It's been a beautiful afternoon here in south west Victoria, sunshine and the smell of moist soil getting warmer and ready for spring. We've had a great day, busily working outside, as well as fixing up yesterdays dramas.
Yesterday, while the three boys went to watch my brother play footy, I planted my newspaper pots with the first lot of seeds to go into the coldframe. Melons, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, comfrey, capsicum and eggplants are all in and ready to be nursed through their baby days so I can plant them out in about 4-6 weeks when spring is really here.
With my seeds all snug, I got to other garden jobs. I've started chopping into our pittosporum hedge which runs down the fenceline of our block, and am replacing it with evergreen fruit trees. Yesterday I planted a naval orange, a feijoa and a rangpur lime. I have left the back branches of the pittosporum on for now as they give much needed privacy and will also give frost protection to the young trees.
The boys got home just after lunch and just before I had a phone call telling us we could go and collect some free recycled bricks. We were hoping to get hold of some to build a pizza oven and were very pleased to get the phone call, even though we had to drive an hour to get them. We hitched the trailer and went to get them, loading up nearly 300 bricks and some big hunks of bluestone too. We were thrilled and so were the people we got them from, who considered it a saving in tip fees.
We were so pleased with ourselves until 5min down the road when the wheel fell off the trailer! It seems that after the last time the wheel had to be put on, it hadn't been tightened enough, and a tonne of bricks was just too much for it. So we were stuck on the side of the road until my stepdad came to the rescue with his ute. We loaded the bricks onto its tray, unhitched the trailer and left it there so I could come home in time to dance at the restaurant.
It is bittersweet when such a great day goes wrong.
Never mind, today we've patched it all up. Stu and I were building this morning, starting the work on closing in the end of the verandah to give is storage for homebrew and preserves. Then we started the courtyard renovations in preparation for the pizza oven. This involves tearing down a huge jasmine vine that has been there for about 10 years.
My stepdad came over after work to drop off our brick haul, then he and Stu went to collect the trailer. It is damaged, but home and fixable.
All in all a great, busy weekend.
I love the promise of spring and the extra energy and enthusiasm it gives us to work in the garden.
I see many of you have been busy too. Enjoy the preparations!
Yesterday, while the three boys went to watch my brother play footy, I planted my newspaper pots with the first lot of seeds to go into the coldframe. Melons, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, comfrey, capsicum and eggplants are all in and ready to be nursed through their baby days so I can plant them out in about 4-6 weeks when spring is really here.
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| Seeds all tucked into their newspaper pots with recycled milk bottle labels. |
With my seeds all snug, I got to other garden jobs. I've started chopping into our pittosporum hedge which runs down the fenceline of our block, and am replacing it with evergreen fruit trees. Yesterday I planted a naval orange, a feijoa and a rangpur lime. I have left the back branches of the pittosporum on for now as they give much needed privacy and will also give frost protection to the young trees.
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| Orange tree closest, then the feijoa and finally the lime with a recycled feedbag tree guard. |
The boys got home just after lunch and just before I had a phone call telling us we could go and collect some free recycled bricks. We were hoping to get hold of some to build a pizza oven and were very pleased to get the phone call, even though we had to drive an hour to get them. We hitched the trailer and went to get them, loading up nearly 300 bricks and some big hunks of bluestone too. We were thrilled and so were the people we got them from, who considered it a saving in tip fees.
We were so pleased with ourselves until 5min down the road when the wheel fell off the trailer! It seems that after the last time the wheel had to be put on, it hadn't been tightened enough, and a tonne of bricks was just too much for it. So we were stuck on the side of the road until my stepdad came to the rescue with his ute. We loaded the bricks onto its tray, unhitched the trailer and left it there so I could come home in time to dance at the restaurant.
It is bittersweet when such a great day goes wrong.
Never mind, today we've patched it all up. Stu and I were building this morning, starting the work on closing in the end of the verandah to give is storage for homebrew and preserves. Then we started the courtyard renovations in preparation for the pizza oven. This involves tearing down a huge jasmine vine that has been there for about 10 years.
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| Half the jasmine on the ground, the rest is still standing. The pizza oven will be built right behind where the jasmine currently stands. |
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| Free bricks in my garden! That makes me happy. |
I love the promise of spring and the extra energy and enthusiasm it gives us to work in the garden.
I see many of you have been busy too. Enjoy the preparations!
You will love having a pizza oven, my hubby made one at our last house and we miss it. It is on the list of things to build again when we can get some recycled bricks like you.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I can't wait to see photos of the oven - do you have the book or are you winging it?
ReplyDeleteHave also started tidying the garden here, ready for spring...although it still isn't very warm!