I’m not going to lie, I feel a bit of survivor guilt being tucked away down here in Tasmania. No lockdowns, no masks, I am sorry for those of you who are deep in the thick of it.
That said, I thought I would come back here and do something new …
An email yesterday about this blog made want to change things up a bit and write something almost daily/when I can. And while it won’t be written from very far afield (I have been quite ill and can’t really wander far) it will be outdoorsy and literature-themed.
I thought I could just wander around the very chaotic and overgrown garden some days and talk about the things I see and other interesting stuff. And perhaps soon I will be able to venture further, if my health improves?
So with that in mind I will leave off for now and come back after a garden ramble to tell you more.
I DID IT!
So … The garden here is dormant, really. The house had been empty for some years before we arrived and some things have taken over while others have retreated.
Mostly, it’s full of texture. Is that a weird way to describe it? There are few flowers but plenty of trees and wonky bushes. One giant eucalyptus is pestering the back fence from beneath. Another giant gum has died and been chopped down to a couple of feet high. Bits of the felled tree are all over the garden and if you roll them to the side a little you will find millipedes and damp earthy bits. Bark litters the entire yard like confetti, as do leafless branches and broke snippets of sticks.
I looked at them today and thought I would like to gather them all up into one big pile over the coming months. I’m going to start doing that, pals.
There’s bush as far as the eye can see from the fence line back, and a little track that runs behind the houses on my street. There are birds EVERYWHERE and I am going to take some photos of some (I hope!) in the coming weeks to show you. Today it was the neighbour’s chooks and roosters, giant inky ravens, kookaburras and some others that I need to look in my bird book to identify.
There’s an ailing old water feature running, a series of interconnected ponds, running down one side of the garden. Steps run from the back door all the way up to the back fence. At the back fence there is an ancient cubby house, complete with rickety verandah. The inside is thick with leaf litter and some of the wooden panels are missing. There’s a little shelf in there too. I wonder what might have been stowed on it years ago.
The view across the river, town and hills is just spectacular. It’s been so cold I have not been taking a cup of tea up there enough of late, but sitting up there today soaking it all in made me realise that I just need to bloody rug up and get out there.
Back to the garden though … several old fruit and nut trees are dotted about. They are knobbly with age and leafless at the moment but when we arrived here in the summer last year they were giving the whole fruit thing their best go. (Not that we got any but I could see they were trying!) I’m going to look up what I could do to help them feel less rickety.
We put some garden beds in back then, but the possums ate everything except a few sprigs of bunching onions. I turned the earth over today and have made a note to think about the possum-proofing. (Yes I used a spoon! I could not find a trowel!)
I looked for snails (I just read this brilliant book) but they eluded me … I will keep trying though. It felt nice to turn over pieces of bark and rocks … get that feeling of being an explorer like when I was a wee kiddo in my long-ago backyard at Mount Nelson. Once I got way more than I bargained for when I met a trap-door spider that way. Back then there were often lizards … skinks or blue-tongues tucked under those branches and stones. It’s a bit cold for those friends at the moment.
So, with the garden, I guess the things is to start small, given energy levels and budget. I’m going to start to collect the sticks up first. And to trim back some of the less nice plants that have marauded all over the place. I’ll start there.
Here are some photos so you can see what I mean about the texture … SO WINTRY. Shudder. Very … Tassie noir.
And here are a couple of the very, very few flowers that are hardy enough to show themselves at this very chilly time of the year.
Love to you, dear reader.
Back soon with stick progress. (I promise!)
Hopefully the photos will get prettier as spring edges in!!!
x Pip
Read my main blog - Meet Me At Mike’s.
Read my other pop-up blog - Something Good Every Day.
How exciting to see you back in this space Pip..yay.
I've been battling the possums and wallabies for years now and have reduced my veg garden to 1 small raised bed with a polypipe frame holding fine insect net up, think a laura ingles-wilder covered wagon. It's done the job, I just have to make sure I open it up so the wanted insects can get in and work their magic.
I hope you are soon much better, I think rugging up and taking your cuppa up to take in that view must be a tonic to help your healing.
I had lunch in your gorgeous town yesterday on my way home from Hobart (we went up over the lakes) and I looked around and wondered where you live. I just love the river, it's so big and was flowing so fast yesterday, there aren't many big flowing rivers in Tas really.
any way welcome back to this space
cheers Kate
Thx so much...lovely photos! Im so jealous if your move to the country....Where did you live before this? Sx