I have been outside

[rattfan]

This is what I've been doing for most of this long weekend, here in my front yard. The Monday holiday was the Queen's birthday here; the third of her birthdays that I know of. The rest of what I was doing was digging holes in strategic locations to add soil improver and then sunflower seeds which will mature in three months if the bloody parrots don't get them first. If i can, I will get a photo of said bloody parrots, probably perched on a sunflower and chowing down.

The pigsface is the groundcover covering most of the available area. It is not a small job to remove it from even this small area to improve the soil and add the red and yellow daisies. The white daisies off to the side invited themselves but I had to buy the others. Before this weekend it was just the pigsface and lavender right up to the front. It won't win any awards but hey, it looks more colourful.

Bassendean, suburb of Perth, is basically a desert and you don't have to dig more than a few inches to reach sand. Or clay. In this area it's clay and you can bash your shovel against it all you like; you are not going any deeper without the aid of heavy machinery. There's a good reason why the big plants are all natives, although the tall spiky one whose name momentarily eludes me, I actually did dig out of a friend's garden [he didn't want it or its two friends any more!] and transplant, but I don't remember needing to dig very deep for that either. They are tough plants.

Also I am practising moving my photos around the computer and have figured out it helps to rename the ones in the folder so I know what the hell they are before I try and upload them!

Comments

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Looking good! It's a dracena, I think (dragon tree?). They're really hardy. I discovered this when S broke mine in half. I planted the broken top in a pot and both 'halves' began to reshoot within a week or two. Crazy cool.

Glad to see you've been able to get out in the garden; I'm miffed that it's been so rainy lately. Haven't managed to do much gardening at all, although I did plant some rainbow chard, kale, pak choy and English spinach. The snails and slugs have been having a great time with them. No pak choy left at all, and the kale is looking holey. Grr. Will have to spread some more coffee around.

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

Very pretty garden! Perhaps it might be best to germinate the sunflower seeds on cotton wool in your window before you plant them. If there are small plants, the birds may not be interested. Parrots and seeds go together. I suppose they just couldn't resist. ;-)

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

Actually the small plants are okay; the danger is when the plants are *almost* ready to flower and the parrots come in to eat the sunflower heads, often before they mature. Can be heartbreaking!

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

Ah, what a shame! Perhaps, then, a bit of netting might help? Don't mean to teach you to suck eggs! ;-) I don't have parrots in Elwood, just dreary pigeons, plus seagulls on the beach, not helping themselves to my tiny balcony garden. I've grown a sunflower before, but it never occurred to me a seed loving bird would help itself.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

Not only that; the parrots send scouts out. You get one twenty-eight parrot wandering about and before you know it, a whole flock is there. I haven't grown sunflowers for awhile so I'm hoping they've forgotten.....

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your pretty garden. Maybe your sunflower seeds could be germinated in your window, on damp cotton wool before you plant them? Parrots and seeds go together, but would they eat a pair of leaves?

[kazluvsbooks.livejournal.com]

lovely!! i am so excited that spring is here <3

[merilune.livejournal.com]

Lovely patch of colour :) my front yard is very sad currently. Must do something about that.

Oh yes, show me the parrots! Are they those blasted 28's? They used to pull seed pods off a tree in my backyard and drop them all over my housemate's car. They'd bloody screech too! Gorgeous birds but I do not miss them over here in Vic (we have plenty of noisy birds without the 28's)

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

The 28s are indeed the persons of interest!

It's been a while since I tried to grow sunflowers so I'm hoping the parrots have forgotten about checking my yard.