April in the Garden

Alysium and a Sedum at the front of the garden bed looking good together.

Geranium in a hanging basket on the front veranda. I'm not sure what this one is called. I think I might have bought it at a small nursery in Clare.

The plum trees have put on an amazing amount of height this summer, this one is a Greengage, the other (not seen) a Golden Drop. You can see some of our borrowed landscape with gum trees and Norfork Island pines in the backdrop.

The Rose hips in the courtyard. I'm sure I could do something with these. Rosehip jelly?

Seedings. Pak Choy grows very well in the Garden.

Trying French beans for the first time.

There are several Salvias flowering at the moment. They are very drought tolerant and really add to the beauty of the garden.

Autumn is a lovely time in the garden but there are so many jobs to do and so little time to do it!

Today weeding and cutting back and clearing, taking out the last Zucchini and Rocket that had gone to seed and preparing some ground for planting. I am going to try some Garlic, from a bulb I bought at the Grange organic market a few weeks ago.

The Animals

The chooks feature strongly in the life of the garden. Their cheerful noises provide the background and I like to see them parading up and down the chookrun in the mornings and evenings waiting for their grain. They get a lot of greens from the garden as well. We have three girls at the moment, we are getting about 10 eggs a week. Sunny is a six year old Labradoddle. She has a very happy nature and although prone to occasional outbursts of digging she understands that the garden beds are a no go zone. She is well known in the neigbourhood and on the beach where many people will stop to speak to her! She has to have a walk every day and the beach is her absolute favourite place.

Marco the inscrutable. The front yard is his domain as he likes to keep out of Sunnys way. He is eleven and has a dodgy hip from a nasty accident when he was a very young kitten. Dispite this injury he used to be a very good ratter but in recent years he has not done so well with this. He likes to come inside and annoy people until he gets some food and then curl up preferably on a white chair or quilt cover so we know he has been there! He likes to appear tough and aloof but in fact he likes a good cuddle.

Sunny in the garden. This section of our very urban yard is looking a little rural in this photo (or maybe this is just wishful thinking).

The chook run; we have planted two new passionfruit vines to provide fruit and cover the backfence. Grapevine on the chookyard fence.