Early last week we returned home from our holiday at Evans Head to find over our 7 days absence not only had a snake found its way into the kitchen, and a neighbour’s chook moved into our yard, that spring had sprung in the garden.
After catching up on errands, domestic duties, unpacking and repacking the caravan for our next trip, I eventually had time to enjoy a wander around our not quite quarter acre block which fortunately had received enough rain to keep it nicely watered during our absence.
“Sometimes since I’ve been in the garden I’ve looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden – in all the places.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Inspired by my friend Kate’s Nature notes post, this is what early spring looks like in my garden. A little bit messy, overgrown in places, no shortage of weeds, lots of tasty leafy greens… especially if like me you consider nasturtiums edible, and flowers… I only wish I could share the smells and accompanying reassuring hum of bees.
Looking out the front from the verandah.
First rose of spring. Summer Romance.
First rose of the new bare root plants this year. Heaven on Earth.
Jasmine everywhere. Oh, the fragrance!
Bees love jasmine too.
New Buddleia/butterfly bush plants in pink, white and yellow.
Succulent flowering in the sun on the verandah.
Happy to see the first ever flower on this indoor/outdoor bromeliad.
Wisteria at the back door.
Potted snow poppy at the back door.
Violets hide away behind the tank.
First flower on the ‘Spanish Shawl” cutting I propagated from a cutting given to me by @our_river_cottage.
Pansies and snap dragons… potted colour.
My OzGREEN Food Resilience action for August was to plant some seeds.
Flower heads on the shallots alongside dill that shot up.
The start of the sweet peas.
Fingers crossed for the little lemon basils. Coriander, broad beans and garlic chives.
Still getting some snow peas.
Scented Geranium ‘Nutmeg’.
Leafy greens left to flower for the bees. Yarrow. Wondering if that is a Nashi Pear tree or a dead stick.
Volunteer tomatoes popping up among the silverbeet. Wondering if that is a White Currant or a dead stick.
Red Centre Lime tree and chard.
Red Centre Lime flower and a single fruit.
Beginnings of a border of transplanted comfrey.
Nasturtiums are SHTF [Sh!t Hit The Fan] plants. Too many nasturtiums are never enough… and bees love the flowers.
Might make some nasturtium pesto.
Heliotrope ‘Golden Glow’. The fragrance! And, bees love the flowers.
Lemon blossom buds and new leaves.
Ubiquitous Herb Robert.
Banksia Rose behind the tank along the side back fence.
Orange blossom.
New Red Cedar leaves. Blue sky.
Dog plant digs its own hole.
“A backyard designed to be a little piece of heaven can remake ordinary time and space into something memorable.” – Jan Johnsen
A while ago I threw a handful of nasturtium seeds over the bank out the back.
Out the back. Blue billygoat weed and fireweed. We see weeds. The bees see flowers.
“I’ll admit that my garden now grows hope in lavish profusion, leaving little room for anything else. I suppose it has squeezed out more practical plants like caution and common sense. Still, though, hope does not flourish in every garden, and I feel thankful it has taken root in mine.” ― Sharon Kay Penman, The Reckoning
Wow. When you have spring you are not kidding around! We have to look pretty hard for it but we do see signs now. I congratulate you on the Wisteria blossom. We’ve had one for at least a dozen years and have never had a single blossom. I’ve also had six fig trees over the years and only ever had three figs. I have a promising specimen this year, however, started in a pot for two years and seems ready, willing and able so has been transplanted into the chosen spot and now we wait. Welcome home doesn’t seem quite right given you had to de-snake your kitchen…what kind of snake was it?
The G.O. is the wisteria pruning guru… you have to take just enough and leave just enough. We have one small fig tree that suffered antechinus damage and will take a while to recover. I hope your fig does well. I’m pretty certain our Nashi and White Currant are dead. I’m wondering what to buy and sacrifice next. Until we turned the light on and took a closer look we weren’t sure what kind of snake it was… turned out to be a juvenile diamond python -on the bench next to the kettle- which the G.O. gently removed and rehomed outside. Having to de-chook our yard was more annoying.
The power of Spring 🌼 How I love it 😍 I’m waiting for my pear trees to give me flowers and then pears 🍐… my Port Wine Magnolia is still to flower and as the tree is just outside the back door the fragrance is utterly intoxicating when it does … I can imagine your delight in your beautiful edible garden 😊
There is much of winter I enjoy but always anticipate signs of spring. I had high hopes for our pear tree but they do much better in your southern climate. I love Port Wine Magnolias… any kind of magnolia! We have no more space in our yard but there is an enormous magnificent old white specimen across the road.
Welcome back! What a lot of lovely spring lushness you have! I’m waiting to see buds on the frangipani trees and more white flowers on the callistemon before I definitely say Spring has sprung, but the Girls are regularly laying 5 eggs a day now, so I know the day length has kicked over into summer hours.
This is only early spring, similar to your garden there is more to look forward to. I love frangipanis and tropical plants/flowers which you do so much better up north. The squatter chook didn’t even lay one egg to make up for her mayhem of freeranging for days in our yard.
Your Spring garden is further ahead than mine, but we seem to be having this eternal cold weather. My rose bushes are just starting to sprout, although it could be the possums munching them. Snails have been rampant. I was admiring the only pea shoot to come up, only to have it eaten by the snails. I am going to set a beer trap. However the cornflowers are starting to bud and will be glorious in a few weeks. Like nasturtiums once you have corn flowers you have them for ever.
I love cornflowers but unfortunately here they aren’t as rampant as nasturtiums. Fingers crossed I haven’t seen a snail for a while but I’m sure they’re lurking along with the slugs waiting for an opportune dining moment.
Love your garden, and I’m envious as all hell! Still cold, wet and miserable down here. The only things growing well are the parsley and spinach. Oh for a few days of sun!
I feel very fortunate. Parsley and spinach are fabulous. Ours has just started to do ok. Looks like we’re in for some rainy weather in the next few days.
Gardens can give such joy and peace even if they are overgrown with nasturtiums. We have them everywhere too. The weather over the last couple of years is making us rethink much of our gardens. We lost so much due to the wet. Have put most of the vegetable seedlings into large tubs for now.
We have a resident python in our farm shed. However, as I have ophidiophobia (an extreme fear of snakes of any kind), my husband has been warned, that if the snake ever has a hankering to swap his shed to one of more luxurious surroundings, such as our house, he must be promptly relocated and exiled to our faraway back paddock, where there is no warm shed or easy meals.
Makes sense to adjust your garden, the wet is with us yet again as I comment. Because we’re on a ridge with poor native soil most of our edible garden is in raised beds-tubs-pots. I managed to throw some slow release fertiliser pellets around yesterday… I hope they don’t all wash away. Once I would’ve been terrified of a python… however, brown snakes still evoke my flight response.
daleleelife101.blog 
Wow. When you have spring you are not kidding around! We have to look pretty hard for it but we do see signs now. I congratulate you on the Wisteria blossom. We’ve had one for at least a dozen years and have never had a single blossom. I’ve also had six fig trees over the years and only ever had three figs. I have a promising specimen this year, however, started in a pot for two years and seems ready, willing and able so has been transplanted into the chosen spot and now we wait. Welcome home doesn’t seem quite right given you had to de-snake your kitchen…what kind of snake was it?
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The G.O. is the wisteria pruning guru… you have to take just enough and leave just enough. We have one small fig tree that suffered antechinus damage and will take a while to recover. I hope your fig does well. I’m pretty certain our Nashi and White Currant are dead. I’m wondering what to buy and sacrifice next. Until we turned the light on and took a closer look we weren’t sure what kind of snake it was… turned out to be a juvenile diamond python -on the bench next to the kettle- which the G.O. gently removed and rehomed outside. Having to de-chook our yard was more annoying.
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😁
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The power of Spring 🌼 How I love it 😍 I’m waiting for my pear trees to give me flowers and then pears 🍐… my Port Wine Magnolia is still to flower and as the tree is just outside the back door the fragrance is utterly intoxicating when it does … I can imagine your delight in your beautiful edible garden 😊
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There is much of winter I enjoy but always anticipate signs of spring. I had high hopes for our pear tree but they do much better in your southern climate. I love Port Wine Magnolias… any kind of magnolia! We have no more space in our yard but there is an enormous magnificent old white specimen across the road.
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The Bubble Gum smell as I open the door to the back is amazing… Magnolias have a big place in my heart 💝
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We have a new flower farm just outside the village… and they grow among other things Magnolia Little Gem!
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Welcome back! What a lot of lovely spring lushness you have! I’m waiting to see buds on the frangipani trees and more white flowers on the callistemon before I definitely say Spring has sprung, but the Girls are regularly laying 5 eggs a day now, so I know the day length has kicked over into summer hours.
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This is only early spring, similar to your garden there is more to look forward to. I love frangipanis and tropical plants/flowers which you do so much better up north. The squatter chook didn’t even lay one egg to make up for her mayhem of freeranging for days in our yard.
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Now, that’s just rude! All that good food and no return. Or maybe the python took them all?
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Nup, likely just a opportunistic freeloading chook… the python was a skinny little thing.
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Wish we were closer. I need a python for the shed, there’s a rodent of some sort in there…
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Pythons are a rodent deterrent, although imperfect… we saw one of the bigguns yesterday… much more interested in the small birds.
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Your Spring garden is further ahead than mine, but we seem to be having this eternal cold weather. My rose bushes are just starting to sprout, although it could be the possums munching them. Snails have been rampant. I was admiring the only pea shoot to come up, only to have it eaten by the snails. I am going to set a beer trap. However the cornflowers are starting to bud and will be glorious in a few weeks. Like nasturtiums once you have corn flowers you have them for ever.
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I love cornflowers but unfortunately here they aren’t as rampant as nasturtiums. Fingers crossed I haven’t seen a snail for a while but I’m sure they’re lurking along with the slugs waiting for an opportune dining moment.
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Love your garden, and I’m envious as all hell! Still cold, wet and miserable down here. The only things growing well are the parsley and spinach. Oh for a few days of sun!
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I feel very fortunate. Parsley and spinach are fabulous. Ours has just started to do ok. Looks like we’re in for some rainy weather in the next few days.
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Hah! We just had a day of sunshine! Apologies if we sent our bad weather your way. 😀
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Gardens can give such joy and peace even if they are overgrown with nasturtiums. We have them everywhere too. The weather over the last couple of years is making us rethink much of our gardens. We lost so much due to the wet. Have put most of the vegetable seedlings into large tubs for now.
We have a resident python in our farm shed. However, as I have ophidiophobia (an extreme fear of snakes of any kind), my husband has been warned, that if the snake ever has a hankering to swap his shed to one of more luxurious surroundings, such as our house, he must be promptly relocated and exiled to our faraway back paddock, where there is no warm shed or easy meals.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Makes sense to adjust your garden, the wet is with us yet again as I comment. Because we’re on a ridge with poor native soil most of our edible garden is in raised beds-tubs-pots. I managed to throw some slow release fertiliser pellets around yesterday… I hope they don’t all wash away. Once I would’ve been terrified of a python… however, brown snakes still evoke my flight response.
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What a gorgeous garden, and Spring has really sprung. I’m pretending it’s still Summer here, but I fear I am deluded.
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Right now it’s soggy spring here. Hang on to your summer as long as you can!
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