Winter is only a few weeks away down under. Time for a week-end spent getting the house and garden ready for the winter storms.
Paul has cleared all the gutters of leaves. Living next door to a bank of peppermint eucalyptus trees means the gutters fill quickly with leaves, so this is a job that absolutely must take priority before the rains come. Its not Paul’s favourite job, but all the decomposing leaves, now added to our compost, will make a lot of worms happy.
The rose garden has been weeded, and bedded down with lucerne straw to try and help keep the weeds at bay. There’s nothing worse than trying to weed rain sodden garden beds.
Similarly the developing hedge of pittosporum has had it’s final trim and has been mulched over. We’ve spent the summer trimming the bushes into a hedge shape. Hopefully next summer it’ll put on a good growth spurt, and we’ll be able to get it all a little straighter and higher.
Our newly planted strawberries are fruiting, but I’m not sure there’ll be enough heat left in the sun to ripen them.
The silverbeet and lettuce are all doing well, and providing fresh greens for our plates.
We’re still getting a few roses, but they’re slowing down now. One good thing with the last of the autumn roses is the blooms last a long time before dropping.
Our newly planted green garden will welcome the cooler weather to help the ferns settle in.
The tides at the beach are getting higher now as they do in winter. It won’t be long now and there’ll be very little beach to walk on for Tills.
I’m not a fan of the cold weather, but I do enjoy the change of season as the winter approaches. With all the hard work now out of the way, we’ll have time to get away later this week to enjoy some cool weather camping. Looking forward to a red or two around the campfire, to accompany a good old fashioned camp oven stew.
Life of Riley - on whatever 
Fingers crossed the sun ripens those strawberries!
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We’ve just come home from a three day camping trip and there’s a faint tinge of pink coming…..
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Looks like you’re all ready for the coming winter but not sure Mr Tilly is taking it at all seriously!
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Garden is looking great Chris 🙂
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Thanks Lorelle. It’s starting to get its shape now after several re-thinks. Now we just have to wait for it to grow. I love going back through my blog to look at how it changes.
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Our blogs are a great way to document the changes Chris. Good on you. X
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Mr. tilly is all grown up! Your yard turned out absolutely gorgeous!!!!
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Yes, he is growing up now. He’ll be two in July. The garden is certainly taking shape. We’ve only been here two and a half years, and it’s taken a few twists and turns to get satisfied with it. I think we’ve got it going in the right direction now, just have to wait for it to grow.
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We had lovely rain about two months ago and my roses, which had been in survival mode all summer through the drought, have suddenly gone crazy with dozens of buds. The temperatures have dropped here in the last week and the nights are definitely getting chilly.
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Yes, since Easter we’ve had the heating on several times. My roses are past their autumn best now. Still an occasional flower, but nothing fantastic.
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A red or two around a fire sounds just the ticket, Chris but my fire would be inside not outside! Great work in the garden. It is looking beautiful. Do you think Mr Tilli might have a nibble at those greens one day?
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He gets the silverbeet in his dinner most nights. Most times he’s up on the garden beds chasing the butterflies away.
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Good for him. That silverbeet would be so good for him.
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