Tag: Home garden

New planting

The shadow is creeping back from the raised garden bed. It is time to dig. The soil is dark and crumbly, breaking into lumps. It is time to clear out the violets (Viola hederacea) (Viola sororia), the scurvy weed (Commelina cyanea). A silverbeet has survived the winter and is standing tall. The garden mint (Mentha… Continue reading New planting

Why?

We had been away for a few days. Walking down the side path, checking the garden, there lying on the ground was a ring-tailed possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus), as if asleep, though dead. It made me twinge.Why? There were marks in its fur. Claw marks? Bite marks? From a cat?I couldn’t leave it there so tried… Continue reading Why?

New roof

The tiles were replaced and to get up there they built a scaffold in the front garden, a tower towering. And in between days of rainstorms they slid the tiles down, rebuilt the support structure and wound the new tiles up, clunking them into place. After the tower was gone I looked at the mud… Continue reading New roof

Pecking and fungi

There were little holes dotted over the ground. My first thought is “rats!” Because I remembered one year when the rats neatly stole the corn seeds I’d planted. But there were no corn seeds here. A couple of days later I come out the front door and there is a currawong pecking at the ground.… Continue reading Pecking and fungi

The gate is padlocked

My neighbour, Matthew, (no.38) has all but abandoned his garden. It’s been years now and the garden has become more and more overgrown, re-wilding. The grass has disappeared. Bracken (Pteridium sp.), Tradescantia fluminensis, Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia)  have replaced it. Self-seeded trees are growing, forming an arcade along beside the path. The species of tree,… Continue reading The gate is padlocked

Living with…huntsmen

For a period of time over Christmas and New Year I shared the kitchen bench with a huntsman spider. A small one. It seemed to like the compost bucket and I imagined it was eating the tiny flies that hover in there, providing an ‘ecosystem service’. Sometimes it would be at the other end of… Continue reading Living with…huntsmen

Spiders and crickets

Last year there was mainly leaf curling spiders, not just here in the garden but also up on Summerfield in the Hunter Valley. This year the leaf curling spiders are gone and the orb weavers are back. They spin huge webs. They sit at the centre, mainly at night. During the day they often hide… Continue reading Spiders and crickets

Bumper crop

I spot the first purple fruits on the ground lying amongst the leaf litter. Plums! Known as Davidson or Mullumbimby plums (Davidsonia jerseyana) they are an Australian bush tucker food and are really sour. They are not in the Prunus genus with the other plums we know.I look up and along the main stems of… Continue reading Bumper crop

A burst of light

The trees in the backyard have been trimmed away from the house. Right back. A burst of light and heat now slams down into the garden which the plants down below are not used to. I water them to help reduce the shock. I think of it as though a canopy tree has fallen and… Continue reading A burst of light