April 2021 Garden News

 The start of April; was very busy with finishing the pool deck.

I started to screw the Merbau timber to the joists, as the pool surround is not straight every bit of timber had to be cut to fit the curve of the pool.

After 925 stainless decking screws the job was almost finished all that remained to do was to pebble the area behind the deck and then clean and prepare the deck for oiling.

I then gave the deck three coats of water based oil.

The finished product was quite pleasing.

We had a short break for ANZAC day at Agnes Water where my Grand daughters marched with me.

I did not do much else that month as my arm and shoulder were giving me a lot of pain from building the deck.

Garden News March 2021

 

Sorry I am so late in posting this blog but I have been very building a new pool deck.

At last, a Garden Club presentation. On the 16^th we visited Oxley and District Garden Club where I gave my latest presentation on ‘Aroids and Colour’.

They really liked it and it was nice to receive a nice thank you letter.

We had a bus trip booked to our garden but due to the heavy rain we had to cancel, just too wet and soggy.

The other cancellation was a visit to Steve Flood’s Nursery with the Cordyline Society as we had Grandchildren duties that day.

March was a great month for rain, in all we had over 500 mills, that filled up all our tanks and gave the garden a deep watering.

The existing pool deck was getting old and rotten so instead of waiting for winter when the weather is cooler, I made a start, and what a big job it has turned out to be.

I did not finish it until mid-April so you will have to wait until next months Blog entry to see the finished work.

I have also made benches for Judy's Bromeliads.

There were two parts of the garden that I was not happy with, so out came the existing plants, timber edges in then build up with soil and compost and finally fill with new plants.

Some garden photos I took over the month.

Garden News February 2021

 

We started the month with a garden presentation to ‘Bayside Garden Club’ based in Wynnum.

I gave my ‘Aroid and Colour’ presentation and it was enjoyed by the members there.

A friend took some drone photos of our place.

Later in the month after weeks of cleaning and getting ready we hosted a general meeting of ‘The International Cordyline Society’.

The garden was looking really good.

I had set up the patio for a presentation and two shelters so we could space members.

Just under 50 turned up and a new committee was formed, not without a bit of angst I might add.

Anyway, it all turned out OK in the end.

Plant sales were good and the last members left at 3pm.

It’s that time of year when the Cockatoo’s visit us to eat all our crop of Pecan Nut’s.

AS usual most of my time is spent in the garden and at the end of a hot and humid day it’s good to jump into the pool to cool down.

We had some very hot and humid days during the month without much rain.

Garden News January 2021

 

First blog for 2021, oh, how the years fly by.

First, I would like to make a comment on the Aroid craze and it’s not just Australia it’s all over the world.

Crazy prices, up to 1000s of dollars just for cuttings. Personally, I would really baulk at paying any more than $50 for a plant but made one exception and that was to buy an Amorphophallus titanium for $120, unfortunately it rotted this season.

Hoping this year will be better than 2020, what a disaster that was, all garden meetings and shows cancelled and we had to cancel our 19^th Open Garden.

We would have liked to have opened but Queensland Health would not listen despite two letters stating exactly how we would implement a Covid plan and not let excess numbers of visitors into the garden.

To cut it short we would have a limit of 50 into garden regulated at the gate and another 50 waiting on the front lawn where there would be refreshments.

I really doubt that they even read my letters properly as all we received back was an Email to advise us to go to the Covid site, and that was a useless exercise.

So, we cancelled despite hearing that others had opened their garden and were not worried about numbers but having been dobbed in a couple of times to authorities we were not prepared to take the risk as there’s always one nasty person in a crowd.

So, lots of work raising garden beds, building benches and new shade areas and of course buying and planting more plants.

I am very pleased how the garden is looking and it should look spectacular for 2021 opening.

We are starting to get bookings for bus tours and garden presentations. I have finished a new presentation ‘Aroids and Colour in the Giving Garden’.

I bought Judy a Heat mat for Christmas and built a double story hothouse, it’s now full of seedings that Judy is raising.

We have really been disappointed in Rocky Point potting mix and have changed to a mix available from Centenary landscapes, how a business could ruin a good product astounds me, anyway we are happy with the new mix.

Massive Amorphophallus paeoniifolus.

Aroids from our garden.