Kangaroos and Tasty Gardens

It's a magical thing to wake up in the mornings and see kangaroos outside the windows.

However, it didn't take me long to discover that kangaroos are particularly partial to a diet of just about anything I plant. This was a stumbling block to creating a garden that we hadn't factored in.

We asked many people for advice on how to keep the roos away from the plants but the only successful solution appeared to be "Get a dog". Given we are not at Bountiful all the time, that would have been a bit tough on the dog!

The other solution that seemed to have yielded positive results was electric fencing. Not entirely budget friendly, but we visited a local farmer who could report no roos in the paddock he had electrically fenced for the past eighteen months. This was in comparison to his adjoining paddocks which had different fencing and regular kangaroo visitations. So, given our vision for a large garden, and the knowledge that big trees have to grow from tasty little saplings, this seemed a foundational  investment to get us underway.

When you have work done on your place in the country, it's a great opportunity to meet those who live around you. A shout out to Stewart McLean from Taralga who came to remove some of our stubborn old fenceposts and did a great job with installing the new fencing. The remainder of the property retains its standard fencing which will be needed when we eventually get some livestock. We hope the kangaroos will still visit there, along with the large proportion of Bountiful that remains uncleared.

As a nostalgia buff, how could I not for this occasion include the theme music from Skippy The Bush Kangaroo? Children fortunate to be born when Skippy was on TV grew up thinking kangaroos were pretty clever creatures. I'm praying our roos are clever enough to stick around but give our garden and its bitey fence a wider berth.