Gardening happens

The climate of Carwoola is such that there is not a great deal of gardening action from May until September.  It isn't quite as bad as Ottawa, where the ground is frozen for 6 months and then waterlogged for 2 months, but over Winter here very little grows and it is not pleasant being outdoors.  However we are now into the kick-off period.

One of the bright spots over Winter has been a display of 'standard' Hellbores.  Spring has been greeted by this less common species appearing in the sunroom bed.

 A grevillea has also thrust forth some flowers, much to the delight of the Eastern Spinebills and other honeyeaters.

At the other end of the life cycle, the salvias and penstemons are looking a bit the worse for wear so got a prune.  Here are before and after.

 Of course one also has to get the fertiliser happening.  We tend to use a lot of compost which is greatly assisted by having animal poop added.  We are lucky enough to be able to get the stuff by the trailer-load from a local riding school.  (In fact we scored two loads last Saturday and have pretty much used one of them already.)

This is my attempt at imitating a road worker.

 To get full marks for this impression I should be:

1. sitting on the edge of the trailer; and
2. puffing on a fag.

We also use the poop as a mulch to try to control the encroaching cooch grass.

 There is also some growth happening in the garden.  For the next few weeks asparagus will be a good part of our diet.

Finally I include a couple of images of large weeds, planted by the previous owners.  The drive has a reasonable number of pine trees, much to the delight of the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos.  I have not really looked at the intricate design of the emerging cones before.  It is rather impressive but I wish they'd stayed in California (and of course many areas - including California - wish that eucalypts had staed in Australia).

 The willow trees are covered in catkins which means that the buzz of the bees is deafening.