Saturday, July 30, 2005

Stop!

A few weeks ago I was wishing I had weeds in my garden as it would indicate that the soil was damp enough to grow them. Okay, I got my wish, and now they can STOP! Actually, they are not so much weeds as rampant forget-me-nots, with chickweed in the dampest places. Last year I spread forest litter mulch over most of the gardens and there is scarcely a weed of any sort in those areas. Definitely worth the effort.

With one month of winter to go (officially) it's astonishing to see the amount of activity in the garden. New shoots and buds on trees, perennials pushing through the soil and bulbs and prunus in flower. Whilst most of the annuals have not produced much top growth, they will be establishing their roots ready to leap away as soon as the ground warms up a bit. We've had a few frosts but nothing like a normal Canberra winter. Another sign of the dreaded Global Warming, I guess.

Most of my house has windows and glass doors onto the north-east facing deck. With the sun so low during the winter I get sunshine into most rooms for the whole morning - lovely.

The Claret Ash in flower. I wish you could hear the bees.  Posted by Picasa


The Calendula just keep on flowering regardless of the weather.  Posted by Picasa


Orange Arctotis with Silver Pyrethrum.  Posted by Picasa


These silver leaved Arctotis will have thousands of deep burgundy flowers in a few weeks.  Posted by Picasa


A Perennial Wallflower just coming into bloom, and continue for at least 5 months.  Posted by Picasa


Yellow daisies surrounded by last year's non-stop flowering stocks.  Posted by Picasa

5 comments:

Miss Robyn said...

oh Alice, I just adore calendulas. I have them growing in my vegie garden for companion planting.
I use lucerne or sugar cane mulch to mulch my garden...mulching is a must as you say to the dreaded global warming. Which saddens me no end as I want to go back to days of my childhood when winter was winter....not a watered down version of summer.
enjoy your garden it is a delight !

Shell said...

I have calendulas in my veggie garden too! And, they are just at the point of flowering - they'll be so pretty by the end of the week.

I can't wait until my garden is as established as yours is. We moved in here a couple of months ago and have been working on the garden non stop since then. Now we just have to wait for everything to grow.

Calidore said...

Anytime you feel like pulling out more weeds or mulching just come and visit....lol. Got Ashley to dig out some plants yesterday so they could be moved - he used the Kanga loader the ground was so hard. I just can't quite beleive that I shall have to start watering again - just wish it was the plants that grew, not the weeds.

Kali said...

Well ~ I am on a very steep learning curve with gardening in 4 seasons. First time ever in all my life and I am so excited about it all...I have so much information to devour and your blog is just perfect!

kath red said...

i know, can you believe this weather, positively balmy days. its only the frosty mornings that make me remember we are in the middle of winter.