December 2008 News

It's the last month of the year and alltogether it has not been a bad year.

The drought has finally broken,admittedly we have had a few dry spells but the rain did come at regular intervals.

It is always a relief when the 'Open Garden' is finished, I am not sure if the visitors realise just how much work goes into the opening.

December started off with some good rain, then we went for three weeks without, then the garden started to get that stressed look mainly due to the heat , we have had temps up to the high 30s.

Judy went into Hospital to have a complete knee replacement and I have been looking after her these past few weeks, looks like the operation was a success and Judy will soon be able to get back to her Bromeliads.

The best news of the month was from Scott and Eliza, seems that we are going to finally become grandparents in May, what wonderful news make it more than special as Scott is a paraplegic.

The garden is looking very green and lush the only thing that spoils it is the Gum trees losing their bark, very messy all the time.

I have often thought about opening our garden in February but realise the garden will be missing colour as the Day Lilys, Blood Lilys,Costus and Caladiums are already past their best.

I have decided to open a week later in 2009, so it will be the last weekend of November, the 28^th and 29^th.

I have decided on 2009s new project which will be an expansion of an existing garden in the back yard, Judy hates it but I think it will look nice.

Now that I am on long service leave I have time to do everthing, no more rushing.

The prawning season starts soon and I will be leaving the garden for a couple of months while I fill up the freezer (hopefully).

Open Garden 2008

After months of preparation it was close to our opening weekend, as always you pray for good weather. Well, the week leading up to the opening was very, very wet, in fact we had 265 mm of rain and the yard on the Friday was absolutely waterlogged.The garden was looking very good as this was our first opening where we had not been in drought Saturday was forecast for severe storms, supposedly worse that what had hit Brisbane earlier that week, the state Premier even went on radio to advise people not to leave their homes.As a result of the weather only 200 visitors came on the Saturday and the storms did not eventuate although it was very hot and humid.Sunday turned out to be fine but very high winds all day, but the visitors did arrive and we had close to 450 that day.Everyone enjoyed the garden especially one ten year old who signed the visitors book with this comment, “gardens are boring, but yours sure isn’t”.A lot of our usual visitors did not come and after talking to people later it was the weather that put them off.We had lots of helpers and at one time had five Swiss helpers; our connection with the Swiss is quite amazing. As usual Warrick and Fabienne's dogs provided lots of entertainment, ‘Diggity’ by diving into the swimming pool and the children loved the new pup ‘Fifi’.The caladiums were a picture; best I have ever seen them and the new front gardens were also a hit.The Capalaba Lions were great and the catering went off without any problems, the ‘Lions’ raised over $1500 from the catering and raffle and were going to put in more to help a girl with multiple sclerosis.Everything was down by 25% including plant sales, Judy hardly sold any of her large  $20 Neos, which was a shame as they were very good healthy specimens, mainly plants $10 and down sold, may have something to do with the financial situation at the moment?It was a pity about visitor numbers, 1000 seems to be a magical figure that is very elusive, and it’s strange as all our visitors say our garden is far better than any other garden they have visited.There’s always next year and of course there will be a new garden for people to see, this one will see the landscaping of the back yard completed.

 

Preview of Open Garden

We have had 180mm of rain this week so the garden is going to look great for this weekends opening.

Just too busy at the moment to write too much, will give full narrative of opening when it's all over.

Open Garden

Australia's Open Garden Scheme

presents

Ian and Judy Wintle’s

‘Giving Garden’

 Carlton Court, Birkdale

Come spend an hour or two or more!!

‘Brisbane’s best visitor friendly garden’

‘It’s worth the visit as there’s always something new’

It’s worth taking the time to visit this wonderful ‘one-acre’ sub tropical garden paradise. This may be the only garden in Australia in which exotic tropical fruit trees provide the shade canopy.  A large collection of rare and unusual plants provide the under story plantings. This garden gives immense pleasure, relaxation and tranquillity just by being within its beautiful grounds. The opening is a garden experience; it is truly a gardener’s garden and will help you in your selection of plants to turn your Garden into a similar paradise. Homegrown plant sales specializing in beautiful named bromeliads. Owners are only too willing to give free garden information and advice. Lunches, home cooked delights and refreshments provided by the Capalaba ‘Lions Club’. This is a garden that you can easily spend several hours in and walk away relaxed and with new ideas for your garden. There is always something new in this garden and previous visitors certainly will not be disappointed in 2008 with a major front garden expansion and of course lots of new plantings. If you are interested in plants, landscaping and gardening or  just want a day out in a beautiful garden then don’t miss it.

 

Saturday November 22nd and Sunday November 23rd 2008

Garden is open from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm Directions: UBD Brisbane Map 184:A1

 

September Garden

Well another month and again a wet start. Things are certainly looking up. If the rain keeps on falling we just may have our 82,500 litres in storage.
Unfortunately the rain did not last and there was not much of it
I have just fertilised the day lilies and with the rain we are hoping for a great show this year.
I have started retirement with a massive list of jobs that need doing both inside and outside.
I have just completed a new composting area which will hold two lots of 5 cubic metres and a new wood storage area, I am resurfacing all the paths with crusher dust and have trimmed the custard apple trees (5) and shredded all the leaves for compost. And that’s just the start.
Well I am into my third week and have not stopped; how an earth did I do it all just on weekends?
Many jobs done and in the process of mulching the whole garden, I do not think the 50 bales of sugar cane mulch will be enough.
Spring is in the air and the Hippeastrums are starting to flower, you can see and feel spring in the garden, this years opening should be the best ever, just hope the weather is fine, It would be my worst nightmare to be rained out, all 12 months work down the drain. Don’t want to even contemplate it.
It is the end of the month and very hot 35c today, the garden is very dry as we have had no rain for over three weeks.
I am still very busy in the garden and look like being that way until the ‘Open garden’.
I have installed a new ‘fishfinder’ and a ‘Bimini’ top on my boat and am looking forward to re starting fishing. Fishing is something I have not done since my eldest son became a paraplegic; I found I gave me too much time to think, that’s why I started gardening, it turned out to be the best rehabilitation tool for me.
The blog is a bit short this month as I am too busy in the garden.

August Garden

After a couple of wonderful days at the 50th anniversary of RAAF working Dogs it was time to catch up in the garden.
The first job was to put a tank stand in for the new 5000 litre tank; this was easy compared to some of the other ones I have done.
I am putting another 15,000 litre tank behind the shed, getting this area ready meant a new entry/exit door to shade house, removal of old tin 5000 litre tank and stand, emptying both existing tanks and moving the existing 15000 tank forward to make room for the new tank.
Lots of work (what isn’t) but will be worth it in the end and we should now be able to survive any drought and not have to pay top dollar for excess water.
The ‘Garden Gurus’ visited our garden for the third time, this visit had nothing to do with our garden, rather focusing on micro irrigation, as we have lots of tanks it made a good backdrop for the story.
What a busy day, first my new Olympus E-520 DSLR camera arrived then the ‘Garden Gurus’ team, then 50 bales of sugar cane mulch then our two new rainwater tanks.
As well as this I finished of the new entry to the shade house, plumbed one of the new tanks and started work on the new composting area. I am moving the rear garden compost and wood storage areas from back yard into front as I feel that these areas now detract from the garden flow. The new garden created by removing the old wood storage bin will be an ideal area for a showing of Heliconia ‘Rostrata’.
August has been especially cold; we have had almost a month where the morning temperature remained under 5c with a couple of frosts. The Heliconia’s all look pretty bad at the moment from cold-burn. To my mind the winters seem to be getting colder and this combined with last years cooler than normal summer makes me a global warming sceptic.
I am looking forward to a long weekend on 29 August, in fact a very long weekend, its called Retirement.

August Garden

After a couple of wonderful days at the 50th anniversary of RAAF working Dogs it was time to catch up in the garden.
The first job was to put a tank stand in for the new 5000 litre tank; this was easy compared to some of the other ones I have done.
I am putting another 15,000 litre tank behind the shed, getting this area ready meant a new entry/exit door to shade house, removal of old tin 5000 litre tank and stand, emptying both existing tanks and moving the existing 15000 tank forward to make room for the new tank.
Lots of work (what isn’t) but will be worth it in the end and we should now be able to survive any drought and not have to pay top dollar for excess water.
The ‘Garden Gurus’ visited our garden for the third time, this visit had nothing to do with our garden, rather focusing on micro irrigation, as we have lots of tanks it made a good backdrop for the story.
What a busy day, first my new Olympus E-520 DSLR camera arrived then the ‘Garden Gurus’ team, then 50 bales of sugar cane mulch then our two new rainwater tanks.
As well as this I finished of the new entry to the shade house, plumbed one of the new tanks and started work on the new composting area. I am moving the rear garden compost and wood storage areas from back yard into front as I feel that these areas now detract from the garden flow. The new garden created by removing the old wood storage bin will be an ideal area for a showing of Heliconia ‘Rostrata’.
August has been especially cold; we have had almost a month where the morning temperature remained under 5c with a couple of frosts. The Heliconia’s all look pretty bad at the moment from cold-burn. To my mind the winters seem to be getting colder and this combined with last years cooler than normal summer makes me a global warming sceptic.
I am looking forward to a long weekend on 29 August, in fact a very long weekend, its called Retirement.