new bath

Just picked up bath no. two, is still in the car because it was raining when we got home, it's not that pretty at the moment but I'll paint the outside soon, wondering whether to stick with pink...or go with blue this time??

cats :-)

I have lots more pic to upload, but have had enough for today, will do some more later, will finish for today with these pics of my cats, they like hanging out in the backyard with the goats and the chickens, but feel a bit safer with some protection around them :-)

veges are starting to happen

the first of my veges are coming up, lots more to come...plus grass, but I have plans for that lol, am going to graze guinea pigs around my tyres :-)

oops, put the wrong pic here, will put the right one later

trees, a ton of them

I got a bit carried away when someone dumped a few hundred healthy trees at the green waste, took home - ALOT of trees and planted some of them around my boundary, now looking for a home for the rest lol

Blue and orange

I might be shy but my gardens not! bluebells against the orange walls of the house

yellow and pink

the daffodils look stunning against the pink bath!

upgrading the bath

another area that's been getting a revamp has been around the bath, with the addition of driftwood and wood mulch, cost?? - free! I've found some more baths from a local farmer, so plan to have three baths, making a water feature of sorts, with the first overflowing into the next etc.

wood mulch

as well as getting hedge clippingf for my goats from the green waste tip, it's also a great source of wood chips and compost materials. I use this wood mulch like bark in my garden, to suppress weeds, and preserve moisture around trees etc. It's also great in the chicken coop as a deep litter material.

succulents with driftwood and paua

succulents are alway a good choice for a coastal garden, they handle the dry windy conditions well, like these ones because of their rose petal shapes

paua shells

so pretty, my garden 'treasures'

daffodils?...whats left of them

well these used to have beautiful yellow flowers, now just the green stems are left!

I've planted sunflowers to replace them in the summer

Going potty

The front porch has become my potting area, it gets the early morning sun and is sunny for much of the afternoons too, so far have planted tomatoes, corgettes, melons and sunflowers in trays, lots more to come.

walks on the beach

you know you're working hard in the garden when it involves a daily walk on the beach :-) been adding some finishing touches to my garden, for a coastal flavour, with driftwood and shells collected from the beach. I go to the green waste daily to get food for my goats, it just happens to be at the beach...so a great excuse to walk the dog and look for treasures.

Photos

Finally got around to taking a few pics, and a couple of daffodils lol, most of the daffodils have finished flowering now, my excuse is that I lost my camera for a while, it turned up in the strangest place...

I know I shouldn't have a hole in the side of my house...but the cats look so cute when they go in and out ;-)

My friend Joy is never one to say no to a challenge, and sometimes she shares them with her friends ;-). she asked me if I would babysit four chickens for her while she went to australia, no probs....but about 4pm the day before they were due to arrive, I picked up a message on my answerphone....umm make that 10 chickens!! so in the last 24 hrs I have completely fenced off an area of my back yard for the new arrivals, not sure how my little flock would handle 10 new members. - they arrived just as I was putting up the last of the netting. Turns out they are ex battery hens, and docile wee things...very easy going so that's a relief. It was much more of a drama having one wild sussex hen visit for a couple of days, much more squawking and general mayhen (lol) as she settled in. I took a little video of their introduction to our cat Sasha, which i'll post some time.. despite her factory raising, the hen stood her groud with the cat, and in the end he retreated. they are great little chickens, much smaller than my orpingtons, but have already laid an egg, there was one in the back of the ute they arrived in too, looking forward to more eggs tomorrow...Joy...I wanna keep them!!! awwwwww.

will take some photo's later

Windy world

Well the main thing on my mind at the moment is the wind. Mostly how to create more shelter from the wind, so my garden can grow and it will be more pleasant to be out in it. I have trees growing very slowly, luckly the two sides that are the most windy,wont block the sun when the trees get taller. But anyway, the plan now is to section the garden off into smaller areas with lower wind breaks. There is a tree that has branches that I call "the witchy poo tree" because the branches are all crinkly. There is a lot of it down at the green waste at the mo, and I think it would make great wind breaks if I make low fences out of it. Some days it's really sunny here, and warm out of the wind, but cold and unpleasant in the wind. I want my garden to be just as inviting on windy days, so that I want to spend more time in it.

MUST PLANT MY SEEDS TODAY!!!!!! spring is here, have packets and packets of mostly vege seeds, plus a few flowers, and watermelon. will put some seed trays on my veranda where it's warm and sheltered.

daffodil photos soon....(hope there are still some left by the time I get around to it :-)