Working the soil

This new house is built on a Canberra clay bed ... when it is dried out, the clay bed is as hard as rock. Before we moved in, we had a huge pile of soil delivered, and that has gradually been spread out over the parts of the block that will become garden, as has a pile of clean river sand. We've kept a bit of the river sand to make paths around the vege beds.

Where the clay is still close to the surface, Gail is making good use of her brother's jackhammer and clay spade attachment. Too long, and she begins to look a bit like jelly, but then she stops and returns to her normal state of firmness.

We'll be turning all the soil over a couple of times before we plant anything more now. We'll turn it once, making sure that we are getting down about 20-25cm, then we'll spread manure across the turned soil and turn it again. It might be overkill, but it will mean that when we do get to planting the next lot of things, they will have very comfortable roots.

Gail has started our Bokashi bucket, which is taking care of our scraps for the moment. Soon, we'll want to get a tumbling composter going. We might have to get out and meet all our neighbours and ask them to keep their vegetable scraps for us.

Well this morning has been very satisfying, even if I have a blister. (Gail is being very restrained and not saying "I told you to take a break" ... but she did suggest that it would be a good idea to alternate tasks and tools. I might listen next time ... maybe.)

Anyway, here is the evidence of the work from this morning.

Turned soil in the garden bed
near Gail's end of the house

Turned soil along the back fence, and
a new sand path beside the vege box

This is a very tricky little corner in the
far left-hand side of the garder. Eventually,
we will plant a couple of climbing roses
and some groundcover there. That will
have to wait until May, when the bare-root
mail order roses are available again.

We also need to buy a new wheelbarrow. The one my father gave me about 15 years ago has finally karked it. It's been great, but it is plastic, and the handle is going to crack off, and there is going to be a very big hole in the bottom quite soon. Still, we figure we'll work it until it dies completely. 

The state of the garden

Work on the garden continues ... slowly. We picked up quite a few plants at one of the local school fetes a couple of weeks ago, and they are starting to let me know where they should be planted. The vege boxes have been filled: cardboard followed by newspaper, then bales of meadow hay, covered with a layer of soil mixed with chook poo (on special at Masters), followed by a layer of soil mixed with blood and bone.

The seedlings went in next: pumpkin, climbing beans, sugarsnap peas, lettuce, capsicum, eggplant (both kinds), zucchini, chillis, tomatoes, and watermelon.

Bed 1: mostly tomatoes and other salad vegetables

Bed 2: beans and peas, zucchini and eggplant

New pavers, now surrounded by Hutchinsia Ice Cube
(some sad little half-dead things from a school fete),
Japanese blood grass on the left, and Myoporum
Parvifolium Purpurea on the right in the shade.
The Ice Cube groundcover may or may not
survive; it's looking good, though

Le Hoa's blueberry bush continues to do well

The cherry tree with the healthiest crop

Half-grown cherries up close; we might
even get to eat some this year.

The nature strip planted with herbs and strawberries.
We've also put in hundreds of seeds*, which are
starting to come up: I have seen dill and
nasturtiums. Let's hope that all the others sprout as well.

One of the very beautiful Kangaroo Paw bushes
planted beside the front steps. I saw a
yellow one the other day .... will
have to find a space somewhere in
the garden for one of those, too.

* When I say hundreds of seeds, I mean literally hundreds of seeds of all kinds: feverfew, poppies, camomile, wild flowers, nasturtium, verbena, dill, alyssum, nemophila, nigella, bunny tails, dichondra, forget-me-knot, and Swan River daisies. Hardly any have come up yet, so I am wondering if some were blown away by the wind, and how many the birds ate. Surely some will have survived ...

The Paving Project: day 5

The pathways between the larger paved and concreted areas are complete, and the step has been constructed on the Eastern side of the house. I took my cousin's advice, and Sam has placed the steppers quite close together, so those of us with short legs don't have to jump from one to the other. Instead, we can step elegantly.

Stepping from the concrete
patio to the Eastern side of the house.

Stepping from the concrete patio to
the back of the house and the garden shed.
I think I am going to fill in the gaps between
the steppers with white river stones.

Stepping from Gail's Summer Yoga Spot around to the
clothes line. Behind these pavers we intend to plant a
rose that will climb up over the fence, and some shorter
groundcovers that will fill in the spaces.

A new step.

... and this beautiful Japanese maple is an
early Christmas present from my lovely cousin
and her splendid husband. Thanks Matt and Margot.
This will be the centre of attention
in the back garden in a few months.

The Paving Project: day 4

Work continues, although there will be a break for the weekend. It's going to be cool next week, and although I would like some rain for the garden, I don't want to see the weather slowing down the paving. The left-hand passageway has taken a little longer than expected, because the posts on the fence face our way, and that has required lots of trimming of pavers to fit. The other side shouldn't take quite as long.

The pallet was piled high. It looks as if
about half of the pavers have been placed.

The passageway is looking trim and neat.
Once the drains are cut off, we'll be able to
walk down here even in the heaviest storms.

I'm seriously impressed with the attention
to detail on this job. The other person who
quoted (twice the price) was planning to fill
in that narrow space with sand - not the tiny
little piece, all the pieces that aren't whole pavers.

Another example of the attention to detail.

Looking back towards the front of the house.

All in all, I'm very happy with the quality of work on this job so far.

The Paving Project: day 3

The Project continues apace ... and it's looking good.

Outside the laundry door

Past the hot water system

Gail's Summer Yoga Spot

The Paving Project: day 2

Spent the morning cooking lunch and afternoon tea for James and Jo while the Paving Project continued apace outside. Sam and his Unnamed Off-sider (and a rather charming - if large - Labrador X puppy) arrived early and continued removing soil and clay before spreading and tamping down roadbase. The large pile of roadbase has been removed entirely from the driveway, to be replaced with a pallet-load of charcoal-coloured pavers.

The passageway outside the laundry,
looking to the front (note how short the drain
pipe is now that the roadbase has been spread)

The passageway looking towards the back of the house

Gail's Summer Yoga Spot

The main part of the back garden; the channel
in the dirt marks a pathway of steppers

Roadbase foundation on the other side of the house

The soon-to-be step

Garden infrastructure (or The Ridiculous Price of Paving)

Today, work started on paving in the garden, which will put some structure around the piles of dirt and sand and areas of rock-hard clay. I'm not sure how long it will take, but the Paving Man (let's call him Sam) started today. He brought a jack-hammer with him to break up the clay in the narrow passageway down the left-hand side of the house, and has been taking out wheelbarrows full of lumps of the horrible stuff. Worth the price, I think!

Here are the before photos.

Soil as hard as rocks

Once this is paved, we will be able to walk to
the clothesline in much more style and comfort

Roadbase (the foundation,
apparently, of all good paving projects)

Today there was only one Sam, but he
brought two wheelbarrows, so I'm
expecting him to turn into two overnight -
some form of binary fission, perhaps

The other side of the house, which
will get a step as well as paving

The area of the garden soon to be
known as "Gail's Summer Yoga Spot"

The next project is to build the trellises for the fruit trees. That will require the kindness of friends - and a post-hole digger to get through the clay.

A herb and wildflower nature strip

Well, I'm not sure if the nature strip will be exactly as I imagine, but the experiment has started ... we've planted herbs and groundcovers after preparing the nature strip by digging up the clover and grass, and spreading gypsum and soil over the hard clay. It took help from our friend Jo, who borrowed a mattock and helped us to break up the horrible rock-hard soil.

Most of the seeds won't have germinated for a week or so, but within 8-12 weeks, the nature strip should be a riot of colour: oregano, marjoram, thyme, strawberries, sage, dill, nasturtiums, verbena, alyssum, nemophila, nigella, daisies, forget-me-knots, dichondra, and Bunny Tails. I wanted poppies, but couldn't find seeds ... they will have to be added later.

For now, the garden bed looks like this - far too organized, with those few plants marshalled in rows:

Gail's evidence that I don't know what
"random" means. It's neat, though!

Evidence of the clay that still lies
under the black "vegi-mix" soil.

Thyme, marjoram, and strawberries.
The seeds are too small to see.

Settling in nicely

Well, we are settling in nicely, and the unpacking is almost complete. There are a few more boxes in the second sitting room, and Gail has put some of her unpacked boxes in the (very small) garden shed, but all in all, it's coming along.

Once the garden is planted, much
less of the garden shed will be visible.

The Kangaroo Paws - three
different types - lining the driveway

The plants that were put in about 4-6 weeks ago
are starting to grow beautifully now
that the weather is warning up.

Next time I clean out the fish pond, I'll
make sure that it isn't on a lean.

Some red and orange pigface, ready
to be planted out, in the green tray.
The herbs in the background were
a present from Gail's friends Meg and Allie.

This morning's job was to add a few extra
plants to the row of broadleaf myoporum.
(Sedum Autumn Joy and Iceberg.)

There are more plants in this garden bed than
are immediately obvious from this picture.

The front steps with the Kangaroo Paw plants in the left.

Tomorrow, Big Josh (thus named, because my friend Jenn called her baby Joshua James, too) is coming over for a spot of gardening. I think we might tackle the nature strip, which I want to plant with ground covering herbs and wild flowers. The first part of that job is to dig out all the weeds that have grown there, and to spread some soil. That will take us a couple of hours, at least.

The unpacking is half done, anyway

Here it is: proof that at least some of the unpacking is complete. My back isn't bending as well as it should this week, but we have places to sit.

Of course, it's not all perfect. The washing machine broke in the move, so that has to be repaired on Thursday.

It's not bad, though!