A bit blurry but i'm in a rush as usual

Garden is changing.

We are still swamped with weeds but there's been a few changes.
Have discovered 4 native kangaroo paws growing in the garden. One has come up in the builders sand pad.  No nutrients  there at all I would have though. They are still small plants but to get an idea of what they will look like take a look at these ones I purchased and planted last year and earlier this year.

The biggest news for us is that our family has grown.  We've introduced pets for the first time in a long time. Although we've had guinea pigs and crazy crabs it's been 10 years since we had a cat or a dog.

Starting with a cat last week. Her name is Mia. She  is 5 and her owners moved back to the UK and put her in to CARE Perth rescue. After 9 days she is settling in well. But that's not the finish of the pet news.




After a number of years of research and testing we've found a dog that our eldest can  cope with without getting ill. We already knew he didn't seem to have a problem with poodles but we weren't too keen on getting a poodle. So after road testing the parent dog, and checking out 5 different pups from 3 litters we are taking on a Mini labradoodle. His name is Wattle. He will be 12 1/2 weeks old when we get him next Friday. Wattle will potentially be a stud boy for one of the 2 labradoodle  breeders here in WA who are part of the labradoodle association in Australia. This means they test for  genetic diseases in  all their breeding animals, do hip tests at 12 months on future breeding animals and  have quite rigid rules about selling  dogs and what happens if someone can't keep one.


 So there is action in the garden as we prepare.  More fencing going up.  Photos to come later today if I get time or otherwise added tomorrow.

Links below to the association and to Wattles breeder.



http://www.laa.org.au/
http://www.offtheedgelabradoodles.com/

from the front

April 26th 2010

June 29th 2011

Same view, Just waiting for as thick a fog. This is the closest we've had so far since the new house went up.

Orchard and forest view to the south.

Certainly better than looking at someones over grown suburban backyard.

We bought yet another gargoyle today. This one's a concrete "limestone look" one and we also purchased an Emperor Mandarin.   The gargoyle looks very much at home perched on a corner of the limestone retaining wall at the front of the house.
We've ordered both a dwarf granny smith and a dwarf pink lady ( pinkabelle) apple tree  from the small, in town nursery. They'll call us when they are in.

                                                      Trying to decide whether to fertilize or cut the lawn perhaps?

Quick update

We've added a few plants to some bits of the garden but not a lot.
We've been investigating adding a front gate near the garage and at this stage we have started considering pool gate type fencing as it would be the lightest option.
Had a win last weekend as I discovered one of the pool and spa companies in Bunbury stocked zeolite as a filter medium for some of their pool filters( zeobrite) so was able to get 2 15 kg bags.


Wednesday we went and purchased half a tray of seedlings for a hedge. We now have some people who have bought the property 2 from us and want to get a hedge started. The area is so rocky that the only way to do this is to buy small tube stock and let it find it's own way through the rock.
I've also started on some chicken wire to cover over the post and rail fencing so try and keep the rabbits out. It's hard going. My fingers are soft and they get very sore wiring up the 2 fences with wire. I've gt at least 70 more metres to go. I hope they don't come exploring tonight . My back is sore and I need to stop. Hubby spent almost  3 hours of measuring and digging with a crowbar produced holes big enough to plant small tube stick seedlings.  34 Pincushion Hakea's have now been planted. So now we have a hedge planted. One plant every 1.5 m. The last 3rd became steadily more and more rocky as you can see.
We have one left and 4 other plants to go in later in the week.