Sunday Stash #96

The Australia Day Version

Going Native 3 - commissioned by me!

I love Australian native flowers. 
I had them in my wedding bouquet. 
I have just commissioned my first painting by The Art of Wendy Donellan and it is all native. (Actually Wendy was the person who made me fall in love with native flowers back in my twenties).

I am about to pick up my original artwork from her studio in Brisbane and see her exhibition as well. She travelled to France last year to paint beautiful scenes.

Hanging Out in the Woods - SOLD

You can imagine my joy when I found this fabric at Rainbow Patchwork last week. Gorgeous Waratahs from the 'Terra Australis' collection designed by Emma Jean Jansen (an Australian designer)for Ella Blue .

I bought two and a half metres of it to make a cool cotton summer dress. I could not find a suitable pattern  but did also pick up this nifty skirt pattern though.

Rainbow Patchwork are having a Give Away at 200 likers on their Facebook page - only 9 more to go! Join me there.

Linking up to Sunday Stash for the first time in 2014 and now over at Molli Sparkles where it has GROWN exponentially. 

Half a Year of Changes

When we bought our 5 acre property back in December 2012 some things were very different. Six months later it is hard to remember those changes. Here's a little visual tour.

We had a grove of 7 macadamia trees.

but the Australia Day Weekend storm meant that 6 of them blew over.

The macadamias were removed and this opened up a lot more of a view for us. So it was a blessing in disguise.

The excavator regraded the slope after pulling out all of the rocks. This is the view from the last macca tree. I have been sowing rye grass seed this winter to try and retain the red soil.

There was already a demarcation of the tame and the wild but it was a pile of garden junk. The boulders were a better choice to keep the kids from wandering down the steep slope of the gully below. 

At the eastern end of the current rock wall was a heap of lantana. Impossible to navigate through. Lantana is another endemic weed.

The excavator and bobcat made little work of clearing it all.

Some of the camphor laurels were also cut down. We need to cut their stumps and poison them again though.

I think we got back another 1/8 of an acre from the lantana.

The view of the slope from the neighbour's propety. You can see how huge our burn pile has grown.

There is still so much more to do but we have a 30 year plan to transform the back half of the property from weeds to natives. For now just turning the eastern half of it into pasture will help keep the weeds down and the snakes away. I would love to replant it with native grasses and wildflowers and let it grow long.

The gully - currently full of privet and camphor laurels (weeds that can be cut down). But there are three gorgeous fig trees hiding in amongst them.

We have an amazing opportunity to establish a native north coast rainforest in our back gully. Fill it with native fruit and flowering trees and shrubs and get back a view of the Nightcap ranges beyond.

The current view from our back verandah. The gully to the left and the slope to the right of the eucalypts.

Last Week in My Garden #2

This past weekend we had two days of glorious sunshine. So wonderful to get out of the house and tackle the weed problem. And we have LOTS of weeds! 

Caleb has been back clearing the slope with the blades on the whipper snipper. He has almost reached the back fence behind the burn pile. 

It has taken three days of steady work in the past fortnight. You can see the line of weeds retreating behind that little tree in the bottom left. I have been hand mowing where Caleb has been but it is a big job. My husband thinks that we should just get in a contract tractor slasher and I am inclined to agree.

On a positive note, I walked down through sections of our property I have not seen before. There is a lot of lantana, privet and even some camphors to eradicate on the north eastern boundary.

I started to clear some of the weeds growing underneath the rock wall on the eastern side. Some were waist high (Wish I had a true BEFORE photo). I had to grade the slope into terraces and retain them with some rocks. Then I planted a Ned Kelly grevillea and a couple of lomandras that were in need of a better location.

Beyond where I have cleared is more lantana and I will tackle it in sections. The slope gets quite steep around those huge gum trees but I would like to get it done before the weather turns warm and the snakes return.

I really need to mulch the slope with some sugar cane mulch but the sticks will serve for the time being. And we have LOTS of sticks!

This Week in My Garden

We had three gorgeous days of sunshine this week. With no wind chill, Friday was so warm that it felt more like Spring than Winter.

I was looking forward to getting out into the garden. 

On Tuesday, I spent 2 hours sowing rye grass seed on the bare earth left behind after we lost the macadmia trees in January.

I had already sown a bag the previous fortnight but I needed a further two bags to cover the rest.

I had to get the hoe out to remove some pesky weeds. Unfortunately the local galah gang decided that they would like to help themselves to the free seeds too. 

I can't be too angry with these grey and pink parrots though. They are pretty darn cute.

Then I spent a further 2 hours mowing in the top avocado paddock and around the veggie patch.

Then after the kids came home from school I tackled the weeds growing out of control behind the rock wall. 

They were a metre high! I was surprised to find metre high cherry tomato plants as well as a small basil plant thriving amongst the weeds.

On Wednesday I went to a local nursery to buy some native plants suitable for behind the rock wall and down the slope of the gully. 

I spent about 4 hours with the hoe, the mattocks, the spade and the rake. I must have removed about 15 buckets full of soil from behind the rocks (better than a Bootcamp workout!) to try and fill the dips and divots in the pasture left by the grading of the excavator in March and April.

I had the delightful company of the chickens. Each time I left with the bucket, Bluey, Obama, Roosey and Freckles would jump into the worksite to scratch and peck for worms. They had a wonderful time!

I did not have enough time to plant the remaining grevilla and 2 ground covers this weekend but the weather is turning today and my plans for an outdoor Queen's Birthday Long Weeekend of gardening might be scuttled.

I did manage to move a few of the smaller grasses to create the border of the lawn area before the gully begins.