Garden Head!!!!

[Opsa]

I'm very excited about this new topic, as I love tending plants.

My parents had a Japanese garden and when I grew up and bought a home, I wanted to start a garden of my own. Theirs was very expensive, and installed by a brilliant landscaper called Nanki Ishiama. I didn't have that kind of money, but I had lots of access to books on gardening, so I spent a while just reading and planning before I got to serious design and planting.

I figured I could afford a non-formal cottage garden with mostly blooming perennials and annuals. Most of what I have I started as seed or was given as gifts and divisions from other gardeners, so it has been easy on my finances.

The most valuable thing I have learned is to plan, and to think of the whole garden area whenever I plant something. The garden is like another room of my house, and each new plant is like a piece of art to hang on the walls. I have to place it so it compliments the rest of the space as well as possible.

I've made as many mistakes as I've had successes, but it has all been worth it. Taking care of living things is a joy, because everything changes all the time. Even in the dead of winter (as it is here, now), I see things going on out there. Plants are pushing up through the cold ground. Leaf buds are fattening as the days get longer. Some people think the garden dies in winter, but we gardeners know a happy secret: life goes on...

...as do I when I get talking about plants. Anyway, I have a pretty good botanical library here, so if you have any questions about plants, ask and I'll try to help. Maybe we can form a network of helpful gardening friends.

[Bluenose]

I have never considered myself much of a gardener, but since Margot and I built our house about 5 years ago that seems to have changed.  We are now in the final stages of building our garden.  It has been a slow process and we have changed our minds about things as we went but we feel that has been for the good.

In our front garden we have a small area of lawn (well, grass really, given the current drought it is a bit ratty ).  there is a 600 mm retaining wall behind which we have a row of standard roses and Italian lavender.  The roses have all been selected to be fragrent as well as nice to look at, can't see the point of these modern scentless roses!  Between the lawn and he driveway there is an area mostly planted with pigface, a succulent with very bright flowers, one that flowers in spring on in summer and another that flowers in winter.  In the middle of this area there is a "silver princess" which is a small Western Australian flowering gum that has enormous bright red flowers in spring and summer.  There is a small bed next to the road with a "leucoxylin dwarf" (which is another small flowering eucalypt) and some dwarf agapanthus.  There is two more leucoxylins in the front garden one at each side and along one boundary at the front there are "dutch blue giant" agapanthus which have very dark blue flowers held on stems that are usually over 180 cm (6') tall.

In the back garden we have a few more leucoxylins as they will provide open shade when they are grown - they usually grow 4 to 6 m in height at about 10 years of age with an open canopy - plus this is a species that does not go for drains or damage concrete pathways, building slabs and the like as well as being highly bird attracting.  Generally our back yard is planted with Australian native plants, particularly grevileas, calistamons and correas, but also with a smattering of other things.  We have just decided to kill an area of grass out the back and put mulch over it and plant out with some ground cover forms of grevileas and so on as well as some shrub forms.  The pond is about 2.5 x 3.5 m and 0.5 m deep in the middle and with a shallow rock lined "beach" end.  The pond is planted mostly with Melbourne indigenous water plants although we have put in some water irises (just love them blue Flowers!).

We have found that our plant choices so far have proven to be excellent from the POV of attracting birds to the garden and we keep spying new species all the time.  We are not "bird watchers" but it great to have them in the garden.  I particularly like the spotted pardelotes which are tiny little birds and they flit in and out of the garden and eat the scale growing on some trees behind our back fence, chattering away, plus they love the bird bath.  Great fun.  We have three species if frogs, southern brown tree frogs, eastern banjo frogs and striped marsh frogs.  the sounds off these guys calling on a warm summer night is just bliss.  Also we have a great selection of lizards and some St Andrews cross spiders, which are simply beautiful - even Margot who is scared to death of spiders generally loves these pretty little guys.

I am currently working on finishing the landscaping around the pond area and will be planting a number of frog friendly plant around the edges to complement the reeds etc that are growing in the pond around the edge.  We are planning where to put some seating - probably just simple slab benches - so that we can just sit an stare at the pond and watch the goings on.

We are trying to build a little bit of nature around our house and so far Margot and I are very happy with how its going.  We use a simple method when selecting plants - we get advice from the nursery at first but then we "suck it and see".  Plants that die don't get tried again, those that thrive we get more of, or similar ones.  We nearly always have something in flower and there is always something going on.  the garden is a great place for any toadfish to sit and think, or to just sit.

Sibling Bluenose

[Aggie]

I'm jealous, Siblings!  I'm in an apartment at the moment, so I'm restricted to indoor jungle and a few 'porch monkeys' in the summer.

I'll be a big Garden Head when I get some landspace... it's too arid and short-of-season here to get me interested in even a community plot.

[Opsa]

Well Aggie, as Bluenose says, it takes a long time to plan and get it started, so you might as well dream now. That's a very important part of garden building.

Blue, your garden sounds wonderful. We've been considering a water feature, too. The only problem is that we get major mosquito action around here. How did you do your pond?

I'll list our plants when I have time (gotta run, now). I keep a garden map so I can remember where everything is. Do you do that?

[Bluenose]

The Bluenose^TM method of pond construction and working on the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words:

First dig your hole (I got this done when we had some dirt moved in, leveled out etc right back in the beginning of making the garden.  Much easier to move 3.5 m³ of heavy clay mechanically than trying to dig it by hand!)




Then I lined the hole with 50 mm (2") of washed river sand




I then lined that with geo-textile fabric to provide additional protection to the pond liner.  I actually used drainage fabric rather than specialised pond underlay, because it is the same thing and it is way cheaper.




Then I laid out the pond liner (got some help from the neighbours for this).  I used a 0.5 mm PVC liner.  If you can afford it a butyl rubber liner is the best possible choice, but the good quality PVC ones are still pretty good.




Then add water - that's me in the background




The next morning, add ducks.  This family of ducks wondered in through the side gate as I was getting ready to place the rocks around the pond edge.  They were trying to get through to the dam behind our place.  Eventually had to chase them out.




I then placed some rocks around the edge




One end of the pond is shallow and I have lined it with rounded flat river stones, there will be a beach of these when all is finished.




Another view of the shallow water




An overall view of the pond just after construction




The pond as it is today




The area behind the pond in the corner will be built up with soil and rocks and then planted including a small tree - a snow gum.  I will be planting suitable frog friendly plants around the edges of the pond and the area will be mulched with "bush mulch" which is basically eucalypt leaves and twigs etc to give it a natural sort of look as well as helping out with water retention and so on.

As for mosquito protection, within a couple of weeks of adding water the pond was literally teaming with mossies.  I put in two small Australian native fish - Murray rainbowfish - and that has been the end of the problem.  We have not seen a single mosquito wriggler in the pond since a few days after we added the fish.  I recommend you choose a suitable small locally native fish and that will be the end of the problem.  In North America NANFA (the North America Native Fish Association) should be able to advise of a suitable species.  I do not like goldfish in ponds, they produce way too much waste, are not very good mosquito predators and they eat tadpoles - all not good qualities IMO.  The trick is to choose a species that will not cause any problems if it escapes from your pond into any natural water course nearby.

This project has been very satisfying and I am looking forward to its completion soon!

Sibling Bluenose

[Opsa]

 
Holy Carp! That's absolutely gorgeous! That's exactly the kind of thing we had in mind. Very naturalistic.

My mom's Japanese garden has a pond, and the koi always eat the mosquitos there. I should have thought of that. I love koi. Every so aoften we get a winter cold enough to freeze the pond solid and she loses some koi, but mostly they just burrow into the mud and leaves at the bottom and go into slow mo.

[Bluenose]

It's been pretty warn the last few days, plus we've had late afternoon showers/thunderstorms a couple of times.  The frogs have gone berserk.  Mainly striped marsh frogs, their calls have been very loud and continuous right through the night.  On Saturday morning we found 7 or 8 egg masses spread throughout the pond and it is currently just teeming with tadpoles.  there were a few more this morning as well.

Work is progressing on completing the landscaping around the pond.  I have to take it easy because I have got tendonitis in my right Achilles tendon, plus some sort of spur at the attachment point (yes, ouch!), which means I have to be very careful about how I use my foot - makes working in the garden a slow process.  Still, It's not a race so I just keep on pluggin away.  Its all coming together now, so I'm keen to finish, but I have to make myself take it steady.  I'll post some more photos when the work is done (acknowledging that a garden is never "done"), hopefully in a few weeks.

Although I still do not really consider myself to be a "gardener", the great thing about it is that you can do as much or as little as you like.  Even a few pot plants can make an indoor garden, with a bit of imagination!

Sibling Bluenose

[goat starer]

Water is the best thing in any garden. There is nothing that will attract wildlife like a pond or even a small water feature. My garden is designed to be practical for use all year round whilst encouraging lots of wildlife. Walls etc have been built to have gaps and spaces for the creepy crawlies etc.

My pond is here http://www.freewebs.com/anthonywad_2000/photos.htm

it is much smaller than bluenoses pond (my garden is smaller than bluenoses pond!  )

I built one in my parents garden that is of identical construction to the Bluenose method (that is Goatdesign^TM and I will be expecting the royalty cheque VERY soon). It is now about 8 years old and well established. I have counted over 30 frogs at any one time in it (which probably means there are hundreds). If I can get a photo I will post it up.

I will post a picture of the whole Goat garden later as I think it is a rather lovely piece of design for a garden that is only 4m x 4m (and will be even better when I complete my outside mosaic this summer).

Garden design is just great fun.

[Sibling Chatty]

It is still February.

My peach trees are blooming. This is too early for peach trees to bloom. Ah, well, it just means I get to screw up thinning them much earlier this year!!

[Opsa]

Oh! If only I could see those peach blossoms!

I spotted the first crocus the other day in the front yard. It was small and yellow, but it's tiny shock of color seemed to rule the grey landscape. The Sunday came and buried it under a half a foot of snow.

...but I know it's in there somewhere!

[Sibling Chatty]

If I had a working camera...then I would need a properly working computer, and then I could post pics!

Oh, well...maybe next year?

[Opsa]

We've had some mild days here this week and I've been clearing out my perennial beds. My back hurts, but I feel good about pulling out the old dead stalks and stuff. Only problem is: it looks neater, but punier! I did see the nubby heads of some old friends out there, and said hello to some kindly earthworms.

In the front yard I have large purple croci and pale yellow daffodils blooming like mad along the south-facing stone foundation of the house. What a spirit lifter it is to see these beauties fluttering in the breeze! It's like a balm on my heart.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

My parents are planning to put in a water feature eventually. They want to use it mostly as a cooling device, given that it can reach upwards of 105*F around here.

My garden has been through the wringer this year. We had 19 days of hard frost, which these plants aren't well equipped to deal with, mostly. That has NEVER happened before in the 10 years I've lived here. I'm waiting to see if my butterfly bush comes back. Other then that, my plants seem to be doing well. I have posted pics in the pictures section from my yard, too. WE're well on our way to summer here, so most of the blooming (like for my apricot) is already done.

[Opsa]

Hey, Garden Heads!

The daffodils are starting to fade around here. I've tried a couple of methods to keep the ripening leaves from flopping over onto the other plants, such as tying each clum together (too tedious!) folding and rubber-banding (killed my hands!) and this year: just tying huge clumps together. Cutting them down is NOT recommended, as the leaves need to continue to photosynthesize after the flowers are done, in order to feed the bulbs and make flowers for next year. What do you do?

[Sibling Chatty]

My grandmother used to sort of braid them...it kept them together!