Eat, Sleep, plant, repeat

So it’s been two years since we last touched base and as the title suggests, our new life essentially involves planting, planting and some more planting. 2020 gave us anxiety and uncertainty in equal measure, but also a whole heap of time to just… garden. So we upped tools, dug holes, flattened land and planted. Two years later we’re still going, realising that with two acres to fill, you’re never really ‘done’. Some photos of progress below and yes, it is still a work in progress, hoping to be done by 2099…

Having finally figured out what we want to do with the land, all we had to do was plant. At which point we quickly realised that if you think you need ten plants, get fifty, if you think you need fifty, etc. This landscape just absorbs them. Shane’s new hobby is spraying off grass in preparation for planting (those are the brown bits you see in the photos). Mine is ‘helping’ by putting things back in the ground and covering them with soil. Who remembers going out on a Friday night???

To the right of the house we’ve created a formal garden that includes the area that covers the water tanks and a bank of (you’ve guessed it) plants, now to be shielded by a ‘Red Robin’ hedge, planted just this weekend. Must be getting old as there is a certain amount of joy to be had from putting things in the ground and watching them grow. Or watching them get blown over by 60km/h winds, whichever happens first.

Onwards to the tricky bank in front of the house, made of clay and guaranteed to kill, stunt or deny growth altogether. Regardless, we just keep popping things in there and seeing how they go. Interestingly, the left hand side of the the bank (comprising top soil left over from the house build) is flourishing. So a bit like us, the garden will forever be wonky.

Lastly to the area around the garage, which comprises a recently planted retainer garden to hold the gravel on the driveway, and our fearless wind break trees. These are desperately needed to stave off the howling and aggressive winds we get on a regular basis. No sleeping without ear plugs when one roars in. Thank goodness for those that have managed to survive and the bigger they grow, the more shelter they provide. Here’s to more planting, less wind and a long, hot summer!