A short person’s garden of stuff

Dog sculptures

Cubby house turned man cave

Veggie patches

My home

When I bought my home in Jan 2017, there was a large variety trees for the size of the block. As the trees became bigger, it became harder to keep them all pruned back so they fitted in the space they were planted in. I have therefore had to remove some of these trees and replace them with small flowering plants and shrubs. I am still learning which are best plants for the temperate coastal climate and different sections of my garden. It is now May 2019 and it has been the driest start to the year in 108 years, with less than an inch of rain all year. I have murdered a few plants so far ….

My garden is fairly shaded by the trees on the northern side of the block, with a range of different soil types in the garden: free-draining (some areas), sandy soils (possibly brought in) over heavy clay however black or darkish in colour.

I have a very productive garden with a variety of fruit trees dotted around the place: pink lady apple, green pear, nectarine, apricot, lemon, orange, peach, pomegranate, Japanese plum and European plum.

I am very proud of my 3 veggie patches (handmade by almost husband’s Dad and installed ourselves). For the soil, I used the original soil from the block (sandy), Lucerne and straw. I layered all three until the veggie beds were full. Over time the straw and Lucerne will compost down and give the sandy soil added/enriched organic matter. I use cane sugar mulch on top around the planted veggies. Over time the soil compacts down, and between veggie crops, I add a bag or few of either soil or compost and add more cane sugar mulch on top. I have a drip watering system on the veggie patches to water the beds. I find this is the best water saving method for a dry climate.

I am still learning how to grow veggies, with success at growing herbs (sweet basil, Vietnamese basil, thyme, mint, sage, curry, chives, chilli), and some veggies (spinach, egg plant, zucchini – I seem to grow massive bommy knockers). As much as I love carrots and really want to grow them, they always seem to grow into big twisted blobs …

A garden is not a garden without its random ornaments and manly functionality; always a much-loved work in progress. Most importantly the fire pit and a cubby house turned man cave to keep the almost husband pre-occupied and out of the way while I garden, until I need him to ‘dig a hole just to fill it back in’ for his almost wife (gotta make the blokes feel manly, right??).

My random ornaments began a few years ago (nightjar markets in Geelong) when I bought 2 groovy small dog sculptures made from scrap metal … it was only after I brought them home that I realised they were massively well endowed (how did I miss that?!?!?!?!) They’ll make most men jealous!