates.
wicking bed you tube clips
http://www.youtube.com/user/colinaustin1000/videos?view=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5fkvcEH_CA
http://www.youtube.com/user/WaterInstallations?feature=watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwh2BQ3BBmI







http://milkwood.net/2010/05/11/how_to_make_a_wicking_bed/

http://www.creativepumps.com.au/zpumps/pond_liner/epdm-pondliner/epdm-1mm-pondliner.htm

http://www.merribeeorganicfarm.net.au/

http://wickingbed.com/


http://www.urbanfoodgarden.org/main/wicking-beds/wicking-beds.htm

http://shecooksshegardens.com/2012/10/wicking_bed/ This link to a blog is refusing to working this morning but the link usually works.




Related PDF's

http://www.mvcc.vic.gov.au/for-residents/environment-programs/my-smart-garden/~/media/Files/ForResidents/Environment/My%20Smart%20Gardens/Wicking_Bed_Fact_Sheet_Feb%202012.ashx
http://earthwisewa.org/pages/wicking.pdf
http://permaculturewest.org.au/resources/pw-wicking-beds.pdf
http://www.waterright.com.au/wicking_bed_technology.pdf

Some links to previous threads on Homeone.
Lonnie:http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=38476&hilit=wicking+bed

Petar:
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=52776&hilit=wicking+bed
Petars fabulous Wordpress blog link. It has a list of more links at the bottom of his blog page.
http://pkozul.wordpress.com/gardening/wicking-beds/

Almost there. Just a little further.

We finally decided to get some fencing quotes for the next fencing project.  Price came back and was pretty darn good so  we got to, organising  the fencing man. Trouble was he wanted to do it a week earlier than we could be ready so there was a lot of frantic clearing of pavers off the wall , weeding and paving done by G.  There is still about a 1 metre to go paving wise. But the fence looks fantastic.    Riversand framework and primrose( cream) panel and lattice.   We like it so much I think we will end up continuing it on in for the rest of the retaining wall but in a 1.2m height.

Temporary fence has since been removed. I'll replace this picture later today with one without the temp fence.

  We still have to fill in the gap between the house and paving and G has 3 paths to lay but these are minor in comparison to the huge expanses of paving already completed.


Of my back: I've been officially discharged from the care of the back surgeon. His comment was that when they opened me up they were astonished that I had been able to walk.  I need to get on to a physio soon and  get more strength building  exercises.  I'm still not doing much garden or otherwise. Though I did manage to plant 5 things yesterday  I wasn't ready to risk using a shovel so the holes were dug with a trowel. I also managed to remove one of the steel temp fencing posts by myself.  It was still enough exercise to make me a little achy last night. I'll have to be careful to not lift anything heavy for a few more months and to take each day as it comes.  The surgeon said there is still the possibility I might need further surgery later and to come see him if I have back pain later on. All up to me now.   He was very surprised at how stable I was and that I was able to walk nearly 5 kms within 3 weeks of surgery, get out of a straight chair just using my  legs etc. etc.

13 days post op.

Well I'm alive, kicking  and almost bored silly.   I'm gradually watching all  my favourite tv shows and movie collection. The operation was a huge success.  The entire cyst was removed. It was "well adhered" according to the surgeons notes for the physio.  Apart from some terrible pain and discomfort for the first day or so from the surgery  and a few minor post op effects I was 100% straight away.  None of the pre op pain existed from straight away.    It's now 13 days later.  I get tired quickly if I walk and can't go far yet. The first week going to the shops with G  meant I was shattered after 30 mins  from trying to stand and walk nice and straight etc.  I can feel the area that was operated on when I lie flat on my back. As in, I'm aware of it.  But no pain.  On a bad back day it feels like I've  over done the gardening and my back is left aching.  But that is less and less. The 23 staples were removed last Monday, exactly a week after the surgery. If some people go back to work after 3 weeks which would be in 8 days from now I can't see how I can't start doing more  in another week.  But I'll have to wait and see. I haven't been in a car for any great distance since returning home from the hospital.  That was done on 3 stages of 50 mins or so with back support and stops for a 10 mins stand and walk break. However I intend to get the youngest to take me to work on Thursday so I can talk to the teacher who will have my class and do a bit of a handover. She will also be my Friday job share teacher as we've decided I am going to only work 4 days a week from now on. I guess that means they are now, OUR class. Yippeee. 
Lying on my stomach is still far too uncomfortable and I was told not to do it but not for how long not to.  It is the same with all the other restrictions. told not to do them but not for how long.  I just have to stop myself  bending( a no no) or doing anything I'm not meant to.   No gardening, cleaning, cooking, washing, hanging washing etc.  hmm  well I've been making sandwiches for lunch since day 4.  Have cooked dinner twice.  The first time I was a bit tired by the time   prep was over.  But I've managed to cook a couple of cakes etc.  which is something I always try to do when on holidays. I am looking forward to seeing the physio next week hopefully although I haven't had a notice yet so I'm not sure when I'll be contacted.  I hope that the physio might be able to advise when I can start driving. I certainly can't imagine not driving for another 6 weeks.   Hopefully I'll get a letter with my post op appointment for  mid Feb soon.  Whilst it might not be 100% wise to drive yet I am not that limited and could do it easily.   I try not to twist or bend  as per surgeons instructions but of course sometimes you do.  There is no pain. Not to say that  it isn't stopping the healing process though. so very frustrating and I do try to limit the times I do it.
Poor dog and cat are  waiting  to be fed atm as I chose to bake for breakfast instead of feed them. I figure that's my "bend" for the morning.  I'll get eldest up soon to give them food.


The yard:
  The lawn was given a serious weeding by me before I left for the operation. It was also given a good dose of a soil wetter and minerals to try and help it out over the very hot patch and a seasol and molasses treatment.  I can see the weeds coming back. I know better than to try and weed although I've pulled out a couple of weeds that taunted me too much for me to stand.  1-5 good.   15  not so good. Won't do that again but I guess I could use a weed wand and poison them.
I am hoping to talk one of the boys into doing some gardening for me today. A few bits that are really annoying me. I guess it depends on how warm it gets though.
As the weather has been really warm G has taken the opportunity to have a break from paving but  I know he wants to get back into it and get it over with.   It will be good to see it all done. It's  a mammoth task.  Most garden work atm consists of watering to keep everything alive during this very warm period.

What's Happening

Well after my last post the painter returned and repainted the ceilings and touched up the wall where the plasterer had left fresh  plaster.   So far the  ceiling looks good. When the painter was here he noticed that part of the alfresco ceiling is  dropping. So now we've had to let the builders know about that of course we've had no response yet. so another thing to chase up.

G has had his traineeship extended by another 6 months. Woohoo and I'm dropping to 4 days a week at work starting next year.  We are all waiting  anxiously for eldest to get his exam results on NYE so we know what he is doing next year.

Wattle ( dog)  has now sired 12 pups all up.  6 in Wagga Wagga and 6 here a few months ago. His semen  was set over  and was successfully implanted in a chocolate labradoodle in Wagga Wagga.   The 6 were born on Dec 13th.  4 black and 2 brown.  4 girls and 2 males.

The weeds are going great guns here. I've spent a good part of the last few days  removing as many as I could from the front lawn. Yesterday G mowed it and today I've given it a dose of Seasol and Powerfeed.    Hopefully it will be enough to help the bare patches get some lawn growth soon.
I'm getting pretty desperate about sorting out the garden a bit more before mid January.  Just realised I had mentioned several post back about my back hurting. Well surgery is imminent. I really shouldn't be doing any gardening or anything heavy or involving sudden movements. As G pointed out today I should be on my back with an icepack.  I probably will be in  the next day or so as I just discovered today I've been taking slightly stronger pain meds ( pinched some of G's old ones thinking they were the same dosage as what I had been taking) and I've run out and am back to my usual ones as of today.  My back problem turned out to be a synovial cyst crushing all the nerve fibers  in my spinal cavity but below the actual spinal cord.  Surgery date is 14th of Jan and from what I can google I wont be driving for  6 weeks or so as the surgeon at this stage is not only planning to drain the cyst but also perform a laminectomy.( cutting into the lamina) I'm getting a little scared about afterwards atm.   I don't think I'll be back at work until at least the end of February

G has been paving again.  Right now he is filling in some gaps, doing cut-ins.

It's almost time to make some decisions about fencing on  the retaining wall. Looks like we'll get some quotes and then decide if we'll do the job ourselves or save to get someone else to do it. In the meantime G has decided to continue paving. He'll leave space for fencing posts to be added in at a later stage.  then once they are in the paving can be laid in the gaps left.

As you can see we bought 2 more garden benches for this area.  They look terrific.

So it begins.. again

The plasterer came this morning.  He's fixed in a heap of screws running in about 800mm from the side wall ( load bearing wall) on each joist(?) where the falling down plaster board is.  He's also  fixed screws to either side of the long plaster board gaps in the  kitchen and family room sections of the room. Red line is where the plaster was falling down. Green lines are where there are large enough cracks in the plaster boards for repairs to once again be done.

The plasterer is going to return on Wednesday.  he says at around 9.  Lets hope he's there then and I'm not spending my entire day waiting for him. Of course this return is for him to skim and flatten the boards. Then he has to return to sand which will be messy. Then someone else will have to come and repaint. It's a big area.   The ceiling runs through without any cornice or door frames all the way into the kids activiity room.  So it might all need to be repainted.

Slight hiccup

Thursday night, tucked up in bed when Hubby dashes past the bedroom and heads out to the garage.
"Ceiling is falling down!" he exclaims as he rushes past.

It seems the dramas with our ceilings are not yet over.
We'd been watching as the cracks had gotten worse in several of the ceiling board joints once again  but this was /is something else.
It might be the glue or just another example of poor workmanship from the plasterers.
One length of wall in the games room, right above several  computers has come away from whatever holds it up.  Not just the cornice but the plaster board. It's a length of about 5m. At worst it drops about 10 cm.
 So yesterday morning a call was made to the maintenance supervisor, "D"  He sounded fairly relaxed about it when Hubby called him on his mobile. But 10 minutes later , I'm guessing after arriving at work, and checking our our build history he called back, a little less complacent. He said he'd be out with someone else as well.  True to his word they both arrived within 2 hours.
They also took a good look at the cracked plaster joins. So the plasterer will be expected to return. fix the problem, including redoing all the cracked board joints.  Here's hoping this time he and his workers actually don't make as much mess.  Fingers crossed they will actually call and organise times to come rather than just turn up and expect to be let in without notice as they did last time. We've sent an email to "D" with the times it suits us for the next week to have someone come out.  Eldest has 4 exams next week, I have chiro appointments etc. So they will have to work around us. Last time was a pain in the...  
So lots of additional screws into the plaster board, repatching and repainting. Again! I hope it doesn't drag on over 8 months this time. G put up some pipe and used 2 brooms to stop the ceiling from slipping further and hold it in place on Thursday night. Hopefully today the plasterer will call and come and add some screws to hold it in place.

Updated About US

Just over 5 1/2 years ago we decided to move away from the city to live in a smaller community.  I applied for a transfer and got one to start the following year. So we packed up and headed several hours south and ended up about 35 kms from the coast in a small rural township. We bought 3/4 of a acre in town and over the next year built a new home. Work = 120 kms round trip each day through some beautiful country.

Life is busy and very full. My husband started a new job this year with a 12 month  traineeship at the local community centre. It involves some study as well. Trying to update his C.V with current experience and references was pretty tricky having only worked pt for a couple of years stacking shelves after 11yrs of FT House-Dading and keeping us all sane. Hopefully the traineeship will lead to further work. Eldest is in final year of school. Stress time for all with it being the final months of school and of hubby's traineeship. Will we all survive it???

So says the  About US section.  Of course there is more to it than that.

The traineeship is purely due to funding from Royalities for Regions.  Yippeee.  :)

 Because hubby is a mature trainee and the funding stretches only so far. So he is employed 3 days a week. The contact is only for 12 months. Most  trainees get an 18 month contract. Full time. The course work  usually gets to be done over that 18 months and mostly during work time.  He's trying to finish it in 12. We are holding our breath a bit atm as  they are trying to get funding to extend his contact which would take the study pressure off a bit and mean he doesn't have to start applying for other work just yet.

Eldest has struggled a fair bit this year.  He wasn't sure until recently what he wanted to do when he left school having changed his mind/career plans earlier in the year.  He now has a goal. It's a tough one. There are plans in place if he doesn't make it.  But he's feeling the pressure right now. 

My back hurts. It's been 3 1/2 months of pain that was gradually getting worse. We know it's one of 2 things. I've been referred on to a neuro surgeon. There's a strong possibility I'll need some sort of  surgery. Perhaps minor, perhaps not. So we wait and see. It just adds to the stress level. Feeling pretty flat today as I had paid to go to a 3 day conference in the city. Australian Conference on Computers in Education. Sigh.  Was advised not to go. I doubt I could have handled the journey up anyway. Very frustrating reading all the tweets, FB posting and emails related to the conference.

On the house front:
The  garden is looking decidedly rough. The weeds are getting tall.  Lawn had a rough winter. I'm hoping now the weather is warming up it will recover. Paving is on hold, mostly.  Hubby spends non studying time working on  removing one of the nastier weeds from the  backyard by hand. There are more out in the front garden hidden amongst other weeds.  It has spiral seeds that get trapped in the dogs fur. I've snuck in a couple of small tube stock plants and did manage to mostly weed the front lawn ( before we got the news on my back)  I will get to a bit more. But its a case of  only a little at a time, then ice. :) We have a mound of paving and mulch still to be used taking up a big section of verge.  The tube stock planted over the past couple of years is all growing nicely.  The roses look very happy with their new growth sine I pruned them . I need to give them a good feed of blood and bone mixture. ( next task) Most of the dwarf abelias are happy.  We lost a couple at one end of the hedge. I'll try again when i can get a chance to improve the soil in that spot. I've discovered we have 8 sun orchids growing in the back. The count is rising slowly.  Fingers crossed the dog leaves them alone.

 The boys are walking the dog.  Though I worry about the huge unfriendly dogs at the end of the street each time they go out. They are behind an electrified fence that is 1.2m high. BUT the owner told me the dogs aren't really bothered by the fence. I'm not really sure what sort of dogs they  are but they are big, powerful, and they growl, hackles up  when they see anyone walking a dog. Someone told me, "pig hunting" dogs. You get the idea. When the people first moved in we had an encounter with them as the 3 dogs  bailed us up on a walk. This was before they had fences. The owners were panicked as they saw us. They dashed  across the road to grab their dogs just as things were getting more tense.  So I worry when one of the boys tasks the dog for a walk even though they know to walk in the other direction once they get to that street.

Busy , busy, busy,

Just adding a few photos to show what we've been up to and what's happening around the place.
Yesterday they started ripping up some of the fruit trees in the orchard behind us. Hoping they are just removing unproductive trees and it's not a sign that more will go.  It looks so bare near our fence now.

 We have 6 native orchid spikes in the garden that I've spotted so far.  Last year I found 3. They were really hard  to get a good photo of as they close as soon as there was any shadowing.  Below this shot are photos from last year.

G has been busy doing more paving.

Wattle the dog has become a dad. His first stud duties a success. This is him overseeing G doing some paving. Investigating under a grasstree and with his name sake, a wattle bush..

 On the weekend we went down to visit the puppies.  There are 6 of them. 3 boys and 3 girls. They were 4 weeks old.

You can get more information about them here: Wattle's Breeder.

  The weather is becoming quite lovely during the day.
Still coolish at night and some rain  but sunny and pleasant during the day.