These Days - Garden Progress

When I began writing this blog it was always my intention to chronicle the creation of a cool climate garden on our property called Bountiful - as well as comment on life and its offerings along the way.

Apart from my husband's construction of The Great Wall of Cameron in 2020, it felt like a lean year in terms of growth on Bountiful. I certainly wasn't prepared for the financial investment involved in a garden of our size - the cost of good soil, the investment that must be made with mulching, the purchase of plants and of course the time needed to bring it all together. We had lost a major proportion of our hedging plants with the drought/smoke/grasshoppers of 2019/2020 and so many trees were damaged by hungry and thirsty critters - you soon get to realise you have to factor in the necessary cost of replacing plants when conditions aren't kind. We've learned some tough lessons - never plant unless you can afford to mulch being a major one! Whilst we aren't reliant on our garden for income, it's been a stark window for us into the challenges faced by everyone who makes their living from the land and how precarious that can be. But there is good news... 

We were surprised (an understatement, trust me!) by an unexpected blessing of funds at Christmas time! This has given us the opportunity to begin the New Year with a flurry of much anticipated activity at Bountiful - at last.

The Great Wall of Cameron was the beginning of garden creation at the front of our property. As we have had some holidays, Cameron has been able to push on with this project, purchasing the necessary timber to complete the walls and edging as well as the garden soil required to give our planned trees and plants the best possible start.

Thanks to La Niña, we had a couple of weeks of wet and chilly weather, not at all conducive to garden work, but Cameron forged ahead whenever he got a break in the clouds and it was an exciting day when our delivery of soil arrived. It wasn’t until it was being tipped into place that we noticed it was actually steaming! 

Our garden designer, Courtney of Plantsmith Consultancy and Design advised us to wait several weeks before planting anything in it, to give it time to settle. I’m so glad we checked with her as we have a bunch of plant babies waiting for their new homes and we might have killed the lot! What it did do was give me time to take all of our smaller purchased plants and repot them into bigger pots to give them the best chance of coping with the wait – especially as the cooler weather seems to have disappeared and hotter days more typical of summer have taken their place. Every so often I am reminded that this time last year we could barely spend any time outside due to bushfire smoke, which makes me even more thankful!

Soil has been spread and the edging begins!

My Dad lends Cameron a hand in spreading the soil into the Great Wall.

As we wait for the soil to settle, Cameron is working to finish the garden edging to his satisfaction. It is so gratifying for him to be able to look at the work of his hands and feel that at last we’ve been able to make some tangible progress with the gardens at Bountiful. Here are some pics:

The older garden bed is now included in the new.

Some of these plants will need to be relocated closer to the edging.

This is the pathway created to our front steps. Clever hubby!

I'm loving these curves, especially his decision to mirror the curve on the other side of the driveway.

Look at that expanse of soil just waiting for plants - my fingers are itching!

Mia is always on hand when I'm taking photos ...

I can’t wait for planting! I will be able to get on with that while Cameron finishes capping all of the edging. I'm so glad we've had Courtney to advise us on plant selection, it's another one of those wise investments to ensure we create something that will be happy in our mountain-top conditions.

What has been keeping you busy at the beginning of this new year?

The song that has been going through my head is These Days by Powderfinger, especially the lyric “these days are nothing like I planned”. Given our experiences of 2020, I’m not surprised the song is being used for television commercials at the moment. If we relied only on our plans, we would have been feeling discouraged that it would be a very long time before we could make these inroads at Bountiful. Instead, we are feeling so thankful and blessed.

Happy New Year!

Tracey 🎉

 

Thanks to the YouTube Channel of Carla Ortiz Rocha for Powderfinger – These Days