An Early Walk Around

After waking at 3.30am, I read for a while then, not being able to go back to sleep, got up at 5, had a cup of tea, checked the weather in El Nido (Drew arrives there today, back on dry land for a week) and went for a walk. Everything is so very, very green now that the rain has come. The grass has gone mad and so have the weeds. I've done three lots of spraying so far and will need to do one more lot I think. Once you realise you need to spray it's almost too late - the grass has already grown up over the rock edges and into the garden. Need to be more vigilant.

We finished spreading the hay in the big garden. All that feedlot manure is now doing it's thing under a layer of damp hay. Beautiful.

I relocated the clivia plants that Mum gave me. I had planted them in the outdoor area gardens (the two narrow ones that run along the house) but they were in too much sun and their leaves were burning. I moved them in under the palm tree where they will be better protected. You can hardly see them but they're there.

Speaking of the palm tree - we cut the dead branches and took them to the dump. It's a very nasty job to have to do; lucky it's only once a year. The spikes on those things are extremely sharp and when you stab yourself with one the pain is immediate. If when a tiny tip breaks off under your skin it's a painful experience; there must be a little bit of poison in them because the area around the wound goes numb and then for hours afterwards the muscle is tight and tender and sore. I ended up with three wounds - one each in calf, ankle and forearm. I had to get Gibbo to remove the splinters last night as the pain was quite intense. Even today there is some residual effect in the muscles (although that could be from the less than gentle stabbing digging probing with the needle and subsequent squeezing of the site by the nurse). Gibbo's typical response to the job was to suggest we cut the whole tree down.

It's certainly opened up the space again; now we just need to find 5 or 6 bales to fill in underneath.

We finally planted out the murraya, offset against the Spartan conifers. I need to mulch them yet.

I was going to plant these out into the garden but changed my mind. They require watering 3-4 times a week. We go to South Africa for 3 weeks in March and I'm not sure they'll survive that long without constant attention so I'm going to take them to Mum's for her to look after.

The pumpkin is still doing well as are the fruit trees.

I rescued this plant when we first moved here. It was struggling in the garden; it loves it's hanging spot now.

I bought this little house a long time ago at one of the school art shows. Its very sturdy, has weathered well and I still like it as much now as I did when I first bought it.

That's it for the walk around! Between going to town and slow internet connection it's taken me all day to post this. Let's hope 2015 is the year of the internet in these parts!