The ball is rolling again

We've been slowly getting back into the garden. We took a well deserved break for a while. In mid-June we got some soil/compost delivered and topped up the garden beds.

Porch Garden Bed

Porch garden bed before the new soil was added:

After the soil was added:

And now today we planted some society garlic and laimium plants:
And this is how it looks from another angle:
East-end Garden Bed
East end garden bed before we added the extra soil:
East end garden bed after we added the new soil. Nice:
And last weekend we planted in some Star Jasmine and Lilly Pilly plants:
and from another angle:

Bedroom Garden Bed

We are now half way through transplanting all plants from the bedroom garden, so we can top up that garden bed with fresh soil/compost.

This is what the bedroom garden looked like at the start of March 2008:

This is how it looks after today's transplanting efforts:

We'll need to add a 20cm layer all across this bed so it is filled to the height of the new brick pavers.

So there has actually been alot of changes in the garden recently. Progress feels so slow though. Next Saturday in between packing to go to Fiji, we'll be:

• installing some irrigation to the east-end garden bed
  
• putting in some garden edging around the bedroom garden

Yes, progress is slow but every little step is actually getting us closer to the end.

What do you think? Do you ever feel discouraged because progress in the garden seems too slow? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

And next on the list is...

I need to rethink what needs to come next. A couple of weeks back, I wrote down a little schedule…but now I’m not sure it’s the best.

For starters…I was planning to get the new compost and soil delivered next weekend and then to shovel it into the new garden beds. But I don’t think I’ll have the time to do that (am going to a wedding and an engagement party next weekend) and also I don’t think things will be ready for the soil by next weekend.

Even though we dug out all the garden beds this weekend, we still need to loosen the bed of soil that is there now, so the new compost and soil can be thrown on top. If we don’t loosen the existing bed of soil, drainage in the garden bed will be really bad.

So that means using the pitchfork to dig and turn the soil. Hmmm I wonder how long this will take me. I should probably allow half a day.

Also, before the new compost and soil is delivered, I need to work out what to do with the existing plants already growing in some of the garden beds. All of the existing garden beds need to be topped up with new soil so they can be 5 – 10 cm above the level of the adjacent paving. I don’t know enough about gardening to know if I can top up a garden bed with 5 – 10cm of soil without having to removed the plants, then replant them once the soil is on. Regardless of this, many of the current plants are in a layout that suits the old garden beds, not the new ones!

So I will probably have to move at least half of the existing plants. How do I do that? Dig them out, set them aside, add the new top soil, then replant them? Sounds like the most logical thing, but I’m not sure I will have time to do all the plants and top soil in the one weekend. So should I split it across a few weekends? I guess so.

Wow! Thanks for staying with me while I worked all that out.

So, this means my schedule for the next couple of weeks will need to change…and be extended.

29 & 30 March

• Pull out any plants that won't be staying.
• Loosen soil at bottom of all garden beds
• Tidy up all garden beds (get rid of sand and clods left by the paving guys)
• Measure garden bed volume (to work out how much compost and soil to order)

5 & 6th April

• Nothing. We'll be in Adelaide.

12 & 13 April

• Get compost and soil delivered.
• Dig up plants that will need to be moved
• Shovel compost and soil into garden beds.
• Replant

19 & 20 April

• Finish shoveling and replanting
• Paint inside of yard fence

26 & 27 April

• Nothing. Anzac long weekend. Visiting mum and dad

3 & 4 May

• Start planting!

10 & 11 May

• Nothing. In Sydney.

Digging new garden beds

Happy Easter! I’ve had a very busy 4 days – digging and painting. My sister and I struck a deal: if I helped her paint some furniture, then she’d help me dig out the rubble from the new garden beds.

On Friday, we had the help of C before he headed off to Adelaide. He did the grunty, manly work and used a jack hammer to cut up the concrete in the garden beds.

On Saturday and Sunday, Sister Sal and I spent most of the days painting her furniture (apart from heading out to a Comedy Festival gig on Sunday night).

So Monday, we did a little bit more painting and then got stuck into the digging. We shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled, and then shoveled a bit more. I also took out the angle grinder to cut through some reinforced wire that was set into the concrete.

So after 6 or so hours work over the weekend, we had cut through the concrete and shoveled all the rubble out of the garden beds. Now we have nice, clear garden beds ready for nice, fresh compost and soil in a couple of weeks time.

I've posted a whole stack of photos below. They show before and after (but unfortunately, this weekend, the afters don't look that much different to the befores...)

Bedroom Garden - before

Bedroom Garden...After!

RP South garden bed - before

RP South garden bed...after!

RP North garden bed - before

RP South garden bed...after!

PT garden bed - before

PT garden bed...after!

PT garden bed - before

PT garden bed...after!

Porch garden bed - before

Porch garden bed...after!

Another non-garden weekend

For a second weekend in a row (or is it a third!) we did very little in the garden. The tempreture was way too hot (in the high 30s) plus we had a wedding on Saturday and I had to do some work on Sunday.

But I've mapped out a little plan for us for the next few weeks so that we can get things done.

Next weekend (Easter weekend)

• jackhammer out all the concert
• clear the rubble that will be left.

29 & 30 March

• Pull out any plants that won't be staying.
  
• Get soil delivered.
  
• Shovell soil into garden beds.

(Hmmm this could be a bit too much to do - we have a wedding and an engagement party on that weekend...I'll get back to you).

5 & 6th April

• Nothing. We'll be in Adelaide.

12 & 13 April

• Start planting!!!!

This week I'll call the landscaping guys to see if they can help me to source the plants and soil.

Hmmm, quite alot to do over the next month or so. Drop me a comment below - would love to hear some words of support!! I think we need them.

Installing a Drip Irrigation System

So this weekend we didn't achieve very much in the way of gardening or renovating (but we did go camping, watch a couple of DVDs, and catch up with C's cousin, Lucia). By 4pm Monday afternoon (it was a long weekend) I was starting to feel a bit antsy about it. So I decided to try installing some drip irrigation piping in the courtyard garden. Turned out much easier than I had predicted.

The tap is on the right hand side of this photo (out of shot). And the garden is on the left hand side. So I had to work out a way to cross the divide elegantly. I thought about running it underneath the paving (but that would have meant lifting the pavers, laying the irrigation pipes, then re-laying the pavers - too much work!) or simply laying it around the perimeter, but that meant I would still have to lay it on the ground in front of the deck and it would have been visible and ugly. I noticed that the timber slats of the deck hung over the edge joists (is that what they're called?) by a couple of centimetres - just the right amount to hide the irrigation piping. Solution! I just had to convince C that nailing into the edge of the deck would be a good idea (he's a bit protective of the deck). Anyway, after my assurances that it would look fine, he agreed, and I laid the pipe and the connectors from the tap, along the base of the chimney, around the little corner, along the underside of the deck slats, and into the courtyard garden. Success!

Once I'd laid it all round, I turned on the tap, and sure enough, it worked! A few minutes later though the connectors started to spurt off because of the pressure of the water. So I put on those little collar thingys (whatever they're called) and they did the trick. So that's my no. 1 big tip when installing drip irrigation: Make sure you use those collar thingys on EVERY connector.

The piping is nicely camouflaged - can you see it in this photo?

Or this photo?

So I've had the dripper running now for a few hours! And I feel a bit weird about it. I follow the water restriction rules, but I'm not sure if there is a different set of rules for using drip irrigation - I hope there is because they are so much slower at watering than a hose/sprinker so I need more time to water the garden. I'm going to check the Melbourne Water website tomorrow.

If you've read through this post and are now reading this paragraph, I think you should leave a comment. You deserve it. You've done the hard yards. Leave me a comment. Go on, say a quick hello. Thanks! ;)

Drum Roll Please - Photos of the Completed Paving

The paving is all done - and I've got the photos to prove it!

So it's taken me 10 days or so to get the time do do this, but I've taken photos of the finished paving and "stitched" them together in Photoshop so they are panoramic views of the paving. Here goes:

View from the front gate

View from the porch

View from the driveway

What do you think? Leave me a comment, please.

Not Much Action this Weekend

C and I went to Adelaide first thing on Saturday morning (and I mean FIRST thing...we were up at 4.45am) and arrived back at 10am on Sunday morning. So that didn't leave much time for action in the garden. But we did manage to do 2 small things:

I shoveled this sand and dirt from an area where we will soon be creating a garden bed. Impressive, I know.

C did a fantastic job re-staining the timber deck. It's something you should do every 6 months or so. The deck was bulit in Septmber, so that's about 6 months ago.

C did a great job and even did the edges. Only took 45mins. I thought it might have been one of those things that took half a day!

The re-stained deck! Noice one bruvva.

Some Valuable Tips for Working with a Tradesman

Hooray the paving is all done. It ended up taking 8 days to finish - because of rain and some other delays.

My relationship with the paving guy on the last couple of days was a bit strained. He was feeling the pressure, i think, because he was running overtime and had other clients waiting on him. I was feeling a bit tense because some of what they had done didn't match the plan like it shoud. Now, I know a plan is a plan (and what do they say about "the best laid plans...") but there was just a couple of things done that was a bit off - nothing too serious and stuff that I could easily live with (like the main circle being about 60cm too far to the south), but when the paving guy started to push back a bit about some changes I had requested, that's when things became a little tense.

I had asked for two changes and he was looking a bit miffed about it, he said a couple of times "I just followed what was on your plan". I let that comment slide initially, but when he said it for a third time, I took a stand. I told him: "actually, what you have done is slightly different to the plan and that's why we need to make these changes now". I pointed out how the main circle was slightly in the wrong spot meaning the porch garden bed wasn't going to be a symmetrical shape, like i had planned. Once I pointed that out to him, he understood and was more cooperative. He even offered to move the whole thing so the big circle was is it's planned position. I thanked him but said don't worry about it. So, all up, both the paver and I had to cooperate and make some compromises to get the job done.

I have learned some important lessons which I will definitely remember next time we engage a tradie:

1. Don't feel intimidated. Tell them exactly what you have planned/want done. Down to the most minute detail you can imagine. You might not consciouly realise it at the time, but you do have ideas about how the job should be finished off.
2. Try to be on site for the first two days of the job. This way you can keep an eye on things and make sure they are sticking to your plans. I really struggle with this one because I don't want them to think that I'm spying on them or don't trust what they are doing.
   
3. Don't be scared to question what they have done very early on. I always hestiate and think "oh maybe they have just done it like that for the time being and it will change later on".
4. You're paying for the job, so do everything you can to get it exactly as you want it. you're the one that will have to live with it.
   

It's Started!

The paving has begun! Hoooooooray! Andrew (and his apprentice) started on Monday morning. This is what it looked like before they made a start:
By the time I got home at 1pm (I was working from home that afternoon) this is what they had done:Andrew + crew left after getting this far because the bricks didn't arrive on time for them. The bricks didn't arrive until just as I was arriving home.

So they returned on Tuesday morning and got stuck into it. By the time I got home this is what they had done! (pretty good considering it was a really hot - more than 35 degrees - and they had knocked off early):
I'm really happy with the way it is coming along. C is in Canberra for work this week so I'm watching the work in progress every day on my own. I wish he was here so we could talk about it together. I've had to make some decisions to change some minor things in the paving layout - I really wish C and I could have talked it though first - I'd feel much better about making the decisions. I'll post another update tomorrow.

Porch Garden Bed - Before and After

Here's a quick before and after for our new garden bed in front of the porch.

This is what we started from.

Minu jackhammered the concrete (27 Jan 2008).

Then we lifted out all the concrete rubble from the bed (28 Jan 2008).

Then we started to till the soil in the garden bed (2 Feb 2008).

We found loads of old "fill" just below the surface. When this house was being built they must have used this area as a dump for broken roof tiles, broken bricks, bits of concrete and broken glass. So we dug all that stuff up so new plant roots can have nice loose soil to grow in (2 Feb 2008).

So we ended up with this huge mound of rubble (9 Feb 2008).

And voila! One brand new garden bed. After the paving is done (in 9 days time) we will get some nice fresh soil and compost delivered to fill the bed (9 Feb 2008).

Isn't so satisfying to look back over the progress you've made.

Saturday Morning Working Bee

Wow! Yipee! Hooray! We have finished loading all the rubble from the front yard into a skip. We thought it would take two days of serious hard yakka - but it was all done in just a few hours this morning. My lovely sister Sal (props to her) came over to give us a hand and that really helped to speed things along. We got into a production line mood real quick, with Sal and I shovelling rubble into the wheelbarrows (we had two) and Minu emptying the wheelbarrows into the skip on the street.

I'm so happy to have finished early. That means we can enjoy the rest of the weekend. Such a contrast to the last couple of weekends when we have been working ourselves to exhaustion on Saturdays and Sundays. So now begs the question "how are we going to enjoy the rest of the weekend". I think we are just about to head into the city and check out an art gallery and wander around the shops for a bit and then go see Juno at the movies tonight.

Tomorrow I'll do a couple of minor things in the garden (like planting the Chinese Star Jasmine that's been languishing in a pot for a few weeks) but apart from that - i'll do NOTHING.

Wow! I feel so relaxed. Ah the serenity.

Here's some photos from our working bee this morning:

Sal and I were the "shovellers" - we shovelled all the dirt, concrete, mortar, sand , etc etc into the wheel barrows.

This is me.

This is me being a bit silly.

Here's a good Sal-in-action shot. Go lady!

Minu was the pusher - he took the wheelbarrows...

to the skip...

and emptied them.

All done. The skip is filled.